Chasing rainbows

The afternoon was nearing its end. And I’ve sat in my office, all day, not doing much work. Outside, east of Thimphu, the sky was painted in heavy colours of grey and leaking rain. But quite miraculously, the Sun, atop the west horizon, kept sparkling tantalizingly over Thimphu valley.

In a while, the rain started heavily beating down on Thimphu valley. Another wonder, it was. Sunshine, raining-all at once. It’s unlikely an autumn day though.

And over the rooftop of my office, I heard a young voice call out, “Hey, hey, look, there’s a rainbow!” Instantaneously, I barged out blindly, not caring where my feet fell. And I stumbled out, he-he.

Voila! Over the Thimphu City, a full rainbow was stretching, spectacular arch in shape like a bridge between heaven and earth. It’s sparkling beautiful, stunningly mesmeric. And monstrous in size. What a surprise in this year’s autumn welcome! I was excited, all happy.

Also, other people were lining up to witness the magical beauty in the sky that was spread out above us. Our calls of wonder were of “Oh My God!” and cries of “It’s adorable rainbow!”

A minute later, ah, another huge rainbow appeared right above it. Together, they started growing bigger, brighter, clearer, glorious. And the seven different colours emerged so vivid, striking. For a minute or two (I don’t know exactly how long), I stood there, awed, in sincere amazement. Viewing…feeling the presence of the wonder before me that existed beyond my logic.

Then, furiously, I fought my way past the rain taking pictures of this overwhelming beauty. I knew that pictures would never be taken again-not precisely, not ever. But, oh thank god, I took many furtive shots.  

Well, the downpour has stopped. The clouds cleared and the Sun started sparkling hard on us again. And I stood there, seeing the magical rainbows vanishing into the thin air. Oh, it’s almost painful to see it disappeared. The magic moment ended, so abruptly.

And I returned to my office, obviously, mourning at what was lost. But quite surprisingly, that beauty and magic of rainbows stood, reverberating, deep inside me. The rainbow, its beauty and colours, were mirrored in me, in my heart. Yes! Now, what the nature was whispering to me through the rainbows became more evident.

Listen la, I’ll tell you this. When I was young, I heard from my adults and learned from fairytales about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Still, today, I can remember running over the rice fields back in my village as a child trying to catch the end of the rainbow, always hoping that this time…this time I would find the pot of gold. And this belief had stayed with me for this many years-always chasing rainbows and never quite finding the pot of gold.

Only today, I realized and understood that the pot of gold or rainbow is within me. Rainbows, as symbol, only reminded us to look up and see the beauty and treasure which, in fact, is always within us. It shows that we can bloom and express our colours-our skills and talents that was inside of us all along-to harness the treasure, the pot of gold.

Dear readers, a wonderful holiday!