Thimphu
has just opened for clear sky after a rainy week. It’s a beautiful day here! I
hope you all are enjoying the bright monsoon day as much as I am here. So, to
treat you, I bring to you, once again, pictures of a handful of flowers that I took
recently from my office garden. Have a wonderful day!
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Sunday, June 22, 2014
The photography lesson
I don’t know exactly since
when I’ve nurtured this passion. Photography. To tell you, I just love taking
pictures of almost everything. One clarification here though; I’m not a certified
photographer. But hey, should one be certified to take pictures?
I don’t know.
Initially, I began taking
pictures of nature. Snow-capped mountain, cerulean skies, the sunset, rain,
prayer flags, leaves, trees, and flowers - so much more. Perhaps all the beginners
do start shooting nature. It could be, at least in my case.
I found divinity and beauty
in nature, and felt feelings, warmth and hope. So I intended to capture and relive
these things on my lens as briefly as possible.
Sometimes I would look at
my own pictures and like anyone of you, I marvel at it. And to my own
amazement, I stand in disbelief. Because some of my pictures seem unreal to me;
it’s as though I had made it up.
However, photography and
writing really complement each other. The digital lens does write stories,
photographs do tell stories – sometimes better than my handful of words. So incapable
of writing forward, for my blog, I look at my pictures and do I derive
inspiration, get stories.
Quite wondrously, it is through
my digital lens that I started to see the world around me differently. And
ultimately I became a nature lover. Most importantly, it helped me to learn to
find beauty and pleasure in the simple things. It changed my life’s outlook,
for better.
Someone rightly stated
about the photography and our life,
The greatest of
inspiration, isn’t it?
I can add here a few lines,
but my own lines. You can, in life, fork out your problems like the way you
crop out the unwanted parts of images. And if you want to make your life more
attractive, learn to apply effects to images of your life. Whew, it’s that simple!
As I’m still learning to
take good pictures, so do I still learning to understand the life’s essence.
Note: Second picture downloaded from google
Note: Second picture downloaded from google
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Thimphu all set for Modi’s visit
I
went around Thimphu City this evening for a casual walk. And wow, I am hugely impressed
with the new looks of the City. The Street and Town look strikingly beautiful
and dazzling.
Thimphu
sets all ready welcoming Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, who will be
arriving in Bhutan tomorrow. The highway and the Street all dressed in the
flags and posters of both the prime ministers flaring on the poles and
buildings.
Everything
- in and around the City - looks perfectly organized and clean. Flowers well
watered, and all blooming. All waste and trash disappeared. One feels as if you
were in the City of Tokyo and Singapore.
The
security personnel are everywhere. I hope the Indian PM’s visit would be a successful
one and the Indo-Bhutan would last forever, ever stronger.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
The shopping mecca
Whenever I travel here in
Bangkok, I do this again and again. Shopping. Quite a lot. Actually, I’m not a shopaholic,
maniac. But once I’m here, in the shopping malls of Bangkok, I become a different
person. As I shop like crazy.
Quite surprisingly, this capital
city has quite a huge number of popular shopping malls, centres and complexes
with over thousands stores. Very convenient and attractive, they provide all
kinds of shopping opportunities, plenty of entertainments and artwork.
The amazing thing about the
malls here is that they have almost everything you could possibly want. From fashionable
garments to footwear, home decorations to foods, jewelries to electronics,
craft items to entertainment (cinemas, karaoke, 4D, games, bowling alley).
Like you or any visitors, I
also spend most of my free time running from one shopping centre to another, exploring
new items, trying on different schemes and of course buying. Only once you are
in here, ah, how you wish that you were a rich man.
Interestingly, here, you
can bargain like hell on almost everything and you would be just shell-shocked
at the rock bottom prices they offer you.
Moreover, the city provides
very convenient transportation services and delicious street foods. I just love
travelling by the skytrain and tok tok, always new experience for me.
First picture courtesy: googlesearch
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Meet up with a fellow-blogger in Thailand
Yesterday evening, I met up
with blogger Dumcho Dorji here in Salaya, Thailand. As you all know, he currently studies
at Mohidol University and blogs about his life’s experience in Thailand and Bhutan. We knew
each other through our blogs; in fact, very well. But we never met before in person.
However despite his busy
schedule, Dumcho found a time for me. He took me around his beautiful college
campus for a walk. And he did treat me with dinner - some juice and foods - on the street.
It's quite surprising and nice to have met a Bhutanese blogger in a foreign soil. More so happy that one could get to sit together over the dinner and talk about our life, love and aspirations, as bloggers and writers.
I am ever so thankful to Dumcho; it is one moment that I can always cherish in my life.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Thai situation is improving
When I landed here in
Thailand last Saturday, the authority of the capital was cleaning and clearing
the litters of the protests at the downtown Bangkok. I was quite nervous of the
political unrest in the country. I was even afraid to wear my red shirt. Moreover,
the Thailand Stock Exchange has been falling everyday. The whole situation of
the country was worrying.
However, as I stay here
longer, I slowly understand the situation, more clearly. And I am happy, enjoying
my stay here, trust me. Though the curfew begins from 10 pm to 5 am, everything
runs as normal - businesses, public services, transportation and airlines. The movement
in the country is not restricted as portrayed in the media.
The situation has become
alright now. The locals and foreign travelers enjoy all freedom to walk around,
do shopping and sightseeing. I observed that protests were well organized; it
engaged only the protest groups and their members in the designated places.
As the Thai military junta
Chief received royal endorsement as Chief of the National Council for Peace and
Order, most Thai people are hopeful that the unrest could be solved. Moreover, they
are showing support to military deployed to enforce martial law and maintain
peace.
All the community leaders
agreed to comply with order of the Chief to remove all signs of red shirts from
public places. The leaders and members of different protest groups have been
summoned and put under trials.
The people of Thailand are
wishing sincerely that the political unrest be settled soon. If so happened
then the national election is going to happen very soon, possibly within next
four months.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Mystery of my favourite poem
When I was in my high school, I came across this famous and magical poem for the first time. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shallot”. And ever since, it had become my favourite poem, indefinitely. Ever so gracefully, it remained on my mind, too gracefully though.
Still I do remember those
days, of my classroom where I used to sit on my desk, so attentive, in excited
and radiant smile, reciting the poem. If I’m not wrong, this is the first time
I fell in love with English literature and of course started liking my English
teacher.
This is one poem that I
held dear, and its lines, I knew by heart. Again and again I would read the
poem. To put it precisely, it’s crafted in perfect words and emulates
overpoweringly breathtaking images that one would never forget in life.
And the way Tennyson starts
out the poem is simply splendid. I can’t help myself from pulling out those starting
lines and putting down here,
On either side the river
lie
Long fields of barley and
of rye,
That clothe the wold and
meet the sky;
And thro' the field the
road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
The poet portrays the
scenes so magically. And it made my heart lurch, all the more. This is the only
poem that I read not for the exams, but out of the pleasure of words. In fact,
that’s the time I realized the power of words, what the black and white letters
can be.
Above all, it’s the
protagonist of the poem that had absolutely hypnotized me. The Lady of Shalott.
She is described as an absolute angel, “lovely face”, “fairy”, pure, and beauty
who “weaves by night and day/A
magic web with colours gay” in a four-towered castle. She is
like…ah as if I had met the love of my life, my soul mate. The more I read it,
the deeper I fell in love.
Moreover, I felt hugely
heartened when I had the opportunity to learn the poem once more when I joined
Sherubtse College in 2005. We read the nineteen century literature and we analyzed
this poem too. However, the analysis shocked me; left me shaken.
The poem suddenly turned dark. The Lady
of Shalott is restricted and imprisoned in the tower under a terrible curse. Subjugated and lonely,
she is considered as an invisible object, ghostly. Second half of the poem
becomes bloody and mournful. The Lady is doomed for going against the norm. She
cries. She dies.
I couldn’t believe that the
love of my heart, the Lady’s life is one long unspoken sadness and accursed. It’s
unthinkable; it penetrated me deeply. I couldn’t take it. It aroused such
sorrow and grief of the loss of the Lady that I almost burst into tears in the
classroom. I was angry at the poet, I started hating my lecturer, and I grew
disinterested in learning literature.
After almost a decade, today,
I read the poem once more. To tell you…it was a decade of my life filled with
difficult obstacles and decisions, unthinkable loss and fear, and countless
tears and anxiety. But it was also a decade of humbling realizations and
experiences – of love, of joy, of emotional growth, of mental maturity, of understanding
the true essence of life.
As I am already halfway to
this bumpy ride of life; and today, as I read the poem, I have come to
understand it. Its true essence, its beauty, its purpose and the love and grace
in the poem. This world, this human life is all temporary. Vulnerability figures
large all time, and that falling apart happens continually. Accept it or not, all
is not fair or perfect in this world, similarly this favourite poem of mine.
I am excited here that I
may understand the poem further as I grow older, in my old age. Learning never
ends, and this poem never stops giving me new lessons. “The Lady of Shalott” is
a poem for lifetime.
Photo courtesy: google
Photo courtesy: google
Monday, May 12, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
The joy of planting a tree
The tree above?
Believe
it or not, this is the tree that I had planted as a student of Norbuling
Primary School in Gelephu. It was June 2 in 1995. I was very happy to see my
plant growing so strong and tall during my visit to the school last February. It
made me dizzy with excessive pride.
You
know what? I felt so excited that I spent my entire afternoon, beneath it,
under its shade. I hugged it, ran around it, climbed on it, held its branches,
and felt and smelt its leaves. More excitingly, I remembered my childhood days,
a part of my life, in this school.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
The Joy that only a teacher knows
I’m not a teacher, by the
way. As a supporting staff, my job responsibilities are to assist my managers in
the office administrative works and projects carried out by my office. However,
I conduct this art class (with support from my office management) to help
children to inculcate in them skills, creativity, confidence and good values
through art lesson.
Besides my daily office
works, I’ve to find out my own time to prepare art lesson. The class starts
from 4 pm to 5 pm. After two weeks of teaching, I felt the actual demands of
work. It was very tiring, stressful for me. Every evening, after the class, my legs
and back ached, and my throat pained. Also, I had to forego all my leisure time
and comfort.
Moreover, most of my
students were slow in learning. A few didn’t understand anything at all. Others
reacted fast, but never hit on the point. So they always put me in a foul mood.
I felt muddled-headed, and gradually I started losing my patient. I scolded them
too.
At one point, I wanted to
stop the class, but something dragged me on. I don’t know what it is. So today,
it has been exactly a month that I’m giving the class. And the class will
continue till this year’s end.
Yesterday afternoon, I
received handmade cards from my students. It shocked me, as it was unusual for
me to receive cards on teacher’s day. Also, they wished me, “Happy Teacher’s
Day!” The way they said it, the way they emphasized it, melted my heart. I
looked at my students; they all stood in beautiful smile, grateful and proud.
I took a moment, and ran my
eyes up and down the cards. And to my own amazement, tears welled up in my
eyes. Maybe that’s the nicest thing ever happened to me in the recent years. It
is, to put it more precisely.
On that day, I asked all my
students to design cards for their favorite teachers in their schools. It is to
honour them on teacher’s day. The cards also contain special messages for their
teachers. It took us more than two hours to complete making the cards.
This is the pride of a man who teaches art lesson one hour a day. So you just can’t imagine the pride and achievements of those teachers who teach their entire life.
Let’s salute all our
teachers!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
New Bhutanese writers
I
came across a handful of books by the Bhutanese at the Book Fair in Bajothang.
I was very much surprised. Because that I’ve not heard of and read before about
these books and authors. But those books are written and published by our
fellow-Bhutanese, and they are there in the market for sale. More surprisingly,
most of the writers are very young teachers. I’m very happy for them and have bought
some of the books as personal copies. The books are:
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Creating a little more space
Not long ago, I wrote here
about how thrilled I was to visit my friend Sonam’s apple orchard at Khasadrapchu to pluck apples there. Last
Saturday, again, I visited this beautiful orchard along with my friends Pema
and Sonam. This time, it’s not to pluck apples, but to nurture the orchard.
The entire noon, we weeded
the orchard, and added manure and water to the plants. Like a group of
peasants, we toiled in the orchard, digging and weeding. Our limbs were
mud-stained; our faces profusely streaming with sweats.
Meanwhile, we whistled, in
a rustic way, commanding the wind to bring us fresh air. As expected, a strong
current of wind gusted around the valley. Magic works, ah, it really does! The
apple plants started to bend and twist as if they were dancing to the song of
the wind. As they danced, the flower petals of the plants were blown away in
the air, over the valley. The bees, sucking nectars, were also brushed away. It
all appeared to me so truly surreal.
Beneath a handsome tree, we
lied down, talking and observing the loveliness of the countryside. We admired
the lone farm road that climbs way up into a tiny settlement on mountaintop. We
listened to the mysterious sound of the wind too; keenly observing its flow. We
felt it deep inside, breathed it deeper. It’s very peaceful.
We continued working. We continued talking. It’s all about our lives, our little aspirations, our ideologies, our beloved ones and families, and not so much about our works. After a while, we felt sublime, peaceful.
However, the beauty is not
that I could spend my weekend away from Thimphu, but it’s this small moment of
working and sitting together with my friends in such a lovely place. I’m happy
that I’m creating a little more space for them, my soul friends.
Monday, April 14, 2014
My little world, my writing
I feel very lucky to have
found a love of writing. Here, on my blog. Quite surprisingly, this writing has
become part of me, my daily life. As I spend a huge block of my time on writing
here, almost everyday.
But I’m one person who
often writes about my own little life - my world, activities, philosophies, hopes,
and dreams. Because I feel that all other things are being written amply by
pens far mightier than mine.
I absolutely love to write about
these itsy-bitsy activities of my life. They are so little, tiny, mundane,
small, and naïve. Yet, they are part of me. All this together make me, this
very self.
I live a simple life with a
handful of friends. And what I’ve owned and done in my life is little. I know
that no one else would ever write my story. So I write it myself, with thanks,
as ever to e-blog.
My stories, blog posts, are
mostly about my home, my heart, my family and friends, my village, writing,
good books I read, walks, photography, and nature. For, they are what I focus
on the most in my life. For, they are my creative muse too.
And each post I write, there’s
still more to write. That’s the indisposition of my little world, my writing. Insatiable.
Never-ending. Writing here helps me to explore what life is all about, and I’m
always delighted in the discovery and contentment.
So much wrong happen each
day. But writing is transformative, peaceful. As I sit for a small moment
thinking and writing, it’s like I put pause from the routine and busyness of my
life. Sometimes, I put down my feelings and thoughts to get answer in my
writing.
Above all, I write to
remember, and to be remembered. Through writing, I intend to relive each moment
of my life on these pages, briefly, though it’s only about small things.
It’s through this blog that
I hope to live on for a few generations after I die. When my friends, family
members and readers go through this blog, I live on. When they read my stories
of the memories I’ve made, I live on. When they remember my name, I live on.
I am not sure that I could ever
write in the future. I don’t know. I don’t know what pages of my life would
unfurl for me. I don’t know, at all. But I know this…that I am writing here!
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Pink Thimphu: Instagram pictures
I
started loving Instagram so much, lately. It seems like this online photo-sharing
and video-sharing social networking service has been designed especially for
me. Seriously. For, photography is one of my favorite engagements in everyday
life. So much so I love doing it that there isn’t a single day without my
camera clicking pictures.
What
I like most about the Instagram is its photographic filters that we can apply
to our images. And of course, it confines photos to a square shape. For a
person like me who doesn’t use Photoshop, Instagram is simply comfortable and
fun. Just capture a picture, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, use frames if you want to, and share it with my friends and family. It’s very simple, enjoyable, and
beautiful.
So today,
I offer you some of the pictures that I took on Instagram this spring. These
pictures are all the pink peach blooms of Thimphu. Enjoy much!
Monday, March 31, 2014
In its own way, the nature’s way
It was already late evening. And that I was
still in my office. But hey, I’m not an “over-sincere” civil servant. In fact,
I was waiting and just hoping that the rain would stop so that I could walk
home. But it didn’t.
So I pulled out my umbrella and marched into
the downpour, toward my home, clutching my bag to my chest. The moment I started
walking, the rain poured harder. Even the air became damper, chillier. To put
it simply, the March rain is pretty uncomfortable. Because it retains the cold,
that of the winter, unusual cold, isn’t it?
It was almost instantly dark, starkly though. Actually
Thimphu doesn’t become so dark this early in the spring. But that evening, it
was. Maybe – just maybe – it could be because of the heavy downpour, or the
dark clouds that hung so low and held the entire valley in its bosom. To me, it
all appeared like the heaven was kissing the first spring blossom of the year.
The road that I walked was virtually empty.
All shops closed and the people returned to their homes. And as I walked, I
could feel the fresh aroma of the spring in the air, its fragrance all exuded, fluxed
with the rain. I became so intoxicated. I felt as if I were in the company of a
beautiful woman, walking together. Honestly speaking.
The endless droplets of the rain splattered
against my umbrella and against the road. Some drops big, others tiny. And they
produced a rhythmic beating sound with different uneven beats. I stopped
walking, abruptly; however, not to listen to the rain sound.
I started watching the rain tapping on the pink
peach blooms and green leaves that was perfectly illuminated by the streetlamps.
They met so gently, almost playfully. Ah, it looked so passionate, so sensual, and
so surreal. Instantaneously, I was hit by a wave of something – a few questions
though.
Is this how nature mates?
Does nature really make love?
Sorry readers, I’ve no idea what really aroused
me to think about it, but there I was asking these questions. As I continued
walking, the sound of the rain enfolded me and the darkness too. But deep
inside me, it’s these questions that enfolded me overpoweringly.
As I write this post, right now, these questions still buzz beautifully in my head, my heart. I was and still am very much sure that I can’t get the answer, anyway; not even in my writing. But now I can, at least, console myself that all I could see was the mystery of wild, the wonder of nature. Perhaps heaven can make love with nature, in its own way, the nature’s way.
As I write this post, right now, these questions still buzz beautifully in my head, my heart. I was and still am very much sure that I can’t get the answer, anyway; not even in my writing. But now I can, at least, console myself that all I could see was the mystery of wild, the wonder of nature. Perhaps heaven can make love with nature, in its own way, the nature’s way.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Written out in the spring
Last
weekend, I borrowed a book, “Further Chronicles of Avonlea”, from my friend. The
book, a collection of short stories by L. M. Montgomery, includes a number of
stories relating to the inhabitants of the fictional Canadian village of
Avonlea located on Prince Edward Island. One of the stories really touched me,
coz it relates to the spring, my favorite season,
“It
was in the spring that Josephine and I had first loved each other, or, at
least, had first come into the full knowledge that we loved. I think that we
must have loved each other all our lives, and that each succeeding spring was a
word in the revelation of that love, not to be understood until, in the
fullness of time, the whole sentence was written out in that most beautiful of
all beautiful springs.”
Dear
readers, walk around, open your eyes, and be awed by the timely coming of this
year’s spring. Share love, share happiness. I hope you would have a wonderful springtime with your beloved ones!
Friday, March 14, 2014
Special little moments
It was lunchtime. Yesterday.
As usual, I walked out of my office with some of colleagues to buy lunch at my
office cafeteria. By the way, I don’t carry the packed lunch to office. It’s
pretty sad - I know it very well - both for my health and saving.
So then, I went straight to
the counter and put my order. It’s simple one - roti with emadatshi. Tea
too, because it’s still cold here in Thimphu, even at noon. After that I pushed
myself towards right.
On the wall behind the
counter, as always, I spotted a fresh quote. Every day, my office cafeteria
puts up a new inspiring quote on the wall. It’s quite thoughtful of them,
though. It could be, perhaps, this opportunity that I get to read new quote
every noon that I don’t bring my lunch to office, he-he.
And the quote is,
Happiness
comes from special little moments.
However, this particular quote
touched me in a strange new way. It penetrated me deeply. I read the words, reread
them. And I nodded, agreeing to what it has to say, so loyally.
Happiness is not tangible, we
know that. But after reading the quote, I swear I could touch it. And here, as
I type this post, I’m all smiling, still feeling that happiness.
Yes, happiness really comes
from special little moments. Like this, to me, even from reading a simple quote,
even from spending small time with my colleagues over the lunch. And you can
never guess how happy I’m putting down small little moments of my life here on
my blog.
A happy weekend, dear
readers!
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