How are Civil Servants Seen as by Others

I was then in class five in the year 2000, some 13 years ago when one of our neighbor's eldest son got job. I think he did Bachelors in English-Dzongkha from India and was selected through  Royal Civil Service Examination (RCSE). He was then in grade 8 (P5A at present). Back in the village the news was, Mr. Dorji has become Dasho (A senior ranked Official) and he will soon be given Pata (Sword - a symbolic gesture of his rank). I thought "Wow! He is really great". For me it was a long way to go then, but I started dreaming of becoming a Dasho like him one day. People in the village talked about him so much, stating that he has even finished class 16. (That could be I think, he might have done Post Graduate at Royal Institute of Management). 

I graduated and people in the village started telling me that now it is time for you to become Dasho. Am I Dasho now? No! I am not. Our people's notion back in the village is still the same. They think that if we have bachelor’s degree, we are Dasho. They never know the true nature of the graduates. Every year, thousands of graduate come to job market in search of a decent job. Not many get through, only the few lucky ones.

If you have a job and you live in a City like Thimphu, people in the village have totally a different thinking. Their thinking on us is very high. They term us as ”Zhung yop" which means a government servant and are well off. Their expectation from us is very high. What they think of us is like what we think of ministers and other Dashos. When they come to our place with that high expectation and see our living condition in real, they take back the bad stories to be shared to other folks in the village. The news is "ra ma wa la" which literally means "no foundation" and by this they mean to say that, we are nothing but a useless zhung yop. They really don't understand the living condition of city with this meager income. 

I stay combined with one of my friends, I walk to office and back home, I don’t party and I don’t hang out with friends. I live below my means. But still I know, I live hand to mouth. People in the village think, we having a car (or perhaps a duty car), staying in big furnished house, going for party and hanging out with friends and using the money lavishly. They really envy our lives here in city. They never know how much we are struggling just to survive with our income. So it is high time now that we inform our people in the villages that, we are no Dashos here but the "Poorest Rich" with hand to mouth. Experiencing the reality in life!