“Stop drinking Karma, you
are killing yourself” remarked Tashi which is a normal advice
he gets almost every day. Karma is the most trusted and looked up to
boy in his village and amongst friends. Hailing from a small village called
Lhaling somewhere in the Eastern part of Bhutan. As the youngest in his
family, he was the last one to serve his parents in the village carrying out
all the seasonal activities helping in the village. The work in the village starts with
collection of dried leaves from the forest which are used as the main source of
manure in the field. Then it continues with the plantation of potatoes followed
by carrying manure to the field to cultivate maize. Maize is the staple food
for people especially in the East. These were the seasonal works besides other day to day activities from dawn to dusk.
By the time of maize
cultivation in February- March of the year, Karma along with other village boys
and girls would go to school for new academic sessions. People in the village
would take up Sundays in turn wise which is the only day off from School
activities for School going children to carry out the field works. This is
because the school going children were the only labor force. Karma would be very happy on Sundays because it is a day off for him. “Karma, get up and have
breakfast, you will have to go to Aum Dorji’s work today”, a usual dialogue of
his mother early morning of every Sunday.
He has to go to work
because his parents will need the laborers later to do the similar job at his
house or the neighbors would have come for the work at his house earlier. He
used to get ready for the day and waits for his friends who would join for the
day’s duty. This would follow till March and by March it’s time for harvesting
potatoes. After that, his usual time is to guard maize fields from wild animals
day and night. This was his usual day to day activities during School days until he completed 12th grade in 2007. Besides he was fully engaged in normal
household chores and people would appreciate for his dutifulness.
He somehow managed to get
through class 10 and took up science stream. Science stream then was like a big
thing. Science stream requires lot of time and effort to get through. But he
had to manage between usual household chores and studies. When in class 12,
he used to burn the midnight oil and get up early to study. If a child fails in
his or her studies, people directly used to say “khai go ma chhep” and his parent’s usual thing was to compare him with other children. Despite
these hardships he managed to qualify for college along with few other friends.
He completed Bachelors in Science and also managed to get through civil service
examinations in 2011. And after having undergone a year of Post Graduate Diploma course, he
joined civil service in 2013 in Thimphu.
For the last nine years
now, Karma has been drinking although not that heavy all the time but sometimes
it used to be quite heavy that he even landed up with neuropathy, which is the
feeling of numbness in the limbs. Countless number of times, his friends and loved ones
would advise him not to drink but he couldn’t help it. Few of his friends did
quit drinking as they were advised by the doctor and these friends have always
wanted him to quit drinking. He is willing to quit but the bad part in him
always drag him into the drinking habits. He sometimes feels that it is his
past karmic deeds that is driving him crazy this time.
During weekends he and his
friend Tashi along with two other friends would go to play khuru (dart
game) and he would carry a bottle of whisky along with him. His friends would be
taken aback the way he drinks. “Stop drinking Karma, you are killing yourself”
remarked Tashi but these advices are usual things he gets every day. Even
other friends joined in realizing Karma to quit drinking. But for Karma, it’s
not the willingness to quit, he is willing to quit but he has become habituated and therefore he couldn’t do it for quite a long time. He thinks it’s his ngamei lay (fate). But he is very hopeful and optimist that one day he can totally
leave the habit.
To be continued…..
