A Typical Village Life in Bhutan

Peace the night is, no honking, no howling and no roaring noises that are usually a nuisance in urban areas. After a daylong hard work, all members of a family get together for a diner. They share all their day’s experiences with the family members and also discuss the plan for the next day. After having a diner, they sit near by fire and talk of many things. Sometimes the parents tell them stories and at the same time teach a lesson to their children in life. Then they go to beds and relax with peace in mind and heart.

People in the village are timed by the crowing of roosters. Before dawn some elder people of the family get up and finish-up all household chores before sun rise. The lights of the day light flickers through the cracks of wooden windows. As the sun rays reach the nearby hill top, mom comes to wake-up all the children who are in a peaceful sleep. She wide opens all windows to make sure the children know that it is a time for them to go for a day’s work. Mom will have readied the breakfast. They all sit down for the breakfast and share responsibilities for the entire day. Daughter will help her mom do the household chores while son will help his father do the external works like fetching of fire woods, fencing, field works, cattle herding and many other physical works. For small children, it’s a time for them to learn from their elders to help parents and most of the time they go out to mingle with other friends of their age and play around.

People in urban places are timed by an alarm clock which is often not respected even by the one who has set it the other day. All get up late and get late to works and schools without breakfast. No breakfasting or lunching or dining together. All take one after another if they wish to take. Many people if it is a government holiday will have no work at all. Some watch TV, some go to play, many sleeps and some chit chat with neighbours. Never gets home on time. Everybody goes out and comes home so late. People in urban areas go to bed with so many tensions: office works, financial constraints, peer pressures and many other obsessive disturbances. A typical village life and an urban life are totally different and I prefer a village kind of life. I refer peace in mind, heart and body.   

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Wish Come True

Every one of us, you and I always make a wish and even if we don’t make a wish, it’s a human instinct to long for something or someone we don’t have in life. For some, they say “oh it is a wish come true for me” when they achieve something unexpected in their way of life. For some it is a way of opening a sentence while giving a talk or to acknowledge someone for having achieved something in their life. Wishes are never same for everyone but there are few who share the same wishes in life. There are so many wishes a person make in his/her life, but how much he/she fulfil depends on how much hard work they put in or sometimes a luck favours.

I was writing this with TV on and it’s a sheer coincidence that I happened to watch the movie “TED” on one of the Hollywood channels. A young boy who was abandoned by all other friends in the neighbourhood got a Christmas gift from his parents, a huge (of his size) teddy bear. He was so happy and that night he wished if that teddy could talk and be friend with him forever. The next morning, to his amusement a teddy bear talked. His wish has come true. That was movie and I am complacent that such miracle will not happen in real life. When I say this, it doesn't mean that I don’t make a wish and I don’t believe that a wish could come true. My wishes are my prayers, every morning and evening, I just pray for well being and happiness of all sentient beings. My dreams are my wishes and I dream to lead a happy life without having to pass through any obstacles in life. My ambitions and desires are my wishes and I desire to be one of the most successful people in this world or at least up to the expectations of my beloved parents and the society.

People often say that a person without a wish never succeed in life but also have to be mindful that not all wishes we wish could be fulfilled in life. That is where a frustration comes that actually can down us in life. Wishes have to be something that can be fulfilled or other words time bound. If we wish to bring down stars or wish to become princess/prince (if you are not born as one), that is something universally known that it can’t be achieved. So we have to wish intelligently and in a smart manner. With good wish in mind (or some say wish in heart), we will have a clear mission in life that would ultimately lead to a successful life. Best Wishes!

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Waiting for Snow Fall in Thimphu

Thimphu is about 2,460 meters above sea level, surrounded by high hills which are more than 3000 meters above sea level. It lies along the Wangchhu river that runs north-south of Thimphu valley. More than 2,000 households and more than hundred thousand population, Thimphu has grown from a small village like town in early 80’s to one of the busiest and largest city in Bhutan. More than 30, 000 cars plying daily over the city roads and averagely over 100 new constructions being approved annually, city has been challenged with so many problems like traffic congestion and environment degradation.

If we look at some of the pictures back in 80’s of Thimphu, we could see major portion of land being used for cultivation. Now most of these cultivatable portions of land have been developed into concrete buildings and roads constructed every nook and corner of the city, it is very difficult to maintain green areas within city. But however the government of Bhutan always work with a mission to take up the "Green Socio-Economic Development" which is a development without compromising environment in any ways. With that objective, Bhutan has been taking every measure to maintain the sustainability of the pristine natural environment. In a similar way, Thimphu City has been spending certain portion of its capital subsidy in greening the city. Every year a large number of saplings are being planted in every open spaces and many region within the city are identified as environment precincts which is a "no development zone"  

Despite these initiatives, it has been a challenge to control development that jeopardizes the environment. Developments are driven by the needs and it is a mandate for the government to serve the needs of the citizens. The effects of these have been already being experienced with untimely rainfall, drying up of water sources and late or no snow fall. Thimphu used to experience early snow falls during the month Januaries before. Snow fall is one of the exciting moments for young and old. It gives immense pleasure and is also considered as sign of good harvest back in the village. Children go out to play and adults stay inside nearby heaters talking of their past experiences over a cup of hot butter tea or some over a glass of Ara (Locally brewed wine). The day of first snow fall is also a government holiday in Thimphu for the civil servants and school going children. This year, 2015, all the residents of Thimphu have been talking in and out about the snow fall being delayed. Many are expecting in the February month but some are complacent that last year, 2014 it also snowed in the month of March for the second time, so they are still expecting the same this time.

Some people are talking about the climate change effects the reason for late or no snow fall. Even if some nation fights for climate change, they can still face the consequences of climate change of the world. Climate Change is not something we can escape but we can put forth some measures to curb the effects. If the climate change has to be stopped completely, the development in the world has to be stopped or a population growth has to be halted. This can’t be done since the needs for the people have to be served as discussed earlier. But we can neutralize the effect of developments by ensuring the balance between the developmental activities and the environment conservation. If we cut one tree, we have to replace it by planting two trees. This is how we have to manage the use of natural resources sustain-ably.

  

We have to think about our next generation. What we have been enjoying today is the fruit of what we have received from our ancestors. Now it is our responsibilities to hand over the same resources that we enjoy today to our next generation. As a result of our greedy activities, I fear that the time will come for our younger generations when they will just hear the word snow and will not able to experience it. Therefore, Bhutan joins with other nations of the world in fighting the climate change and I would like to urge all individual in this world to at least do not contribute to climate when you can’t contribute to the fight against climate change.

LET’S SAVE THIS MOTHER EARTH.  

The Love and Affection

I just got up and after having freshened up I got into kitchen to brew a cup of tea for myself. I live in second floor of a building and just a meter or two behind is a wall which is at a level of my kitchen’s window. Whenever I prepare something inside kitchen, I always used to throw some food on top of that wall so that some animals like dogs and other small insects could feed on. I did this because once I saw a dog watching me expectantly while I was cooking. I fed him and since then I started keeping a share on that wall.

 This time it was different. I was brewing tea and when I looked out of window, I saw a mother dog and a puppy. Puppy was feeding on bones that I have thrown the previous day and mother dog was watching the puppy dog eat. The puppy looked healthy but a mother was like as if she hasn’t taken anything for long. I fed her with another slice of meat from my refrigerator; it was snatched from her mouth by that puppy. She did not refuse but gave it with her mouth watering a lot. I could not resist seeing this and gave her another. She took it but did not swallow. She kept in her mouth and walked away. I thought she might have it for herself peacefully moving away from her puppy. After a while a mother dog came and this time with another puppy. The meat that I fed her, she took it to that puppy after having made sure that the first puppy gets the food. Three of them were looking at me again and I knew it by their looks that they are asking for food. I threw another slice of meat (pork) and this time I made sure a mother eats. I gave them one each. Finally she could eat one.

I was taken aback by that action of a mother dog. Although she was hungry, she made sure that her puppies get the food first. I was thinking, will those puppies when they grow up, will they ever take care of their mother? Will they find her food when she can’t find for herself? Mother’s love is unconditional and nothing in this world can match with the love of a mother. That love and affection of mother is priceless. Please god; help all mothers on earth live happily and peacefully.                                                                                                                                                                                                                

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Daw Chu Nyipai Losar

Daw chu nyipai Losar (Daw-Month, Chunyi-12^th, Losar-new year/festival) is celebrated every year on the 1^st day of the 12^th Month of the Bhutanese calendar. It is celebrated especially by the people of eastern Bhutan. It is also referred to as Sharchokpai Losar which means the festival of the people of the east. This day is celebrated like any other festivals.

Everyone gets excited. People in the villages prepare way ahead for the day. Men get ready with their game plans for the day while women gather all the special items to be prepared for the day. In urban areas, all relatives get together and even friends and neighbors get together to celebrate the day. On the day, early in the morning, mom and dad prepares porridge and (Suja) butter tea for the breakfast. After having breakfast, men go out to play various kinds of games while women prepare lunch. After having prepared, women go to witness the match with lunch and drinks. They sing and dance and enjoy the day together. Some families especially in urban areas go out for a family picnic to some faraway places to celebrate the day.  

The day in Bhutan is a national holiday and it is termed as a "traditional day of offering". The history says that the day was in olden days a day people celebrate the harvest of the year and a day they offer a share of their harvest to their rulers and celebrate together. People especially in the east still celebrate the day to remember the hard work of their forefathers and also to keep alive the age old tradition of celebrating the harvest of the year. Usually by this day, people in the village will have harvested everything and are bit relaxed. So Chunyi pai Losar is a day they celebrate the fruit of their hard work that they have put in for the entire year.

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Cash in Trash

Waste has been a waste for many years and for many people in Bhutan until recently there came a technique to convert all waste to some useful components. In a green and clean country like Bhutan, waste management has been a challenging in every nook and corner of the country. Not only in urban places, even in sacred places in highland have the same problems been faced. Thimphu City alone produces about 25-30 Metric tons of waste a day which used to directly go to the only landfill site located some seven kilometers from the city.

With the increasing number of people migrating into urban areas, the problems have been increasing. With more and more people including the tourists visiting the sacred places located in some far flung areas too have been facing the same kind of problems. With more number of illiterates, the effect of improper dumping of waste everywhere was not understood. The government has been then trying to sensitize each and every people on the importance of environment conservation. Though it took quite a long time for the people to understand, in many parts of the country, people are now aware of the effects of such wastes being dumped everywhere. The people were made aware by the environment officials, health officials, and local leaders and also by their children who are educated. Despite creating such awareness through various media, the waste management is still a challenging for the concerned agencies.

Recently people learned to recycle most of the waste materials and do business out of it. Young and old started collecting and selling of all plastic bottles, glass bottles and metal pieces and made a profitable business out of it. All these recyclable materials are traded to neighboring countries to recycle. Other degradable wastes are also converted to organic fertilizers and are sold to farmers. Such initiatives have taken a waste management to next level. It has created a very lucrative business for the people and has also helped maintain clean environment. People often say “when some finds just a trash, someone find cash in trash”. This has reduced the amount of waste being driven to the landfill site.

Even after turning waste collections into a lucrative business, the problem was not completely solved. On one hand, people are trying to reduce waste but on other hand, some irresponsible people have been littering both knowingly and unknowingly. There is nothing much a government can do to make people not to litter other than educating through various media. There is also a penalty for defaulters but the problems remained the same. Unless the mind set of an individual has been changed, government can’t keep an eye at each and every individual, monitoring them. It is now high time that we as an individual have to be very responsible and develop sense of belonging. No one will ever litter their beautiful home but people never hesitate to litter outside. This world is our home and we should not litter our sweet home. Our mother earth is already facing so many challenges like climate change and desertification, all because of self-oriented anthropogenic activities. People may think, just by throwing a small sheet of paper would not make any difference, but it has to be remembered that even a big container can filled to the rim drop by drop. We have our deep respect for our parents who gave us this precious life, similarly we have to respect and love this Mother Earth who gives us everything and ask nothing form us. Therefore, we all have to see from the “cash in trash” point of view and help someone make a living out of it while helping our world live GREEN for all time to come.

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The Differences

In this world there are many kinds of people. Some people can’t even have a meal in a day while some people have a various choices in front. Some die of hunger and some are obese. Some can’t even earn a penny in a day while some can’t manage the spending in a day. Some do not get a chance to go to school and learn while some have a liberty to choose the best schools for education.  Some do not have a shelter to live in while others build buildings after building. Some do not get a drop of water to drink while some choose the best water out of many kinds. In some areas people die due to drought while some lost their lives to floods and tsunamis.  Some work and earn a bit while some do not work and earn more. Some do not even have shoes to wear while some goes in cars with fancy shoes on. And when some feels the pain of not having shoes others struggles in life with no feet.

Sometimes these feelings become my worst nightmares. It keeps me thinking…while all these differences? Our parents used to tell us that, what we are today are the clear reflections of what we have been doing in our past lives. That is what we call “Tshey Nga mai Lay” in our own term which literally means “the effect of the past lives”. The ones who have been doing all the good things in their entire lifetime in the past lives are the ones who are well off at present and vice-versa. It has been said by great saints: “to know what we have been doing in our past lives, we have to see our present life and to know what we will be in our next life; we have to look at the things we do at present”.

A feeling of contentment is a source of all happiness. If we cannot think enough is enough, it does not bring any happiness in one’s life. That is when people often crave for many things that they don’t have. People go for wants and not for needs. If we have the basic needs, that should be enough in life. In some parts of the world, people don’t get a meal a day and no clothes to put on and house to live in. Looking at their conditions, people who have the basic needs have to be contented. Some billionaires and millionaires often make a huge donation for the benefits of others who do not have the basic needs. These activities of them are really appreciative and it is one good human instinct that causes happiness in self and others.  If we have it all for ourselves, it gives happiness for self but if we share what we have, it gives happiness for others that in turn doubles our happiness.

The world would be a happy place if we share our happiness. It is in our hands to make no differences among the people sharing the same world. If those billions spent on wars and ammunition by the world could be used for helping those who are in need of, it could have made the world happier than it is today. War is destruction and peace is happiness. The world is no place for war. 

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