NyaGoe - The Strongest Man

In olden days Bhutan has been well known for the Nyagoe or the strongest man who were usually the Pazaps (soldiers) or the right hand man of the rulers then. With bare foot and sword always in hand, they were the most furious of all. 

Before 1907, Bhutan has been ruled by various regional rulers and every ruler fought for the power wit each other. The only weapon that they used was the sword and the shield for protection. Only the ones with strongest men will emerge as winners and will rule. The Trongsa Penlop (Ruler of Trongsa region) Jigme Namgyal came as the ultimate strongest of all others and he unified Bhutan as one. After that in the year 1907, His brave son Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck was then crowned as the first King of Bhutan which marked the beginning of Bhutan's journey as an independent and sovereign nation. More than 100 years now, Bhutan has come a long way under the dynamic and farsighted leadership of the Wanghuck Dynasty. 

Had it not been the Nyagoe tactics and skills of the Trongsa Penlop Jigme Namgyal and his men, Bhutan could not have found the way of this journey towards peace and prosperity. In order to thank and to mark the sacrifice and the tactics of their skills, the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) has started to crown the strongest man of Bhutan starting last year. BBS has been going round the country selecting one Nyagoe from each District. After having selected, they are being trained and guided and screened to top five.  The top five then compete during the Birth Anniversary of His Majesty to select one of them as the Nyagoe of the year. The competition is very tough. They have to compete among others and also with the time. They have to drag a log, carry it on their shoulder, then chop it, after that they have to carry a bag of sand and then finally a carry two wheels of a truck. The weight of the log, sand and wheels ranges from 100-130 kilograms. The weight increases as they mover higher up the competition. 

Moreover in the final day, other competitors are made to wrestle, compete in shot-put and also bull-fighting. The winners take home various kinds of prizes. The show has been spectated by many throughout the country. The main objective of the show was firstly to preserve the dying culture of Nyagoe in Bhutan and culture preservation is one of the pillar of Gross National Happiness and secondly it also helps us to remind ourselves of the braveness and the sacrifices our ancestors have made to unify and then to preserve the sovereign of our country. This year, 2015, the top five Nyagoes have been selected and the best among the best will be given the title as the Strongest Man of Bhutan on 21st February coinciding with the birth anniversary of His Majesty.    

Going Veg - A Healthy way of Living

According to the teachings of Buddha, it is a great sin to slaughter animals. Lives are equal, every living beings want happiness and does not want sufferings.  

I happened to watch one of the programs on National Geographic Channel. They were filming the diverse culture around the world. On that day their focus was on the life of Nomads in Tibet. Nomads totally depends their livelihood on cattle, normally they rare yaks and sheep. Starting from the food they take to clothes they wear and the shelter they live in, all from those animals. They showed the lifestyles of nomads and the intimate relation that they have with animals. There was one family, a father, mother and a son, probably of 7-8 years old. Mother was preparing something inside the tent and father with the help of his son were preparing their meal outside. They brought a sheep from a herd and father suffocated it to death. A son watches the scene as it will be his responsibility too later. As father worked on carcass with his sharp knife, he was saying prayers. The commentator said, these prayers are for sending the soul of that dead sheep to rest in peace (Heaven). I was surprised by this act. In fact this is their way of living and I do not intend to defame them. I just found that paradox interesting.

Not only nomads, even those living in urban areas totally depend on meat. They also make offerings to gods which I think is not a good practice (God would never demand meat/anything). People know it is sinful to take meat but they go for it every day. Human beings are very complicated. I once watched an episode on Bhutan Broadcasting Service, a Jangchubshing program, His Eminence Gyalwa Dokhampa said, "the humans are the most confusing beings; they sacrifice their health to garner wealth and later sacrifice their wealth to regain health. And also they live as if they are going to live forever and die as if they have never lived". This is very true. Human beings talk something, believe something and act very differently. 

Even from scientific point of view, eating meat is not a healthy way of living. Too much of it will cause many life style diseases. Moreover it was also proven that effect of climate change will be reduced directly or indirectly if all people stop eating meat. Also many kinds of zoonotic diseases are at higher risks to be transmitted to humans if we depend too much our livelihood on meat.

  

If we go veg, it is cheaper at first and very nutritious. Green vegetables are good for our health, it causes no harm but helps build strength in our body. There is no risks of falling ill having consumed vegetables. Even from religious point of view, it is not a sinful to take vegetables compared to meat. Therefore I would like to urge all my friends to go veg and lead a healthy life. In Bhutan, on the first and the fourth month of the Bhutanese calendar, the sale of all kinds of meat is banned. This is mainly to encourage people going veg. Green vegetables are healthier than the red meats. Go veg and lead a green life.    

Dry Day – Wet for Them

There is a policy that Tuesdays are to be observed as dry day whereby no bar should sell any liquor to anyone. In fact it is a good policy to control those people from consuming alcohol at least a day a week. But people often are seen under the influence of alcohol on this very day.

Many of the college mates are settled here in Thimphu (A city in Bhutan) but they rarely get to meet each other. If it is not for the events like baby showering of their mates, they don’t meet. They go to office and back home in the evening and that’s it, don’t get time to get along and enjoy few moments over a cup of coffee or tea or a glass of wine. But there are these three friends who make sure at least they meet once a week. They always keep in touch themselves through social networks. They make plans through facebook chats and make themselves available for each other right after the office or sometimes even during the office hours. But it so happened that they always make a plan on Tuesdays. They know that it is a dry day but unknowingly or knowingly they will have made the plans to hang out.

They get together and go in search of a very quiet place to hang out. Bar to bar and place to place they go in search. Finally they will get settled themselves for a drink. One sip after another, they talk about the old college days. More they drink, more and more they talk about old gold times. They drive from place to place, sponsors after sponsors. They drink until they think it is enough for them. There were also times when they missed office the next day due to hangover. 

When the day is time for everyone to keep themselves dry, it is a day for these three to get themselves drenched in liquor. They hang out till late night and get home so late. They will receive calls from every angle but when they are together, they listen to no one. Although it was not a right day for them to hangout, they at least give time for each other. Life in city like Thimphu, the time has come where even the people living next door will be a stranger. Many friends though live in the same city, do not get to meet. But the three, find themselves time and keep in touch, which in fact is a good way to cherish the old memories. It is very refreshing sharing the old day’s memories.   

Corruption

Let me be frank here, I have never heard of corruption until recently when it has become an issue in our society.  It was not in my vocabulary then, the word corruption. The Anti-corruption Commission in Bhutan was established in early 2006 if I am not wrong and since then has been digging out all the corrupt activities and with the help of all kinds of media, it was communicated to whole nation and that is how I came to know about corruption. First of all I would like to define the word in my own, according to my understanding, “Corruption is an activity, using or abetting the use of what is not ours like public resources, power and authority vested on us with full trust by the King, Country and People”.

Corruption can be big or small; it can be done through a single word or through a single piece of writing. I find the main reason for corruption is the greedy minds of people along with the avenue for them to commit it. If people think enough is enough, there will not be any such cases. And also if the good systems and practices are in place making no room for corruption, definitely no one will be corrupt. If we abstain from any form of corrupt practices that we encounter in life, we are helping firstly to the society and secondly we are clean and there won’t be any obsessive feelings within us. But there are also chances where we are not corrupt but are dragged as corrupt as a result of someone who actually is the main culprit.

If the corruption persist in the society, rich will become richer and poor remains poor. The disparity will be increased. The people with power and wealth and those influential will have all the benefits. As a result of this, it is imperative to root out corruption at an early stage. Corruption is thought to be more prevalent in a democracy where various kinds of political parties are thought to be more vulnerable to corruption. Anything can be done to woo the voters. The other prone areas of corruption include large projects, remote places where people are easy to be cheated, Human Resources recruitment procedures and face to face encounter of clients and an official.  

Corruption is a poison that can affect the entire society. It has got no cure once infected but can be prevented from happening. Government alone can’t take all the responsibilities in preventing the corruption. If every individual think for the same goal of clean society and work in hand in hand, corruption can not only be prevented, but can be rooted out completely. If we take one step further in our mentality, we can be the change we want in our society. We all must abstain from being corrupt and also report corruption before it grows. Corruption affects us ultimately, therefore, we all must work together to make a corruption free society.

Waste Management- An Individual Responsibility

Waste is pest that infests every society. Be it urban or rural, at this point of time, the challenge of waste management is faced by everyone, everywhere. The waste has some connections with the upcoming of civilization and industrialization. But this is not something anyone can take control of. With the increasing number of population, the necessities have grown. When we ask for our needs to mother world, we also have to be accountable of what we do to her.

The waste was not a problem in olden days. People hardly talked about it. No plastics used and the papers used were the hand made that was not readily available. No technology and no constructions. People at that period of time would not have even thought of such menace that we are facing at present. There are different kinds of wastes; Solid waste (degradable and non-degradable), waste water, e-waste, medical waste, industrial waste and mechanical waste from automobile workshops. Some of these waste especially the one which is non-degradable, e-waste and those coming from industrial sites and automobile workshops are very hazardous to every living organism. It pollutes soil, rivers and also the air we breathe in. 

Necessity is mother of all inventions. People invented many things to ease their livelihoods. All kinds of machineries, edibles and technologies have been invented. All these technologies after using it for many years become e-waste. If we happen to visit the landfill sites in every city, major chunk will be e-waste followed by papers and plastics. In Bhutan with the increased import of all the edibles, the plastic wastes have been increased. Almost all the edibles imported are wrapped in plastic covers. All these plastic covers either end up in landfill or are seen everywhere along the road sides and in towns. The improper dumping of waste has increased over a time with the increasing number of people living in the city. The problem has been the same in rural areas because everyone fully depended on the packed foods which are imported. Even the places where there are no inhabitants, the visitors and the passerby could have littered the place. Recently there has been a report that even the far flung religious shrines are faced with waste problems. The littering of the places is all because of the carelessness of the people. Having no love for the Mother Nature and this is how we repay for so much the mother has provided to us. 

We are becoming little more irresponsible. Our mindset and attitude have to be changed now. We are civilized and have to act like one. There is no one after us to clean up our mess. We have to be accountable of our own activities. We have to start from self. If one of us start thinking about this world and help manage our own waste, remember, one rascal will be reduced. Waste is directly related to anthropogenic activities. If we are mindful of what we do, there should not be a way to create waste. If this could have been the practice long ago, we would not be facing an epidemic outbreak of this waste pest. Now is the high time we look back at our mistakes and let not the next generation suffer because of our uncorrected mistakes. Waste cannot be controlled but can be managed. There are private individuals and also the government workers coming door to door to collect the waste. It is an individuals' responsibility to at least segregate and take to the dumper trucks and dispose it off. If we segregate the waste, it would be useful in many ways. The total amount of waste going to landfill sites will be reduced and also it is a source of income for some as there are people who really believe in "cash in trash". Do not litter, never think 'a small piece of paper would not make any difference, an empty bucket could be filled drop by drop'. We have to be ashamed of ourselves to litter. Even if someone litters, pick it up and teach them a lesson in life. 

DO NOT LITTER, KEEP OUR PLACE CLEAN, USE USE-ME!!!     

Wildlife Conflict- A Conflict in Itself

Bhutan still being the agrarian society in the region, agriculture is still considered the backbone of the nation where government has been investing a lot since the beginning of the plan period in early 60s. People in the villages solely depend on agriculture productions for their livelihood. The survival depends on the efficiency of the collection of harvest for the year.

The farmers are always been challenged by wildlife. Sometimes the effect is devastating that they are left nothing to depend on for the entire year. In the early years, some people have been hunting down those animals which threaten their crop yields. The other challenge for some is that they are not able to hurt animals since they feel that it is a great sin to hurt others. For them the only way to get along is by guarding their fields and shooing the animals either by shouting or threatening them. People spent sleepless nights throughout from the time of cultivation till the harvest. In early years, besides worrying about their survival for the year people were also worried by the heavy taxes being levied on them by the petty leaders. This burden however has been removed from people as benevolent leaders came to the throne.

The more challenging came when government realized the importance of preserving the bio-diversity and the effect of having disturbed the natural food chain. People in the villages were informed about the illegality of hunting down animals. There were no other alternatives then. Many lost their crops to the wild animals and helpless were those poor farmers. Wild cats hunting down cattle, wild boars and others bringing down crop productions and in lower regions of country, both crops and people were threatened by wild elephants. Government has been putting every measure sine then to curb the effect. Government started compensating the loss of crops to wild life and other calamities but the compensation was not able to meet the year’s expenses. It was very difficult to choose upon the two very important issues; the issues of crops being destroyed by the wild animals and the issues of deteriorating the number of wild life as a result of hunt down. Both are very important and have to be promoted. On one hand, government has a mandate of promoting agricultural products to gear towards self-sufficiency and on other hand it is also internationally given importance on the preservation of natural bio-diversity and also considered illegal to hunt down animals.

If both are to be promoted, the wild life conflict would just grow and the dream of gearing towards self-sufficiency would be in air. Both are equally important and even the farmers have now understood the effect of hunting down the animals not only from religious point of view but also from the biology point of view. Our farmers have been very co-operative with the government and government on other hand has been very supportive in maximizing the yield and also various measures were undertaken to minimize the wild life conflict. The government had issued metallic fencing, introduced fire balls to shoo away animals especially the elephants. Recently government has also taken an initiative in providing all farmers an electric fencing which frightens away the animals but are harmless. The electric fencing was well received by the villagers and now government has a plan to introduce same method throughout the country.   

This wildlife conflict has been a conflict for long and still a problem for many in some parts of the region. It is a conflict in itself, a conflict between the two important issues, the issue of maximizing the crop productions and the issue of saving bio-diversity. Hope there will be a peaceful co-existence of all soon. 

There is NO End to What we Want in Life

Before when I was a small boy, I would love to go to school when my brothers and other elders walk to school. I would always tell my parents, when will l be going to school. I would learn from my brother the things that he has learnt from schools. Then it was in 1995, I first went to school with my brother, very much excited in my newly bought school uniform.

Then I would long to reach high schools. High Schoolers, they looked very different from the juniors. They speak well, know how to dress up tidily and live in a decent way. When I climbed up the ladder of education, even the tension increased within me. I knew I have to work hard in order to qualify for next level especially when I was in class nine, by then I was in high school. I used to feel proud when I meet some of my younger siblings of junior school who looked envious (just like me). When I was in high school, then I started dreaming of college, a college where everybody lead their own life. I used to hear lots of stories of college days from our teachers and other elders from our village about their college lives. Quite inspiring, I started to work hard and finally I got an opportunity to go to college in Bhutan. Then I thought that is it. When in college, then I was tempted to get a job soon. I longed to finish college life even faster and get a job for myself. I did bachelors degree and fortunately I managed to get through civil service examinations. Then after having done post graduate for one year, I got into job in the year 2013. 

Now what? This is not the end. Now I want to climb up the career ladder as fast as I could and lead a happy life with happy family. I don't know what would be next mission in my life. I understood there is no end to what we want in life. In one way that is how we achieve our dreams and goals in life but on other hand, it is being too much greedy. What so ever, we have to have a mission in life, a mission, a goal that helps us to reach the epitome of good human beings in the society.