Sunday, June 24, 2012

The National Tragedy..

The irony behind the fire in WangduePhodrang Dzong is that it occured at the height of monsoon.  It  rained incessantly at Chumey and as i drove to the town with Lop Sonam, i had talked to him the following: Now it looks like the real monsoon has hit us. Ofcourse,he agreed with me. But far from being true, as i listened to various updates, it seemed otherwise. There was not a single raindrop during entire the inferno at Wangue Dzong. How sad!
 I was agonised to hear that such a monumental history could be razed down to ashes with in hours. I called up my mother at Gelephu to see if she heard the news. "Yalama, for real?", she wouldn't believe me for sometime.
So this is where we stand. We fail to preserve the history that we inherited. Alas, the degenerative times!
Personally, i have always considered Wangduephodrang Dzong more spectacular than any other Dzongs despite its rich historical background. That is a history again. Perhaphs, history repeats itself.
We did hear of a similar incident about Drukgyel Dzong. And, I believe most of us saw similar incident in Taktsang too. Now we see this.
Today i woke up earlier than my usual bell. Infact i had wanted to read updates from friends notably from PaSsu, who i thought would never fail to update his blog. I saw some incredible photos of the fire from his blog. And few more pictures of Old WangdueDzong from another serious blogger in Mr.Dorji(of Butterfly fame!). They do commendable jobs in highlighting serious thoughts.
 Hmm, as i write this painfully, i am half nervous about the Examinations that is going on in my School. I called my Vice Principal to ask whether or not we should continue with our exams. She had informed me to see if students are present. I hung up my cell and looked for the keys to Exam room of my school....

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Exam Time..

Besides coordinating weekly meetings at home with Choden, i also coordinate the exam stuff in my School which is why i couldnt update my blog last sunday. Since midterm is in full swing, i seldom get time. And what is more, the Euro2012 has all the odd timings to disrupt my sleep routine. Honestly, i am a friendly sleeper. I can soundly sleep full half day and when i wake up, i would still feel like i have just returned from an exhausting military drill. A peaceful sleeper i am. I dont snore. I dont talk while in my sleep. I dont even remember having farted in my bed consciously or unconsciously, i bet it. He he.
But i have had numerous counts of traumatic sleep as a student. One of my roomies habitually snored but we had lengthy procedures to change our rooms. Our Warden would never encourage it. Another somnambulist friend of mine frequently used to get into paranormal activity in his sleep. In one such occasion,  i and one of my classmates were deeply involved doing some hush hush revisions in Calculus since it was past midnight and we didnt want to disturb our third roomie who had slept long before to wake up early. Then, all of a sudden, the sleeping pig wakes up and talks to us. "Scissors yoed ga?", he asks us with his index finger and middle finger making a perfect V. "Scissors ya, Jambay?", i ask him again to make sure he wasnt just talking in his sleep.  He nods his head and dreamy eyes. Surprised,I look at the other friend who was solving problems with me. "Nyelam na immey", he reassures me. Sure enough, the scissor-man is back with his business sleeping soundly again.
Well, i was talking about football matches right? As a matter of fact, i got involved in a friendly betting scheme. I tried to employ all my mental facilities and put my stake with Spain though i do fear those tall Germans. I had promised Choden and kids for an exotic outing if i won the bet. I only wish if that slimy Octopus was still alive and now i miss him more than my college girlfriend!:)

Also, last week Choden was sick for a couple of days. So i had to nervously multi-task. No doubt, it is difficult, especially for me. As a rule i have never allowed myself the freedom of doing multiple things at one time except multiple thoughts. Thinking is easy. You can think about god and ghost side by side. Sometimes when i pray, which is admittedly rare, i think about all the almighty gods and beastly ghosts fighting eachother and finally the fusion of the two enters into me. I am half god and half beast when i pray.
Likewise, i can recall, at one time,a number of elements in the Periodic Table in their increasing atomic mass and also the leaked sex-tapes from pinoy! Similarly, i can think about the deteriorating health of my ailing parents and also my next promotion at a time. :)

Saturday, June 2, 2012

All is Not Well.

All is not well in the broading kitchens! For one, hostel mess is alarmingly dirty. But dirt is not what annoys most of the Principals. What annoys them is when they are burdened with swollen legs.
And now more students have complained of swollen legs. Much to our surprise, it is nothing to do with elephantiasis. Doctors in the eastern dzongkhags had made their message crystal clear that students do not meet RDA(recommended dietary allowance). In simple words, our students are being fed with food from the school mess that is devoid of sufficient nutrition for a healthy living. The MoE have been trying to integrate new schemes to cover up the embarrassment before it becomes national shame. Few months ago the hon'ble Sherig Lyonpo emphasised the need to increase the students' monthly stipend while the Jury needed more proof . I can give proofs to mathematical theorems but a proof for deficient nutrition? I tell you, anyone who could convince DPT about the urgent need to increase students' stipend would virtually reserve Sherig Lyonpo's berth for the next election.
As a student, most of us do remember how hard life was especially in a boarding school. I still remember how carefully i would use my right hand to hold my big steel Thali(!) while my left hand would dexterously make another wall around the rim of that Thali so that every single grain of rice dropped in my plate! We survived on buckwheat broods during lean periods. But not a single student died of hunger or dehydration.
Comparatively, human body is quite complex to fully understand. It needs all the available carbohydrate, proteins, minerals and vitamins for proper growth. Often, we supplement it in the form of iron tablets, vitamin tablets, calcium tablets..blah blah. And yet still, we discover each passing year, we have been poorly feeding our body.Big mouth! lol
Well, for a healthy body, truth be told, demands are high. You need proteins, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, fibres etc and these foods do not come freely from WFP programme.:)
 Despite low GDP,Bhutan still towers in the "most happiest" countries in the world and this gives us reasons to celebrate notwithstanding how poorly our people take their daily meals.
So, are we poor? Once,I asked this query to Choden and she thought i was kidding with her. For her, poor means India and Africa but not Bhutan.:)