National Graduate Orientation Program 2011 (NGOP) in Session

Yesterday corresponding to the 10^th August 2011, some 1700 national graduates flocked into the Nazhoen Pelri auditorium, Thimphu. The briefing session that was scheduled to start at 9 AM couldn’t do so until much later as some of the graduates didn’t report on time and those who were on time didn’t take the seat properly. The committee members’ nightmare in maintaining the crowd was just too obvious.

With much hurdle, the graduates were accommodated into the packed hall and the session finally kicked off. The newly appointed secretary to the Ministry of Labor and Human Resources Dasho Pema Wangda gave an opening statement in Dzongkha, followed in English. “That’s the formality,” said he switching his speech to English. While we talk about diminishing usage of the national Dzongkha, and see the helpless state of Dzongkha Development Commission, I couldn’t help wondering how we couldn’t even conduct the ‘National’ session in our ‘national language’!

He clearly detailed down the main objectives of the NGOP session, while reminding each one of us to ‘derive the highest benefits’ from this program. He said that the online forums have seen disfavor in conducting such program, and that ‘given a choice, we would gladly stop’, but it has been felt by the highest authority that such a program be continued! Hence, yet again the NGOP 2011 themed “Meeting to Lead: Connecting our young Leaders”. 

...to be cont'd

Back to Blogger's World!

Finally, I am back into Blogging after more than a month. I have been busy: firstly graduating, secondly journeying back to my country Bhutan, and thirdly trying to settle down.

The month of June was the craziest of all, having to undergo a major transition! I landed on June 18th, in the Saturday afternoon on our second landing attempts due to 'unfavorable weather' at Paro. Coming home after nearly four years was a strange yet happy feeling.

Now that I am back, I am presented with so many things to address and attend to. Doing so keeps me away from this blogging world, and whenever I find time, the lack of the Internet connectivity makes it impossible to come. Oh, how I miss the broadband connection that I had there, lol. Unless I find an employment as soon as possible (where I can use the services accorded by the employer), I won’t be able to update or post any new articles here that regularly, so bear with me if you care (by the way, I hope you do care, lol).

Having said that, I will be preparing for the forthcoming BCSC exams (Bhutan Civil Service Common Examinations) preliminary examinations, which is scheduled on August 28, 2011, so wish me loads and loads of luck my dear readers!

A Lonely Journey to the US (Part IV)

(links to: Part III)

Cell phone glued onto my right ear, I aimlessly walked on the grassy land.

“Please God, let us talk for the last time again,” I said prayer silently. Luckily, she picked up the phone.

“Oye (Hello)!”

“Hello! Where are you, still here?”

“Yeah, at Paro waiting for the flight! What are you doing today?” I asked her in a subdued tone.

“Nothing; I don’t feel like doing anything. I am at home, can’t study,” she replied.

“Oh is it? Don’t worry my dear, we will see happily after four years. Do study well all right?”

“Hope you will keep all those promises you have made to me, but anyway I will wait and see. I started to miss you already!”

“Of course, don’t you trust me?” I answered with a question.

“So far I have never trusted anybody like I trust you. Don’t forget me!”

The conservation just got deeper and more emotional. I promised her I won’t forget ever and together we prayed for our healthy relationship. In the meantime, the whole Paro valley shook by the thunderous sound as the Druk Air plane appeared out of nowhere from the tall Mountains, and landed on one of the scariest Airports in the world-Paro International Airport. I learnt that only those specially trained pilots with sufficient familiarity with the local geography are certified to fly to this airport.

Knowing that my wait won’t be that long now, I called off my sweet heart. How saying ‘Goodbye’ was such a hard task!

My niece teased me about flying with that white aircraft which just landed.

“Khochung (Uncle), are you happy to fly now?”

I smile back, but I was actually so nervous and shaking like a sick person fighting with a dreadful Parkinson’s disease! The same lady called me in again to check my cabin baggage in. When I reached inside an abnormally cold room, she drilled me as to what and how to go about through the security check. I thanked her and headed to the left side of the terminal building. I thought she was following me, but she had others like me to attend to, quite understandably.

I saw scores of people in line going through the security check-one at a time. I followed the suit and walked past the x-ray machine when a guy stopped me suddenly. He told me to take off my handbag and put through the x-ray machine. I obediently took off the bag, and placed on a roller feeding the machine. By then the people who were in front had already been cleared and long gone. Feeling lost at that place, I looked around like a baby deer abandoned by his mother in a thick jungle. Soon a guy from the side of room pointed to the direction where I was supposed to be headed. I was about to step onto the next phase of the security check when a gentleman tidily dressed in a neat black uniform with round cap, like that of an Army officer, saluted upon seeing me!

“Kuzu wai! (Hello, Good Morning!)” He greeted me.

...to be cont'd

Bumthang ‘Charm-Fire’ (Chamkhar)?

Bumthang is known for its natural beauty blessed by numerous saints and lamas including the second Buddha Guru Rinpoche. From Kurje Lhakhang to Mebartsho, Bumthang indeed is a land of Charm. But unfortunately the charm is under attack by fire as of late. The Chamkhar town, which is now third in a row gutted down by the disastrous fire accident, has raised so many eye brows across the nation. The very first accident garnered a nation-wide sympathy, while second one raised a few questions/suspicions, and I am sure now this third one would raise ever more questions and eye brows!
Why just in the Chamkhar town? Is Chamkhar town electrified differently? Are people being stubbornly careless with electricity? Is our disaster management proactive or reactive or more importantly prepared enough to fight with such a catastrophe? If it was an electric short-circuit, are our electric appliances or wiring safe? So on and on…These are the very pertinent questions that everybody should be pondering on.

Electricity is a good servant but a bad master, we are being cautioned thus. Of course only if it was taken that seriously, neither does Gyelpoi Zhimpoen’s office have to be on toes (all the time) nor would the Chamkhar town have to be rebuilt thrice in two years! These unfortunate repeated fire accidents have generated both sympathizers as well as suspicions. The Opposition Leader has twitted, “1st fire in Oct. 2nd in Feb. 3rd this morning. All 3 started at abt 2:30 AM. Strange. Residents suspect arson caused this morning’s fire”. Yes its strange! Could the investigation team be able to come up with any conclusive findings that would be necessary to help better respond to such accidents in the future? Let us wait and see!

National Assembly is in session now, and I don’t know if they are going to discuss anything new and concrete, particularly on the disaster management. We often say we Bhutanese take things cautiously learning through mistakes. But we have already seen so many problems and mistakes, how long are we going to wait to correct the mistaken things and put some safety measures in place? It is high time the concerned authority raised the alert level, and framed a rule for a mandatory requirement of Fire extinguisher and the smoke detector in every house all across the nation. Accordingly, educate and train the people on handling those equipments, so that they don’t have to fully rely on the under manned fire-fighters and fire trucks. Fire accidents are preventable and we should be fully aware of how to prevent it!

Until and unless something drastic is carried out, there will be many Chamkhar towns in waiting across the nation. Hope this fire accident was purely accidental, but if the investigation team finds otherwise, justice should be prevailed and necessary action carried out!

May God Bless Bhutan, and my condolences to all the people affected by the latest accident!

A Lonely Journey to the US (Part III)

(Links to: Part I, Part II)

As our car accumulated more and more mileage towards the destination (the airport), the breathtaking beauty of Paro valley unfurled itself naturally.

“No wonder foreigners pay USD 250 per head per day to visit our country,” I convinced myself.

I was still challenged with my speech, though; neither did I scream for joy nor cry out loud for departing with my loved ones. I did that all by myself in complete silence!

Shortly into the Paro valley the Paro International Airport came to my sight-the green roofed terminal buildings, and the only runway running parallel to the road leading to the main Paro downtown. The gate welcomes us into the airport compound; this time even more welcoming as our car rolled in full speed straight towards the entrance. I remember and agree with how a tourist described his first experience on the road right after landing on the soil of Bhutan. Loosely paraphrasing, the tourist wrote, “The first half a kilometer or so of road from the airport is almost insulting (misleading?)…That smooth and straight road comes to an complete end…” adding that if you already thought the roads in Bhutan are wonderful going by that section of the road, you are wrong, the remaining journey are nowhere close to that; instead be prepared for a rollercoaster ride.

Like he said, the double lane straight approach-road provided us a finest approach to the airport. Our car momentarily came to a halt right at the entrance and brother Sangay quickly pulled my bag out from the trunk. Our driver was nothing like a regular cabbie; he not only looked professional in conduct but also was caring like my immediate family members. I thanked him for rising up so early and driving us till airport. Surprisingly he offered to wait for my sister, niece and my brother even if it took more than an hour or so. Basically he was going to wait until I took off.

While he was headed to the parking lot, a lady in a clean navy blue dress approached us from the building. Later I came to know that she is a good friend of Anna Karma who is working for Druk Air. My sister introduced us. She looked active and friendly. She took my only bag from my brother for check in. I shook hands with my brother, patted on my 2^nd grader niece, and Anna as I bade farewell to the final lot of my loved ones! My newly met lady friend had already passed the gate and was waving at me, so I followed her hastily like a baby running after an escaping mother. Breaking into a sweet smile, she asked me to hand her my passport and the ticket. I nervously unbuttoned my handbag dangling diagonally from my shoulder, and handed her the required documents she asked for. She placed my bag on the counter, attached a few papers on it and pushed into the scanning room. My big black bag rolled helplessly into the room. She came towards me and asked me to stay outside or inside since my flight was not until 10:00 AM or later depending on the weather. In fact, the Aircraft, which would take me, was on the way to Paro, she told me. She walked me out till where my brother, Anna, niece and our driver stood. They were little surprised to me again shortly after our departure (lol). We sat down on the green lawn in front of the entrance and created some last minute fun moments. Both my brother and sister advised me to be cautious while traveling alone and at the same time assured me that everything would be all right. I felt comforted in that moment, but how I so wished I had someone accompanying me.

Talking of accompanying, I had already begun to miss my girl friend. Running almost three years in a relationship, I have drawn comfort, inspiration, and happiness from her all day in and day out. We just cursed the cruel fate for making us lead into two different directions. Right then, I thought I should call her for the last time. I remembered the other day I recharged my cell phone worth of Nu. 500 so there should be some balance. I had used some minutes calling my friends, relatives, and family who were in my contact list. Just before I went inside for baggage check in with the lady, I had given my cell phone to Ata Sangay. So now I needed it back to see if I could get hold of my darling. I excused from them, stepped aside and dialed to the person whom I never get tired of talking.

....to be cont'd

P.S. Please leave your valuable feedbacks below, help me correct some grammatical mistakes or nonsensical phrases/sentences!

Our Royal Wedding!

HM & would-be-queen Jetsun Pema
Picture courtesy: Bhutan Observer

It was 2 AM, and I was on the bed when I suddenly felt like checking the twitter updates. The first thing I saw was just unbelievable. I couldn't believe for a while, but as I scrolled further, I saw few more similar updates-The HISTORIC update indeed about the "Royal Wedding"! Immediately the next prominent question popped up in my mind "who could be that future Queen?" A few more scrolls down, I found someone already twitted "HM to be married with a commoner Jetsun Pema..."

Normally I don't miss to listen to HM's speech and other important events on live BBS radio from the internet. Being away from country, I rely heavily on the online news for the updates about the country and the world.

But last night when I saw the updates, I had already missed the live speech! Because I didn't know that the National Assembly Session was beginning from yesterday. None of the new papers reported or provided hats up about the coming up of the Parliament session this week.

Although I can always find the recorded audio or video later on, you don't get the real feel as the live speech!

So thats my rant on the new papers! (lol)

But all in all, looking forward to our Royal Wedding and already excited about the month of October!!

In the meantime, thanks twitter for enabling us to share a real time news and events!

A Lonely Journey to the US (Part II)

(Picture courtesy: Google Images)

(Link to: Part I)

They were all seated at the back seat and kept the front seat for me. I gestured to my Ata to sit on the front seat to which he stubbornly declined without even a word. As I stepped onto the sit, the driver (Anna’s co-worker) turned the engine ignition bringing ‘our car’ into life in a roaring fashion. After tapping a few times on the gas pedal (accelerator) oozing out a thick smoke from the rear exhaust, it rolled to a full momentum meandering along the road above Zilukha Lower Secondary School. Just as it was about to make a U-turn at Chophel-Jungshina-Zilukha tri-junction, my phone beeped. It was from my long time friend Kinzang Chophel whom at that time was training for traditional physician (Menpa) at Institute of Traditional Medicines, the only institute in the country catering to people of traditional Tibetan diagnosis and medication. We have been friends since 4^th standard at Tsebar Lower Secondary School, under Pema Gatshel district. During our stay in Thimphu after being graduated from high school, we had spent time together here and there, but at the last hours, we couldn’t meet since we were both caught up in our own busy world. I assured him that it was okay and that I would write to him from the US after seeing him crying over the phone. I bade him farewell, and dialed again to my mom and dad who were already up waiting for my call at Khawar goenpa, a village under Khar geog, Pema Gatshel District. As I heard their voice from that small mysterious device, I broke down into tears but quickly realized that it was not good to cry. My dad, a clergy, informed me that the journey would be safe and peaceful for he had already performed all the rituals necessary to ward off the evil spirits and to please our protective deity. I called them off, and immediately dialed to my uncle Jangchuk and Aunt Pema. They were also up and like not taking anything into granted, my uncle (a clergy like my dad) was also performing a “serkem”-a ritual to please the protective deity for my safe journey to a place unknown. I could hear him reciting the prayer and in time also answering to my call.

Meantime our Maruti Taxi has already entered the Thimphu downtown through the Zorzin lam. The street was quiet, fresh, and clean unlike the normal hours, which becomes dusty, busy and crazy! Just about the first ever five-Star hotel in Bhutan-Taj Tashi, our car made a left turn cruising down hill till the roundabout from where it took a right turn and headed in a full speed. The town was still quiet and about to mature out of dawn that made us difficult to recognize those early risers: some logging and some merely walking along the street. But two men looked rather familiar to me, so I stopped our quiet yet very friendly looking driver. Two men who I later recognized as Khochung (uncle) Yongba and Khothkin Bogar, approached us seeing me waving at them. After we exchanged a few words, we hit the road once again; this time in full speed on the only expressway in Bhutan towards Paro. The chilly wind of the Semtokha valley drove my sleep away completely, and the valley offered a spectacular scene of Thimchu (wangchu river) snaking down the valley.

However, I can easily say that it was the most emotionally challenged and boring trip I have taken thus far. There was a total silence in the car except the roaring of the car and the hissing sound of the approaching wind! Time to time I looked back in quest to break the silence, but I couldn’t utter anything. I lost my speech, literally! All three of them were facing at the different directions as if to hide their tears or something else. Of course, that’s exactly what I had to do. Soon we were on a dusty and bumpy section of the road leading to the Chuzom checkpost. The road alignment and a work to upgrade the previous single-lane road to double-lane in preparation for the most important event in the history of Bhutan-the coronation of the Fifth King by Project Dantak was in full swing. The driver bravely maneuvered around, negotiated the turns and snarling potholes and in about 8 AM we entered the beautiful Paro valley.


....to be cont'd