Home, Hearth and Heart!

An old Bhutanese maxim reads, “There is no such place as your home, be it under a bridge”. After years of staying away, working and making a living for myself, I completely forgot that I grew up in a place elsewhere from where I now work. For years at end I have lived in a remote place, and then got transferred to a semi-urban town. Now, I reside in Bhutan’s largest city. All this change in places didn’t deter my nostalgia of going back down memory lane. I made sure I pay my annual visit to this place and relive all the past that grew me up.

This place was instrumental (in all sense of the word) in my formative years. Everyone has a place of this formative grooming and then live elsewhere as this maxim puts it, “A child is at peace with his mother, but must leave even if peace prevails”.

I got beaten up by people, beat up people here. I, for the first time knew what infatuation is and what can love really mean in this place. I learnt how to drive in this place. I knew how to play basketball in this place and I even got my driving license in this place. The school which was an elementary school then is a middle school now. The current principal in this school was my Geography teacher, Mr. DS Tamang.

I lied to my parents in this place, got pats for the jobs and work well done both at home and at school in this place, bullied my siblings in this place and got smacked for doing that many a time from my mom. Now when I look back at the childhood I spent, it brings a faint smile on my face and I cherish those moments with much awe. There is always a sense of sentimental attachment in this place and all my naughty friends back then are all working and famili-ed now.

We do gather at times to relive our past and talk about all the naughty things we did. One criminal act that comes to my mind even now is, me and a best friend of mine stole the neighbor’s fowl and ate it near the Wangchu River. Some days later, we heard of getting someone punished for our acts. This remains a secret to this day. My best friend is a successful Entrepreneur here in Thimphu. We talk of this when we meet. All this adds to the growing up anecdotes. 

My dad still works for the Hydro Power Plant in this place. The place I have been trying to mention is, yes you have guessed it, and you are right! Chukha!