Dreaming before thirty…

I had these three dreams to be fulfilled… own a car, write a book and get a Masters degree. All of these dreams must be realized before I turn thirty. I had made up not a lofty but a fair goal in my life. I had these dreams in my mind and every sleeping moment of my nights, I tried and worked towards realizing these dreams. I could achieve two of my dreams with strict military precision but the third one made me update this one here today.

Dream 1

When I got into the civil service, not many cars were driven and only the upper middle class and the wealthy could afford one. I got into the civil service in 2007 and I was posted to a very difficult place. Degala in Zhemgang. Zhemgang had few cars which belonged to the business community and some high ranking officials of the Dzongkhag administration. The domestic roads were used mostly by domestic animals and thus it was underutilized. Finally when I came back to civilization, every one owned a car each. That’s when I decided to own one. This was my dream number one after I left college. I owned a car before turning thirty.

Dream 2

I was always fascinated with print and this fascination came when I was in my eighth grade. I hastily wrote a small free verse prayer to my king and it was later printed in the school magazine. To see my name in black and white of something that I wrote gave me so much happiness that for once I thought, I wrote a literary masterpiece. That was then. In my Degala days, I was wondering what I should write about. Then, one fine evening over some sips of Bangchang, the idea of writing struck me. Why not I write about myself? Of experiences of a teacher teaching in a remote school and thus I began writing. Since Degala had only natural lights, I had to buy a car battery, an inverter and assemble some obsolete solar panels for power. Every night before bed I used to write about my life in that remote place. The noise from the inverter didn’t deter my passion to write. Reading was fun as well, in this remote place, I subscribed to the monthly Reader’s Digest. In the silence of this remote school I wrote my very first book, ‘Beyond the call of daily life’. And thus I authored a book before turning thirty.

After getting transferred to an electrified place, I kept alive this passion to write by blogging (www.lobzangn.blogspot.com). Since 2011, I have been blogging and I am now an active member of the CBB (Community of Bhutanese Bloggers) and WAB (Writers Association of Bhutan).  In the past, when there were plenty of private newspapers in circulation, I was one of the contributors. One in particular, Bhutan Observer printed all of my articles and even to this day I have friend there.

Dream 3

This is one dream that I am still trying to reach. I dreamt of undergoing my Masters Degree before turning thirty but it seems fate has delayed this dream for me. I am now 32 and I am still dreaming of it. I hope someday I will be able to reach it. An old friend of mine once remarked, “Don’t just dream, do it” on getting myself a Masters degree. Other friends of mine got theirs from India and elsewhere while I was cocooned in Degala writing a partial memoir.

I believe dreaming about goals and working towards achieving it can definitely make a person productive, efficient and industrious.

So keep dreaming!