Tenzin! Gaaghi - Who did this to you?

The Art that made Tenzin cry

The flower exhibition at the palace ground in Paro was unlike anything else in its scale. It took me hours to finish seeing all that was being exhibited. I took my Tenzin to see all that was exhibited and restless as she is, lost interest and started walking on her own. I followed her to whichever direction she walked to. Finally we arrived at this beautiful art where vegetables and some fruits were displayed. She instantly recognized the cucumbers. What next?

A moment before she cried!

She pointed at those cucumbers and started nagging me on getting her one. Had there not been the person explaining this beautiful art I would have silently grabbed one and given to her. In the midst of hundreds of people, how could I meet her demand? She started crying so loud only to make me red-ashamed. I picked her up and childishly said “Gaaghi” several times. A moment later she forgot what she had done.

On one of my visits to the municipal office to pay some utility bills, a little boy in his 2^nd year or so was crying so loud pointing at a tricycle near the shop and imagine the plight of the father who was red like me and was requesting the shop owner on paying the cost later in the evening. I am sure his cash at hand wasn’t enough. He had to finally buy the cycle and I could see a smile on the little boys’ watery face.

Again on a mundane stroll in the town here at Thimphu I was stopped to get a large pink ball that caught her eye displayed near a Pan shop. I had to get her the ball or else, face the consequence of being red-ashamed again.

At home when my little one does something not acceptable, mommy scolds her and pats her back. To this she cries out loud and looks for me. Until she finds me, this crying continues. After a while when her genuine cry in pain is gone and to make me feel cared for her, she deliberately cries out loud, sometimes making me laugh my heads off. Kids these days…I have to pick her up and say, “Gaaghi” several times to make her stop.

Once a day at least, this ‘Gaaghi’ sound for consoling my Tenzin echoes at home and during weekends the count multiples. A kid’s job is to push boundaries and I can never say where this boundary ends and begins and for my little one, I have read this somewhere but couldn’t put it exactly that way I read it. It goes something like, ‘A father will always give in to his daughters demands because the daughter knows there is at least one man who will never hurt her’.