Freaking Gossips!

From kindergarten until my college, all I ever heard flow out of the ugly mouths was insults, teases, and other such things like, “You should just die, because nobody loves you!”  Ah, and such were the times my heart grew colder, darker, and isolated.  I can’t count the times I had often dreamt of them finding slow and painful ends, but I knew better than to wish damnation on others.   Even if the adults near me turned a blind eye for any sake, I was not so weak as to let them rule my life, and smart enough to not raise a physically threat against them.

I do have friends and I am proud to say I have a loving wife. I wish to make my life and time with her the most memorable part of my life. I have a humble thought of making her the happiest being by my standards. I live a decent life and I am pretty vocal when I talk about issues. And this is who I am; it will be me till the end. No god can deny that I am who I am. I can change some bad habits for my wife and not for everyone else. When I am journeying this life pretty comfortably who gives people the right to comment and envy my life. I am now sure their lives aren’t as comfortable as mine. I am doing well with life. They aren’t. So the criticism ensues. 

Their dark and evil-intended comments on me will come back to them and I grudgingly want this to happen right before my very own eyes and see their plight and agony of hopelessness. Then I can breathe a sigh of ultimate relief. Such hatred has come within me and it would be ridiculous to name the people here. Not for now at least. 

I felt victim to a recent criticism in which I had no freaking part. Everyone believed in gossip and I am pretty sure everyone must have got the point. I cannot challenge and confront the ones against me. They remind me that I am living and kicking. They make me feel that I am superior to them. Thanks to the ones that envy me of my character and whatsoever. I needn’t consult anyone for my belief and thoughts. I am better off than others in any matter. Any matters!

For those ugly mouths they are an ‘eyesore’ to the society and I consider them ‘Freaks’. As long as I am happy and content, I don’t need to explain myself on what to do with others-let the public be damned!

Pity requiring moves

Last night, an unusual news update caught my grey matter while I was having a chat at my neighbor. I was talking to Agay Sonam Wangdi, grandpa to one of my closest friend. A revered figure in his family line! The news was, whether or not the ceremonial sword-Patag should be given to women of high positions. What on earth is happening to the elected people in power? I got this idea to pen it down again after seeing a facebook update of my mate Langa Tenzin, who like me is blogger. 

This is absurd and the thought itself stirs pity to either the ones who are getting it or the ones who think of altering the age old customs of our people. If women wore ‘Patas’ how would the sight be? Perhaps awkward! Agay tells me during his days ‘Patas’ meant responsibilities not power. The power of somebody is signified by the ‘Kabney’ worn. ‘Pata’ for women is absurd because in the past women didn’t have to go for battles unless one inherited the character traits of “Jhansi ki Rani”-LOL!

Are customs changing with governments? It might be so if we consider what is happening of late. This isn’t the first time a woman has reached such height in the bureaucracy. Did the Anti Corruption chairperson make such claim or did the lady Dzongda demand a ‘pata’, since both were awarded red scarves by K5. Absurdity! This brings me to one wise saying, “If you want to know me, give me power” and this is what’s happening in Bhutan’s post election period. Such pity requiring moves. 

And we were and still are the citizens of this dragon kingdom and we were long ruled by the dragon kings. We still do. The royal families of Bhutan were very instrumental in making who we are now and we should learn from them. They are at a higher pedestal than all of us and let us look at the female members of this royal family. Imagine all our princess and princesses with a ‘pata’! Imagine the plight of the person who wishes to decorate our ladies with a sword. I surely do not wish to see the sight of making it a necessity for the position holders.

“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”
                                                                                                                             ― Mahatma Gandhi

Silence is what silence does!

Sorry for the wacky title. Of late, I have been thinking deeply or rather insightfully, about writing on something abstract. After a day or two of soul searching I arrived at this topic. In fact, this happens to all of us and this became great shelters for the great minds of the world. I too believe that there is wisdom and knowledge to be gained from ‘Silence’-even for a retard like me. And yes silence is what silence does!

For people with different aptitudes and attitudes (I included), silence can mean many things. Silence therefore can embody mystery, jealousy, guilt, greed, hatred, passion, love, anger, fear, care, affection, repentance, resentment, doubt etc…etc…

Image Courtesy: Google Images

My experience with silence brings me to this conclusion that desires and expectations result in silence and thus, all the connotations above! Resentment keeps one silent. Guilt keeps one silent and so is with all other connotations. Although, all connotations may vary in their degree of meaning but inversely or directly, it can precede or succeed silence, for my reasoning cannot go beyond this because human mind and imagination to me is a big mystery. 

Silence is what silence does! Silence gives me all the ‘viewing points’ rather than ‘points of view’. There is great power and wisdom in growing to the point where silence becomes our friend.  It is in silence that we best listen and a great portion of life's best secrets can only be learned in silence. And what do I do when in silence? Write! That’s right! 

I write because I can do this meaningfully when in silence. Find out what you can do best when in silence and please do remember remaining idle in silence is work-shopping devil. LOL!

Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves.      - Thomas Carlyle

My words my wish: A classroom experience!

It is customary in a school set up to intellectually debate over what has been written in black and white viz. personal letters, official letters, notices both formal and informal etc. And there are a handful of teachers who actually specialize in language teaching. I am no exception. That’s right I teach English for my living. I do not claim either implicitly or explicitly that I am the all-knowing saint in English. Reader’s discretion is advised! I do enjoy teaching English and there are some senior students who like me have a passion for writing. 

One in particular, our bell captain writes beautiful verses on love. I call him Tshering Keats Tobgay after the romantic John Keats. 

Fridays are grammar days and after teaching children the word ‘Sizzling’ with its root word “Sizzle” and after all the obvious input on this word, I asked my class to mentally construct a sentence using the word. 0f the 28 sentences I listened to, one in particular made me ‘laugh my heads off’. The genius in the front told me, “My aunty is sizzling”. He came to my school from a remote school and I am definitely sure that he didn’t mean to say that. I asked “Where is your aunty now?” and to this he said, “Yuekha (village)”. I had to re-teach the word ‘sizzle’ again. 

Some days ago, I watched a humorous video on youtube about an English teacher who scolds his class for not greeting him. He says, “Teacher enter. No notice. Full insult” in a typical questioning Indian accent.  Likewise the news reader of TV’s and radios especially ours  have much to learn. I sometimes feel they didn’t do their home work well. So, my mantra for getting rid of speaking and writing badly is to read. Just read! Otherwise we will choose to believe; ‘English might be the most widespread language in the world but there’s still no ham in hamburger, no egg in eggplant and neither pine nor apple in pineapple’ and left out of time.

English has all the features and attributes to make it a universal language, with its own complexity and uniqueness. Lets us not add to it our own version of linguistic jargons as our children already have indigestion with grammar. We cannot afford to say MY WORDS MY WISH, whether or not if its right in the literal sense.

Good day folks!

The little Park Avenue!

Just like the Americans, we in Bhutan have now become very much obsessed with land, owning a house and a car. This is the ‘American Dream’ where everyone is given an opportunity to own it as people say, “America is the land of opportunities”. Now, according to critics and economists, this balance of power is shifting towards the east. If you know what I mean! 

Whether or not you may like to believe, corporations run the American dream in America. And here, we are yet to figure that out! Corporations feed government, politics, banking, energy, health, education, housing and the list goes on and on. There are a few select top millionaires and ultra rich who run this business of controlling almost all activities in America. Why can’t ordinary Americans afford to pay for health? It’s because they can’t afford the insurance. America is no longer what we fantasize in movies and in televisions. There are working people who can’t afford a decent housing although they trade with the most powerful currency in the world. So is the same with all other sectors. Rich minority with poor majority is the scene in the USA. And these ultra rich reside in Park Avenue, NYC. 

In Bhutan, Thimphu is growing out to be the little Park Avenue for the relatively rich and the wealthy and it has suffered an increasing number of youth unemployment thereby multiplying a host of other urban nuisance. Everything that governs Bhutan is located in Thimphu. An inconvenient truth! I pay my visit to the capital bi-annually for several reasons and the most happening thing would be never ending housing nightmares and new faces in search of opportunities. Can I make the assumption that there are some select wealthy who indirectly owns government? Let’s not make this happen in Bhutan. I also do positively hope that the government now will not let this happen otherwise we are being capitalistic in the name of progress, development and economic prosperity. 

Let us not make Thimphu another NYC with its own little Park Avenue! 

Every sphere of our unique life is colored with traditions and beliefs and it should remain such that we can proudly declare that we are the true people who value love, ethics, culture, morality so on and so forth. Otherwise, it won’t be long when we have to feed on cheap Chinese products which America does today. I want all my fellow bloggers and readers to think about the following, the world fears China not for its communism but for its capitalism!

Food for thought: “The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” -Thomas Jefferson