Random Photographs

Cotton flower in my campus

Cotton

Those are actually leaves, but looks like flower

Dead fallen leaves

Sweet Daisy

Gangnam Style of Doing Research ?

The mercury level in Gujarat is rising. And it is rising fast. The days are turning out to be as hot as the Gujarati days it self. Its spring and I am suppose to see lot of flowers and birds. I am suppose to feel rejuvenated. But all I am seeing here is still a dead barren ground covered with dust. Its dry everywhere. well, this is just a short update from Gujarat 

The other news, I want to share is that, I am drowning with a thing called research writing. With less than 3 months at my disposal, I have an academic requirement to submit a thesis to my university. I am worried and I am spending sleepless nights. At this hour I have no words that would convey how grateful I am to Google. Its only through Google that I am able to collect few data here and there. I am trying my best to make my paper look academic and honest. But its proving to be very difficult. 

But interestingly, I met few of my class mates the day before. Some of them are clueless and they are in much worse condition than me. Most of them haven't typed a single page till now! But I am surprised, very very very surprised indeed to hear them say that research can be done in just two days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Gangnam style of doing research could be its name I suppose.

Today I checked my Diary and I found out that the due date for its submission is not that far. I am frantic. At times I am becoming clueless. In the morning hours, I went to see my guide, but he was not available. I presumed he is gone for a puja. the Holy puja. God! the puja is costing Inida millions of hours every year! and here its costing me my valuable hours too! 

As I stood under the giant fan in the corridor, I could sense so many thoughts rush my spine. In between, a flying pigeon got hit by fan and died right in front of me. No No. It flew bleeding. Must have died somewhere. I waited little longer and then met my other professor. He came as a father of good news to me. He told me not to panic.  From the conversation I had with him, I came to know that even the professors themselves are aware about the mighty task that we are made to handle. 

On my way back, I saw some kids playing Holi. I clearly sensed their interest in me. They wanted to color me pink blue and green. With white trouser and a white shirt, it didn't seem a great idea. So to keep them at bay, I gave them a frowning look.

International Days I Missed

My past week has been busiest week of my life. Running for classes and preparing for the exams, walking between the college and my apartment. In the heat and in the dust, I had the most terrifying days. Therefore I missed celebrating some of the the most important international days. 

First international day I missed was the International day of Happiness. I was so caught up with my exams that I barely had enough time to update my Facebook.  However in the evening, I saw many Facebook wall flooded with happiness wishes. Here is one from our Prime Minister:

"My Dear Friends,

The world today comes together for the first time to celebrate the International Day of Happiness. It is for the first time that human beings all over the world will be united in thought and reflection on this universal aspiration that sets us apart from all other forms of life on earth. We are the only kind that knows the meaning and purpose of life to be higher than survival and well-being.

Happiness is not just a desire; it is our only true need. Without it, we are empty, unfulfilled and sad. Without it, our life has no purpose. Yet, it is seldom that we pause to ask ourselves: am I doing what makes me happy? Is my pursuit of money, status and fame what I really need? Is being better off than my friend, neighbor or peer what will make me happy? Am I focused on the right things in life or am I a twig drifting in the stream of mindless acts? Am I allowing myself to be swept away on to the shores of unhappiness?

May you have a great day of reflection and be blessed with understanding! May you have a Happy Day with family and friends!

Just like our PM, I tried with all my emotion to extol happiness. I thought I would write about what happiness means to me and how each individuals can find happiness in  their own ways. Did the world really come together that day or was there a real need for such a day. These were some of the questions I asked myself that day. But for now International Happiness day is over. But rest of the days are not sad days. So lets move on. 

The second International day I missed was the international poetry day. Although I like poetry head over heels, I was never able to write a good poem so far. The last time I remember trying poetry was in the year 2000. I was in class twelve then. I recall experiencing the best of my poetic feeling those days. I may have written over hundred poems, but not a single poem read like a poem. Later when I read about Marine Moore's lesson on Poetry, I felt embarrassed to the core. Her poetry told me not to attempt poetry anymore. And hence all my poetry remained hidden at the bottom of my trunk. Then came the results of my English paper. I think I scored the lowest. My English teacher mocked at me. Well that was it. I think his words were the bullet that killed my poetry for good. That winter I lost my entire poetry book. So that was the end of my poetry note book too. 

The other International day I missed this week was the international water day. All I know about water resources is that more than 72% of our earth is water. Looks like lot of water on this planet though! But what most people miss to see is that only a marginal 1.6% is fresh water. With rising population, the pressure on that marginal amount of drinkable water is increasing every day. This scarcity might some day push people to go for a war. Its alarming but some people have already predicted it. So there is a genuine need for all of us to save water. I think our collective act will make a difference here. Hence I do not see forgetting to take bath ( which I often do) as a regrettable affair. I feel I am contributing positively in saving water!

Finally, we have world earth hour coming tomorrow. I am being told that this is an initiative to create awareness about the need to take action on climate change. So come 8:30 PM, I am going to switch off all the lights in my room. With the heat of Gujarat, I am preparing for a  sauna bath in my room tomorrow. 

Message From an Anonymous Reader.

One Anonymous visitor has left a message on my blog. I don't know why he had done that. Although some typo and grammatical errors are visible, he has tried his best to bring forth something on how being arrogant is fatal. I think he has written something which makes lot of sense in this age. Aren't we all little arrogant ? Please read his thoughts:

"Arrogant is one of the primary weakness of human and it can be happened to all of us. Arrogant is also one of demon habits which started when the decline to bow upon Adam AS. Life is about caring each other and helping who’s needed. If human continually breed the arrogant inside them, hatred will rise and destroy humanity. What will happen to us if people all around us are arrogant?

History has recorded many failures because of arrogant. Pharaoh, King of Egypt confess himself as a god that must be obeyed and he also confess that he can bring dead to life and take life. When Pharaoh debating against Musa A.S about his ability to give or takes life, he ask two of his man two come. He kills one of them and left the other unharmed. After that he said to Musa A.S “Do I look like your god, able to brings and takes life”. However, can pharaoh bring back the life of the man that he kills?

Today, we can see a people are very arrogant. Most of them did not realize that there is someone powerful. They do thing that they wanted ignoring other people all around them. As a result, people around them suffered. Arrogant affect us in many aspect such as mental, physical and emotion. They do have high self-esteem but they never felt so humble and this make them being hated by other people. We cannot stay together or make friend with people like this because they really don’t understand what the true meaning of friendship.

We look deep into ourselves and this is how we remind ourselves that there is nothing to be arrogant. We born to this world in the same way and we have our own believe. If we believe our god than there is no reason why should we be arrogant? We must feel humble when we dealing with other people. Humble is a respect to another people and this will make them comfortable with us."

I am 33 Plus and I am Feeling Nostalgic

Yesterday midnight when the clock struck 12, I became 33. I don't know the reason yet but I feel I am aging faster than my age. As the wishes started raining on my Facebook, I felt my excitement level surge. I became restless like a child, so eager to slice the cake, blow off the candle and sing aloud.  

But on the other hand I felt nostalgic about my beautiful past. To be precise I felt nostalgic about my past journey in life. As a little boy, I had all the fun in the world except the birthday fun.

As I progressed, I have been to some of the good high schools and colleges of my time. I met different friends and learned special lessons of life. I have often discovered many things. I call them significant ones! Today my birthday happens to be one such discovery I made then. I came to know that my birthday actually meant my identity too. But it took bit of math from my side and memory form my mother who have 10 such birthdays to remember (meaning I have 10 siblings) However we found out that I was born on 13th March 1980. 

I was born when my father and mother were struggling to settle in life.We had no house to be called as our home. My family never had uncle and aunts or for that matter any relatives who were rich and powerful enough to uplift us. But with each passing birthdays,  My family progressed. I grew up just like the way my other siblings did. Things have changed now. We have a house we call our home. 

I now celebrate my birthday to mark the the progress I have made in my life. I have done it before and want to do it in future. Today I had a great time with two of my Gujarati friends. The momos we had for lunch were the tastiest. I liked it so much. I should have gone for lunch with empty stomach!  any ways I would like to thank them for making my day. One of them also wrote these message on my wall and I am touched. Please read it for yourself, 

Hey Kuenzang!

I still remember the first time you introduced yourself to all of us! You were a person from the foreign land back then, but now..You have become a Total Gujarati!!!

I am going to cherish all the fond memories of the time we spent together-the canteen chai, pani puris, and vadapaus, navratri, and diwali, and all our birthdays...I guess all these memories are enough to last for a life time!

And I hope this Birthday of yours also becomes a part of it :-D

You have been a constant source of inspiration for all of us, and on your birthday, I wish that you hold on to this charisma even in Bhutan. Needless to say, You'll be missed!

P.S.- This post sounds like a farewell letter but is actually a Birthday Wish!

I WISH YOU ONE THING WHICH IS MOST IMPORTANT FOR THE BHUTANESE ECONOMY-HAPPINESS AT ALL LEVELS!!

HAVE A VERY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY:-D

My three friends who always made my Birthdays special in Ahmedabad. Thank you friends

Mothers' Day Post

Yesterday was International mothers' day. Unfortunately I forgot to update it on my blog. So today I write this post to once again thank my mother for giving me this beautiful life.

Before that we had International Women's day. This consecutive days honoring women simply says that they are the indispensable part of our humanity. Without them, our world will simply be a barren and dismal place. Therefore as a son, brother, father and uncle, I pledge to respect all women like the way I do for my mother. I wish all the mothers around the world a very happy belated Mothers day.

God has never created any thing more beautiful like our mothers. Our mothers are our divine protectors. Hence there are no protector more mightier than our mothers. No matter how matured we are, we will never grow up to really understand the sacrifices our mothers' make for our sake. They are as vast as the sky and as deep as the oceans. Therefore, honoring women is a very thoughtful idea. They deserve to be honored from the bottom of our hearts. It should be more than a passing day on the calender.

If we now act little bit on our thoughts, who knows someday our world might become a place filled with more love and more warmth than what is now.  I wish all the mothers around the world find happiness and peace. Once again, I wish all the mothers around the world a very happy belated Mothers day. May god bless all the mothers.

Thank You Dear Women

There is no word appropriate enough to thank our Women. They are the formidable pillars that holds our our universe together. They are our grand mothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, nieces, aunts and nannies. They are our universal friends. Each one of them represent our joy, hope and strength. They are the source of compassion, kindness and love. Perhaps, that is why females are considered as the source of wisdom. They are people who taught us how beautiful life is and how worthwhile it is for us to live it happily. hey are fountain of strength and endurance. Therefore on this International Women's day, I would like to wish all the beautiful women around the world, a very Happy and fulfilling Women's day. From the Bottom of my heart, I would like to thank each and every women for making this world a wonderful place to live in. 

Personally, I have a big reason to cherish this day because, firstly I come from a family that has more women member in it than a man. I am a brother of seven sisters!  I have only one line to describe them. "They are all wonderful beings". I know in Bhutan, there are people who associate seven sisters to so many hilarious omens. But for me seven as always been my lucky number!

I grew up with them all through my life. -from a toddler to a lad and to my ultimate adulthood-. As a lone brother in the family, I remember how each one of them pampered me and loved me. All in all,  that was the wonderful part of my journey in life. I know might take many life time to repay their love and care but I would like to thank them all.

Secondly, Now I am a father myself. I have three daughters who are fast growing up. Some day they might grow up to be a women of their own substance.  As a father, all I want to say is that, along with them, came my joy. They have added a flavor in my life. A flavor called warmth and bliss. Thank you my sweeties.

Thirdly, I have a mother, who still loves me like a child. It difficult to describe but she still makes me fell I am protected and cared -all the time-. Love you Mom. 

And most of all, I have a loving wife. She is that much caring too. She is one good reason behind my healthy and happy life.  With her, I have found my happiness right in the corner of my humble home. Therefore i call her the nerve of my happiness. Thank you sweet heart for all your support, care, faith and love. 

Finally I have so many loving friends (women friends) around the world. I would like to take this moment to thank them all for being my wonderful friends. I woould like wish them all a very happy life hereafter.

With this, I would like to pledge my support for empowering women all over the world.

Happy Women's Day.

Finally My Hard Days are Nearing End

I am soon going to write another set of exams here. Believe it or not, I am going to write ten exams, submit five assignments and do five presentations in two months time. And let me also tell you that I have to submit a research project (of at least one hundred pages). In a mean time, I am going flat with mathematics. I am getting lost in the end less net of curves and figures.

I am going blank. At one point of time, I even could not get the law of demand right. For a person who is mastering in Economics that is pathetic and miserable. And just like me, there are my friends who are also mastering Economics, but are  not able to get the elasticity of demand right. The only consolation I have for myself is that, in learning complicated things, sometimes its (BIG NOT) OK to forget basics. Deep down I feel bitter. I feel embarrassed to the core. The guilt of missing  petty things such as these haunts me like devil with horn and fang. Such moments really make me think that whether what I have in my skull is a human brain or a piece of dung.

With this, I am now starting to believe that Economics indeed is not a subject that can not be crammed overnight. It demands lot of hard work, dedication, diligence and discipline. Some people call it 3Ds for success. My professors keep telling that Economics is  a study of rational beings. Therefore they also keep telling me that it demands lot of common sense. I think they are right. I don't know who ran this regression but there is a general belief that common sense is something which common people lack all over. For today let me not write about my common sense story here. But just know that I am just another common man.

The bottom line here is that, I will be back home soon. I will be among my loved ones, my family, and my parents. I will be home with my masters degree in Economics. It gives me an immense sense of satisfaction for having undertaken (one of) the toughest course on this earth. Finally my hard days are nearing end. Once home, I will not have to cook when I am sick. I will not go broke (hopefully)

For now, I am preparing for my final show down. My internal exams starts on 18th March 2013. My annual exam is scheduled to start on 22nd April 2013. So wish me good luck.

Royal Address at the Closing of the 10th Session of the First Parliament

In 2008, we took on the enormous responsibility to usher in a democratic system of governance. It gives me great pleasure today to find us all here five years later, at the final session of the first parliament.

Today we have a happy, prosperous country that is stronger than ever before. It is the culmination of all the hard work and commitment of our forefathers, the selfless service of our successive Kings, and the continual support rendered by the people that laid the foundations and enabled us to introduce democracy so successfully.

Many things went through my mind as we embarked on this journey in 2008. I thought about the extraordinary service that His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo rendered to the people in the 34 years of His Reign, as well as the sacrifices he made to ensure the happiness and prosperity of the people.

I thought about the great expectations that the people had from the new system of governance.

I was mindful of the enormity of the responsibility that we had all been given, and felt heavily, the weight of all that it entailed.

In the five years that have passed since, we have continually strengthened the foundations of our democracy, and firmly established strong democratic institutions. Most importantly, we have gained valuable experience, which will be indispensable not only for the democratic process, but also for our country and people in the times to come. I commend the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, and Members of the first Parliament, for participating in the elections and serving the people without faltering in their duties.

After I ascended the Golden Throne as the Fifth King of Bhutan, we have had five events of historical importance take place in our country - the introduction of Parliamentary democracy, the adoption of our Constitution, the Coronation, the Royal Wedding, and the Pel Dechhog Khorlo Dompai Wangchhen, which gave more than a hundred thousand devotees the opportunity to receive sacred blessings. All these events were carried out successfully and were truly auspicious for our country.

This year marks the end of the 10th five-year plan, under which development activities were implemented well in the past five years. It is promising for the future of our democracy that five parties have come forward to participate in the next elections.

It is important that we nurture our democracy as a unique political system. We sometimes see other countries embroiled in the difficult challenge of bad democratic practices. It is imperative that we abandon democracy’s vices and cultivate only the good practices so that we can put them into our service. Our democracy must always be clean, healthy and strong. The most important thing is that we are always able to inspire our people’s complete faith and trust in our democracy.

I convey heartfelt gratitude from the people of Bhutan to the People and Government of India, for the unwavering support given to us, which has played no small part in our success. In January this year, I was invited as the Chief Guest at the 64th Republic Day Celebrations of India. His Majesty the Third Druk Gyalpo graced the celebrations in 1954, and His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo was the Chief Guest in 1984 and 2005. These invitations reflect the admiration, respect and support that the people and Government of India have for Bhutan. The friendship between India and Bhutan, which was born with the historic visit of Pandit Nehru in 1958, is unique and exemplary. I am confident that our friendship will grow stronger in times to come.

I express deep gratitude to His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo, who is a truly farsighted leader, for entrusting us to set up and build a vibrant democracy in a strong, successful nation that he worked tirelessly to build.

In conclusion, I would like to say a prayer for our country. I pray that we build a vibrant democracy based on our Constitution, and through it, ensure that powers continue to reach the hands of our people. I pray that with the support of our people, we strengthen the Rule of Law and through the Rule of Law, we consolidate institutions of check and balance, which in turn promote good governance. And I pray that good governance becomes the means to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of our people, reinforce the security and sovereignty of our country and foster the prosperity of our people.

I pray that the sun of peace and happiness shines in our country for all times to come.

Tashi Delek.


Source : His Majesty's  Facebook Page

My Heritage Walk in Ahmedabad

Last Sunday, I had one of my most memorable days here in Ahmadabad.  Thanks to my Gujarati friends, I was able see some of the most significant and beautiful historical places here. Its in the city which is otherwise known for its over crowded streets filled with sweating and stinking people. Most people call it Lal Darwaza. 

In my two years time, I have already been to that place. Thrice to be precise. I thought I have seen most part of the town. Although infested with mosquitoes, the streets of Lal Darwaza always fascinated me. I have all the good memories of buying second hand books and fake Bata shoes there. I also have memories about how tasty Pani puri in the street made me sick. (or did I over eat?)

But one thing I never knew was that, Lal Darwaza had lot of hidden treasures in it. It is obvious that the city has progressed materialistically, but one thing I never knew about it was that it is equally rich in terms of culture, tradition and history. Look at the pictures below. Aren't they mesmerizing? Through some of the pictures, I can see lot of architectural similarities between Bhutan and the ones they have in Lal Darwaza. Coincidentally, most of the structures in Lal Darwaza are also built around the time, when Terton Pema Lingpa and Zanbdrung were busy building Dzongs and Lhakhangs in Bhutan. Look at the pictures.

  

By the way, my heritage walk lasted for two hours. There were a lot of foreigners too. Among them were the most beautiful looking French girls. I have seen people in the heritage site glaring non-stop at them. But you know my attention was else where! My urinary bladder was full and I was looking for a loo. It was a near emergency case.  God, I nearly had to pee like an Indian man !!  Finally when I found one public rest room our program has also come to an end. So if the pictures aren't good, please bear with me.