We are Bloggers

On 23 Sept, few fellow bloggers have initiated a blogger's meet in Thimphu. I got the invitation a week before. So thank you Passa, Sogyel, Nawang and Riku. You can read more about it on Passu's blog @http://www.passudiary.com. 

I remember attending one such meeting in 2011. Back then I met not only senior bloggers like Mr. Dorji Wangchuk, Mr, Jurmi Chowing, Mr, Tshering Tashi, Mr. Tashi Pelyang, Ms. Sonam Peldon, Ms. Manju Whakley but I also had the opportunity of meeting many budding Bhutanese bloggers too. I still remember the lively conversation and a sumptuous dinner we had at Aue Dorji Wangcguk's residence. 

Training Experience I Shared during the Closing Ceremony

Honorable Director, respected expert mission from RILO AP, respected commissioners, seniors and my dear colleagues. Today I, on behalf of my trainee friends and on my own behalf, stand here to briefly share our experiences about capacity building program mentioned under.

Office of the RILO AP and DRC has initiated a capacity building program for Bhutanese Customs Officials. Three day workshop on “Intelligence Analysis & Risk Management using the CEN Database” was conducted by Dr. Gryphon Sou, Mr. Wang Liang and Ms. Sung Im Lee from RILO AP. 

Ketamine from Bhutan to Thailand

Disclaimer: I am a Customs Officer. But please be informed that views expressed here are my own and in no way represents the views of my office.

Image courtesy: www.moct.net

Few days ago, we all saw the news of a Bhutanese woman being nabbed for running an errand in Thailand go viral. Every soul now knows that she was involved in smuggling of a dangerous psychotropic substance called Ketamine worth Bt.15 million in Bangkok airport. It is very unfortunate case!. 

As a Customs Officer who work in Paro airport, I am hurt by Miss Zhimo's reckless act. The news of her arrest brought us not only shame but also pain in equal proportion. We were blamed at and ridiculed. She made our office look like a total failure. She disappointed not only Bhutanese and the Thais, but also those donor agencies who have, so far helped us in capacity building.

Pictures From My Chelela Camping

Name it.

Bhutanese Bloggers e-Conference

Thank you Rekha for initiating this e-conference. Thank you Passu and Nawang P for sharing the news. I am delighted to be part of this wonderful group. But fortunately or unfortunately, I am so so caught up with works both at home and in office. So I am little late in writing this post.

Norbu, Our Guest

Few weeks ago, a lone male cat, totally beaten and exhausted by hunger and cold showed up to my residence. Before I could even utter a word, my three animal loving daughters have not only welcomed him to our house, but have also claimed the ownership over it. They were swift to name him too. They named him Norbu!

Random Pictures from Lamperi Botanical Park

As suggested by my fellow blogger Passu, today I was able to make a brief visit to Royal Botanical Park in Lamperi. My wife, who loves nature more than me, was totally awestruck by the absolute sereneness and total tranquility there. It captured her attention, so much that she almost left her purse there. 

We did not have time to enjoy all the fun there. But our brief stopover there has already inspired us to take our entire family for a grand picnic some day. I took the following pictures in my tab and it surely doesn't look that good. But I would like to inform all my readers that, those are the pictures with no editing and Photo-shopping. They are in their raw form like the nature itself. So please enjoy.. 

Trip to Punakha

Although Iam not from Punakha, I have a reason larger than my life to go there. Firstly, its place from where our forefathers like Zhabdrung established our statehood. Secondly, its a place from where the legacy of our beloved monarchs emerged.. Thirdly and perhaps the most important reason, although totally personal, its a place from where my better half hails.Therefore even a slightest thought of being in Punakha used to bring me immense joy.

 Thanks to my father-in-law, we now have a small land on which we have collectively managed to build a small house. My family lovingly call it our home. And  few days ago, I was there to do some maintenance work with my wife. Rain is a menace in Punakha. So we were there to a raise a protection wall; A wall that would both benefit us and our neighbors alike. We wanted our neighbors to know your intentions. We were also hopeful that our initiatives would be received positively.

But things took a different turn. One of our neighbor threatened to take us to the court. I couldn't understand his point but I felt totally wordless. To me, Punakha stands as a holy place of lam Zhabdrung and I have a deep sense of respect for Punaps as his initial patrons.  But Their behaviour was a big contradiction. Why would anyone take us to the court for wanting to build a useful wall? It was difficult to understand.

Towards evening we were in for another surprise. Trucks came in carrying in stone, sand and cement for us and it was heavily raining. Our neighbors came in group and vehemently denied us a unloading place. I am yet to know their reason but all of them tried their best to obstruct us. We witnesses their hostility. But Finally with the help of  truckers and our contractor, we were able to unload our materials on a piece of land belonging to Government. We left our envious neighbors more disgruntled and more angry. 

That evening, we were invited for a dinner at my wife's uncle's place. Some day I would like to write another post about this uncle.  But that evening, More than the sumptuous dinner, it was his majestic apartment that left me bewildered. 

Of Political Debates

Of late I have seen a lot of political debates going on everywhere. The debate hosted by BBS have become  a very popular show of the hour. Good or not its eating up most of my precious evening hours.  Sometimes I am forgoing my evening walk, which is a dangerous thing for a man who is putting on weight. Sometime I am even forgetting to water my vegetable garden, which is again not a good thing when there is a galloping inflation in the vegetable market. In this account, I think I am making a big compromise. The only consolation I have is that I am sacrificing my precious time hearing from people who are soon going to become our  representatives.

From Customs Office Once Again

Few days a go, we had an in-house training on x-ray image reading and analysis. The training was initiated by those officials who had the opportunity of undergoing the said training in Bangkok. I was told that the training was funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with Regional Office for Capacity Building for customs (ROCB) and the Thai Customs.  I am sure WCO must have also played its role. I was also told about the immense support rendered by the head office of  DRC in this regard. Someday I would love to write a detail report on it. But for now please bear with my brief unofficial write up.

My Secret of Scoring 80+

Few days ago, I got my results for 4th semester. With that result, I can finally say that I am through with my masters course. For good. I felt elated and excited. I felt more happy at the fact that I was able to perform well beyond my expectations.  Firstly, I topped Arts category of Gujarat University for 4th

My Final Results

My 4th sem result are out and I  am happy to share with my friends that I have scored 86.17% (517/600) With this I have now sealed my Masters in Economics with an aggregate of 81.16%. (1948/2400) I am writing  this as a matter of my own record and history. 

Time to Wear My Uniform

After two years, I am now preparing to wear my uniform, once again. This time I am going to wear the trousers and shirts sewed by experts in Ahmedabad. I hope I look like a law enforcer and not like a joker anymore. I also hope that my ranks on the shoulder do not create any confusion in the eyes of on lookers.

So in my preparation for the moment, I went to have a fitting hair cut. But to my amazement, entire Bondey town just had one barber. However after having waited for more than an hour, I was able to have my hair clipped in army style.

Bhutan Customs in Uniform

Initially when I joined Customs department in 2006, we had a uniform which people mistook it for the uniform of Punakha High School. It  used to be a decent gho for gents and Kira for ladies. We were even issued rain coats and boots! But in course of time when Government supplied us a staff duty vehicle, a thing of boot and a coat (rain) became our beautiful past.

From Customs Office, Paro Airport

Yesterday was a very auspicious day. After two long years in India, I am finally back to a place where I belong. I made back to my office in one good piece and it gives me immense joy and satisfaction. In the morning hours, I first went to meet my new boss. It was our first meeting and so both of us had very few words. But in between, I think our silence did the rest. Through our silence, we spoke a lot. I think we spoke  about our dream to serve our department. -To our best. before I stood up to leave his chamber, I shook his hand. I think I did thrice.

Primary Round Post

On the night before the primary round of election, I got a call rather from a very unexpected person. My friend who is a gomchen called me up and asked me which party I was planning to cast my precious vote.  According to Bhutanese electoral law, 'gomchens are above politics'. But at that hour, he seemed least bothered.by the law. My enthusiastic friend seemed so energized  and eager to come at the level where politically divided voters were literally throwing pots and pans at eachother. To cool him down, I had to remind him about his status. Not only that, I also had to inform him about how apolitical civil servant I am.

Big Day Post

Its election day here in Bhutan.The Primary round. Many people call it a big day. Big day or small day, out of four political parties we have, two parties will be voted in today. And they will contest general election again in July.  Its time for people to make their big and wise decision. Its People's time.

Its media black out period here. By law we are not suppose to post any statements, especially those that are defamatory in nature. I was told that we cannot even post a statement in support or in against of a parties that are contesting the election nor against or in favor of any candidates. I think its a wise decision. In an eleventh hour, some voters can be swayed easily by a mere statements. Many people think is not good for democracy.

I am writing this short update, before my daughters wake up. Before people of the Nation heed to Polls. I write this update to wish all our political parties, all their best. Its still raining. And as suggested by our Chief election commissioner of Bhutan, I urge all the voters to take their brand new umbrellas and rain coats and "show them off" in the polling station. The road conditions may not be that good and for those who are travelling home to vote, I would like to remind all the drivers to be extra cautious.

Lastly, by the blessings of Kuncho-sum, may we have a successful election once again.

At Home for Good

I am back from Gujarat and I am now in Bhutan for good. After having endured the burning heat, ear drum-breaking noise and nose blocking dust of Gujarat for two years, I feel like I have come back to a monastery, high up in the Himalayas. Its a total tranquility here. I see more moving cows in the street than cars. If not for rupee shortage, I am starting to think that Bhutan can still take in some more cars! 

Anyways, I reached home at a time when my country is at the height of its election process. In few days, we will be electing two parties. They call it a primary round. And in few months, we will have a new parliament. For now its a season of promise making in Bhutan. 

Come 2018, Bhutan will be a heaven. There will be no poverty. Every youth will be employed. Roads, schools and health centers every where. Empowered Women. Helicopters and tillers. Revised pay for civil servants, Revised tax structure. Longer maternity leave, more prosperity, more peace, less corruption, justice, and on goes the list. 

Here is what my cousin wrote: "at this rate, it wont be long before political parties pledge "Rain for the Bhutanese people during monsoon"...

Its eleventh hour and I haven't decided which party to vote for. At the moment DCT's "Prosperity with Unity" looks as amazing as DNT's "People's Government". While DPT's "Equity with Justice" has done a magic in 2008 election, PDP's "Decentralization" seems to be casting a spell this time around. All candidates proclaim themselves to be Nymchugs and for now, I call them all ambitious Nymchungs. 

I am a very apolitical person and I will cast my vote based on the candidate followed by party ideology.  

Professor Dr. Kartik M Bhatt

With my professor, Dr. Kartik M. Bhatt who is the Head of Economics Department in School of Social Sciences, under Gujarat University.

Thank you sir for teaching me Macro Economics, Managerial Economics, Public Economics and Mathematical Economics. Thank you for inspiring me to work hard.

Some Pictures With My Professors

With Dr. Snajay Pardeshi who taught me Public Finance, Quantitative Methods in Economics, Growth and Development, Agriculture Economics, Research Methodology, Managerial Economics and Financial Institutes and Markets

With Madam Tarang Solanki, who taught me Micro Economics, Environmental Economics, Growth and Development, Labour Econimics, Industrial Economics and Agriculture Economics

With Dr. Hina Sidhu who taught me International Economics, Environmental Economics, Micro Economics, Industrial Economics, Research Methodology, Quantitative Methods in Economics and Financial Institutes and Markets

Tomorrow (or someday before I leave Gujarat) I also intend to meet my professors who taught me Macro Economics and  Mathematical Economics.