My Dad in The News.

As Reported By Kuensel, Bhutan's National News Paper. 

༉ བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག་ ཨུ་ར་ཤིང་མཁར་གྱི་ གཡུས་ཚན་དེ་ སྔོན་དང་ཕུ་ལས་ར་ ལ་ནོར་ལུ་ འཚོ་བ་བརྟེན་སྡོད་མི་ཨིནམ་ལས་ ས་གནས་ཀྱི་ མི་སེར་ཚུ་ རང་མགོ་རང་འདྲོངས་སྦེ་ སྡོད་མི་ཅིག་ཨིན་རུང་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་གོང་འཕེལ་འགྱོ་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ལུང་གཤོང་དེ་ནང་ གཡག་གསོ་སྐྱོང་ལམ་སྲོལ་དེ་ མར་ཉམས་འགྱོ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་ཡང་ འདས་པའི་ལོ་ངོ་བཅུ་ཕྲག་༡ དེ་ཅིག་ལས་འགོ་བཙུགས་ ཨུ་རའི་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ གཡག་རུ་ཁག་སྦེ་ དབང་འདུས་ཕོ་བྲང་རྫོང་ཁག་ ཀློང་སྟོད་དང་ ཀློང་སྨད་ཀྱི་ འབྱོགཔ་ཚུ་ལུ་ བཙོང་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ ཧེ་མ་ གཡག་ལེ་ཤ་ཡོད་མི་ ཁྱིམ་གུང་༢༠ དེ་ཅིག་ཡོད་རུང་ ད་རེས་ནངས་པ་ ཤིང་མཁར་ལུ་ གཡག་རུ་ཁག་སྦེ་ གསོ་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་མི་ ཁྱིམ་གུང་༡ མ་གཏོགས་མེདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཕ་བརྒྱུད་བུ་བརྒྱུད་སྦེ་ ལ་ནོར་འཚོ་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་མི་ ཨཔ་བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱིས་ ཁོ་རའི་བུ་དང་ བུམོ་ཚུ་གིས་ གཡག་ཚུ་བཙོང་དགོཔ་སྦེ་སླབ་རུང་ དང་ཕུའི་ལམ་སྲོལ་ལུ་ གཞི་འཛིན་འབད་དེ་ ཉན་མ་བཏུབ་ཨིན་པས།

ཁོ་གི་བུ་ ཀུན་བཟང་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཁོང་ཨ་ལུ་ཚུ་ག་ར་ སྦོམ་ཐལ་ཡོདཔ་མ་ཚད་ ལ་ལུ་ཤེས་ཡོན་སྦྱང་ཚར་ཏེ་ ལཱ་གཡོག་ནང་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ ལོ་དང་ན་ཚོད་རྒས་པའི་ ནམ་དུས་ལུ་ ལ་ཁ་ལས་ཕར་ ལ་ནོར་འཚོ་སྟེ་ སྡོད་དགོཔ་མིན་འདུག་ཟེར་མནོ་སྟེ་ ཨ་པ་ལུ་ གཡག་ཚུ་བཙོང་སྦེ་ ཁོང་ཨ་ལུ་ཚུ་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་ སྐྱིད་ཏོང་ཏོ་སྦེ་ སྡོད་ད་ཟེར་ ག་དེམ་ཅིག་སླབ་རུང་ཉན་མ་བཏུབ་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

སྐྱེས་ལོ་ ༧༥ ལང་མི་ ཨཔ་བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱིས་ ཁོ་གི་མི་ཚེ་ ལ་ནོར་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་སྐྱོང་སྟེ་ ལོ་ངོ་༌མང༌རབ་ཅིག་ སོང་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ གཡག་མེད་པར་ རྩ་ལས་ར་ སེམས་ཆགས་མི་ཚུགས་ཟེར་སླབ་སྟེ་ བཙོང་མ་བཏུབ་ཨིན་པས།

ཨིན་རུང་ ད་རེས་ནངས་པ་ ཨཔ་བསོད་ནམས་དེ་ གཡག་ཚུ་ལུ་ བརྩེ་གདུང་དང་ ཞེན་ཆགས་ཀྱིས་ གཞན་ལུ་བཙོང་ནི་དེ་ སེམས་ཀྱིས་བཟོད་མ་ཚུགས་རུང་ ལོ་ན་རྒས་པའི་སྟབས་ཀྱིས་ ལ་ཁ་ལས་ཕར་ ལ་ནོར་ཚུ་ འཚོ་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་ནི་དང་ བལྟ་ནི་ལུ་ གཟུགས་ཀྱི་ལྕོགས་གྲུབ་མེད་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ཁོ་གི་གཡག་དང་འབྱིམོ་ མཛོ་དང་མཛོ་མོ་ བསྡོམས་༥༠ དེ་ཅིག་ཡོད་མི་དེ་ བཙོང་དགོ་པའི་ གནས་སྟངས་ནང་ ལྷོད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཁོ་གི་ བུ་ཅིག་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཁོང་གི་གཡག་ཚུ་ གཞན་ཁར་བཙོང་ནི་དེ་ ཨ་པ་ལུ་ སེམས་ཀྱི་ན་ཟུག་སྦོམ་ཡོད་རུང་ ཐབས་ར་མིན་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ མ་བཙོང་པར་བཞག་རུང་ འཕྲལ་ཁམས་ཅིག་ཁར་ ཤིང་མཁར་གྱི་ རྩྭ་ཐང་ནང་ གཡག་༡༠༠ དེ་ཅིག་ཚེ་ཐར་ བཏང་ཡོད་མི་ཚུ་ ལྟ་རྟོག་འབད་མི་ག་ཡང་མེད་པར་ ག་ལྷོད་སར་ བཏང་བཞག་ཡོད་མི་དེ་གིས་ དོ་འགྲན་སྦོམ་བྱུང་སྟེ་ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཨཔ་བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱིས་ གཡག་ཉོ་མི་ཅིག་ ད་ལྟོ་ འཚོལ་བའི་བསྒང་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཁོ་གི་ གཡག་ཚུ་ བཙོང་ཚུགས་པ་ཅིན་ ཤིང་མཁར་གྱི་ རྩྭ་འབྲོག་དེ་ནང་ རྩྭ་བཟའ་མི་ ཚེ་ཐར་བཏང་མི་ གཡག་ཚུ་ཡོད་རུང་ ཤིང་མཁར་ལུ་ གཡག་གསོ་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་སྟེ་ ཐོན་སྐྱེད་འབད་མི་ག་ཡང་མི་འོང་ནི་ཨིན་པས།

ད་ལྟོ་ དཔལ་འབྱོར་རིག་པའི་ གཙུག་ལག་ཤེས་ཡོན་སྦྱང་པའི་བསྒང་ཨིན་མི་ ཀུན་བཟང་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཨ་པ་གིས་ གཡག་བཙོང་མ་བཏུབ་པར་ བཞག་མི་དེ་ཡང་ གཅིག་ལས་བལྟ་བ་ཅིན་ དོན་དག་སྦོམ་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ཤིང་མཁར་གྱི་ རྩྭ་ཐང་དེ་ རྩེད་ཐང་ལུ་ བསྒྱུར་བཅོས་འབད་ནི་གི་ གྲོས་འཆར་བཀོད་མི་ ཐོན་ཡོད་རུང་ མི་མང་གིས་ སྒོ་ནོར་གྱི་དོན་ལུ་ རྩྭ་འབྲོག་སྦེ་ སྤྱོད་ནི་ཨིན་ཟེར་སླབ་སྟེ་ མ་བྱིན་པར་ སྲུང་སྐྱོབ་འབད་ཚུགས་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ དེ་ནང་ སྔར་སྲོལ་ལྟར་དུ་ ལ་ནོར་གསོ་སྐྱོང་འབད་མི་ ག་ཡང་མེདཔ་ལས་ ཁོ་གི་ ཨ་པ་གིས་ ཉམས་མ་བཅུག་པར་ བཞག་བཞགཔ་བཟུམ་ཅིག་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཨིན་རུང་ ལ་ནོར་གྱི་ གསོ་སྐྱོང་ལམ་ལུགས་དེ་ ཉམས་འགྱོ་ནི་གི་ དུམ་ཁར་ལྷོད་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ འཕྲལ་མགྱོགས་ར་ ལོ་རྒྱུས་རྐྱངམ་གཅིག་ལུ་ འགྱུར་ནི་མས་ཟེར་ བཤདཔ་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

To All Shingkhar People

A Typical Pasture land for Yaks in Shingkhar 

Any one know why so many "tsedar yaks" have been brought to Shingkhar ? this is my personal concern to some extent general concern of all Shingkharpas. Its good that some people are getting involved in saving the lives of those innocent animals. But my question is that to what extent and how long? I am happy to know that so many innocent animals have found heaven in Shingkhar. But My concern is again to what end??? 

Not long ago we all, in union fought against a foreign idea of golf course in the name of conservation and preservation of Shinkgkhar's tradition. I think all of us stood firm and strong and won the battle in question. 

Now that we have so many influx of Tsedar yaks (more than 100 now and still more to come) Given a limited grazing area, Isn't this going to pose a serious threat to the survival of local livestock? Isn't this going to create over grazing in our limited pasture land? Isn't this going to degrade our limited pasture land in times to come? Isn't this going to hamper the productivity of our local livestock? Can we know the reason why those Tsogpas have chosen to transfer all those animals in Shingkhar alone? ?

It may be noble initiative saving lives of any beings but it doesn't mean it should come at the cost of some people's livelihood. 

Being a yak rearing family, my family is first in line who is affected. The huge number of wild yaks roaming in the common pasture land have created havoc and have made it very difficult for my dad and sister to look after our heard. As much as they are havoc they are found to be menace for the survival of our herd.

Now my dad is going to up yak rearing. Although there are various other reasons, this happens to be the prime reason. Tomorrow it it could be any one who will have to give up cattle rearing.

By the way, I am amazed to know that all Shingkharpas have become Buddhisatowas overnight.......

have a god day folks

Yak Nearing Extinction in Shingkhar

More than five years ago, I persuaded my father to sell off his most prized possessions. It consisted of little over 50 yaks, both males and females, milking as well as non-milking.  The reasons were simple and straight. Notwithstanding an adverse economic implication at home, I wanted my parents to come out from that nomadic life for once and for good. As an educated son with a decent job, honestly, I couldn’t bear to see my parents still toiling after beasts in the wilderness, -all round the season.

But I was surely not the first offspring to persuade him. In the past, many such attempts have been made by my elder siblings too, but none succeeded in influencing dad. Those radical advices and persuasions simply failed to lure or divert dad’s perspective.

Having survived the harshest possible life thus far, it was his notion that living his life, his way, on his terms was something that amused him more than anything else. As an ardent hard working farmer, laboring was something he cherished and so were his hardships with yaks in the high up mountains. To him it was just another season that would pass like any other ordinary days.

In all those long years, I thought my dad was right. I thought he has made an apt decision not to relinquish his possessions, because Shingkhar has been for ages, an ideal place for yak rearing and therefore his decision to continue the legacy of yak rearing was right by many folds.-He was right culturally. He was more right traditionally, ecologically and economically.

But with time and space even the fortitude as that of my dad’s is also subject to change. Change can neither be imposed nor can be forced. Such is the state of affair with my dad now. He now realizes that his ailing health is no longer energetic to answer the calls of the duty. He feels the crippling effect of old age. With no more options left, he is now on verge of becoming the last Shingkharpa to relinquish yaks for good.

His relinquishment would mean that yak is facing extinction in Shingkhar! the worst nightmare, long feared by my dad are soon becoming reality. While making that decision, My dad surely must have felt thousand steel hammers beating and tearing his heart apart.

My dad Milking yak

When the yaks are long gone from Shingkhar, 

I will remember them as follows:

I grew up with yaks, 

They are the animals that my dad loved 

Because they were source of our livelihood.

On my rare trips to his domicile, 

I remember myself being fed with butter 

That sized larger than the plate 

And a tea prepared not with water 

But with cent percent milk. 

In summers he would go lavish 

Sending me and my siblings 

A parcels of butter wrapped in etho-metho leaves 

And cheese in white sacks. 

I am 32 plus

My Birthday Cake

My birthdays used to be a very insignificant days. Let alone celebrating, I would not even remember it correctly. Unless I have a business to fill up my official forms, my birthdays would just remain there on the calendar and would pass like any other day without even being noticed. 

It went unheard and unnoticed, because I come from a place and a family, where birthday celebrations are not very widespread. The idea and the culture of celebrating birthday being relatively foreign, I have NO or very LESS incentive to get excited and elated on my –so called birthdays. 

But this years’ is a different story. With my friends from Ahmadabad, who value their birthdays over and above any other important days, it appeared thousand percent unlikely that my birthday would pass unnoticed this year. As we marched in to March month, I could finally sense my birthday excitement level growing within me as well. 

Finally on 13th March, it was my birthday. I called off a day from my college. It was self-declared holiday for me and my three friends. 

They took me to a place from where Gandhiji advocated doctrine of non violence. They gave me a gift which I had in my wishlist and a card that read, 

7 things for a Happy Birthday. 

7. HOPE that makes you believe and do the impossible 

6. DESIRE, that makes you want despite all odds 

5. PATIENCE, that never allows you to give up 

4. FAITH that makes you trust the calling of your heart 

3. TRUST, that makes you rely on your own unseen powers 

2. DETERMINATION, which keeps going in the journey of fulfillment 

1. UNDERSTANDING, that you have everything that makes a winner. 

I was overwhelmed by the plans and gifts my friends had for me. We lunched in one of the best restaurant and went for a movie which featured my favorite actress. It was by far the most memorable day of my life. I couldn’t thank my friends in words. 

When the dusk fell, we called off the day. That evening, I went to bed thinking, as to why my daughters are so much fond of celebrating their birthdays or attending others birthdays.

(I Would like to thank all my friends both near and far who wished me on facebook) 

A brief history of Tobacco

Tobacco Plant

The history of tobacco cultivation goes as far as 3000 years. (even Buddha was not born) The people in America grew the plant for various reasons.  They in fact cultivated the plant for medicinal purposes. It is also widely believed that people grew it to appease the spirit and heal the pain of a sick.  In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered tobacco in Cuba and he later imported it to Europe for the first time. There the tobacco was simply used as an ornamental plant.

Later in 16^th Century it was declared as a “universal medicine” by Doctor Phillippe II.  Somewhere, during the reign of Louis the XIII, tobacco was consumed both as a medicine and was also smoked in pipes out of pleasure. Since then the smoking of the tobacco plant began which ignited many revolutions and evolutions in the human history.

It was in 7^th century, that a Buddhist saint Guru Rimpoche declared tobacco contrary to what Europeans and Americans did. -So called the “universal medicine” and  “Queen’s herb” was declared evil. This attracted many interpretations from the intellectuals far and near. To me, I firmly believe that Guru Rimpoche must have declared tobacco as an evil out his compassion because tobacco when excessively consumed caused Physical infirmaries which ultimately led to the loss of precious life. This loss brought unbearable sufferings not only to the souls of deceased  but also took away solace of those surviving and bereaved ones. Since Buddhism as a way of life (or as a religion) is based on compassion and kindness, anything that took away happiness was considered evil (dhue)

Long after Guru was gone, Zhabdrung enacted tobacco law in Bhutan, which became the first tobacco law (for the monastic body). If what Guru Rimpoche declared was a bill then it became law during Zhabdring’s time.  Bhutan for the first time must have had a tobacco control law until we had the recent law of 2010.