Happy New Year

Another fresh new year is here . 

. .

Another year to live!

To banish worry, doubt, and fear,

To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me

To live each day with zest . . .

To daily grow and try to be

My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity

Once more to right some wrongs,

To pray for peace, to plant a tree,

And sing more joyful songs!” 

-William Arthur Ward 

Teach Them a Lesson

Our recent security issue, especially those that involved the forceful abduction of a taxi driver and a village elder in southern part, came as a knock out blow to our security forces. Given the magnitude and nature of the emergency, our security system, for once, looked clueless and totally ill prepared. It brought us lot of anxieties and fears. It made us all feel insecure right in the confines of our own homes!

People everywhere felt terrified to the core. It was a horrendous act that showed absolute disregard for the law and the consequences. It has greatly undermined our security system. I call it an act of terrorism. I wouldn't even mind considering it as an act of war against our sovereign nation!

I was over joyed to read this news in Kuensel. But at the same time I am disheartened to know that, it was our own people, the sons of the soil, who are acting against our nation. I feel more saddened for the fact the they are doing it for petty amount of money! Its an outrageous and totally mindless act. Not only this, in our recent past, there were also news about how a fella killed his own friend just to take away his car!  

Now that miscreants have been nabbed, they need to be taught a lesson they will remember for good. By way of terrorizing people, they have acted against Tsa wa sum (the King, The country and the People) They should be charged for treason! Its their fortune that we have no capital punishment in Bhutan. Otherwise I wouldn't regret seeing those traitors hanged to death in public. Their criminal intent can never be forgiven.

I am over joyed once again. I salute to our Police department for their diligence and effort. With limited crime combating tools, I share their plight. But nevertheless, I remain personally thankful to our Police department for their service to people. You people made me feel safer now. Any potential miscreants should take this message seriously. 'Never  mess with Royal Bhutan Police'.

With such horrifying news making headlines on numerous occasions, I feel, something is really amiss. I wonder, what is polluting the minds of, so called peace loving and GNH advocating people?  

Long Long Time Ago.

Thank you unknown photographers for capturing my moments, which otherwise would have been lost forever. 

Happiness is Here and Now

If it were a sacred mantra, - like the mani, by now I would have already recited it millions. Perhaps even billions! It would have already warranted me a seat in Nirvana among the Buddhas! -This mantra called "Exams are boring" never seems to go away from my mind.

I know, by saying this, I am also speaking the minds of million who, like me are simply slogging, just to write this boring thing called exams. But for now let us just say that exams are simply boring. 

Well today morning, I just finished my first paper of the third semester. It was by far the craziest pattern of paper I have ever attempted. Seventy marks in three hours sound reasonable. Eight questions each worth seven marks sounds even nicer. Fourteen multiple choice questions, -cool!.

But, guys I had a bitter moment today. I simply found the paper too lengthy. I used all my the summary skills but still I nearly took an hour answering fourteen marks! I think I knew too much ..ha ha ha ........seriously, I do not know, who got the wrong skills. The person who have set the exam paper or me, -the super summary writer. LOL.

Anyways, it was hell writing for three hours. I have five more such papers to write. And, yea I can already see many boring days ahead. Wish me good luck friends. 

By the way I wish all my friends around the world, a very happy happy Christmas. May 2013 bring lot of success and smiles in your life. I dedicate this song to all of you. Please check the clip below.

Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering

Lyonpo Ugyen in his former days.

If at all I knew anything about Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering, then I knew his simplicity and humbleness. As many Bhutanese put it, I knew him as "simple Lyonpo". To me, Lyonpo resembles one person in Bhutan. Rare and scare just like himself. Late Lhalung Thuskey Rimpoche of Bumthang and Lyonpo Ugyen are to me, the Kings of simplicity. They are the rarest. A one in a million species. 

Thanks to BBS and Mrs Namgay Zam, I am today able get more insight into the lives of an extraordinary being who, I think has put all his heart and soul for the cause of our nation. Physically challenged and weakened to bottom by a deadly parkinsion, it is inspiring all the more to hear him share his dreams for future Bhutan. It is unfortunate that such a deadly disease crippled a man who have lot in his mind for his fellow country man. I am humbled to the core.

Listening to him, I felt reconnected with our past. I realized how Lyonpo and his group pulled our nation to its current glory. Step by step. Those were the people responsible for our peaceful existence today. I would highly recommend every Bhutanese, both young and old to watch this clip. Lyonpo has spoken his heart. I  am sure this will be of immense help for all of us in understanding our history, our culture, our foreign policy, our democracy, our freedom and our responsibility towards our Tsa wa sum. 

To me Lyonpo's dream Bhutan with rope ways looks very promising. If properly thought about and then implemented, I think it has the true potential or rescuing our economy, which at the moment is heeding towards a dangerous direction with billions in debt. This is because rope ways means less fuel import, less car import and altogether a less money going to road which are difficult to maintain. Besides this, Lyonpo's dream of revolutionizing the use of Information Technology are far far captivating. 

I fully agree with Lyonpo, on not rushing up things with impatient China. We indeed are like a child in the field of fostering foreign policies with mighty China. I also agree with Lyonpo that we have lot to learn from China in other fields through the goods and services that are already available in our country. As Lyonpo said, Bhutanese people are indeed "valley people" and not "mountain people" as proclaimed. No doubt about that. We have lot to learn what is behind the mountains! Perhaps, miles to go before we rest.  

I thank Aum Patricia Tshering for giving our Lyonpo the most deserving care and affection in his most needy time. Perhaps that's why women are called the better half of men. I personally feel sorry for this. Our Lyonpo's family sincerely do not deserve such a tragedy. I pray to Buddha of medicine for his quick recovery... .

Reflection and Contemplation Day

Mayan calender ended but not the World. We are still living and will continue to do so.  21.12.2012 is just another day, perhaps a beautiful day as always.  I told many people that the World will not end. I think I made the right prediction. I am sure my wife is relieved now to see the day pass just as any other day.

I do not know the reason myself, but from hereon in my life, I wanted to make this day (21st December) as the most special day of every year I live. Every year on this day I want to remember those people who have made lasting difference in my life. I wanted to pray for them and thank them from the bottom of my heart. I wanted to spend  rest of my 21st, Decembers as the of reflection and contemplation day of the year.  

So here are few people to whom I owe "Thank you", as big as the Sky, the Ocean and the Earth. 

My Beloved Kings 

I would like thank my beloved Kings for creating this peaceful Bhutan for us. I would like to thank them from the depths of my heart for all the inspiration and motivation they showered us every day. I thank my Kings for their unceasing love and benevolence, for all the sacrifices they made in bringing hope and happiness for us. Thank you, my beloved Kings, Today I am well educated person and that I did not become a yak herder in the mountains of Shingkhar. Thank you my Kings. 

My Beloved Parents

I thank my father and mother for being ......well,...... my everything!. I thank them for giving me this beautiful life. I thank them for enduring the darkest hours and making the biggest sacrifices for my cause. I thank them for letting me grow my own height. I thank them for being my hero and my teacher. I may take many life times to repay their kindness, care. love, dedication and affection. But today, I wanted to let them know that they are endeared in my heart. Thank you Apa and Ama

My Beloved Teachers

I would like to thank all my teachers for making me who I am today. Big or small, my teachers everywhere played their part in shaping my destiny. Thank you all my beloved teachers.

But here are two of my teachers who taught me things that were far beyond the school syllabus. Mr. Sadhu and Lopen Tenzin Dorji. I have a long story to write about these two teachers of mine, but for today, I thank them for bearing me with all my rawness and my wildness. I would also like to thank them for their love and affection, -for being able to read my heart and soul. With the height of my naughtiness and mischief, no headmaster would have given a second thought about my termination, but I thank them for giving me endless second chances. I thank them for letting me grow up myself. Thank you sirs.

My Beloved Sister

She is a different story of my life. My beloved sister!  I knew she existed somewhere in my world. I thank her for having walked-in in my life, with all her bounty, when I needed the most. I thank her for being a constant source of my pocket money and more.......I used to tell her that. "you are my golden pillar" She indeed is my golden pillar. Thank you sister.

My Beloved Friend

There is a saying that "Friends either make or break our life". Here is one of my friend who helped me shape my life in the right direction. He helped me make my life! It is again a long story but let me brief.

Long time ago, I belonged to a group called "five kids on the block". -Of course, a group of naughty boys. We were five then. But one day with a sudden demise of a prominent member, our group fell apart. I do not know how, but I found myself friendless. I felt lost and lonely, but not until I found this good friend of mine.

In 1999 we were to move to another school, far away from our homes for our higher studies, I met his father for the first time. Before we moved out, he called us inside and told us to remain best friends forever. But that same year, his father passed away. I felt equally sad like his family! but I wowed to  keep his words. We were best friends since then. All these years, we lived like a family! Thank you, Geley for being a wonderful friend. Thank you for guiding me. scolding me and above all, bearing my poor self all the time.

With this, I would also like to say that I have many other friends, with whom I also shared a relationship like milk and water. Ever grateful and ever thankful. And I would like to write about them on many such 21st Decembers to come. 

My Beloved Wife

She is the most beautiful story of my life. I have not many words that can fittingly describe how thankful she is for me. In brief, I thank her for being the flower that forever blooms in the garden of my soul. I thank her for accepting me in her life. I thank her for all the smiles and happiness she brought in my life. I thank her for being the most wonderful mom for 3 most precious beings of my life. -My daughters, who are perhaps the most beautiful daughters in this world. I thank her for being with me through all this thick and thins of life. Thank you sweet heart.

Dza Patrul Rinpoche's Heart Advice.

༆ དཔལ་སྤྲུལ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོའི་གསུང་གདམས་ཟབ་གནད་ཀྱི་མདོ་འགགས་དྲུག་བཞུགས་སོ།།

The Six Focal Points of Profound Instructions

By Paltrul Rinpoche

སྐྱིད་ན་མི་དགའ་སྡུག་ན་དགའ། །སྐྱིད་ན་ཉོན་མོངས་དུག་ལྔ་འབར།།

སྡུག་ན་སྔོན་གྱི་ལས་ངན་འཛད། །སྡུག་བསྔལ་བླ་མའི་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཡིན།།

I would rather undergo suffering than be happy.

Happiness gives rise to five poisonous emotions.

Suffering will reduce my negative karma from the past.

Suffering represents the compassion of my Guru.

བསྟོད་ན་མི་དགའ་སྨད་ན་དགའ། །བསྟོད་ན་ང་རྒྱལ་ཁེངས་སེམས་ཆེ།།

སྨད་ན་རང་སྐྱོན་ཐེར་ལ་འབུད། །མི་ཁ་ལྷ་ཡི་ཕ་འབབ་ཡིན།།

I would rather be criticized than praised.

Praise leads to pride and egoism.

Criticism will starkly reveal my own flaws.

Malicious gossip is a precious gift from the divine.

མཐོ་ན་མི་དགའ་དམའ་ན་དགའ། །མཐོ་ན་ཕྲག་དོག་ང་རྒྱལ་སྐྱེ། །

དམའ་ན་བག་ཡངས་དགེ་སྦྱོར་འཕེལ། །དམན་ས་གོང་མའི་གདན་ས་ཡིན།།

I would rather be low than high.

High stature gives rise to jealousy and pride.

Low stature comes with freedom conducive for spiritual practice.

Inferiority is the seat of sublime masters.

འབྱོར་ན་མི་དགའ་རྒུད་ན་དགའ། །འབྱོར་ན་གསོག་སྲུང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཆེ།།

རྒུད་ན་དཀའ་སྤྱད་ལྷ་ཆོས་འགྲུབ། །སྤྲང་ལུས་ཆོས་པའི་གཏད་སོ་ཡིན།།

I would rather be poor than rich.

Wealth entails the suffering of hoarding and saving.

Poverty presents challenges to practice sublime dharma.

Poverty is the unfailing state for a spiritual person.

བྱིན་ན་མི་དགའ་འཕྲོག་ན་དགའ། །བྱིན་ན་ལན་ཆགས་འཁུར་པོ་འཕེལ།།

འཕྲོག་ན་ཚེ་རབས་བུ་ལོན་སོད། །ཆོག་ཤེས་འཕགས་པའི་སྤྱི་ནོར་ཡིན།།

I would rather be robed from than given to.

If given to, the burden of karmic debt increases.

If robed from, the karmic debt of many lifetimes is cleared.

Contentment is the supreme wealth of the sublime beings. 

གཉེན་ལ་མི་དགའ་དགྲ་ལ་དགའ། །གཉེན་གྱི་ཐར་ལམ་བར་དུ་གཅོད།།

དགྲ་བོ་བཟོད་པའི་ཡུལ་དུ་བྱེད། །རོ་སྙོམས་ཉམས་ལེན་གནད་འགགས་ཡིན།།

I would rather love my enemy than my relations,

Relations obstruct the path to liberation.

Enemies can be objects of my patience.

Equanimity is the essence of meditation practice. 

ཆོས་བཞིན་མཛད་ན་དེ་འདྲ་དགོས། །བློ་ཐག་ཆོད་ན་དེ་འདྲ་དགོས།།

རི་ཁྲོད་འཛིན་ན་དེ་འདྲ་དགོས། །རྒྱལ་ཁམས་འགྲིམ་ན་དེ་འདྲ་དགོས།།

གདམས་ཟབ་གནད་ཀྱིས་མདོ་འགགས་དྲུག །ཕ་གཅིག་བླ་མའི་ཞལ་རྒྱུན་ཡིན།།

If I wish to conduct according to dharma, I should be thus.

If I have made up my mind [for dharma], I should be thus.

If I abide in the solitudes, I should be thus.

If I wander in the world, I should be thus.

These six focal points of profound instructions

Are oral transmissions of my spiritual father.

Source: Dr. Karm Phuntsho's Facebook page

Something about Bhutan and Gujarat

I have a friend whose mom is a School Principal here in Gujarat. She told me that her mom actually wanted me to be the Chief Guest for her School's upcoming function. She wanted me to say few words about Gujarat and Bhutan. But unfortunately I have exams to write next week. So I was asked to record a message for the function. I wrote the following message. I even bought tripod for my camera so that I can video tape it and send it. I created a mini studio in my room but I bitterly failed to speak in front of camera. I tried the whole day, but simply couldn't get it......... God! I never thought speaking in front of camera could be that difficult. Please read my short message anyways.

Kemcho and hello to you all.

First up, I am sorry for not being able to join you all on this event. 

I am Kuenzang from a country, much smaller than your state. its called Bhutan. It is a beautiful country in the Himalayas  whose major population constitutes Buddhist people.

Our country became full-fledged democracy  in 2008. We call it  a Constitutional Democratic Monarchy, which is quite similar to the form of Government they have in England. They have queen, but we have our King. We,Bhutanese revere him as a symbol of  our unity.

Our country is the first country to adopt Happiness as the development policy. Our previous King said Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross national Product. No doubt, It became very popular. But, today this statement is often misinterpreted. Many people think Bhutan is the happiest country and Bhutanese, the happiest people on earth. It is not like that. We do have many challenges and obstacles before us. But despite all these challenges, we are one country who firmly believes that happiness is still possible.

What’s common in us? Love for peace, Spiritualism, innocent people and tasty food including products of amul.

Thanks to Gujarat & Anand, we have most of the Amul products in our country. Today people of Bhutan wouldn’t fancy a meal without Amul Cheese and tea without Amul Taza. Thanks Amul and Thank to the pioneers of Amul Dairy.

All the Best

Aavajo. Bhutan ma tamaru swagat chhe.

Words to Cherish

Royal Address to the Nation at the 105th National Day celebration, 17th December 2012

On the occasion of the 105th National Day, it gives me much happiness to address our People of the 20 dzongkhags.

This National Day is of special significance. The powers offered by our People to the King in 1907 were, after hundred years of Nation building, returned in 2008 to our People by the Druk Gyalpo. It was in that year that we held the first elections under democracy and adopted the Constitution. Today we are nearing the end of the term of the first Parliament we elected in 2008 and the culmination of the tenth and largest 5-year plan. So much work lies ahead and such immense responsibilities rest on our shoulders as we approach 2013.

Yet, with capable and dedicated citizens who have great love for our country; with the guidance of the Fourth Druk Gyalpo and; with the ever-stronger bonds between People and King, I have great confidence that we shall achieve our goals.

Our People of Bhutan are unique. We have a sense of family, community and brotherhood that inspires us to come together in times of need. I have seen this following natural disasters and most recently in the way in which all Bhutanese came forward to offer whatever little we could afford to rebuild the historic treasure, Wangduephodrang Dzong.

In other nations, difficult moments in their history are met with strife, violence and conflict as people sacrifice national interest in order to achieve individual ambitions. In Bhutan such acts and events have never occurred. Our way of life, our heritage, loyalty and values remain strong in the hearts of our People and our People stand ready, even in times of great personal hardship, to place Nation above Self. I am so proud of our People and offer my deep gratitude for the love you have shown for your Nation.

It is during times of prosperity and success that we must remind ourselves of the work that lies ahead. We have made a good start in our transition to democracy but much remains to be done. Our Nation has seen great socio-economic growth but it is more important that we have growth with equity. We must raise, with all our effort, the less fortunate so that they may, at the earliest, begin to partake in the opportunities brought by modernization and progress.

The government has provided education to our youth. But for the nation to prosper for all time, a sound education must be succeeded by access to the right jobs and responsibilities, so that our youth may bloom as individuals and at the same time serve their Nation well.

The recent Rupee shortage is a serious problem. I feel it is a reminder that, as a Nation, we must exercise our traditional sense of caution and work even harder as we address the challenges of the time. For no matter what challenges lie ahead, it is only the Bhutanese citizen who can protect and safeguard Bhutan.

Today, the most important duty for us is the upcoming 2013 Parliament elections. I would like to say that we – all of us – are new to this democratic transition. We have all equally acquired four and a half years of experience in democracy. Experience comes with participation, so I urge you all to come forward as candidates, members of parties and voters for 2013.

Remember, achieving democracy is not the goal. The real fruits of our efforts should be that democracy brings greater unity, harmony and prosperity to our Nation. Democracy must be able to fulfill the aspirations of our People.

Many hundreds of years ago, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal unified the nation, established the dual system and laid the foundations on which a unique Bhutan was born. This new nation was then further strengthened over the course of history by fifty-four Desis and generations of Bhutanese. The last hundred years, the Wangchuck dynasty, further strengthened the foundations laid by the Zhabdrung and handed over a special Nation to our People in 2008. All of this was possible because our People have lived as one small family, true to the ideals of the Zhabdrung and the foundations of a unique and special Bhutanese identity.

As we approach the elections of 2013, we must, therefore, keep in mind these foundations of our Nation and prevent all ethnic, religious or political divisions in our small Nation. We must participate in democracy with the spirit of harmony and fraternity.

In 2008, our democratic transition and the wholehearted participation by the people including the 80% voter turnout were lauded by the world. I urge you all to exercise your right to vote – it comes but once in 5 years – for it is an act of great benefit to the Nation.

With the Blessings of the Triple Gem and our Guardian Deities and the good fortune of our People, I am confident we will conduct the second elections under democracy successfully in 2013.

For me, I hold sacred the endeavors begun by my father, the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. I have committed myself to bringing to fruition all the noble endeavors begun in his 34 years of service and sacrifice. I also hold sacred my duty to ensure the success of democracy and I shall work to lay the strongest foundations for a vibrant democracy within my reign.

Above all, I believe that the Golden Throne is not a Throne of wealth, power and prestige. The Golden Throne of Bhutan is a unique Throne of Destiny to serve our People and Nation.

As King since 2006 I have always served with complete dedication and integrity. Sometimes I may have erred. Yet, you my people, have given me even more love and support and placed your complete faith and trust in me. To our People of the 20 Dzongkhags, I offer my heartfelt gratitude and pledge that I shall give everything to be of service to you and Bhutan.

In this land blessed by Guru Padmasambhava, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal and our Fourth Druk Gyalpo, I pray that there shall be everlasting peace, prosperity and happiness.

Source: His Majesty’s Facebook fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/KingJigmeKhesar

105th National Day of Bhutan

In the Kingdom of Druk, where cypresses grow,

Refuge of the glorious monastic and civil traditions,

The King of Druk, precious sovereign,

His being is eternal, his reign prosperous,

The enlightenment teachings thrive and flourish,

May the people shine like the sun of peace and happiness!

Midnight Thoughts

Yesterday evening I saw a comment on Facebook. It immediately caught my attention. It had a reference to the Election Commission and their responsibility in monitoring social media during the upcoming elections. To be precise, the head line read something like this; ECB to strictly monitor social networking sites before election. Since I saw the head line in "Social Democracy in Bhutan" page, I somehow felt compelled to share my opinion. Following were my comments:

I think Monitoring Social networking sites wont make any difference...it would rather add extra burden to already over loaded ECB......How many people in Bhutan actually have internet access by the way? I am doubtful. I hope ECB is not doing this just to control perople like Ap Drukpa and Asha Gup.....ha ha ha ha .......All the best ECB....If that is what you call rule of Law...I think it should prevail...only time will tell..whether benefit was really worth the cost....

The came the answer from the Chief Election Commissioner himself. Following were his response to my comment:

Mr. PSN it helps sometimes to be broadminded than being synical. A journey of a thousand mile begins with a single step. Tenzing sherpa did not drop at mount everest he went up step by step. If u had anything that was ever useful u should have commented it when our draft was out in pulic for comments. Now when adopted you pretend to be the know all and care all follwing likes of wakleys. Hope ever heard la apagi bewa da jamtog tog and to aie gi zou da zhimtog tog.. Wether we can monitor or not is our responsibility. I have fairh all the sm user except may be few that by mow we have a fair idea as to who these are. Note if there is will there is way.

And with due respect, I offered my another comment to Dasho. I was of the opinion that Dasho misread my message. So here is my response to Dasho's comment:

Dasho, I appreciate your broad-mindedness and yea, I also know the long journey stuff that begins with single step.. I take it as a privilege, being able to hear it one more time from the chief EC of Bhutan.....to be very honest, I didn't even know that ECB have an act to monitor social networks.. that's because we have too many acts in Bhutan........ and well, that's what I said so..."If that is call a rule of law, it should prevail'........I know you are a man of action and I also know how dedicated u have been all these years in service of tsa wa sum. But i find u so so pathetic coming to my level and saying such a words as "Hope ever heard la apagi bewa da jamtog tog and to aie gi zou da zhimtog tog" As a citizen, I have always had high regard and respect for you. I always felt grateful for having an unwavering statesmanship like you in Bhutan's bureaucracy. But on hearing the above statement its like "Lak drin kha ge seey" 

Dahso I have just shared my opinion in a very informal way.....if u are hurt I am sorry..... If u are comparing me to Whalkey, you are wrong...we are different individuals with different perspectives altogether... Under your leadership, I have no doubt about ECB shouldering that responsibility and I wish u good luck....Just like u, i also desire to see a very smooth and hassle free election in 2013 in our beloved country.......The reason why i made a reference to AP drukpa, and asha gup are obvious. As an active fb user u must have also read their statements.....i forgot to mention you about Bhutanomics........ Dasho lastly...let me make some addition to your closing statement: where there is a will, there are even more ways.......All the best. Dasho take feedback with cool heart...if u find it stupid...just ignore....there is a saying: You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.

And before I could get a response from Dasho, It was some punk, named Ziggy Love on Facebook, who took his turn to respond to my comment. I have now idea who that "Ziggy Love" is. And to my shocking revelation, he gave me the folloing comment:

Peldhen Sonam Nima- you are but an arse to me. Arrogant m'fucker!

 Personally, calling me "asre" is ok, "arrogant" still more Ok. But some one who doesn't even have a face of his own calling me, "m'Fucker", I tell you , it is way too much. If someone call me with that name in my arms length, I wouldn't think twice to crush his skull to powder!....So Wrote my unprecedented reply:

Ziggy Love you may be a Mother fucker yourself, you monkey arse......I don't care a shit abt you ...better be cafareful with the words u use ......mother fucker! if u have a better point to say ..say it....or else shut your dirty mouth.....

But Ziggy had some more words to infuriate me.

A donkey can never sound Nightingale no matter how hard he tries. Peldhen Sonam Nima, you can't take a line of critical (Ofcourse intensed) remark critically and yet have the audacity to go on hooting what ever your immature and frail mind comes up with against the very institution that promotes freedom and liberty in Bhutan. If that's not a arse like, it's my balls sucking time for you! Cheers

From his comment, I could clearly make out that he wanted me to say something unpleasant to Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan. I could also clearly make out that faceless Ziggy have a problem understanding the concepts like rule of law, democracy and freedom. But that was ok. There are many  coward people like him.  But what got to my nerve is that his "Ball sucking time". I wrote my other unprecedented reply:

Ziggy Love, Looks like u really have issue with me. Oh yea... you Be a man and come out from the veil. show your dirty little monkey face and talk to me like a man. I hope u are not reincarnation of a ghost, I killed long time.....If need me, I don't mind having to kill the ghost in you another time.....Do u atleat have a ball.....They way you roar like a mouse from behind the veil of anonymity gives me an indication that you are nothing but a ball-less wimp, at best mother fucker, arse kisser, and ball cum dick sucker yourself........To understand a "kew lo chok , shew tonglok" creature like u, I don't need to be that critical. I can easily make out that you have nothing to prove except the ramblings that doesn't mean a shit to any one of us here.....now if u insist, bring your balls, i will grind those shrunken ball into powder and spray on your......well your pathetic looking wimpy face.......how abt that..?

After that Ziggy went dead. I waited the entire day for his reply but he never showed up. It is understandable that a wimp like him will have nothing to prove after all. In a mean time I got the reply for my comment from the chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan, which read as follows;

Thanks PSN..I had to be possessive of the institution I represent from some agendas. You and me, may be we have to on same page. 

And Finally, I closed the chapter with my following comment;

Freedom comes with duty ....my duty as a citizen is to uphold the law first and then look for my freedom......Freedom is necessary but not sufficient condition for vibrant democracy......Just my thoughts....I hope this doesn't offend faceless, voiceless, arse kissers like Ziggy Love.

I think I played enough with the pig today, And to all my friends and readers, please forgive me for being so so vulgar. Honestly, I never thought I could be that nasty and dirty, But with people like Ziggy, it made me think that, well I am just another human being.

Have a nice time and yea folks, I have exams coming Monday, so wish me good luck.

My Family as Movie Stars

Courtesy: Googles.

Muti Thrishing is a Bhutanese movie.  As you can see on the cover, it has its English equivalent title, "Perfect Girl". Its relatively an old movie. I don't remember when it got released, but I liked the movie for many reasons. In the movie, the lead female actress, Sonam Choki, I think out did, lead male actor, Tshering Gyeltshen by miles. Her acting was superb. Somehow the role suited her looks and the accent.

 I will not write more about the movie here. But if you want to find out more then read this link

Coming back to the reasons for liking the movies, Firstly it was shot in my native place. Shingkhar. Honestly there are not many sights that pleases me more than the sight of my own beautiful birth place. The sereneness and the radiance of my village are always breathtakingly beautiful. I have already seen good number of movies being made in my village. No doubt, many more Bhutanese film makers now fancy making movies in my village. Perhaps this explains how beautiful my village is.

Secondly, it conveys a very important social message. Although little exaggerated, it shows how unfavorable situation and circumstances forces an ordinary village girl into prostitution. More than that it shows how men have created this social disease called prostitution. The Movie shows how weak men are at controlling their desire for coital pleasures!

Under the shadow of some affluent and upper strata people, the movie also shows the difficulties faced by those innocent and weaker section of society. The way they are abused by people with money and power are startlingly shocking and way too disgusting. Many people, while watching the movie must have cursed "Bumthap Gaari SIngye" for his infamous role in the movie as a rich man of the village.

Third and the most important reason for liking the movie is that my family, back home played a very big role in  the making of this super hit movie. I don't know how TG media wooed all my family members into acting. But I was thoroughly touched to see all my beloved people in tears.

To me, I found  their acting way above Hollywood standard. At first I went wordless. Later it brought some sense. I came to know that they were not acting! As far as the a facts go, I heard that film crew got my family when they were observing one of the rituals honoring my dead uncle. I don't know which one but some people say it was on my late uncle's 21st day ritual. My uncle died a sad death away from his loved ones. When I Think of him. it still aches my heart. I feel bitter. 

But knowing that people have used those sad moments of my family for their economic gains is still more painful and aching. As a family member, the only solace I get by watching these scenes is that, people have at least used my late uncle's special moments to convey a very important social message. All I can say is that, my family played their social roles so well and so I hope they have also availed economic benefit consumerate to their contributions. 

My family with heroine

My father playing a role of a grieving relative

My Aunt (Nene), playing a role of Heroine's grandmother

My family

My sister, playing the same role as my father

My sister playing as Heroine's sick sister

Few more actors from Shingkhar getting briefed by
Bhutanese Movie Director.

Massage from Lama Ngodup to All the Shingkharpas

Wonderful information. I thank our Ap lama for his effort and time in putting up this update for the information of all the Shingkharpas, both near and afar. I hope all the Shingkharpas get both the message and the meaning of the message clearly.

By the way how about we keep our Rabnye's date fixed according to our tradition that prevailed long time. i.e. on the the fifteen day of tenth month in Bhutanese calender which roughly coincides with December of the Gregorian calender? (Daw Chupay Tse Chai nga na)

I think all the civil servants and people working else where should also join for our sacred Rabney from here on because preserving Shingkhar's tradition, which otherwise is like our identity, do not only fall on Lama, Gomchens and the villagers.  Big or small, I think all the Shingkharpas should play their respective roles. We all must come together  to preserve our tradition & culture and pass it on to our future generation. Who knows may be this could very well bring more unity and harmony in our village. 

With best regards to all my fellas.

Western Eyes With Eastern Scriptures

Eyelid twitching refers to an involuntary eyelid movement which may happen all of a sudden without any stimulation. For some, it lasts for hardly a few moments and eventually stops. But for some, this irritating and annoying involuntary twitching lasts for days, weeks and months at its worst. Following is what most of the westerners thinks about it:

"The world is full of individuals having some or the other form of muscle twitch in their body.  Involuntary twitches can range from petty and slightly annoying habits to more consistent and highly irritating behavior, which appears extremely erratic and the victim is simply helpless. In most cases, the twitching habit lasts for a short time and eventually fades away, while in some cases it remains for years together as a harmless muscular movement or a highly annoying form of body movement. Involuntary eyelid twitching is one such example. Involuntary eye twitching or eyelid twitching is also known and referred to by many as benign essential blepharospasm, hemifacial spasm or simply blinking disorder. There are different types and forms of this annoying phenomena ranging from mild habitual forms to seriously abnormal forms"

 Like wise, we the Bhutanese (or Buddhist in General) also have our own belief system for this. According to our system, we believe that twitching in different location, especially around our eyes, mean different things. Its as good as  foretelling something in advance! For example, twitching of an upper right eyelid signifies that, a person will soon be blessed with wealth, where as the twitching of a lower right eyelid signifies the impending misfortunes. Similarly, twitching of the upper left eyelid signifies that a person will fall sick, risk being dead and not fulfilling the expectations and endeavors. Twitching left lower eyelid on the other hand signifies that a person will succeed in all his endeavors. 

Personally, I did not believe in this system. Its long outdated orthodox. Logically speaking how can an eyelid twitching bring wealth, death, peace, success, sickness, failure and fulfillment? I simply did not find any correlation there. That's why I have always allowed my liberalness to play a part here.

But last year was a different story all together. I had the longest eyelid twitching of my life. It actually started way towards the end of 2010 and lasted till July 2011. And certainly many things did happen that year in my life. I had the longest eyelid twitching around my lower right eye and upper left eye. Both weren't a good sign. As if the divinity wanted to prove the belief system to me, many unpleasant things ensued in my life:

1. In the January 2011, our family lost almost 25% our yaks in a fire outbreak.
2. I had had the worst possible car accident of my life. (Damaged 3 cars)
3. Lost the gadget that I valued most in my life, -my Camera
4. Lost my most expensive shade, My Rayban sunglasses
5. My father nearly died of a stroke. Many a time, I had to travel between Bumthang and Paro, all alone day and night.
6. Like me, my father-in-law had his share of worst car accident. He broke is leg and nearly killed my grandmother and three other people.
7. I got my  first ever scholarship application rejected by a Japanese University.
8. Got selected for Indian Government Scholarship with flying results! Which many consider as a bad luck because I cannot go and clean toilets and earn dollars. Many still feel going to India for masters as being equivalent to going to a slum.
9. I got Officially warned for writing a letter to my MP on a issue that I did not agree.
10. Became miserably sick in India, from a viral fever.

These things had a profound impact in my life. There are surely things in this universe which cannot be explained in the light of real world phenomenon. Eyelid twitching is perhaps one such mystery that cannot be easily ignored. 

Now that I am having another round of eyelid twitching, I am little anxious. But this time its the upper eyelid of my right eye. It had has been twitching for about a week. To my happiness, it signifies that I will have lot to eat and will be able to accumulate lot of wealth too! And true to the prediction, these days I am relishing a lot on puff in a near by shop. It really taste great. My Indian friends have difficulty finishing just one but there I am easily swallowing two puffs in one go.  As for wealth, I am planning to buy an ipad..but wondering where the money is going to come from....LOL......

Have a nice day folks............................

Doomsday OR The Beginning of All Good Times ?

I have seen and heard about the infamous 2012 doomsday for a while now. Many assholes predicted that the world is coming to an end. The Images of doomsday are no doubt, distressing and discomforting. Comments even more frightening! At the moment I have not many words to describe those 'monkey-no work' people, but they surely scared millions to their marrows. My family included!

Few days ago My wife, took me out of guard. She told me that she is dead scared about this thing called 'total black out' of earth this month. She had all the reason in the world to be afraid of, because I am away and all she have with her are my three little daughters, who wouldn't even know that 2012 doomsday is all about. She in fact know more than what I knew about the false impending doomsday. 

I did my part to convince her. I told her that such things are not true. I lied to her. I told her that NASA and US intelligence are actually looking for people who have created the rumors. I  also told her that nothing would happen. I told her to be brave. Yea, that is what I am good at. Although meek myself I always tell people to be brave and bold all the time. 

Downloading happier times!

Finally the 2012 is here and is about to end. All I  can see is a beautiful  day with lot of sunshine. I could see and hear birds chirping and lazy dogs sleeping in my surrounding. Someone said today is Rajnikants's birthday. So no wonder Rajnikant has his uniqueness everywhere, even in his Birthday (12.12.12). 

Back home, Bhutanese people, especially those in the west, looks very busy with their Lomba festival. I am sure their spouses from the east must have also joined them. What a day to integrate east and west! Someone on the facebook even said that Dochula tsechu starts tomorrow ( i.e 13.12.12). From the pictures I have seen, the  dances looks extraordinary. I hope all my Bhutanese brothers and sisters will have a great time.   

As in Ahmedabad, people are still in the mood of their long gone Diwali. Malls are full and  so are streets. Its colours everywhere and everyday. In the night I can hear thousands of fire crackers explode. not only polluting environment but also causing lot of disturbances in the neighborhood. But the people here think its OK.

More than that, people are readying for their next election. In a few days time, they would have caste their vote for change and new things. More fire crackers and more pollution! More excitement and more jubilation. All in all I see a lot more happier days ahead.  

Find out more about the 2012 Doomsday rumors here. For now enjoy the day. 

Movie That Made 100 Crores in Just One Week!

After having watched Talaash, I got the feeling that I watched many movies simultaneously that day. To an ordinary people, It would just appear that a hero in the movie is a Police officer (Surjan as played by Amir Khan) who, after losing his son becomes insomniac and lifeless. He is deeply affected. Overshadowed by the untimely demise of his son, he loses sense and become unmindful about the presence of his equally grieving wife(Roshni as played by Rani Mukherjee). His home completely lacks the light and luminosity of love and intimacy. House for them is just house, not home!

Then somewhere a car plunges into the ocean for apparently no reason. In the mishap, a movie star was pronounced dead . Some calls it a a mysterious death while some knew such cases weren't anything new. Since the deceased belong to the upper strata and affluent class of people, his death pulls the frantic media houses for endless coverage. It brings Police department to pursue the case. The hero gets engrossed, physically and mentally in the case which makes her wife and house more desolate and dismal.  

Roshni finds her ultimate solace in her neighbors ability to talk to the dead. She even claimed to have spoken once with the spirit of her dead son, Kamran. Roshni visits her neighbor regularly to speak with Kamran, but this infuriates Surjan. He seriously doubts about their  neighbor's ability.

As the story starts unfolding, it becomes apparent that the whole story had its origin in the death of a prostitute (Simran as played by Kareena Kapoor) But the problem is, Surjan doesn't know about it yet. Meanwhile, in the process of the investigation, Surjan  meets the dead Simran as Rosy.  Although its a spirit of Simran, in his eyes, she looks real. She even helps him fight his psychological problems, and also helps him with his enquiry! She takes Surjan to a place called 'her place, away from the reach of others' The rest of the plot unfolds the mystery behind the death and soon Surjan realizes that Simran died an unnoticed and unheard death. yea, that is how a poor and insignificant people die in many places.

Later Surjan discovers the remains of Simran from 'her place, away from the reach of others'. He gave her a proper funeral. He overcomes his personal problems and unites with his wife after reading his dead son's words as recorded by their neighbor. 

You see, that's how Amir and team made Rs. 100 crores in just one week and I have contributed Rs.190 in making those crores.

Vicky, (The Sperm) Donor

Image Courtesy: Google

"Vicky Donor" is a movie whose main theme revolves around human infertility and sperm donation. Its a movie about how cash rich people are miserably poor without the bliss of their own offspring. The movie also reveals about how most couples in India are plagued with "first-decide-the-career-and-then-have-baby' problem. As rightly put by Dr. Chadda, (the fertility expert and the principle character in the movie) the infertility problem is a cancer of a modern lives. According to him, it is only through the generous donation of healthy sperm from a happy and worry-free people like Vicky that can save those people from the misery.

Its also a movie about how money can change peoples mind.  At first, Vicky or the agent Vicky as called by Dr. Chadda, finds the concept of "sperm donation" not only disgusting but also finds it amusing and stupid. He, therefore scraped Dr. Chadda's incessant plea to become his useful donor on countless occasions.  But however, in the end Dr. Chadda's persistence pays off. Vicky finally agrees to donate sperm for the first time, and that too for a pocket money! Subsequently, Vicky ends up becoming the Indian Alexander of Dr. Chadda fertility clinic. 

The movie also says a lot about love and romance. Its about a how many Indians stands separated by the walls of different culture and traditions. Its about how people like Vicky and Ashima stands separated by cultures of their regions. But to their relief, there is always one thing, one common thing that can overcome any barriers, however mighty they may be. It is the magic of love and intimacy that brings the fish eating Bengali and money minded Punjabi to tie their knots and do the monkey dance together!

All in all, its a movie that has so many other meanings too. It has been declared as the box office super hit. Producers have made millions already! But I don't know why am I blogging about this old movie here? I am neither infertile nor a sperm donor myself. I am a neither a fish eating Bengali nor a money minded Punjabi too. I don't know why but I found the movie worth watching many times.

By the way friends, I was just day dreaming this afternoon. And strangely this thought came across my mind. The way I became father of three in such a lightening phase, I thought to myself that, I would have also made another Vicky. I don't know which one, the useless sperm, The greedy sperm, or confused sperm. LOL....

Good night folks

The Geography of Bliss

Picture Courtesy: Google

I have just started reading a book by Eric Weiner, Its called "The Geography of Bliss". The title of the book says that its 'One Grump's search for happiest place in the world'. But after having read few pages form the book, I saw humorous and hilarious Eric than the one described by himself on the cover of the book. Journalist by profession, Eric has displayed his unrivaled flair for writing. His writing is anything, but simple and humble that is temple of god. Through witty and often dark humors, (that appears in bits and pieces everywhere in the book) Eric not only entertains readers, but he also educates the reader about the profound aspects of a thing called "happiness and Happiest place".  Someone rightly said that "happiness is reading a book as entertaining as this" 

Happiness, as we know is a very subjective concept. The concept of Happiness differs from one being to the other. Mostly, its often referred to as the state of mind which cannot be quantified in ordinary terms. Its like an illusion! -Empty and always evasive!  As associated by many Buddhist masters, happiness is transitory like a multi-hued rainbow, which appears and disappears in a wink.  Yet, the ultimate aim of every living being is to find it and experience it once.

In "The Geography of Bliss", Eric attempts to bring forth what happiness means to different people in different countries. In other words "The Geography of Bliss" is a culmination of Eric's quest in finding the  happiest place in the world. This quest took him around the world and to the places which even his journalistic brain knows not much about. Finally, he puts forward as to what happiness is in ten different countries as follows:

1. In the Nederlands, Happiness is a number
2. In Switzerland, Happiness is a boredom
3. In Bhutan, Happiness is a Policy
4. In Qatar, Happiness is winning a lottery ticket
5. In Iceland, Happiness is Failure
6. In Moldova, Happiness is somewhere else
7. In Thailand, Happiness is not thinking
8. In Great Britain, Happiness is a work in progress
9. In India, Happiness is a contradiction
10. In USA, Happiness is Home.

Of the ten chapters, I have just finished reading about what happiness means in Bhutan. As always, I went blank while I was reading about happiness being a policy in Bhutan. Here the happiness policy has a reference to Bhutan's development paradigm called Gross National Happiness (GNH). From my personal understanding, policies never bring happiness to all sections of society in equal terms. For that matter, tobacco control act and the most infamous pedestrian day in Bhutan, I think are the living example of happiness policy that failed.  

In Bhutan, as I said earlier, happiness has a different meaning to different people. And therefore there are many people who do not buy the happiness definition given by our senior bureaucrats including some of the Minsters and the 'Think Tanks' alike. Their definition of happiness is quite different from the happiness that most Bhutanese envisages. It may not be documented anywhere but for them Happiness means travelling around the globe selling happiness. For them Happiness also means more land, more money, more power, and silencing the critiques. At the end of the day, Happiness for them is all about settling for a fat TA and DA from the public exchequer and still telling to the world that money and materialism are things that GNH do not advocate. We do not  know how far the news is true, but today, there are already a lot of rumors about how some section of Bhutanese society  are unduly profiting more from the happiness policy then the rest!

I agree with Eric with all my heart and soul on the count that Bhutan is not Shangri-La in any sense. People  definitely do not live 250 years! Rather we have many people living miserably below poverty line. There are people who toil day and night but ultimately settle for hand to mouth in the end. Crime rate is alarming. More  than ever, the level of corruption has reached a threatening level. We have a crises in the interpretation of laws and unilateral decisions have been made banning even our culture and traditions. People are getting kidnapped and paying ransom to those identified gun men and god knows what our security people are up to. We have our ambitious youths who wanted to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects and bureaucrats but are naively told to go and join farming sector. They are frustrated and crazily angry with the happiness policy? 

Coming back to the book, I liked the way Eric went wordless when Linda Leaming, asked him about how happy he was rather than how busy he was looking for it. I thoroughly enjoyed Eric's trip to Bhutan with a guide who , I think requires a lot of orientation himself. I think Tashi has truly depicted how 80% of Bhutanese people are to Eric. Bhutanese people indeed consider white languors as good omen and brown monkeys, the otherwise. Based on the reason he gave, I think Tashi was not wrong either when he said that the rivers and lakes are different. It is also true that we have lamas who can heal cancers, but I would not recommend all the American cancer patients to come to Bhutan, because already our GNH lamas getting polluted by dollar power.

I also liked a part when Eric asked Bhutanese home Minister about the relationship between the Happiness and Nagasaki. The answer from our minister was equally hilarious one too, but sadly I forgot it. I also liked the way Dahso Karma  Ura responded to Eric's question about GNH. "Lowering the expectations" was Dasho's response. I presume Dasho was right in his count.

By the way I still do not know whether this thing called GNH is either philosophy or an ideology. But certainly, I know that there are many Bhutanese who are highly ambitious, who love Money and who fear death just like any other beings.