Without Gol Building- Well-Tempered Phuntsholing

Gol Building was a fairy tale we used to hear from the handful of people from my village who had been to Phuntsholing during our childhood. It was the largest and the tallest building known to Bhutanese back then. The reputation lived on during recent times even after much bigger and taller buildings were built around it, perhaps out of nostalgia.

Picture I added on Google Maps in 2017

Built in 1968, the building dominated the landscape and stood as an iconic landmark right at the border gate, fascinating both Bhutanese and Indian for decades. However, by the time I saw the building, it has lost its glory, age showing all over it and completely neglected. Only recently, it got a fresh coat of brownish painted and began to glow again. But unfortunatly, it was like a dying person recovering for a brief moment before he takes his final breath; now it’s gone. Demolished. 

Gol Building as seen from across border

With the massive old structure removed, Phuntsholing town lost a part of its history but gained a big breathing space. Everyone who has ever been to Phuntsholing will miss the building that carried a formidable personality and been part of many personal and family tales. But the vast open footprint of the building will serve as a refreshing memorial of the great structure that has housed thousands of memories.

How I wish we had the option to preserve the building as a heritage site and convert it into a museum. With that opportunity reduced to dust and trucked away, the next best thing to ask for is a park, a green patch of refreshing space to escape from the suffocation of ever congesting town.

I read about the National Housing Development Corporation Limited (NHCDL)’s plan to built another massive structure there. From a commercial perspective that location is a gold mine, and therefore, it’s simple logic to think of building a massive commercial centre there, perhaps MBK of Bhutan. If it was a private property that’s what’s going to happen for sure.

But fortunately, it’s a government land and therefore we have the option to look beyond commercial aspect and use that space intelligently to transform Phuntsholing into a Well-Tempered City. Whatever big plans we had, MBK or Mustafa, can be taken to Phuntsholing Township Development Project among Amochu, where we have enough space for any ambitious project.

Phuntsholing Township Development Project, Amochu

However, should NHDCL pursue their plan and build a massive structure to replace Gol Building, we not only fallback to an ill-planned town but also congest the traffic beyond manageable limit. We then won’t be any different from Jaigoan.

For a visitor from North, when I first land in Phuntsholing the chaos there is almost unbearable but I begin to appreciate the significant difference when I cross the border to India and return in a while. Phuntsholing suddenly seems so quiet, pleasant, green and refreshing. I feel a sudden sense of security and peace. And that, ladies and gentlemen is what defines Phuntsholing, and that’s what defines Bhutan. Therefore, leaving that space for a green park will enhance that definition of a Bhutanese town. For a government organisation that’s far more important goal than any commercial growth. Moreover, once the Amochu Township flourishes, there is going to be a shift in centre and NHDCL would be grateful that they decided to build where the future is.

Commercially so, the new ambience of Phuntsholing will attract hundreds of neighbours to stroll through the park and dine in local cafés and restaurants, changing the pattern of inter-border spending, which was for the longest time only outward. For a country, economy should be looked at and tended to from a broader perspective and not from one organisation’s growth and benefit, if any. No organisation should think and act independently, we must go forward interdependently or fail.

A new building will overwrite the memories of Gol Building, but a park will forever be a tribute to the historic building that stood as witness to everything that has gone through Bhutan Gate to transform our country. 

Bajothang is Becoming a Town Soon

'Bajothang Town' had been a new phrase to describe all the problems in the world. There is limit to failure, Bajothang crossed all lines. It's a town build on problems and it never failed its history. Reconciliation with its failed past was long overdue.

Death Traps

Well now things are happening finally. Looks like we are soon going to have a town around here. I can see people mending the broken pavements and dusting the potholes. I can see thick smoke from the middle of the town where they seem to be mixing blacktopping materials. I can see some roundabouts are resized. I can see some drains reappearing from underneath tonnes of earth. I am happy.

Mending the broken town

Smoke of Hope

There should be strategic planning to make adjustment with irreparable structural errors, because streets cannot be widened now- if every street is allowed for parking there is no room for traffic. With the drains repaired the sewage overflow will find its way and with the roads blacktopped the dust will be gone. This is the town Bajothang deserves to be and I hope the contractor will deliver it, and I hope the municipal will see to it. Because contractors are business people, they will try to make profit from every corner.

Redesigning the errors

I am eager to see how they will go about this!

Work Done so far

The few patches of finished work that are visible aren't so promising but we are optimistic people and we hope the contractor will learn to do better, and that he will leave behind a legacy that he can be proud of rather than endless court orders.

If you are visiting Bajothang these days you will find it too dusty to live but for people who are living here it's the dust of hope and change, it's the last of dust and stink, and we are enjoying it. Wish us best of luck.

Window on the Third Floor- Bajothang Town Woes

I blogged about the unsafe attics in Bajothang after a tenant fell from railing-less veranda on 26th Feb 2013. The article was published as opinion in The Bhutanese newspaper in the following week. After over a month Kuensel has run an independent story on it, from where I came to know that authorities have taken action.
The authorities have notified the house owners to ensure safety by blocking access through windows by putting railings. This was expected to be done by the end of March but no house owner has abided by the notification.

Image from Kuensel

Most buildings had left provision for verandas on the third floor, in case the rule changes in future they could make the tenants living in attics comfortable by offering space to dry their laundry. But following the accident they were asked to do just the opposite- put railing on the windows. This means a huge financial blow to the house owners without any benefits. If they were asked to secure their verandas, the financial implication could be tolerated because it expands the scope of better life on third floor.    
When people look at Bajothang town they see huge building and rich landlords, but when I look at Bajothang I see huge debts standing on the shoulders of worried landlords. They will be paying huge installments for the next 20 years failing which all their dreams will be seized by the banks. The rent they collect goes straight to the banks and any addition financial pressure could make them sleepless.
The landlords are not opposing the notification issued by the authorities, they perhaps don't have anymore capacity to invest on the building. I was expecting the authority to finally approve verandas on attic, that will boost the rental business of the otherwise prison-like apartments but what actually happened seemed like a punishment. What is a Rule without logic and without consideration for people it serves? The logic is to ensure safety- whether railing is on the window or on the veranda. A bunch of nail is enough to close windows and shut access to outside of attic if at all it's so illegal to create attic verandah. But with verandas on attics life will way comfortable for people living there.
There are more important things to worry about than shutting windows- When will the sewage tanks stop overflowing on the road? When will the farm road in Bajo town get its blacktop done? 

Our Outdated Towns

BBC was showing a video of a street in London shot over hundred years ago and they were amazed at the architectural farsighted of their ancestors, that even after hundred years they didn't have to change a slightest bit to accommodate modern metropolitan city.

London in 1902

Here in our country, where modern towns are only a few decades old, every now and then we have to demolish structures to widen streets and bring in better infrastructures, only to discover that it needs to be changed again. In last few years Thimphu saw many breakings and makings, yet streets are flooded with rain water every monsoon season, and often we get to smell the overflowing sewage. Thimphu needs to be changed every day and I don't think I will see a finished city ever in my life. Our designers didn't even see what would happen in 10 years time. 

Phuntsholing comes to a standstill every morning and there is nothing anybody can do to solve this problem. The problem is not with the population, not even the number of vehicles because these are expected with the change in time. This change in time had to be seen by our designers and planners.

Lets forgive them now because those days they walked straight out of their villages and saw lesser world to make any significant difference- or so I assume.
Now we have planners and designers who went to the best universities in the world and some of whom have multiple qualifications, they have seen the world and they have better resources in their hand. Therefore what we could least expect is to see our planners and designers build a town as good as the ones westerners did in early 1900.
And what came up in Khuruthang and Bajothang shattered all our hopes. Let alone standing and serving for centuries these two town failed in their own times. Even before completion they have become outdated in their structural designs and efficiency against the growing traffic. Each building accommodates over six families excluding the business operators on the ground floor and visibly there is parking space for only three cars. The parking space takes up half the width of the road.

Bajothang town from a Distance because that's the only way it looks good

Even before we had the buildings we had blacktopped roads, we had even pavements, we had drains, and sewage line. Now we have buildings, rough roads, risky pavements, hidden drains and blocked sewage. Everything that was built before was lost and it seems to take forever to get them back. Some constructions are frozen in time, and the construction material for a three storied house disables 300 meters of public land around it yet they are calm. I saw a construction of 40 storied building in Bangkok that didn't even throw a piece of scrap on the road that runs a few meters along it. Then I knew we Bhutanese are a big show off. Government structures here are like huts- be it Municipal office or the telecom office, perhaps to save cost, but what we don't realize is that we will have to rebuild them in next five years. The cost saving will cost heavily then. Children park and civic hall are like stories from dreams- the big space could be turned into parking lot instead of letting a jungle grow in the town. It's worse in Khuruthang though it is much older than Bajothang.
Bajothang and Khuruthang are repeating the mistakes made by Thimphu and Phuntsholing and the upcoming town could easily copy the trend but what would make the difference is to think differently and plan smartly, after all it is not everyday that we design towns. Hundred years from now when our children look at the pictures from our time they should not feel like they have reached a different world. We should leave behind what will last long than us.

iWitness Bhutanese Unity

Last Sunday afternoon we had the baddest dream from which we can never wake up but last Sunday Afternoon we also had the chance to see the utmost unity among Bhutanese like never before. We lost a Dzong but found the Bhutanese in ourselves. We came together to share the lose, we felt the common pain, and shared a strong dream- the dream of building a better Dzong.

24.06.2012 The Day that Broke National Heart

Before the smoke over the burnt Dzong disappeared, before the heat on the stone slabs cooled and before the firefighter could wash their shoot coated face Bhutanese across the world started seeking information about raising funds to reconstruct the Wangdue Dzong. Facebook group by Passang Dorji gather over 27,000 members within two days, which is almost every Bhutanese on Facebook, to discuss and contribute towards rebuilding the Dzong. BBS on the other hand is reaching out to almost everybody across the country. If we are so united Dzong is just a structure to build.

Rescue Worker resting for lunch with the smoke still rising from the ruins

Firefighters and rescue workers worked day and night and some of them haven't been home for days but they showed no sign of giving up until the last curl of smoke is put off. People from far and wide came in buses and cars filled with refreshment, business communities and schools cooked meals and made sure that no worker on the site went hungry and thirsty. Sponsors are lined for many days to come.
Behind everybody's notice Dzongkhag offices were struggling to reestablish themselves with nothing left at all. Our school arranged offices for at least three sectors but they decided to put themselves up at the BPC building under one roof. We have housed the education office for now. They need computers, printers, tables, chairs, shelves, files, cupboards, staplers, punching machines, seals, stamp pad, dustbins, and most of our moral support to restart their lives. They all seem lost and confused and they don't know where to begin from. I saw our education officer asking for a paper and drafting a letter to be sent to all the principals to send their staff details, using his knee as his table. This letter has not letter head, no seal, and no file number. But he said, he will buy a file and start with this letter. While we were all focused on the Dzong and its reconstruction, there were people across the country who shared their concerns- Every Dzongkhag is sending in a computer each, some Dzongkhags are send their extra furniture and looks like this is not going to take long either. We must rebuild the Dzongkhag to have the Dzong back.

Smoke From Wangdue Dzong seen from Bajothang

And in this great tragedy my heart goes out to our honorable Dasho Dzongda. The Dzong was under his control but the fire wasn't. He was among the first people to reach the site and he has tried all that was possible of him to fight the fire. Human efforts didn't fail this time, it was the equipment. When he knew that the fire has gone wild, he rushed to rescue the Nangtens. He sort assistance from the monks to identify the important relics and packed them in those heavy black boxes. But the entrance was already blocked by fire and they had to throw the boxes through the windows. One of these boxes fell on his foot and broke his toes. He badly needed medical attention but he didn't bother about it. Doctors on site instructed him to take rest but he refused to heed until the next day. Now I heard that he might lose his toes, I hope and pray that what I heard is wrong. May him get well soon.

The Heavy Black Boxes- Job Well Done

He should know that the fire was our collective misfortune and that he should not take it too much on himself. If there was someone we could call a hero this time, it is Dasho Dzongda who went through the fire and rescued the relics for the Bhutanese to hope for, despite the painful injury. I hope he felt better after meeting His Majesty and our prime minister, who reassured to him that the disaster was god's will and that we will rebuild a greater Dzong. The Royal words spread fast and soon we stopped crying over the lost Dzong and started wondering about the opportunity of creating new history.
We are grateful to Zhabdrung for his Dzongs and the history, but thousand years from now they should read more than Zhabdrung. They should look at the Magnificent Wangdue Dzong and say, "that's the Dzong built by Fifth King and His people in 2012"

The Changing MRP

MRP is supposed to stand for Maximum Retail Price, but it's badly misunderstood in Bhutanese Market. People think it's the price shopkeepers paid to the sources, or shopkeepers convince people to think so. Therefore they think is reasonable to pay a little higher than MRP and if on some rare occasions they get a few things on MRP it makes them very happy.
But the truth everybody knows is that MRP printed on goods are way higher than its actual price so that it covers all transportation expenses and taxes and still leave good room for profit. But some shopkeepers who charge over the MRP share their sad stories of having paid so much themselves, which is either a big lie or they are foolish enough to deal with third-person suppliers. Whose ever fault it is, costumers like us are the ones who are paying the price on daily basis.
However our misery with MRP doesn't end with getting some things at MRP because it's on a constant change. Prices of goods are changing with every new stock and shopkeepers shrug innocently, indicating that they have no power over the Indian inflation. That's true we can't control the Indian market, and we can't survive without importing from India but what about Bhutan?
One Bhutanese good I buy regularly is Orange Fruit Squash, it's not only economical but also less harmful compared to fizzy drinks. Till last week I was buying one liter bottle @Nu.78 and today it's @Nu.115, a 47.4% increase in price. I checked the dates and found that the ones I bought earlier were from last year and the new stock was the one which came with new price tag. I am just wondering what happened so suddenly in Bhutan that this company had to increase the price insanely.

Orange Squash 47.4 % inflated over a few months (look at the prices)

Prime Minister sure told us Bhutanese to take advantage of the Rupee Crunch but He mustn't have meant to do this and kill fellow Bhutanese. Orange Squash was a poor-man's drink, we could increase the amount by adding water but now they have even charged for the water we will add.
I am also wondering why the juice which is produced in Bhutan and also has "Bhutan Sale" written on it has it's price printed in RS.

Preserving Paro Town

My visit to Paro last week gave me an opportunity to look at the town in a whole new perceptive. I have spent seventeen years of my life in Paro but it never felt that way until I spent these five years away. After having seen the changing faces of many Bhutanese towns the old street in Paro town is something that made me stop and wonder and then wish.

The Beautiful Paro

Paro Tshongdue the forgotten names means the business place, where the Bhutanese and Tibetan businessmen met to barter their goods long before we knew India and Bangkok. This town has history and it has the structural design well preserved to be called the Iconic Town of Bhutan. Interestingly many of these houses are converted into Handicraft showrooms thereby promising to remain so for years. But the desire for bigger and better houses has slowly eaten away at least two houses and many might want to follow soon. 

Government could adopt the street and preserve it creatively, without hurting the sentiments of the landlords and without freezing their desire to move forward. 

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The Last Bhutanese Town, Paro

Towns bigger than Thimphu are bound to come with time but if we lose Paro history may never forgive us.