Hotel California in Punakha

Tea Break

I only heard of it like a story from a far off place, though I am into teaching for five years now, that it's such a fun at the winter correction camp in Punakha High School. They say it's like hotel California- "You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave."
I am in Punakha School as well but on a different mission. I am training teachers of Punakha and Gasa under Chigphen Rigphel Project. And this is the closest I ever came to the place from where my fate was decided years ago, from where fates of thousands were decided every year, and from where fates of many teachers are changed year after year- yes teachers make big money here, I only heard of it like a story you know.

What Makes it Hotel California? 

1. All your lost friends suddenly reemerge from their isolation and it becomes the best vacation down the memory lane.
2. Meeting old friends helps you forget your age, and this is exactly what happens in Punakha. Weeks in Punakha helps you fight aging and wrinkles better than Ponds Age Miracle. 
3. The amount of money you make and the relationship you build here in the camp makes you feel like you belong to the place forever. Therefore most of the teachers in the camp are almost permanent staff, having booked their place for eternity, which so much connects with hotel California's closing line: "but you can never leave."

One Teacher One Car

Over hundred teachers gathered here to check class ten papers, and I am surprised to see so many familiar faces. They were surprised to see me as well- a new face among them in Punakha, but I confirmed them that I wasn't with them.

Invitation to Bhutan

My sister in-law is a Japanese, living and working in Taiwan. She visited my brother for the first time after their long Facebook relationship in September and spent over a week with my family. She enjoyed her times with us so much that she sacrificed her job and bonuses to meet us again in October. Fifteen day stay made her even more happy and wanted to come here again.

This time I thought I should invite her as our personal guest so that she won't have to pay so much as she did during her first two visits- she paid cost of a car already. However, I didn't know that the Immigration in my country won't acknowledge her relationship with us. My application for invitation was rejected. By the rule they have in their book, we should have met her outside Bhutan to qualify for invitation, which otherwise means that she can't be my sister in-law because she met us in Bhutan. What could be the possible logic behind recognizing acquaintance outside Bhutan? What I think should be important is the authenticity of the relationship. 

At Dochula, during her second visit.

Many people I contacted for information advised me to find a person who has been to Taiwan and prepare the application in their name, or to cook up a story of having met her in Singapore during my visit there but I defended knowing our true story was far better than those lies- after all they are humans at the other end! If I had known there are all robots interpreting the rules rigidly I would have listened and lied.

It's not all about money. I just wanted to show her the Bhutanese we are, our courtesy and hospitality to guest, and that's not possible after letting her pay thousands of dollars. She was supposed to visit us for the third time in February 2012 but she couldn't wait that long. And here my application was rejected. I couldn't tell her that she could will have to pay a huge price to meet us again but it turned out that she was more Bhutanese than the people who rejected my application. She consoled me saying, "Hey brother, don't worry, money can be made." 

And thus she came here for the third time as tourist and these days she is with us in Wangdue having a wonderful vacation with my family.

P:S: If you happen to be a wanna-be guest or a host and stumbled upon this post while Googling, please note that this article is not to encourage you to cheat your way out in this process, but I am not responsible if your application is rejected after telling the truth either!

An Old Book Can't Decide my Daughter's Destiny

After becoming father I was surprised to find myself turning into an orthodox man; I would touch fire or water before I see my daughter when I come at night, I would put a black mark on her face when taking her out in dark, and we would take her to a temple if we had a bad dream…

But one thing I could not agree on is writing her destiny- keytshe. People say it is crucial for us to ask an astrologer to see what destiny has in store for our daughter and get it written down. I am told that we have to give astrologer the date and time of birth and he will go through his book and find out the details of our daughter’s life; as in how long will she live? How would she live her life? What would she become? How would she die? What are her bad or good days and years?

My question is who wrote that damn book? And when was that book, which could tell everybody’s fate, written? I know God didn’t write that book, and I am sure it must be written hundreds of years ago during the times when people still thought earth was flat. And tell me how possibly could such book dare talk about a life of person living in the age of computers and rockets?

I want to bring up my daughter with the belief that her life is what she makes of it and not decided by her birth. I want her to know that she has options in life and each option has its own consequences. I want her to have dreams of her own and work hard towards them. She should grow up to know which pen she chooses to write her own book of destiny.

Sonam's Birthday on calendar

Date of her birth is important to us because it was then our daughter came among us with bundle of happiness, and therefore I have cut November month of 2009 calendar and laminated it to be presented to my daughter when she is grown up. As of myself, though born in modern times don’t even known my actual birthday and don’t have a picture of my childhood.