Monsoon Lessons

Now that the monsoon has passed and things are gradually falling in place, it’s time to look back and reflect. John Dewey said, ‘we do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.’ 

Last month we saw what could be easily called the worst monsoon in many years. Sarpang town was wiped from the face of the earth. Two southern towns of Gelephu and Phuntsholing spent many sleepless nights. Samtse lost a critical bridge. Road network across the country was disrupted. Our country suffered huge losses in damages.

But in these bad times we saw the most heartwarming responses from our men in uniform across the country volunteering in rescue efforts. We saw them putting public safety ahead of their own. In them we saw heroes we could always rely on in times of need.

In the middle of confusion in the south, where the fury of nature had left everyone helpless we saw the selfless leadership of our King and the Prime Minister. The kind of leadership the rest of the world could only pray for.

Pic: His Majesty's Official Page

However, far away from the affected areas, here in the capital city we saw the other side our people, the not-so-good side. With road connection to the south blocked at several points, assumptions of fuel shortage created havoc. Avalanches of cars rushing at the fuel pumps to hoard fuel.

The endless queue of cars only showed how embarrassingly selfish we could become in the face of disaster. Everyone wanted their own tanks to be filled, disregarding the need of the fellow citizens. No one seemed to think that if our country at all suffered from fuel crisis we were all in it together.

Pic: The Bhutanese Facebook Page

Despite the comforting official announcement against the problem the ugly rush continued at all depots for days. We believed more in the hoax. Of course what more can we expect from the population that once believed in the salt shortage rumor? Some families may not have finished the salt they selfishly hoarded that day in 2013.

Besides the fuel hoarding, we also heard stories of taxi drivers overcharging desperate travellers and we saw local vegetable vendors doubling the price of their produce in the absence of competition from imported vegetable. These are some qualities that make us not Bhutanese.

We Bhutanese are by nature harmonious social beings. That makes us stand out in the big blue world despite our smallness. But why do we act like some ghosts possessed us in times like this? Why do we become so selfish suddenly?

Now that the roads are cleared as promised and that we didn’t run out of fuel, what have we learned? Even if we weren’t in queue at the fuel pump, or had anything to do with the opportunist vegetable vendors and taxi drivers we are all equally guilty in this. Remember what Albert Einstein said,

‘The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.’

This article is published in Business Bhutan on 6th August 2016

How Does the Flood Siren Sound?

I live close to the bank of the Punatshangchhu river, and the area was declared red-zone by the experts who were also kind enough to let us know that eight glacier lakes were waiting to burst downstream on to us anytime soon. I am surprised to find myself having a good night's sleep everyday even after knowing that my bedroom may become the riverbed someday soon.
Astrology has pointed at many natural disasters this year, especially flood, and I think I should stop my Bhutanese complacency and strive to know a few things in preparation for the year. I have heard of GLOF mitigation project, where hundreds of people were engaged in lowering the water level of the potential lakes.  I don't know what finished first- work or the money! I also heard of installation of lots of early warning systems, where by people could be alerted before the flood reaches them. Awareness programs were conducted among people living in red zone, to let them know that they are at risk. However the most important piece in the whole puzzle is yet to come in and I wish to know when is it coming.
Three days ago, it was cold and raining and I was working late into the night as usual. When I was about to go to bed I heard a siren. What was it? Any ordinary Bhutanese would ignore it but I live in the red zone and I know there is an early warning system in place, which immediately made me panic. I went out to confirm the source of the siren. It seems to come from the police station or may be the hospital. I waited for a long time before I finally convinced myself that even if it was the flood it may not reach me.
So the missing piece in the puzzle is how does the flood siren sound? How different is it from the sound of a fire engine or an ambulance? If we can't make out the sound of the flood siren, what it the use of investing so much money in having them? When is the right time to tell us the secret of the flood siren?
A mock drill in the red zone should be possible when mock election was possible across the country, and the right time to do it may be now because  natural disaster may not wait for us to prepare.
And as I was sleeping that night I also wondered where to run if at all the flood comes. Yes, where to go? Have we identified the safe place to run to? And who will come to give us instructions- Police, Dzongda or the Gup? Or are we going to repeat the mistake we made during the last earthquake of listening to rumors and spreading them in the absence of proper information dissemination system?
Well, experts were kind enough to let us know the bad news that we are trespassing the way of raging water but I wish they also told us the good news of how we could keep ourselves safe.

Geography of My Kitchen Garden

When I wrote Lost Path last June our door step was one foot under the sand. I personally witnessed how the flash floods from the farm road covered our campus with sand thrice, and therefore I know that the place I am calling my kitchen garden is sandy.

My First bean.

If you have followed my blog regularly you would know that I had to build fences around my soul before I could fence my garden. And as if that wasn't enough, my sandy soil brought in lots of skeptical advisers kindly assuring me that nothing would grow in my garden. If they are right, then why am I wasting time? Well, geography says sand is not fertile but geography also say that the flood plain in Bangladesh is very fertile. The sand in my garden was brought there by flood and it ought to be fertile as well.

Chili and Egg Plant

Kingdom of tomatoes- I didn't plant on the side of the box!

 Nobody says anything these days, it has only been over a month and my green garden is answer to all their doubts. Spring onion was the first to answer followed by tomato. Garlic leaves and beans are swaying in the wind. Egg plants are growing huge leaves overshadowing my spinach (spinach reminds me of Popeye the sailor man). Coriander leaves, carrot and broccoli are just germinating while maize and ola choto are touching the fence. Chili trees look promising- I have the Indian chili plants. My most favorite plants in my garden are the two Coffee plants and two Dalle plants. Looking at the list, it may seem like I have acres of land but in fact I only have about ten square feet- including the soil in wooden box.

Spring Onion among Egg Plant, and Coriander in the box.

These many plants growing out of my sandy garden assure me that I have read the geography of Bangladesh carefully.

First harvest!

An afterthought:
* Two coffee plants may give me two cups of coffee, or may be more or may be the wind will never let them grow their fleshy leaves. but twenty years from now, when you drink a Bhutanese coffee brand called "PaSsu" please remember to share with your kids how uncle PaSsu began with just two plants of Coffee ha ha ha.

My two Coffee plants- half ragged by wind!

Marching through March

While blogging keeps me happy, life keeps me away from blogging. I met the bad luck at the gate of new year and he is still bothering me. My junior high school mate Tashi Phuntsho shook my hand hard and made strong promises. I didn't know he had changed so much until he ran away with my money. He has got guts even police couldn't break. Arrest warrant awaits him and he is still breathing dusty air across the border with his Indian mates. I have given details of his every move with his photograph to police, and yet I am made to wait forever. Police vigilance and intelligence ran far short of my expectation.

My school, the place that has become a part of me, saw series of hard times these few years. There was flooding, followed by drowning of a beloved student, then a theft case, then the bus accident which took a dear friend and injured three, and finally the fire that made us start from the scratch. Thanks to many donors, our school is coming back in shape. My principal is coming in with lots of new equipments. and thank god, the toilet has survived the fire, under the ruins- we didn't have plan "B" for that!

Mortality of physical assert shocked us the most, and our madam Secretary advised us to computerize every school data, which was what I was working on all through the month. I have prepared a very comprehensive school database, which I am think of publishing online in our school website- no flood and fire could ever destroy it.

But my personal problem still remains. As long as Tashi is free, I am not!

A Change that made sense- Fishing License

By reading "Kuchu and Kumbu" story in our primary school we were supposed to learn a lesson but as always many things we were taught in school were for the sake of occupying the teaching time and should not be taken seriously. A tank in Phuntsholing is over populated with fishes and "authorities are finding ways to relocate them". Why waste money in something that should be bringing profit instead? Simple solution to the problem is to harvest the fishes but unfortunately those fishes are not meant for killing. They are for decoration? If we are really concerned about killing, why are we importing fishes from India? All in all it is another Potato and Chips story!

For that matter our rivers are so full of fishes but only flood can kill them. Million of new fishes are born each year to die their natural death. It's just matter of common sense, which we have least. After all we are buying fishes for outside, what is sense in forbidding fishing? 

I salute the minister of agriculture for being wise enough to grant fishing license to the villagers of a remote corner in Wangdue (from BBS TV). Throughout history the village lived on fishing but so far they were crippled by the law forbidding their livelihood. Minister educated the farmers (lets call them fishermen) on sustainable fishing, which made more sense. This day will go down in history as the "day Bhutanese made sense"!

Read Detailed report on the project in Business Bhutan

The Farm Road that became Riverbed

The Farm Road During rainfall. It could be worse!

The farm road above our residence, climbing steeply towards Bajo Lhakhang, and now even extending as far as Matalungchu is a big threat to natural environment. Ever since it was built a few years ago it never saw water drainage along its sides. The road itself served as riverbed during the monsoon. Worse, farmers use it as their irrigation cannel in times of cultivations, paving deep drains at different sections and blocking the road. They would justify that there were these provisions even before the road was thought of.

The road is speeding the process of land degradation at an alarming rate; Bajothang School has so far diverted enough energy on removing tones and tones of sand from hostel and football ground, and now the building which has unfortunately become school staff quarter. However we have never had time enough to bother beyond our school campus. The massive amount of sand degraded so far comes from the hill above would have taken hundred years in its natural process.

Bajo School Football ground in 2009

School being an organization responsible for educating children has no authority, capacity or experience in addressing this issue. The most we could do and have done so far is clearing the sand and reclaim our property. Having faced several bad experiences we have devised a huge drain to withstand and route out the heavy flooding. We have plans to build wall below the highway, the point between the end of farm road and the school campus to defend our school but the bigger issue is at large.

The Grand Canyon (source:naturescrusaders.files.wordpress.com/2009/05)

The farm road needs well designed drainage or may be the road itself needs redesign in accordance with the topography of the landscape. The last option may be to shutdown the road, after all it is more used by water than vehicles. Otherwise, in few years time we may get to see something like the Grand Canyon and by then Bajo Lhakhang and Bajo School would be history.

Lost Path

Lost Path under sand.

It was raining the whole night and it got me worried. The new building I shifted in lately already experienced flooding twice. The rain had stopped in the morning. I looked through the window and saw that the footpath was lost again. Thick blanket of sand had surrounded our building.

Punatshang chhu is huge and everybody knows that one day it will flood the valley badly. Major concern has been diverted towards reducing the risk if in case the worst happens. No matter how much Bhutan tries not to warm the global temperature the big countries are carrying on with their deadly activities. The glacier lakes feeding the Punatshang chhu are growing by the day like a ticking time bomb.

However I am sad to discover that Punatshang chhu and the glacier lakes had nothing to do with what brought the sand around our building. I personally witnessed the second flooding. The source was the farm road that leads uphill above our home. The road is otherwise dry and dusty. But when it rains it becomes a riverbed of ragging water down stream that hit highway and spills over into our area. It carries heavy load of reddish sand and deposits it into our drainage system, blocking all outflow. If it rains again before we could clear the earlier sand there is no way we could save our rooms from flooding.

Making room for the next load of sand

While we worry about that one day when the Punatshang Chhu will flood, the farmroad flash flood has already threatened us thrice. The big question to answer is, whom should we fear more?

Crocodile Sighting in Wangdue

Of course the picture of crocodile here is from google and photoshop brought it to Wangdue but there are rumor of sighting of crocodile in the Punatshangchu. I wonder if it can survive in the chilly glacier water but people say once there was a group of them in Punakha, later washed away by the '94 flood. Thus, there is a possibility.

The Indian labourers seem to have seen it.

So far it existence is not confirmed and it has not posed any threat to lives of people and animal but if it is really there then it is necessary for everybody to know. The concern body, perhaps RSPN should confirm it and take necessary precautions to safe the reptile from people and people from the reptile. Meanwhile I am always ready with the camera, let's see if I am lucky enough to be the first to photograph it without being eaten.

Calling the Media

Media across the world go in search of news but in Bhutan News go in search of Media. Last night I was watching BBS reporting on the road damage caused by rain below Bajo Lhakhang; stating how it has affected the villagers. It was not a farm road over a cliff, it was actually a path among the field and there are hundred other ways for the villager. However since our media goes where they are called there is nothing else we could expect. If the Media is little more sensitive just on their way to that road block lies our school, Bajothang school, where the entire sand from valley above flooded our girls hostel. But it was hardly noticed. That night the whole school didn’t sleep keeping the sandy water from getting into the rooms…the picture will tell more.

Flooding Bhutan!

Heaven started tearing down on us for three days now and it felt very good until today. Rivers started to grow wilder and heaven seems to have more of it still. BBS announces the damages across the country, revealing the chilling picture of raging water touching the heights it never touched before.

My school resides on the bank of Punatshangchhu, the mysteriously silent river which has the history of deadly flood. A few weeks ago we had to panic when the announcement was made of a potential GLOF from Lunana, that created fear and nothing more. But logically we know that the fate of our school lies by the bank of the river.

However this time it is very unexpected! We casually watched the river change its color. By midday it swelled and between the clicks of camera apparent raise in water level was seen. As hundreds of logs came thundering downstream all eyes opened wide in fear. The school fencing which stood about four meters above the river level submerged and we soon lost the fishery to the river.

Up the road bajo thango the whole plain was submerged and the huge houses looked like boats with people already evacuated. Office-goers were still in gho and kira with their cars parked on safer ground. They watched the black top road disappearing under water.

Huge streams formed out of rough roads and cars are parked all along the road, not make their way to their usual parking.

The strong Wangdue bridge was shivering with ravaging water kissing its belly, threatening its strength. Official were keeping close watch over the water level and I was wondering, what they could do if at all the bridge fell?

So far the Punatshangchhu seems to have done no great harm to lives and property, but the rain is still falling... One night more will cross the line, If tonight the rain keeps falling I don't want to wake up tomorrow morning to see what the river has done.

Vagabond and Mermaid

Poor tourists are vagabonds as rich vagabonds are tourists. The ones without an address or with countless addresses is in fact vagabond in Bhutanese context. They are the humblest celebrities who roam the street of towns in our country. It is unfortunate though but every soul knew them by their names, be it Lengo Dago in Paro, Wangtsha Nidu in Haa or Uma Lengo in Wangdue. There are many others but none were as associated to one place as these three were. The only place they ever went out from their towns was to heaven straight. All three are no more today and their absence is haunting......

Read More In Bhutan Today Magazine Which is publishing soon.