Diamond Ring from a Facebook Friend?

This is a story about how some Bhutanese were defrauded on Facebook. Similar fraud made news once during the email days, where people were declared winner of million dollar lottery and asked to pay few thousand dollars to claim their prizes. Some seemed to have silently dreamt of million dollars and blindly jumped into the traps. That news should have be enough to caution us against any similar promises we receive over the internet. But some sort to learn the lesson the hard way.

Facebook is now a world of its own. People make career out of being on Facebook and some are professional frauds. That's their full time job. They write to thousands of people across the world with perhaps thousands of accounts. The old trick comes in new bottle. I have received hundreds of messages from beautiful girls, of course they are using fake identities, claiming to like my profile and seek my friendship. But interesting they ask us to write to them in their email addresses and not Facebook, which is when you have to know they is something fishy. When you don't reply them for over a day, you will notice that the account is deactivated and message gone.

Few months ago, a lady friend who was having a difficult life as single mother joyfully shared about her new found friend from the US. She told my wife that the man was sending her an iPad and iPhone. They have also planned to meet in Bhutan later this year. We were so happy for her. Her man was a captain on some ship and has sent her his picture too. He was a bit older but she was happy about that. They were even calling each other on the phone.

One day she called my wife to ask if we could help her get her parcel form Bangkok because seemingly her parcel was stranded in Bangkok for some reason. She has the postal number for the parcel. We told her that it's just matter of time. Then one day she was looking for money and she disclosed to my wife that she had to send $1000 to claim her parcel. Her man was on the ship and he was helpless. That's when I knew it was a fraud. I told her through my wife, to tell him she can wait until he reaches a seaport to clear the parcel from Bangkok. He told her that if she waits the parcel could be lost. Then we played smart and told him that we will send our relative in Bangkok to collect the parcel. Next moment his Facebook account was deactivated and his number was switched off. We could rescue her. Though we shattered her dream.

Not even a month passed when when my wife heard another woman excitedly talking about some parcel arriving and stranded somewhere. She was someone we knew closely and my wife told her our friend's story, only to discover that she went through almost the same script. She later confided to my wife that she already sent Nu.40,000 and because there was a diamond ring in the parcel she was asked to send Nu.100,000 more. She was almost ready with the cash when my wife rescued her.

Another friend my wife rescued was an old friend in Paro who was receiving generous help from a man overseas in getting the US visa. We were in Paro to drop our son when she invited us over to her place. She had lots of business plans before but we found out that she has dropped all the idea because she was readying to fly to America. We told her not to send any money before receiving the visa if he really means his help, and if he is a fraud he will cut all contacts with you. That happened.

These are the stories of three ladies that I knew of, and I can guess that there could be lots of male victims looking at the number of messages I am receiving from frauds posing as girls. Just that man won't admit it easily.

There could be hundreds of such stories hidden under heavy debts and humiliation, if only they could come out and tell their stories the next hundred could be saved. Bhutan is increasingly chasing American dream and many people silently and blindly go to any extend. We must warn people around us, especially those that are not very familiar about social media. I have highlighted the key words that frauds have used with those three ladies, let innocent people around you take note of them. Let them know that there is nobody so kind out there who would send them anything just by being a Facebook friend- Not diamond ring at least. It's common sense.

Tokay Gecko is Valueless

Tokay Gecko was rumored to have the cure for AIDS and therefore was insanely valued in millions. Further there were many websites giving convincing details of sizes and prices of the lizard. I spent good amount of time on internet and yet I didn't encounter this hoax news until the Gelephu incident appeared in the news. This is a case of lack of media literacy at worst. The rumor is more than two years old, how did it suddenly become so viral in Bhutan?

Poor Tokay Gecko

The truth about the reptile will disappoint many people who must have gone too far to become a millionaire overnight. The lizard that is rumored to be priceless is actually valueless. It's neither endangered nor protected species. Taiwan alone imported 18 million Gecko in 2004, because it's used in traditional medicine, but curing AIDS is out of question as confirmed by World Health Organization. It can surely kill mosquitoes.

Dead Geckos to be used in Traditional Medicine 

Everybody heard about the buyers who are ready to pay millions for a Gecko that weighs over 300 gram but nobody actually sold one. Everybody is looking for buyers. There is no buyers. The best price known is USD 50, yes just 50. The online scam has sent hundred of thousands of people to jungles across the world, who must have removed every single gecko from the wild. This could lead to the extinction of the species given the depth at which the rumor has reached. The people responsible for fabricating this story are nothing less than sick Hitler for the lizard world.

Coming back to Bhutan, I am still wondering why the Gelephu incident even happened. The lizard is neither endangered nor protected yet the poor caretaker was arrested and slapped Nu.100,000 fine. This case added gravity to the rumor. Under normal circumstance would anybody be arrested for capturing a lizard? Why is everything that is (considered or rumored) priceless suddenly taken care by law? Is law greedy? Is law ignorant? Tokay Gecko didn't make any Bhutanese millionaire but it has generated lots of suspicion and hatred in the society and criminalized a few.

Please let ignorant people around you know that Tokay Gecko won't make them millionaire. Verify my claims with articles in The Bangkok Post and Global Voice, the only two authentic site that cared to report on the lizard. All the other sites are fake, created just to launch the rumor.

God Don't Need No Money

The Buddha and his Buddhism I know about and I believe in doesn't talk about money, it doesn't talk about buying blessing with money, it doesn't talk about greed for blessing, it doesn't talk about blind faith, and it doesn't talk about cleansing of sin just by bathing, offering or praying. It is all about selfless sacrifices we make for others, freeing from greed and attachment, and contentment with what we have. But looks like we have made Buddha into a business model.

I am not a faithless man but what is happening in Thimphu at RAPA hall is a religious circus where they make mockery of holy relics, which they know is a magical commerce. When religion opens a shop, there is no need for advertisement and nobody bargains. About 16,000 people kept aside their sleep and hunger to see the relics and throw in their money with prayers and wishes.

Image from BBS.bt

When I look at the wild crowd of pilgrims there I see greed, greed for blessing. Everybody wants to selfishly get in the front and everybody wants to be blessed first and more. They throw in money as if blessing is up for sale, and bigger the amount they throw more satisfaction they get with the selfish feeling that they will be blessed more.

On the other hand, there was Health Walk organised to raise money for Health Trust Fund, which is the money that will sustain our free health service but how many of us contributed? How many of us contributed without criticizing the move as political stunt? Our country is in difficult economic state and if there is anybody who needs money at this time its our country, not God, God don't need money.

Image from Kuensel

Rupee shortage has been bothering us since last year, which hugely inflated food prices and also was the very cause of vehicle import ban. In such times we have to put in collective effort to reduce rupee expenditure to stabilize the balance of trade but the millions of ngultrum we collectively threw at RAPA hall in the name of God will be converted to rupee and flown back to India on top of the huge fee we paid them to bring the relics to Bhutan. God didn't take the money, it was taken to India.

When will we understand that God is impartial; God won't bless those who came there more than those who didn't come, and those who paid more than those who paid less. When you will understand that you cannot bribe god for blessing, of all the things in the world god don't need money.

More Rejected Jobs Than Jobless Youth

There are thousands of jobs, and thousands of jobless youth. It doesn't take an economist to figure out what went wrong- these jobless youth rejected those jobs and chose to remain jobless rather. Why would a hungry man deny an offer of food? Well we still don't need an expert to figure out the answer- who would want to eat stinking food? The rejected jobs are not worth taking in all sense of the word.

Source:Jobmob

And then from our cozy offices we shun the attitude of our youth, we recite the whole document on dignity of labour but what we are ignoring is the dignity of the work. It has never been the question of indignity of labour that repelled the job-seekers from the potential jobs though many proclaim it to be. Youth were always ready to work on all fronts if only the job has enough dignity to deserve their effort. These rejected jobs in Bhutan are dirty and cheap, and still expect young ambitious children to embrace them.
Bhutanese, young and old, hold their heads high and look down upon those jobs, but most of them are dying to babysit in New York, dish wash in Amsterdam, house keep in New Brunswick, collect grapes in Queensland, and do laundry in Perth. Someone who keeps three house keepers at home doesn't mind housekeeping for someone in the west. All these prove that Bhutanese don't mind sweating, they don't mind getting their hands dirty as long as they are paid well, yes money matters. Money draws thick lines across society and it takes a life time to cross those lines. How could we expect our youth to work for a salary that is lesser than someone lunch bill? This is one thing that makes up for a dignity of work.
The other thing that gives dignity to work is the respect to the worker and his work but who gives a damn to a sweeper? Who cares what a peon thinks? Who listens to a driver? Who wouldn't shout at a security guard? Who greets a cook? Therefore who would want to work for a job where there is no respect? We don't think once before we send an elderly sweeper to buy doma or just a packet of wiz, we want our driver to open the car door for us, we want our driver to carry our shopping bag, we want our security guard to carry our baggage. In short we don't respect their job. These and many more factors make those common jobs very unattractive, and thus these jobs are rejected.
The bothering question is not that there are many unemployed youth, nor that there are many vacancies without takers, what is important is how to bring the two sides to an agreement. And I propose my suggestions.

Trade Fair in Bajothang- Irresponsibly Bhutanese

The Trade Fair in Bajothang ended yesterday, which began on 13 April. There were over forty Indian stalls with skilled salespersons, who won't get tired of demonstrating how their product works like 'magic'. But by the last second day these Indians were swearing they will never come in Wangdue again because the business wasn't good. They even started giving heavy discounts, yet the turnout was poor. On the other hand, Bhutanese were all waiting for the last day to come, they heard the story from Thimphu trade fair that Indians give heavy discount on the last day. 

Traffic Jam in my Parking

The final day saw the biggest crowd gathering in Bajothang, which surprised even the Indians. They were desperate for last few days and they knew their chance has come to hit hard. There was a sudden price hike and Bhutanese paid more for their foolishness. By the evening yesterday Bhutanese were more desperate to get the 'last piece' than to bargain, and I am sure it was bumper sale.

By today evening these Indians will leave the country and I don't think they will walk out with Ngultrum. If our country was suffering from rupee crisis then from today we will suffer little more. As if the economy draining in border towns weren't enough, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) created a big leak in Bajothang to drain our Bhutanese money. It was a strange insult to rupee injury by an organization who should have been more responsible than the rest of us in such times.

Before the trade fair the business in Bajothang town was good enough to sustain itself but now things have changed. The trade fair diverted costumer from every corner to the Bajothang school football ground and therefore leaving the town empty. Business was already shaky in the town and now it will sure break because most of the people have already spent more they have earned in the fair. It was a great betrayal by BCCI who was supposed to work "toward 'Bhutanese' private sector development" landed up developing Indian private businessman. 

And Before the trade fair people were content with what they had at home and all they had to spend on were grocery items but now people have defied the words of our Prime Minister who had said, “We have to remember the lessons we have learned and work towards it; hopefully we will now change our habits of spending unnecessarily.” In fact the trade fair fairly changed our habits of spending; people bought new gas stove when they already have one, they bought big sofa for their small rooms, they bought more carpets than they have rooms, they bought chopping machines when they don't have enough to chop with their knife, they bought plenty of unbreakable buckets as if they are going to fight with buckets, they have bought blankets for next winter, they bought shaver when nobody shaves at home, they were feasting on chicken drumstick at a price which could buy a whole chicken,... would all these happen if BCCI didn't bring these Indians here? What positive changes did it bring to people who have already emptied their bank accounts on things they may not need at all? How would BCCI justify trade fair to our Prime Minister who was urging people to "change the habits of spending unnecessarily"?

Just a few days back The Bhutanese reported that "BCCI study shows that government spending is main cause of rupee crisis" which was contradicting the findings by the government task force. PaSsu Diary on the other hands finds the BCCI and their numerous trade fairs responsible for the leakage of excessive Bhutanese money into Indian pockets and that too unnecessarily.

What More is Terrorism?

Fake Nu.1000 notes.(source: BBS)

In such times, when the country is struggling to survive a financial crisis, how could our own people assist outsiders in printing and distributing counterfeit Ngultrum notes (on BBS)?  I am saying outsiders because Bhutan can't have such printers. What more is terrorism to a country? This can't be the first time these brothers are doing this, and they may not be the only Bhutanese men involved it.
The sixteen Nu.1000 notes may be just a part of a bigger plot and these men must take police to the root of the fake money. It's our national luck, as always, that the activity was discovered before it could affect much. However, there could be many other innocent victims that may be known by tomorrow following this timely news on BBS.
For now, we must double check every Nu.1000 note that comes in and goes out of our pocket to be sure.

Black Money Heaven

It's funny that black money is not black in color, it can be of any color but obtained illegally or undeclared to authorities, and therefore untaxed. During the BBS discussion on rupee crunch the Governor of Royal Monetary Authority explained why it all happened. The man was straightforward to the extend of declaring everybody as ignorant and irresponsible. Of course, everybody know who's been irresponsible.
What was so disturbing was the figures he shared of our import and export. Going by the record he mentioned Bhutan is a rich country with export far exceeding import, and record he had was our national record, which means import figure is insanely understated. Nu. 25 Million is so much we imported? Later on Twitter I got to know from some learned Bhutanese that we import 9 Billion worth of fuel, forget all the other things. Now it's simple maths to solve and see how much money is unaccounted for. When unaccounted, it is untaxed and that's black money.
For the population of ours, and the economy health, so much black money is outrageously too much, and so far neither authorities made any stringent law to stop black money nor we thought it would impact this big, thus Bhutan was the heaven of Black Money. If every import was declared and taxed we would have never reached here. And now I am worried if there is anybody who knows how to get out of this mess.

Ngultrum Identity

Ngultrum (Nu) is almost losing its identity even before it had one. Forgive me if you find me ignorant but I can't help wondering why our currency is not acknowledged as it should be. I don't know why we have to pay over Nu.50 for a US$, I am just thankful it is as powerful as Indian Rupee. It's surprising to learn that there are many powerful country whose currency value is lower than ours, which gives us all the reason to be proud of.
However, going by the trend, a kid says, "Mummy, give me ten rupees", and an adult would say, "Do you have change for 500 rupees?" or if it is in Dzongkha, we say "Turu". Nowhere we use the term Ngultrum! On the fuel pumps you will see the rates of fuel reflected in Rs, and every commodity in the shops has price tag written in Rs, that can be forgiven as stuffs are imported. The recent announcement of domestic airfare by civil aviation was in US Dollar, and that was the biggest surprised.

Currency Symbol for Ngultrum for the  time being.

In written scripts we don't yet have a currency symbol, something that can be used to represent Ngultrum universally. The abbreviation Nu. might be mistaken for symbol but it's usable only in English. India realized it and they have come up with symbol for rupees recently. It's beautiful and now they can use the symbol in every language. In Dzongkha, we can't us Nu. therefore it's up to the writers either to write "turu", "ngultrum" or "ruub". Though it's none of my business, I spent many days thinking, designing, discussing, and redesigning a symbol for Ngultrum. I looked at all the currency symbols of the world to gain some insight into it but at the end  I agreed with the fact that it's none of my business after all. But that doesn't mean that Ngultrum can be left without a symbol. We need it now and here! If that can't be done soon, you might chose to use the one that comes to your head when you think of Ngultrum (see the picture).

The Joker Becomes Druk Superstar 2011

Don't get me wrong by the title of the post, I mean literally the joker of the show won the title. My choice didn't win but Lakey was my second choice among the top five. Something striking about Lakey was the promise he repeatedly made that he won't just disappear after winning, he would continue to entertain people like he has been doing so far. That message goes out to the winners of earlier shows, who didn't consider it important to be accountable to the society after they needed votes no more.
Personally I love listening to Minzung, Karma Phuntsho and Dechen Zam when they sing and it is Lakey who captivates me once his singing is over- his wit and humor. Since it was a singing competition the result didn't really justify the cause of the show, but since it's all based on money what could the organizer do?

Congratulations to Lakey, Druk Superstar 2011.
Congratulations to Kencho Wangdi, for making the show!

P:S: Something needs to be done with BBS TV Signal in Wangdue, we had to watch the whole show like it was played from an old scratched CD. I hope the problem is not from Thimphu.

Uneconomical Worship

I heard tearing or burning or for that matter any action resulting in making a currency note unusable affects the country's economy. But my love for computer subject since class nine deprived me of studying economics and thus understanding that fact or any other issue related to business and economy.

However I at least understand that a country cannot print as much money as it likes, it has to go by its gold deposit. I have no idea where the gold has to be deposited and how much money Bhutan can print. But every note we destroy counts down the national money. Every single note is expect to go around, hand to hand, buying things, making profit, ...and being useful and therefore one note destroyed means the end to its long useful journey.

Kids envying the floating money!

Even as an educated adult I can't quite comprehend it wisely let alone the illiterates and kids. The picture shows a beautiful pond with a statue of Khandrom pouring water into the pond from her Bumpa. And what is shocking is that the pond was filling up with money that day I visited. I could see lots of Nu.20 and Nu.10 notes aging at the bottom of the pond, soon to be joined by hundreds of fresh notes floating on the surface. I nearly jumped to collect the money, seriously it was lot of money being destroyed if not rescued soon. There should be a signboard: "This is not wish fulfilling pond, please don't throw your money."

Punatshangchhu: a River to Revolution

The Pho chhu and the Mo chhu in Punakha combine and form a bigger river called Punatshangchhu; meaning “Punakha River”. The name remains even when it flows through the Wangdue valley.
It was just a river (name of a river actually) the other year but now a life changing revolution. Ever since the hydro electric project began the name “Punatshangchhu” became symbolic to power, money, lavishness, snob, etc.
Besides the bigger national dream of the biggest Hydro power project, we ordinary had our own dreams coming true with the Punatshangchhu: jobs for thousands, schools, hospitals, public service vehicles, business boom, etc. etc. But what happens now? The valley lost its innocence with the project. People are hiring out everything to Punatshangchhu: Building, truck, car, house, hut, land… Thank god Punatshangchhu doesn’t hire eyes; otherwise people are ready.
Ordinary people are losing homes, the landlords no more want tenants, whom they had hard time getting in earlier days. House vacating Notices are sent in like love letters in most household in Wangdue. The denial of the notices result in rent hike far beyond human reasoning; the value of compassion has burnt itself in the desire of huge Punatshangchhu offers. With hardly any building left behind by the Punatshangchhu, Where would the tenants go?
We ordinary cannot find a way out now, we can forgive the road damage and blocks caused by huge Punatshangchhu trucks and machines but we want our homes back. Please don’t buy away our living…