The Raven Spreads its Wings in Wangdue

The Raven is the magazine born in difficult times, and I have followed its journey from its licensing time, when the egg was still not hatched. The team behind the magazine, who are very active social activists, and the numerous discussion about it on social media made the waiting very hard. The Raven broke its egg and spread its wings on 13th October 2012; choosing the special day made the occasion of first royal wedding anniversary part of the magazine's history.

Finally I caught a Raven

In next few days I received the PDF copy of the book but that didn't quench the long thirst of having waited.  and it was yesterday evening I finally got my hands on the Raven. The magazine is now in Bajothang at TashiKee Mid Point store. 

Last night I spent the time watching Kezang read it and soon gave up to sleep. This morning I added an extra hour to my day and feasted on the magazine. The name has always impressed me and now the design has won my heart. The Raven's wingspan has covered the hottest issues and its claws have dug the depths. The maturity seen on the cover design is maintained throughout the 74 pages taking its worth beyond Nu.100. The most wow factor was the independence it celebrates with its own in-depth research and interview with people about issues that matter most these days.   

I have seen magazines come and go, and news of another magazine shouldn't impress me but with The Raven all hopes are renewed and I only hope it will fly down generations across. Best Wishes.

P.S: If you are out of the reach of hard copy of The Raven, Send you email address to editor@ravenmag.com or marketing@ravenmag.com I think they are generously distributing the PDF of the inaugural issue for free. And don't forget to follow @bhutanraven on Twitter.
<< Since I am getting lots of request for PDF copy of The Raven, and also since I have the permission to distribute the inaugural copy I have created a download link on the left for all of you to freely download the mag. Please acknowledge the free distribution to the two addresses given above.

A Night to Remember

The Legend has it and movies show it that werewolves transform into wolves on full moon nights and turn bloody wild, but they are thought to be mythical species. But practically we have some men who turn into animals every weekend, if not wolves, and go hunting for trouble. Weekends are for people to rest and relax but many drink and go wild and fight and tire themselves so much.

On weekends (from forbiddenplanet.co.uk)

My family usually hangout late at a cafe run by my colleague, but last weekend I was occupied and couldn't make to her place. Strangely that night most of our regular friends were absent as well, and her husband was ill and left for home early. She and her niece were closing the cafe after 10 when a car pulled over and a guy started teasing her. She is not somebody who would make a fuss out of silly things. She ignored several times but he wouldn't stop. She reached at her door, which is just across the street, when the man started badmouthing her. She is good at debating, she fought back equally well.
Such men expect women to either shy away giggling or give positives signs when they eve tease them but when a woman fires back they have very think membrane around they drunken ego. The man came out of his car and ran for her. His friend was waiting in the car behind the wheel. A group of Indian laborers had gathered, along with some neighbors. The guy grabbed her by her neck and dragged her a few steps when she twisted around and gave a slap across his face. The man fell in the drain and got himself soaked in mud. She send another shot on his face with her handbag when the muddy man came for her again. He fell the second time and she jumped on him throwing punches all over his head until the man ran away like a beaten dog. The car that was waiting for him sped away after him.
Her husband knew only after the show was over, when their niece was crying aloud outside witnessing the fight but the woman has fought for herself. She called the police and started hunting for the man and his friend. Next evening when we went to her cafe she wasn't there, she was gone to police. She has taken leave from office and went looking for the man. She got him and has handed him over to the police. Her niece told us the story.
When she returned she scolded us for not being there the other night. I told her that she has fought well and done what we couldn't have. But I was curious as to why she had to go to police if she had done so much to justify the matter, to which she said, "I have fought for my defense, but not many women can do it. That contractor (O the man was a contractor) seems to think that he can abuse any woman. I took him to police to let him know that he can't..."
I jokingly remarked, "with multiple knockouts in one night the man will never again dare look at another woman." But the truth is every weekend so many men turn into animals. But that was a night to remember.

How Much Would it Cost Us?

I have learned that "If Amazon.com shuts down for 60 minutes, it loses more than US$3 million" from a ThimphuTech.com's tweet. Boaz Shmueli, the passionate brain behind ThimphuTech.com works and lives in Thimphu. He has the world of internet on his finger tips, and has been very kind in helping every Bhutanese with tech related issues. He also runs a Q&A column in Kuensel's weekend K2 magazine to extend his helpful hand further. So far he has been our 'May Day'; he enlightened us on issues faced by our isp and other organizations, he warned us of hackers and malicious activities on our sites, he showed us better and secured way to occupy space on the virtual world... he always remained tactful and did us the services that we should actually expect from our ISP Druknet. He also covered areas in cellular communication when BMobile failed to explain or inform.

That Tweet!

So when he tweet about Amazon.com right after Bhutan experienced an unexplained and uninformed internet outage he means to let Druknet understand that every time they are out of service they are losing business. But question is would they even know about the tweet since Druknet is not even on twitter?
If Amazon.com loses $3 million in 60 minutes of shutdown, how much could we (Bhutan) possibly be losing when;

1. When Internet is down across the country four many 60 minutes?
2. When Mobile network fails?
3. When the electricity goes out for days and weeks?
4. When the roads remain blocked for days? and 
5. When the whole Nation is put to standby mode for a day on the Pedestrian Day?

Or do we even care? Another tweet from @tsheringtenxin suggests that unlike Amazon.com ours are "govt owned enterprise after all. It's not going to hurt them in the bone to lose business for weeks and months."

No More Valentines Day, Only 13th October

On this day, 13th of October last year, we saw the most beautiful wedding of all time. Our king had finally found our queen. The most beautiful queen. It was a series of history in the making that day and I felt blessed to have lived in the moment that saw the father king crowning the queen of Bhutan. That moment I didn't care if Kezang was watching me I just let my happiest teardrops flow.

Image Source: The Globe and Mail

Your majesties the king and the Queen, I wish you all the love and happiness in the world, and I will pray each day for your good health. May your loving union bring endless smiles to the lives of every Bhutanese, who will never fail in loving you. May you bless this beautiful kingdom with a beautiful Crown Prince very soon.

I don't know which day to celebrate as our wedding anniversary because Kezang and I really don't remember when we declared ourselves as man and woman like many Bhutanese couples, but since last year this great event on this auspicious day gave me all the inspiration to celebrate our union today. Further, there will be no more Valentines day in our lives, only 13th October. It's the national wedding day.

Congress Grass and Bad Nose

Sinusitis is a very common disease among Bhutanese and most common among people living in Wangdue. This is based on no formal research but every other person around me has the infection, including myself. The local medical pharmacy tells me that thousands have come to him with the problem because he is known for his ability to treat this disease with his own combination of medicine. People trust him more than they trust hospitals.
Depending on the severity of the infection people go to extremes to free themselves from the suffocation disease, and like a myth this disease has strange treatments; Smelling the stinking waters in Gasa Hotspring, smoking cigarette filled with fragments of samba deer's horn, inhaling smoking from burning human body at the cremation ground, and of course the regular medical treatments at hospitals and indigenous hospitals.
People have come up with various causes of the disease in the region, (of course we can't expect our hospitals to do this out of their box), some say it's because of our water source that carries dirt from several villages from Samtengang to Boelangda, while others say it's the strong wind that carries all sorts of dust in the air we breath in daily. However, the water and wind story prevails across the country and attributing Wangdue's mass infection to it comes with little logic, that's when I heard and discovered the story of a toxic grass.
Santa Maria Feverfew or Whitetop Weed is originally from American tropics. It became widespread in Asia through contaminated wheat that the Congress Party of India imported from the US, which is why now the plant is known as Congress grass. It doesn't take much intelligence to find out how the grass made it to Wangdue. The grass is invasive and can spread at epidemic proportions triggering pollen allergy in human and even livestock. Due to toxic parthenin it contains it causes dermatitis and respiratory malfunction in humans, which explains why so many of us are struggling with out nose every day. 

The Political Grass- Imported from India

Rajnikant Effect in my Classroom

I don't have a say over South Indian invasion over Bollywood, nor does anybody have in Indian cinema. Not only all our channels are flooded with south Indian movies but all latest Bollywood hits are remake from south Indian masterpieces. Never imagined Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and Akshey Kumar would act in copied movies and earn so much fame over night. Even creative Aamir Khan had his share, perhaps the first among them.

Rajnikant's Robot went on to drop Hollywood jaws and when he said, "Shah Rukh's Ra One's total collection wouldn't match up to his Robot's parking fee collection" He said it all. Nobody seemed to mind. They believe, even God doesn't mind Rajnikant.

The South Indian God

But I have a small problem with him ever since  I started teaching Probability chapter to my class VII students. Logically the probability of getting either the head or tail while tossing a coin is 50-50 and I have to use this logic for a few lessons. But my small kids wouldn't believe me, they say when Rajnikant tosses the coin it stands on its edge. Now what? Do we rewrite the whole chapter including Rajnikant-side to a coin?

Head, Tail and The Rajnikant side

Rinchengang Aree- From Where I live

The famous Rinchengang Aree(Paddies in Rinchengang)in Wangdue covers two beautiful hills facing Wangdue Dzong. If the whole paddies grew rice it could feed Wangdue for a year but ever since I came here I never saw those paddies cultivated. The famous name of the landmark lives only in the famous jokes of Phuba Thinley, where wrinkled foreheads are compared to those paddies in Rinchengang.

Lets look at Rinchengang Differently...

People blame lack of water supply for their inability to cultivate, while I see lack of commitment and abundance of greed toward easy money through sale of land to construction industries. Those paddies are registered as wetland and therefore cannot be transacted which is why they are left uncultivated for years, knowing that someday it will remain wetland no more.

My Kitchen Garden (10X4 m yet enough)

I live a few kilometers across the river and I have used a small piece of land around my house as kitchen garden. In these two years I have discovered that the soil in Wangdue is nothing less than gold. There is nothing that doesn't grow in Wangdue. I grow sixteen varieties of vegetables and I have not visited Sunday Market for months. I even share my produce with my friends. When the whole nation was worrying and about vegetable import ban, and crying over inflation in vegetable price I was in my kitchen garden wondering what the hell.

My Girl and her friend with Corn Harvest

I wake up early in the morning and work in my garden, and I keep working when the students walk through the gate, just to show to them that I grow my own vegetable and that they could do all the same. I often wished if children from Rinchengang saw me working so that they get inspired to look back at their endless paddies and see what they have left behind.

Radish, Broccoli, Chili, beans, you name it...

P.S. I wish if Lyenpo Pema Gyamtsho could look at the paddies once from across the river and ask if lack of water is justifiable when there is huge river flowing below Rinchengang.

What's Your Excuse?

I am amazed at the level of intelligence and knowledge among fellow Bhutanese displayed on social media platforms and I am confident if some of these passionate people join politics they can lead us to greater future but...
You are not alone, many concerned citizens share the same thought that they are great political materials, only unwilling to take part.You are watching the new political parties struggling to fish in party members and you are wondering how they will find as many as 47 members each, ignoring that fact that you could be one of them.
You have concerns over many issues and you were unhappy with the way things have gone so far. Deep inside you know that you could make difference but

• You think it's too early for you to join politics. You will wait for the right time in life.
• You don't want to risk your job for a mere probability. You will join after you have made enough money to survive if you have to lose.
• You think you are too clean to be a politician. Politics is for different species of people.
• You want to be in the ruling party but you know that it's impossible to predict. 
• You are already feeling the embarrassment if you lose.
• You think you can make the difference from your chair and spend the rest of your life pointing fingers.

Well, it reminds me of Anil Kapoor's blockbuster Nayak, where he becomes Chief Minister for a Day and wins people's faith. But when he was approached to run for election he refuses with his own share of excuses. We need someone like Paresh Rawal to bash us with his powerful dialogue to realize that if you want change you have to invest in it and make sacrifices.

You want change, You don't want to get Dirty!

I am guilty too, I have been approached by a party last summer and I declined. I am not scared of losing this job, actually I have better offers than this, but it's about life's calling. I find satisfaction living among children, and my excuse is that I will try my share of changing here in school where life begins. I know it's not the best excuse but I meant it.

What is your excuse? 

Ugyen Panday Should be DDC Brand Ambassador

"The Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) is the leading institute in the country for the advancement of Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan." Reads the home page of their website. It was founded in 1986 to preserve and promote use of Dzongkha but by the time I reached high school Dzongkha was almost considered outdated. People either spoke Sharshopkha, Nepali or English. We listened to English and Hindi songs. It was a pride to say, 'I 'm very poor in Dzongkha'. 
DCC worked harder but they were fighting a losing battle against the rampage of different influences through television and internet. The so many expenses pumped into Dzongkha essay, debate, skit and lozay competitions in schools only went on to polish those who were already shining in Dzongkha and had little or no effect on the majority of non-Dzongkha fans. 

• DDC came up with numerous publications, but like always this only pleased the ones who were interested in Dzongkha. There was nothing special in those publications to win new hearts. Dzongkha-English Dictionary published and distributed last year looked like it could make a difference.
• DDC brought foreign help to rescue national language, which was an irony in itself. They may be language experts but it takes people who understand Bhutanese to fix the problem.
• DDC developed software which made typing on computer possible, and also on some mobile devices. But it only made computer popular among the Dzongkha lovers, rather than making Dzongkha popular among computer users.
• DDC composed many new words, only to confuse the one who were already so confused. They reject the word we have been using for ages saying those were not Dzongkha, and went on to make new words thereby making Dzongkha a foreign language among the Bhutanese.

Our bad romance with Dzongkha was not something that would age with us and die slowly, it was something we would pass down to our children unknowingly, and few generations down the line Dzongkha could be a language of the past.

But a few years ago Bhutan woke up to a new morning of Bhutanese music. It was Namgay Jigs who made every Bhutanese hum Dzongkha songs. From taxis, to shops, to school concerts there was no place Dzongkha songs weren't played. But soon Namagy turned very Jigs, he started sounding like a young boy who spent all his life in the west.

Musical Revolution 

Ugyen Panday was a revolution, a young man with good sense of style and so appealing to the young generation, and someone who made Dzongkha language sound very beautiful in its original form. Overnight he invaded every music device; iPod, MP3 Player, Mobile Phones, Computers and most of all the beating hearts. Dzongkha has never been so popular in our country, and thanks to Ugyen Panday. And in 1986 was this musical boy born, the year DDC was founded.

Winning hearts from across borders

Therefore, I was wondering if Ugyen Panday could be the Brand Ambassador of DDC, he needn't do anything more than what he's doing everyday- playing his guitar and singing his songs and winning hearts, while DDC could pump a part of fund they waste in their fruitless activities into his musical career.

Musical Man

Courtesy: Photos are taken from Ugyen Panday's Facebook Profile.

Chinese Factor

When I was a little boy playing in the dusty playground in my village our favorite game was 'Going to Tibet' where I being one of the strongest get to be tradesman. There would be a few friends with me carrying loads of scraps because they were my horses. Rest of the boys will be either play Chinese army or Tibetan andos (meaning guerrilla force). These two forces would ambush on my caravan, while I would have to escape their territory to earn my fortune and win my freedom- and to prove myself as the strong among village boys.
This game of 'Going to Tibet' was inspired by true stories, where our traders tell us the stories of how they escaped the horse-eating Chinese army to illusive andos.
For a northern Bhutanese 'Going to Tibet' is the way of living, struggle for survival and a business that runs down the bloodline. My father crossed those mountains so many times, but his life ran shorter than his ambition and had to leave us in the hands of fate. His son was only a year old when he breath his last, he didn't wait for me to pass his secret maps. Perhaps he must have passed them through his genes but I went to school to draw my own map.
Every other neighbor goes to Tibet, though we lost our last family tradesman. Bhutanese had their first pinch of salt from across those mountains. From what used to be self-sustaining business, it grew in large scale trade and big merchants in Thimphu rely on our people for their business. Every household in Bhutan would either have a flask or a blanket that came on the horseback from across those mountains.
The trade was marked illegal in modern times and traders started hiding from their third hunters-Bhutanese army along the border. It became a risky business but what else could our people do in the place where only wheat grew? But never in my entire life have I seen media covering the story of this black business across the mountain, and what Kuensel reported on 18th September about the four traders arrested in Bumthang surprised me. What does it mean after all these years? Is it the impact of new relation with China? I don't see a reason beyond Chinese factor and I am already worried if the factor is going to affect the whole mountains. How black is this black business that keeps so many families warm along those cold mountains?