Happy Birthday Mommy!

mommy (Dechen Wangmo), I LOVE U and Happy Birthday

I am sorry Mommy for not being a very good daughter to you. I have not wished you on your birthday or mother's day for the past 25years. I was ignorant and I thought you didn’t really care much whether we wished you or not.

I have not known your birthday for all these years and I apologies for my mistake.

It took me 26 years to realize that no matter how old you are, a small birthday wish can make so much of a difference in that person’s life.

I have never wished my mother on the Mother’s day. “It didn’t matter,” I told myself whenever my friends ask me if I have wished my mother. But now I have realized that “IT MATTERS.”

I wished my mom on the Mother’s Day and even gave her a small gift. The smile and the happiness I saw on her face were worth walking the Thimphu Street for hours to get the perfect gift for her.


Today is my Mother’s birthday. MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY MOMMY. You are the BEST. I can never imagine my life without you. Thank you for Everything :)

Happy April Fools' Day

In the morning, I was trying to explain to my baby what an April Fools’ Day mean but he was least interested. He is in class I and he is just 7 years oldJ. He is sick and he was least bothered to hear me out but still I went on explaining how people try to make a fool of you on this day.

April Fools’ Day is celebrated all around the world on April 1 of every year. It is celebrated as a day that tolerates practical jokes and general foolishness.

But do we really tolerate the jokes?

I have been fooled so many times before and I am determined not to be fooled today. I have been reminding myself that today is Fools’ day and that I should not be fooled.

I lit a cigarette, my morning dose without which I cannot work, and waited for someone I could fool. It is 8.45 am in the morning and it is too early for anyone to turn up at the office. My guy with today’s Observer issue joins me at the balcony where we normally smoke. Ting!!!!it clicked and he tries to fool me.

“Baby your kira has cigarette burns,” he said and in reply I said “April Fools’ Day my love.”

I don’t want to be fooled today but I sure want to wish everyone “HAPPY APRIL FOOLS’ DAY” and enjoying fooling J

a prudish urban bhutan takes the phallus away

It was in the winter of 2001 during Daga Tshechu as I sat with hundreds of others waiting for blessings from an almighty phallus. My embarrassment escalated seeing my father sitting in a tent.

The practice of blessing-receiving, hanging of the wooden phallus on doors and the painting of it on walls still continue.

But, the divine phallus has slowly started disappearing from urban Bhutan.

With the display so openly and rampant in rural areas, it is not a shocking sight for our villagers. However, the sight sure is an embarrassment for few in the city.

“Driving pass a building which has a phallus painted on the wall is always the most embarrassing moment for me, especially when I am with my father. It is more embarrassing seeing a big wooden phallus when I visit my village,” said Karma Choden, a teenage student.

The phallus is said to protect us from malicious gossips and that it drives away evil.

But many urban buildings seem to avoid painting the phallus today. Taking a stroll across Thimphu, one can see only a few paintings. But it would be on old buildings.

Earlier, every corner had a sign of a phallus. The stair railings had it, and a locket with a phallus was a showpiece hanging on everyone’s neck.

But now even the wooden phalluses in fields are being replaced by scarecrows.

During the rabney of a new house, a ritual of hanging of phalluses takes place to purify the ground and ward off evil spirits. The phalluses are hung from the eaves of the house in each of the four directions. 

“It protects my home and my family from evil spirits, it takes away the sting,” said Angay Gyem, with a toothless smile while chanting her prayers.

The paintings are all associated with the famous Buddhist saint; Drukpa Kunley also called the Divine Madman.

It is said that he would ward off evil spirits and subdue them with his penis. Painters use their imagination to carve and paint the phallus. It comes in different sizes, shapes, carved in wood, metal, stone and cloth.

Now we see it mostly in handicraft shops or as a decoration piece.

The disappearing of the phallus from the city seems to have come with modern education.  Are we becoming too prudish?

a half mast

~The national flag at Phunsum Primary School, Thimphu, is flying at half mast as a symbol of respect and mourning for the victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami~

A very Happy Valentine :)

Today is Valentine's Day and it is no different from other normal days. How i wish i could turn back the time... the time when i was excited about the whole Valentine thing.
I remember when i was in BKK, there were guys would wait for their love with a bouquet. Same case in India too though it was not as grand as it was in BKK. But i have never really seen anything happening in Bhutan.
Though i had never received a bouquet or been proposed on this day, i do have some unmemorable memory of my past.
However, when i received a call at 12 midnight from my Love, that was all i could ask for. Truly speaking, i wasn't expecting it. It skipped my mind that it was The Valentine's Day!!!! we have been in a relation for nearly five years now and it is said that everything looses its charm after a  while. I kind of believed it myself.
But his call was all that was needed to change my feeling.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S  DAY :) keep smiling

asking for an outrageous benefit

When I was in Bangalore doing my degree, I heard people saying that it’s all well that goes under the table. Indirectly, they meant bribing. I had seen friends give money to make their papers and have also seen my other friends giving money to the police to take out their friends out of the jail.

Though the first hand experience I got wasn’t as great as those mentioned above, I was ashamed when this ‘uncle’ was out front asking for a benefit.

May be we are brought up in such a society where these things rarely happen. I mean there is no money bribing; however we cannot rule out ‘Changjay.’

Anyway, as I was I saying, he was out front asking for bribe. I was supposed to interview his nephew. Yet it was the uncle who replied my emails and who asked for the benefit.

I had already sent eight questions and was waiting for the reply, but my questions were answered with questions from his side asking what benefits he would get if he answered my questions.

Assuming (my editors told me never to assume because it means you are making an ASS of yourself) that his question was innocent; I replied that he would be getting publicity. Yet my answers were answered with a statement. “But you still did not answer what benefit I would get,” states his email.

This ‘Uncle’ came in the office, sat opposite to me asked me again ‘what benefit will my nephew get if he answers your question.’ At that time, I wasn’t sure what he was saying so I asked, ‘what kind of benefits are you talking about?’

 ‘Money or anything,’ he said.

Right then, Sir Aby walked in after having his lunch. His entrance was perfect. I had no idea how to handle this guy and when I told Sir Aby about the benefits he wanted, Aby sir told him on his face that Business Bhutan don’t bribe to get information and refused to do the interview.

The ‘Uncle’ threatened to take it to other papers and we gladly led him out of the office.

And then the door went ‘bang’ behind him.

a 'HAPPY' new year..

2011 came so fast. Like last year, my new year this year was much more happier and fulfilling. Like many others, I had a resolution and like many, I broke it. "resolutions are meant to be broken" and yes! i broke my resolution again. Though i don't enjoy the taste any more, i still want more and when i think i am going to quit, the taste is so strong, i don't feel like quitting. 'SMOKING is injurious to health, but i can't quit it, i guess that is what you call an ADDICTION.
Losar today was much a happy losar for me. No sick relatives or sick me like last year. Recalling the new year last year, I remember celebrating it on my bed. The bed that had become my friend and my work place. A very clear memory of the day - a puja being performed at the backdrop, mummy busy with the lunch, my sisters busy with their own work and my youngest brother as always irritating me. I was bedridden then, my whole body had swelled twice its normal size, my face swollen too and though i was hungry, my appetite just died at the sight of food.
On the other hand, my cousin sister was in the other room, shouting in pain.
Thank God! this new year however was a very happy one. My parents are happy and i am happy for them :)
Hope this year continues to be a happy and peaceful year for me and my family :):):):)
Losar Tashi Delek!!!