Being SORRY

 Do you ever realize how many times we tell sorry in a day? Who would have count anyway? But if we think, is it not the only words that may seem to keep us remain unruffled but never leaves us thinking like what have I done to get this or say this? What is wrong with me? Or something like did the ‘sorry ’really repaired the already damaged and gone-under water things?  Why say sorry when the damage is already done? It can never make dead man alive, one common sentence we often say. Of course it is a different story if we genuinely feel sorry ourselves and that we are ready to give a shot to redeem and change for ourselves; this is what I feel more important than just verbally convincing someone with the use of word ‘sorry’and hence I often hesitate to say sorry.  Otherwise I feel now days the word ‘sorry’ has become too casual and unrespectable in many ways.

Anyways recently there was an incident where I felt I should have said sorry to someone who deserves for he is older than me; whom I think I might have hurt his sentiment very much. He was full of complains afterwards may be because I was hesitant to say sorry because I felt the damage was already done and the word sorry would be of little help. Well, it wasn’t, perhaps because we all live in the world full of fake sorries and I failed to provide one. It was out of mere ego and I do regret for that genuinely. But like I said I am ready to move on with the new lesson I learned from that incident. Sometimes it is better to live without expectations you know, expectations breed imbalance in your sentiments which ultimately leads to feeling bad somehow and that’s where all problems arise.

But still I think the word sorry is rather an obstruction, and easy excuse for someone who is not genuinely ready to accept the reality. It hardly serves its purpose.  I mean when what has happened is already a past story why console with the word sorry instead of trying to contain the situation with other alternatives. But fortunately we all live in a society where it is OK to receive and give the word so easily, where it is OK to say sorry even after a disastrous failures.  Politicians give false hopes and it is OK to say sorry, social media out cries begging for sorry as if the sorry is so magical to turn the hands of clock. But like I said why say in the first place if you aren’t sorry after all?

Orana Animal Park on BiCycle

 New Zealand is a peaceful country and Christchurch is a beautiful city full of flowers everywhere; that’s why Christchurch is often called the Garden City of the world. Just roam in and around the city and you will be greeted by vast area of parks within few kilometers surrounded by various types of flowers and trees. The roads are also well-maintained with separate pedestrian path and bicycle strip by the side. People here often say that riding bicycle is the most dangerous thing and that the highest accidents are due to people carelessly riding bicycle. However, ever since I reached here, I have been relying on bicycle and it has been pretty much convenient. Thanks to almighty, there has not been major accidents albeit minor ones at the beginning when we were just getting used to it. Otherwise even if we take metro bus (to institute), we have to walk about fifteen minutes from the nearest bus stand and fifteen minutes is hell lot of time.

Anyway last Friday started our second mid-course break for ten days, we  five of us and Ugyen sir decided to take further the service of bicycle to Orana animal park (Zoo) which is about 20 km from place of our residence. Ugyen Namgay sir is the only Bhutanese who has PR here and works at here in Air New Zealand. He previously worked in Drukair Corporation Ltd. He has been here since 2008 and we are in fact very lucky to have met him. He is jolly and full of humor and has been very good to us. He has helped us with everything and we are indeed very much indebted to him. Last Friday he was day off from the work and he took us to the zoo and we decided to ride bicycle. It was a wonderful and memorable trip.

Orana animal park is a beautiful park and there are lots of animals of which most were the first time for me to see in real including the tiger, lion, giraffe, gorilla, zebra, cheetah, rhinoceros and most special one- the Kiwi bird. I was particularly fascinated by the stories of tiger and the Kiwi bird which I would like to highlight. The two tigers at the park are Sumatran (Sumatra Island in Indonesia) tigers which are listed as critically endangered species. There are brothers brought to the zoo at the age of two. It was feeding time for tiger when we reach and was such a good scene to witness how it walks and the way it roars. It was captivating to see how tigers try to defend their territory by urinating, a sign of the demarcating the territory. They live alone unlike lions who dwells in groups.

 Then it was the kiwi bird which has a special connection with New Zealand. Kiwis are the significant national icon; you know New Zealanders are called kiwis by the way. It is a small flightless bird which normally comes out at night (nocturnal) and is the only bird which has nostril at the end of their long bill. They have very strong smell that attracts dogs that kills them. So dogs are the worst threats to their survival. It is said like the kiwis hatch hundreds of eggs but only two to three percent of it survives.

We weren’t that lucky to watch closely the other animals as they all lazily busking sun after heavy meal, but still, it was a memorable and adventurous day. We came back exhausted and weird enough I was thinking if keeping animals in such way- captive as in zoos is any more good or bad I mean if one is to weigh between pros and cons? What do you feel? Seeing most of the animals lying under the warm sun, i thought like they are lucky in one way as they don’t have to hunt although their freedom is limited. Nevertheless I hope that people who visit such places will think beyond the adventure and fun to protecting the species some of which are critically endangered and others threatened.

some of the pictures I took in my mobile phone:

Lion

Sumatran Tiger

Giraffe

Emu

Rabbit

Gorilla

Tibetan Yak

Fun with Volkswagen Engine

Hello folks; Hope everything is going great. I have been good as well but sadly due to unavoidable circumstances, one thing that I love and care about so much- my passion for reading (and writing), my blog has been barren for so long. I don’t know but for some weird reason, for some time I have completely lost my interest in reading keep aside writing. But anyway here I am with another lines of rubbish after a long time

Now we are almost towards the end of the course, we are presently onto one of the most interesting course – Volkswagen engine overhaul. The practical is for nine days within which we ought to rip off whole running (working) engine down, in accordance with (IAW) the procedure (you know IAW is the most lovely word for aircraft engineers?) clean and inspect and then build up the whole bloody thing again to its normal functional state, in between carrying out all the necessary measurements to see if the parts are within limits or if not change with the new one. It is a very interesting class. More than how the car engine works, we get to know about how we ought to proceed in near future when we come across the aircraft maintenance. Instructors always say that it isn’t a race, nor are we given the training to know how that bloody car engine works, but the approach, the steps according to the manuals and procedures. Everything we do, we are to think as if we are working on live aircraft and we ought to take into consideration every bits and pieces of consequences and the effects it can have. So the past week has been very busy one yet full of fun and enriching as well and will be one of the most cherished moments of my life.

In other part, I really wanted to say what I have thought about the recent outcry of pilot de-boarding sick passenger which was very unfortunate. Well, this is not about who was wrong or who was right, that is totally up to the audience for we were all one. But as a matter of fact, what was very saddening more than the sympathy Bhutanese people were pouring out in the social media was the way Bhutanese people jumps to conclusion for any kind of incidents. More disheartening was when people whom we expect a rationale views try to polarize and make the situation even worse. To me personally, the captain who had to make that unfortunate and painful decision was never to be blamed. How can one jeopardize the life of hundreds on account of just one on humanitarian ground? I am quite shock that people without even thinking twice goes on to playing blame games. What is the end result if one have to sympathize one party and then think and say all the worst thing to another? Where is one’s humanity gone at here?

Nobody on the board than pilot knows the mechanics of flight. To the customers it maybe a pleasure, and adventure to be amongst the clouds, but to pilots and others who know about it, it is a different thing, safety comes first, the safety of each and every one of the passengers and crew on board. It is in the air and not on the ground by the way.

I personally feel it is always wise to think beyond humanity when it comes to professionalism because the price at the end of day, we will have to pay can be more than the humanity itself!

Oh folks, don’t be serious, this is but the game of life after all, and there are dark days as there are fine ones. And it has to go on no matter what. Play your part whatever you can while you can.