Mirroring Life

Life isn’t always bad and disappointing. Obviously it’s short, but we have enough to bounce back and get along. It doesn’t always disappoint and discourage you. Despite the usual (as we perceive) hurdles and ugly circumstances, there are beauty behind that bars of belittles and betrayals, hope and redemption behind the losses, solace and symphathy behind that stress; smile behind the sadness. It’s from these little things that keeps our head and hopes high, that makes this short span of our life beautiful, that makes all the difference in how we take on life; that keeps us hooked and enagaged. Life isn’t bad after all.

It also doesn’t alsways fail to amuse and amaze you. Despite the constant falling down the dungeon of desperation and desolation, you still got that desire to dance back to the tunes of your favour. It’s a matter of choice that we make after all. Choice is though an illusion between those with power and those without. I often wonder if this life is fair at all and if it’s but blessing or a curse? And the answer is always vague. Perhaps that’s the fact. Time is a great healer. Despite all the odds and failures, there is something that drives us to strive harder, something that consoles us that it’s gonna be alright; that when one door closes another opens; and that we only need to be bit more patient and obidient. There is something that always give courage and inspires us and this is the very beauty of this life. We only need to mirror deep to see the other side of stories that defines our life. 

The Change

I have often wondered how people could easily change, how situation and circumstances change like the summer weather. Well, change is inevitable; Some changes because of the circumstances surrounding them, some changes owing to the demand of their profession, some changes because they wants to, out of sheer choice. Some changes after the marriage, after becoming parents. Change is part of our life. But this is interesting- People change with chair for sure; once you climb the ladder of success to a comfortable chairs change comes automatically. When people changes their color of kabney, changes happen. I remember one time attending a Choeshey Session where a Rinpoche was asking if there is any one with orange Kabney at the gathering. Obviously there wasn’t.

To the eyes of a parent, what they notice is a sea of change in their children’s behaviour once they get married. I wonder if it’s the psychic that often pays or if it for real. The blame goes mostly to the groom where they are often accused of having been manipulated by the bride; that he is undercomplete control of wife and that he hardly has a say. This is the general conception we often hear in the society. I don’t know how far this fetches truth for all but I certainly believe and I have seen this theory does carry a pinch of truth. I have seen parents being chased out of their children’s house because they are unable to find a common ground. It’s a sad but a bitter truth. I was just wondering why is it that it’s mostly between the bride and the mother-Inlaw that a common ground is difficult to find? Why is it difficult for we men to get in between to mediate?

However one’s Priority in life is one main driving force to a change. We may have set of principles that remains with us throughout but this life, howsoever it maybe short, have a plenty of time to fiddle with that demands change and we all get carried away somehow. Also when one can not adjust, changes occur. 

Eventually I still believe that change is very much part of the human evolution process; a natural process we must get along well; that change for something good and bright is a thing to be embraced heartily; that change is something one can’t avoid. 

Life must go on

Hello! 

A very happy new year 2019 first of all. It’s so good to be back on the stage of blogging. To read the fellow bloggers, to know whereabouts . It has been longtime since I visited my blog and it looks sad. I really want to re-start again and revive as one my friend says. I don’t know how far but I wanna try. The following is some weird thoughts that just crammed my mind a few times lately.

I am from humble family, my parents are both uneducated and simple farmers. They may not know how to read and write, but from them I have got the best of values and lessons that are important in one’s life. From them I have learnt the weight of honesty, the value of friendship, the power of humility and humanity, the perks of being true to yourself.

But the sad thing is as you grow up, as you become a part of so-called corporate world; as you join the  bandwagon of competition and complexities you often wonder like what has the world become? Most importantly what have you become? Where are those values gone?  Just like the simplest are  more complex, it seems like the more we tend you make our life more simpler, the more complex it becomes; the more we tend to ease our burden, the more we tend to feel it’s weight and make us toil; the more something tends to make sense, the more confusing it becomes; and the more we try to find answers, the more questions we tend to get that clouds our judgment. I am afraid if the list is even complete. I am afraid of losing strength to these waves of  these conjurings. I am afraid of losing my dignity as a human being for not being able to use for the good and better. I am scared of becoming monster in human form.

But the consolation is this is very much a life in nutshell and it must go on.....! 

The Saga of Life Part II: Career

Career in one’s life is an important milestone and specially in Bhutanese context, we hardly choose a career that we love or are passionate about. That’s because even after choosing a subject and course that we like and are interested, we often end up doing another work completely off the course. That’s why I often say that in Bhutan often an opportunity dictates what kind of career one chooses. But that’s just one sided story. What is more relevant and important is how we choose to be contented with  the grabbed opportunity as your career, how we adjust, how we find ways to like and love for it’s gonna stay with us for sometime, until at least some thirty years down the line.

In Bhutan most of our young people choose career based on what kind of opportunity and scope a course has in store, not necessarily based on what interests them and perhaps that’s why we have business students taking administration works while engineers end up taking human  resource works. There is huge mismatch of knowledge and skills with the actual job. I did B- Tech electronics and communication engineering and ended up pursuing an aviation engineering. As young class XII graduate deciding what course to take was the hardest. And I have had no one who would give me some tips about what course is better at least in Bhutanese context. I actually liked some course in hotel management but that had hardly a place in government job which is everybody’s top priority. So After  vigorous thinking I decided to take Electronics and Communication engineering with the hope that I would land up in the government job. Also to me the course was new in Bhutan (no course was started at CST) which means less competition. But you know what after four years, it was devastating when the Royal Civil Service announced just one slot. Frankly speaking I almost ended up getting depression. Being from humble and hand-to-mouth family and being the eldest sibling, I really needed to get job so that I have something in return after about seventeen years of study. My parents have suffered and sacrificed so much for the sake of my education although the royal government of Bhutan is  gracious enough to provide free education. . So that’s when I decided to apply which ever the company floated vacancy announcements that fulfilled my qualification. It didn’t matter if I was interested or not. And that’s how Drukair Corporation Ltd came into rescue. People discouraged me saying like Drukair corporation is full of corruption and commoners have little or no chance. Fortunately of unfortunately, I got selected five years ago and here I am. Thank you Drukair corporation. 

Having to learn all new, almost a complete deviation from what you learnt is an interesting and challenging one. But knowing the basics is all that is required. Aviation is a vast but beautiful and interesting subject. Every time a plane takes off and lands, see different people admiring our beautiful landscapes, you have that special feeling of pride and satisfaction for you are part of it as well. You feel motivated to work even harder. 

However just like all that glitters aren’t gold, not all of your choices are satisfying. Despite being part of an organization that values safety, security and service the top notch priority, there are also circumstances where you are being drag down, moments that often pose questions to yourself like if the choice you made isn’t wrong? When the path you have taken suddenly gets obstructed and become stagnant, you have no other option but to tread back and ask yourself if the decision you made was wise enough? How do you mend? How do you revive all that zeal and urges you had on the very first day? It’s hard when the source of motivation becomes instead a hurdle, when the clear judgment of yours suddenly gets clouded by doubt and suspicions; when destination once you saw near suddenly gets distanced and much further to reach; when the persons you have had so much respect suddenly changes and you have little or no faith; when the conducive environment suddenly changes to one with chaos and disruptions. Right it’s hard!

While life may not be  about how fast you reach the destination but how you journey in between, but then we just have one aim right? To get to that destination and it ought to be reasonable enough, otherwise the very purpose of race and competition is defeated I guess. So please don’t ever tell me about the journey. Life is both about the journey and destination.  

So guys make wise choices when it comes to your career. A monthly credit to your account is important, but more than this how you live this life- a happy and satisfying one full of zeal, a contended one is all you gotta consider and your career plays almost 90% of the part I tell you. 

2018 Primary Round Election

I have never written or critiqued about politics, about election but this time I do wanna write about the primary round of third parliamentary election held on 15th September 2018; because I feel it’s an important part of Bhutanese history.

Four political parties- People’s Democratic Party(PDP), Druk Phunsum Tshogpa (DPT), Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) and Bhutan Kyenyam Party (BKP) contested in the primary round of election whereby the two highest votes secured go into general round of election to vie for Ruling and Opposition in the parliament for next five years. The people chose DNT and DPT in the primary round for general round bowing out PDP and BKP. 

From pledges to debates, to the party candidates and  presidents, I have closedly watched a  month long campaign of all the four parties and following are some of my observations: : 

1. Democracy in Bhutan is still young and unpredictable. 

Even after two times parliamentary elections and 10 years of experience with Democracy, Bhutanese in general are still that typical and stubborn when it comes voting  especially the commoners. Several people I know and contacted says like they will stick with a party they supported since the beginning even after trying to convince that such notions are wrong and that one needs to study and analyse. 

2. Bhutanese aren’t yet ready for a woman leader: 

This is the third time a woman had lead a political party only to succumb to disastrous defeat. Perhaps the patriarchal system of society is still strong in Bhutanese mindset even though we don’t have such thing as gender bias. 

3. Just because you are of same sex doesn’t mean you support the same: 

2018  primary round saw more women voters trunout than the male, yet when it came to exercising the franchise, they chose otherwise. So one can conclude that Bhutanese women do want so-called Gender equality, woman empowerment blah blah,yet they aren’t ready to support the who come in front to lead and represent. How ironic!!

4. Experience and strong candidates matters little: 

PDP have had five years of governing experience during which time they selected went for the best of best candidates even replacing most of the incumbents. Did that affect the result? Perhaps! 

5. Postal Ballot’s importance: 

Election commission’s introduction of facilitation booths across the country for postal ballot voters have had huge impact on the results of primary round election. The election commission of Bhutan should also consider the private individuals and their families to avail such services on the future.

6. Use of national language in common forums:  

Dzongkha is our national language and yes it’s is very important, but looking at instances where the constituency debates have become the source of various memes and jokes, I feel it would be of huge help for the party candidates to convince and campaign during the common forums in local languages understood by a particular community. This is a win-win situation where bu the illiterate people at villages understands the pledges and for candidates, such forums doesn’t become source of mockery and mimics. Since Bhutan has around thirteen different native languages, I feel it isn’t time yet for such a system where national language is must in common forums. 

The saga of life Part I - The struggles and Confusion

Life is hard to comprehend; even harder is when life treats and tears you in some mysterious ways. Even though this so-called life is but a short one, it’s full of complex thing to understand and fathom. Some treats this life seriously; some casually; some takes it with ease, some wastes it with all the ill and wrong doings; some takes it for granted but the crux and cusp of all these is that we all are part of it and we can’t avoid taking its toll.

At this juncture, when you almost cross twenties and embark into the 30’s zone, when you are just finding root for your career; when you are just beginning to start so-called family; when you are beginning to sort out what makes you happy and what is best for another half of your life; when you actually get the taste of everything; in short when everything happens at a time is but the most critical phase of life I think.  If you are not careful, you risk that exposure and the experiences to a chance of getting hay wired.

People that I know well and even remotely often ask me what am I up to, how my life is going and where friends of my caliber are and all. Well, as a matter of fact some have become business tycoon, some industrious engineers and doctors, some promising journalists, some aspiring politicians, most of them happy parents and most of us doing JUST fine and surviving. If we are doing just fine, then it’s all well and good because at the end this is what matters right? They are often shocked you know because to some, money and materialistic world is all they care. They eat, pray, live and shit with this mantra. That’s why we even see people trying so hard to stick to their job even at the cost of cheating their ages. Age and our body just can’t lie you know.

Five years of my career life has taught and opened my eyes to so many sad realities and bitter truths. The corporate world that we often say isn’t always as we thought or expects it to be.  Yes life is hard when you have to depend entirely on dry salary at the end of month and half of that goes to the house owner as rent. Yes it is hard when you have to bear the responsibilities of whole family including distant relatives; yes life is difficult and saddening when you can’t fulfil the dreams of not just yourself but your parents as well, yes it is frustrating when things don’t come along nice and smooth; yes we f**king like to commit some grave crimes when you feel cheated and the bosses around bothers you, but, but at the end of day you know what the beauty is? Satisfaction! The fact that you end up being sublime; bearing with few slanting rays of hope despite all the odds and you manage to overcome in it-self is but huge achievement and a satisfaction. Yes nobody is going to give shit about this entirety but it’s all worth for you; through these hurdles do we know the value of hard earned fruit. The fruit tasted out of much sweat and perspiration is way too sweeter!

But then of course the saga of so-called struggles and strivings continue for this is what life is after all.

Courage

When life pulls down yet you don’t give up

When life’s cruel and you don’t give shit

When love betrays to take  its toil 

But you fight back brave and not spoil 

When your boss is wrong and you give voice 

When the crowd scares and yet you face

When the doubts cloud your judgement

Yet you embrace until you are triumphant 

When the fire of rage inside goes savage

Yet you calms down with water of patience 

When the fear engulfs and you step back

Only to return stronger and composed 

Courage is not being rude or arrogant 

Courage is simplicity with persistence