Inflation: a bug bear

Transformation wise, Zhemgang is measured as one of the grooming regions in the country. Much of the places are still virgin because of less development taking place. It is enveloped with serene atmosphere and well donned lush green forest - a key reason why others should look up to this place as an edifice and learn many things. 

 

However, it sometimes is inapt to describe Zhemgang as far cut off place because things go off so atypical, particularly the business trend.  It is shooting up without any lawful means. Shopkeepers are unconcern about the buyers and their status. What they care about is the profit from the buyers. For civil servants, it is not much of a problem but what about those who don’t have sound income source.

I do understand the rationale behind business and living life in a competitive market but they should also be equipped with ethics of selling and not to slash off customers by pricing things at their own will. It has become difficult to shop things as the prices are soaring up uncontrollably. Customers are becoming disinclined even to window shop. 

It is not at all a problem to rip off customers by five or ten bucks. The problem is when shopkeepers blindly hike up the price by hundred bucks when the maximum retail price clearly states that it is fifty. 

To my surprise, it is four pieces of chewing gum for nu five. Soon it might be one who knows. For fifteen minutes of net surfing, it is seventy. The irony is that by the time a page is opened, it is already three minutes gone. With the same amount we can Google for an hour in capital city of country where modernization has reached almost every corners of the place. Forget about printings and other accessory works, it is way too beyond thoughts. It has become unsafe to enter a shop without sufficiently stacked dough. Otherwise, it would be an embarrassment.

Few hundreds are just abundant to procure kitchen stuffs which are indispensable. I hardly see people buying cloths. Most of the shops are seen with same cloth dangling for about a month desperately waiting for buyers. But hardly anybody turns up because of the price phobia.

Now with the plan of pay elevation and housing allowance by the new government, the prices are more likely to ascend severely. Perhaps, it is jovial news for the house owners and business folk who intends on thickening their wallet. I hope that along with the pay hike and housing allowance, the concerned people also lay down some guidelines which will eventually rescue the buyers from being robbed. 

The unease also evenly implies to all the concerned house landlords inflating house rents at their handiness, that to not to contravene tenancy act of Bhutan which evidently states “the owner shall not increase the rent before two years from the day on which a new tenant occupies the house”. I am flummoxed if there is one here who is eyeing on this serious matter.

The country has been since then diseased with rupee crunch and here we are yet to suffer from ngultrum deficit.

I am reminded

Recently, a friend of mine lost his mother. It was tragic moment, for the call came untimely. Despite his stoic attitude, the pain he tolerated was indescribable. I was struck dumb thousand folds. Not even a single word came to my mouth. Only the whispers of mind wandered amidst the crowd. Abruptly, the thought of uncertainty clicked and reminded me that my days are also numbered and anytime, it may expunge my name from the list. Filled by the fear, I said some prayers immediately to calm my mind. But the more prayers I murmured, vaster the fear piled.  

In the practices of bodhisattvas, the body is compared to an inn in which our very soul has sojourned. To check in and to check out is nobody’s assurance. So is inextricable death. It tails us like our own shades. It doesn’t compromise on smart, beautiful, rags or riches rather level them all indiscriminately. Rivulets of tear ran down his face as the emotions overwhelmed. He couldn’t keep his silence anymore. Perhaps, everybody felt the same impulse. I, on the other side felt like an inanimate objects because of the alarm. Steadily, I was sparked by the reality as more people amassed. The cry intensified in the next room which accelerated my delirium.

I stood on the square not knowing what to do. 

In fact, the call has alerted everyone present there. Some offered butter lamps while others chanted for the well-being of the lost soul. Everybody wore that tensioned looks on their faces as if it were their last day on the earth. As the cry receded, the room grew more and more silent but the pain in everyone’s heart thickened. The anomaly of life is more of fading instants than mere happiness, I pondered. The room was gradually congested with air of melancholy and everyone was grief stricken. 

I felt deserted by my own soul and thought for the safest place on the earth. It dreaded me even more. For a moment I deluded myself trying to escape the unavoidable. If it was not for his mother’s death, I would have never thought of the uncertainty of human life. The fear was injected instantly. Shortly after comforting my mind, I went near him and tried convincing his. To converge and to diverge is way of life, I uttered, to which he nodded forlornly. He then retorted tentatively, I wish I was never born. 

I pitied and said when life beats us heavily, we should give in gracefully.

Perhaps, the end has retold me to live meaningfully. Quarter of my life had been duped thinking about the future, even when my present was not certain. I felt sad not because of ephemeral time but because of the lack of my own inner wealth to comprehend the way of life. His eyes were puffed-up badly. At the crack of the midnight, consolers vacated leaving insurmountable hollowness aside. This exodus exactly depicted how our own soul escapes from us. The family decided to leave for funeral the same morning. 

I headed back home alone chanting OM MANI PADME HUNG for the deceased and for the entire sentient beings.

Phulabi: as lonely as it is

Phulabi is tiny serene village in Zhemgang with only few households. 

Officially, it takes two days walk from the nearest point. The valley sits sleepily at the foot of giant mountains with no electricity and road, not even the farm road. With only a handful of dwellers, people live in prosperity. Yet, they are self-reliant and so kindhearted.  

I wondered what compulsion drove them to settle in such an inaccessible place. But undeniably, the place has many things to teach us.

….on teachers day: honoring all my teachers

Almost for dozens of year, I have celebrated the day. I have offered gifts and cards. I have pleaded them to sing and dance. I have imitated them too. Today, it is exactly what I am offered. I can’t believe myself. Mixtures of feeling engulf me at this moment. My pleasure is boundless and it is beyond my thoughts to pen down.  I feel fortunate to be in this noble profession.

May 2^nd is celebrated as teachers’ day in all the schools of Bhutan. It is also the birth anniversary of our 3^rd monarch, profoundly known as the father of modern Bhutan. The day is rejoiced to pay homage to our late majesty without whom Bhutan would still be paddling for communication, bartering commodities and insulated with loneliness from the rest of the world.

An anonymous said, “Teachers are like candle that ignites others”. Their influence perpetuates till the end of life. Sacrifices, compromises, circumscription and dedication are their daily mantras. Many consider them as the substitute of god. It is their wisdom and insights that channel our lives in right way. They carve us with their god hand and imbibe us with ocean of knowledge’s. Right from “A” to “Z” they guide us like their own child with unceasing care and unconditional love. Not just in school they nurse but in entire life too.

A teacher’s challenge is neither just to preach nor to produce mere toppers but also to seed students with good values and attitudes. Eventually, what they believe is value based human being who navigates in the sea of life with virtuous boat.

To teach is easy but to be teacher is rather a toughest line of work, for they deal with human psychology. I have never realized the pain my teachers have endured. There was no time for me to appreciate their labor. Always i looked for their loopholes and foul mouthed them. I unwillingly stood up as they entered classroom and never did I love them in return.I realized now that everything they did was for my better life. They portrayed their love in the form of abhorrence, care in the form of cane and attachment in form of fear. I saw through their eyes how it feels like when their expectation was shattered into pieces.

Teachers have greater impact on the lives of everyone. Not just one, not just two but as long as he lives.

On this auspicious occasion, I take this privilege to thank all my teachers for making difference in me. I am deeply indebted to you all for nurturing the fragile plant right from the embryo. It is because of your wisdom that I have sailed across these far.

I promise to unfold the legacy. Just like u did in my way, I hope to be light in somebody’s darkness and continue the voyage. You taught me to combat the odds of life.

As I reluctantly end my words, I acknowledge all my teachers for believing in me. Thank u teachers, you colored my life.