Waktsa ma ne la phai sang me la: these words that I heard keep coming back to me these days. It means, that the home would be dead in silence without children; it also leans towards meaning that it would be dry without any joy. My five year old son Tshewang has always been so curious. He had non stop 'why' questions that it would become impossible for me to answer sometimes but I never once snubbed it off as meaningless. However, once he started school, he became so quiet and he was on his iPad all the time. Oh, while I did not cut him off from asking questions, I did tell him not to talk to strangers or to touch other kids. This was purely because I wasn't sure about the culture we are in. When you do not understand the culture you are thrown in, you do not know what is right and wrong when it comes to interacting with people from that culture. There was also an incident at the park where he wanted to play with a little girl and he kept following her and tried holding her ...
I grew up in a farm. When I say farm, it is not as in the context of a farm in the developed western countries. Bhutan is a small country, landlocked between India and China. More than 70% of our people depend on agriculture -- the subsistence farming. I was born into a couple who made their living from subsistence farming. I was born as the youngest of the seven children. My elder brothers and sisters had to go through hardship: helping our father cut wood, get firewood, sell fruits, etc. But I being the youngest didn't have to go through all this hardship they did. My eldest brother, who did not get to go to school, saw education as a very important tool to live in the world that was changing fast. My second elder brother did not get to go to school either. But both of them looked for opportunities to learn to read and write and thus, on their own interest and effort, they did learn to read and write. And then one day, my eldest brother helped him run away from home to the c...
I moved to Adelaide, South Australia 10 months ago. This decision was driven by my belief that family has to be together and pursuing your career or following an ambition should not come at the cost of it. I made this decision knowing that it wouldn’t be easy – that, I may not have a regular office job that I am used to. Yet, as I do the manual shift jobs that I have taken, I find myself talking to myself that I would be contributing better by doing what I am good at; what I have so many years of experience in. But this is not what I was meaning to write about. Most of the people I met do not know about Bhutan. They haven’t heard about it. They ask in uncertain voice, ‘Bhutan…?’ On top of that, saying my name is very difficult. They even ask me if I have an easier name that they can call me by. So, the other day, I told my four-year-old son that maybe I should call myself Kel from my initial K.L. and he was like, no mummy, your name is Kuenzang. And I agree. This is the reason th...
Comments