Friday, August 29, 2008

Druk Path Trek






Were we tired? I don't know. It was like we had a second force coming from somewhere that pushed us ahead. It was great fun. It was like we never lived closer to nature. It was a three day trek in the mountains.




The Thimphu valley lay so beautifully when we climbed higher up the mountain. With each rest we took, we looked down and admired this beautiful civilization.


We climbed up and reached a beautiful hill top. It is above Phajoding the famous monastery. As the cold breeze seeped through our bones, we felt a chilling sensation of the reality.


And finally when we reached the camping area and settled for the night, we drank. Not to get drunk but in merriment. And the laughter generated in the tent reverberated around the jungle and the mountain.

Instant Reflection

You will see the moon shine just when you think the darkness has set in.

The Second Person

He said, “Accepting the fake present and denying the true future is not about having a strong moral.” Yanki was dumbstruck. She never took her life on her palm and looked at closely like she did that day. She did not want to change the path but maybe the fate was trying to cheat her. Every strong principle crested in her heart was crumbling down. It was futile to think she could build it again.

They shouted at each other. They found faults and pointed fingers—and yet, they talked on the phone every day. Every day they met online. They circled around the same topic everyday and they never seemed to make progress. They were looking into a mirror that was blurred by their own breath to lay path for the future but there was no way they would know what it was going to be like.

She shared what she did not share with many friends. Yanki met him online many years back. But that was a different story. They were both seen under a façade that was designed and named by other people. They never tried to show what they really were within. People at gay talked about them being ruthless about emotions; about not caring about other people’s sentiments. Both of them did not even try to find the truth about each other. And this acquaintance disappeared in the thin cloud. There was a little whisper after that—they never forgot each other but they didn’t meet, and they didn’t even write to each other.

And there he was—popping up the chat window after three long years. Where was he hiding? And he repeated the same words. Finding truth was useless since Lotay and Yanki both had chosen different paths and they were treading path uphill to find achievement in different ways.

It was either of them who denied the truth but it was a scary future they were foreseeing if they faced the truth. Yes, he said it was not a strong moral to accept a fake present and deny the true future but that was what seemed best that time.

And no matter what might pass; no matter how many times they talked on the phone; no matter how many times they tried to wipe the mirror to see their future—only the path they had chosen shined spectacularly concrete. And to try to scatter it was trying to break lives. They chose to be happy; but only they knew if they were.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Finding Fortune

It is 7:54pm now and I just couldn’t help not go to my table to type it down. We are preparing dinner. Music is high up in the air. Maybe neighbors hear it too—and they curse us for the disturbance. But we are gearing into finding a fortune beyond the heart—in the work.

“Honey…” comes the voice. My curry is getting over-cooked. I go in and make sure that it is cooked well. I turn off the gas and come back to my table. But before I turn, I give him a kiss. And before I can turn back, the phone rings. It is my brother from Japan. They are all fine there. They want to know how Amku is doing. I tell him that she is much better now; that her pus has almost stopped. If the same sickness afflicted someone else, I’m sure he/she would have taken it harder. I would have—if it was me. But my mother is so patient. So strong. She can go on—with a hope that never dies. Maybe hope is bad from Buddhist point of view—but to live, it is very important. And I’m glad my mother sees life with so much strength.

I’m not talking about finding fortune in the west. Not about finding fortune in some scientific discovery. We live everyday—everyday with small seconds and minutes—with small smiles and laughter. But we haven’t much to talk about what big work we did and what big success awaits us.

But everyday, we see the sun shine. We meet people, see the world and we live. And living everyday very simply with joy in small things builds fortune.

The Care

I had a mild headache from the sun. I went to town with azem and Dodo. I tried to get rest by sleeping but I just couldn’t sleep. I had finally fallen asleep for a while but I was awake before the headache was gone. So I took a paracetemol tablet and went back to bed. Karma was not home yet. It was 7pm. He went to watch football match.

I told them to have dinner—that I had to go to bed and I didn’t want to eat. I was in bed, splashed in tears. I was unhappy. I needed him home with me. But when I called him, he said that he was coming after having dinner at Gonpo’s house. I knew how long that meant.

I didn’t want my mother to see me crying but she came inside and she just wouldn’t let me go. She coaxed me into taking suja. So after blowing my nose several times, I got up and took suja and zaw. She sat beside and we talked. She poured her heart. I know how she feels, though she tries to be very strong.

So, we sat there…talking and remembering past. We didn’t speak it but we knew what both of us were thinking. We wanted to be home. A home we had once—where everything bloomed into flowers and there was not a pinch of wrong

When I was on the Verge of Quitting

I am writing this post one year and one month after my last post. I buried writing as a past hobby, or a habit. I buried my urge to write as...