Kuenza's Diary

I was so sleepy when I was at my friend’s place. More friends came and they started playing cards. I thought I would watch a movie. The movie “X-Files” started on Star Movie but I just couldn’t feel at ease. I felt tired and sleepy, so I bid them goodbye and went home. I thought they must only feel good to see me go. But when I reached home, I thought I was going to waste time by sleeping. So I geared myself up. I first took a broom and started cleaning the corridor and steps of the building where I stay. We have a sweeper there. There are 10 tenants in total and we pay Nu. 100 every month to be paid to the sweeper. The sweeper is paid Nu. 1000 for that job but I swear, never once did I see him or her doing the job. But I must admit that twice it was cleaned, though I didn’t meet her/him when she/he was at the job. When I finished cleaning the steps and corridors, I thought it would be great if I cleaned the rough road that the dwellers there use every day. I took a hoe, a ...

Yanki’s Life Story—Her Birth Perhaps, Yanki had the hardest life in the whole world. Perhaps, her destiny cursed her even as she was born. And perhaps, she was never meant to know what happiness meant. Her mother died when she gave birth to her. Maybe the 13th December, 1972 was a day of the devil. And when she turned seven, her father was killed by a wild boar. There were not many neighbors nearby. The nearest neighbor they had was Ana Singki who was a widow living with her 10 year old daughter. She was a drunkard and her daughter strived for their daily meals. Maybe their village itself was a cursed place. In the creepy dark night, when the crickets sang of their freedom, Yanki often wondered if there was a world beyond the mountains that shielded sun and gave plentiful of rain in her village. Maybe it was because of too much rain that they did not have a good harvest of their crops. When she was a child, she often wondered why the stars shone so brightly only in that village at the ...

There was an old man sitting in the front, right next to the driver. The person who arranged the bus (dealer) said he was sending this man to Dorji Dhen for free. I thought that was a pious act. But the price he paid for the free trip was huge. I mentioned in the earlier article that the driver and the conductors played a hideous game and they just didn’t agree to start the journey. We were struck in Jaigon. The conductor and the drivers (There usually are three drivers since it is a long journey and they have to drive at night too) wanted two seats near the door emptied. And the man sitting there didn’t fight for his right. I guess he thought it was better to let them win so that we would all be on our way to Dorji Dhen. But this forced the old man sitting at the back to look for a seat. He was so comfortably sitting at the last seat, but when the man who apparently paid for the trip got the seat, he was forced to stand. As he came to the front and stood behind the drive...