Tuesday, October 31, 2017

My Home is no more

My parents worked so hard to first get a land where they could farm. Then they worked so hard to build a house of their own. Their hard work paid. They made a name for themselves. They built two houses; more if we are to count the houses they help build for their children. But for what?

We could argue that if they did not work that hard, their children -- my siblings and I could be doing something different, and earning our living in a different way. They worked hard--all for us. They taught us humility. One thing that rings in my mind still to this day is that, we are humble people and we should always remain humble. I could say we have lived it.

What hit me hard was this picture that my eldest brother sent me from my village:



I cannot believe that the place that I called home and the place that lives in me has become like this. I had to look at this picture again and again -- closely. The landscape itself looks changed and it is nothing like I remember from my childhood. Our home, the house that my parents built with hard work and where we had so many happy occasions of Tshechu, annual rimdro, and different family gatherings is now in ruins. All we can see are those walls.

I had to talk to my brother to confirm that it is our home--and that the home that lies deeply crested in our hearts with the memory of all too familiar smell of food cooked by our mother is now in this condition. That night I could not sleep well. I cried. My brother did not want me to show the picture to my mother because he thought she would feel unhappy and troubled. But she was strong. She accepted the law of impermanence and the events that caused all this. But I could not. I thought of my father. I wished he was with me. I often think of how wonderful and happy it would be if both my parents were together with me today.

I often dream of my home. In my dreams, I am driving a car -- and I see that we have a motor road right above our home. And then I heard the news that there will be a mining for rocks going on above our home. Maybe one and half kilometers above it. There will be road. There will be economic activities. But this landscape will be destroyed. The thick vegetation will be gone. I hear the mining is to be carried out by the State Mining Corporation Ltd. I am not sure if the people in my village are happy about it but from the way I see it, only few may benefit. And now, I feel torn and defeated that this home I once knew will change forever -- and it may not even be spared the natural decay and growth that takes place after the ruins.

The nostalgia is so strong as I write this that I wish I could change everything and go back to what I held dear as a child and make this a home again.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Importing list of contacts at once on iPhone


This is for those who are looking for a way of importing list of contact addresses at once on your iPhone without having to add one at a time. Having joined a new organization, I had to have contact addresses of more than hundred staff and I did not want to tediously type in one by one on my phone.  But first you must have this contact list in excel format or in some form of list on your computer.

1. If you have the contact list in the excel format, convert it into csv format
2. Now convert it into VCF format online on this link: http://www.artistec.com/pages/CSV2vCard.html
2. Follow the instruction on this link
3. Once you have the output of your contact list on that link in the VCF format, copy and paste it in a notepad
4. Save it with the file extension .vcf
5. Log in on icloud using your login credentials
6. Go to Contacts on the homepage of your iCloud and then go to settings





7. Click on import and choose the vcf file you just created. 
You will now have all the new contact addresses you wanted on your phone, right there!


Wednesday, July 19, 2017

How to Paste Excel Table to Gmail

If you are looking for a way to paste Excel table into Gmail without losing its format -- without having to use MS Word as an intermediary, here it is:

1. Download the Chrome extension CloudCodes Insertable

2. Reload your Gmail

3. And then after copying your table from Excel, click on the new icon on your gmail:




4. As soon as you click on this icon, your table will be pasted in the Gmail without losing its format

If you don't want to add an extension, you can do the following:

1. Copy Excel table into MS Word

2. Now copy this table from MS Word and paste into Gmail

The first option is required only if you want to do it straight away from Excel to Gmail by skipping a step.


Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Being Part of My Daughter’s Experience


I love growing up with my daughter by being part of her daily experiences. Unless I am rushed by an inevitable meeting or work, I make sure that I attend her school’s morning assembly because getting to stand in line with students and recite the Jamyang Soeldeb (Prayer to Manju Shri) and National Anthem is a rare opportunity. And I take it solemnly. I have recently been transferred to Ministry of Labour and Human Resources and this gives me time to do that. The walking distance between her school and my office is only four minutes. 

 

This morning, she woke up early, which gave us time for her bath as well as have a relaxed time for breakfast. After getting ready for school, she still had time while I got ready – so she used it to read a story, ‘The Folk Museum’ by Madam Chador Wangmo. She sure does like the imaginations it gives her.  

 

So we arrived at her school on time today. She could join her friends to sing the nursery rhymes which gives students a nice warm up before starting the classes for the day. I don’t know about other schools but Early Learning Centre (ELC) has the schedule of singing nursery rhymes before the morning assembly. After the assembly, they recite poems or rhymes that have good themes. This morning, they sang quite a few but the one called ‘I like Myself’ by Karen Beaumont caught my attention quite hard. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I listened to them repeat it in chorus after Madam Namgay. 

 

It immediately made me look back to my own childhood. Did I have such a time where teachers told us that we are all different and we are all good in our own ways – and that we must love what we are? It was a different time then, but both teachers and parents did their best. It also made me feel a profound gratitude for my teachers and now hers. It is from them that we learn quite a big share of what life is and how we must see it and live it. There are people who have good things to say about ELC. But there are also those who think that they do not give much emphasis on the academic achievements. But I made my choice of sending her there because I don’t want her to miss the joy of her childhood in the rush of being schooled. She probably does not read as well as others her age. But that is okay because she will read on her own pace. But I do want her to love reading so that it will give her the benefit of knowledge that only reading different books can give.  She is a difficult child sometimes. But that is okay too. If she were tame as a toy, I would not have the experience I now enjoy. 

 

Here is the poem. I hope you will be moved by it too and you will feel inspired to tell your children what it says so that they know that they are lovely the way they are. 

 

I like myself! I'm glad I'm me.
There's no one else I'd rather be.
I like my eyes, my ears, my nose.
I like my fingers and my toes.
I like me wild. I like me tame.
I like me different and the same.
I like me fast. I like me slow.
I like me everywhere I go.
I like me on the inside, too,
for all I think and say and do.
Inside, outside, upside down,
from head to toe and all around,
I like it all! It all is me!
And me is all I want to be.
And I don't care in any way
what someone else may think or say.
I may be called a silly nut
or crazy cuckoo bird-so what?
I'm having too much fun, you see,
for anything to bother me!
Even when I look a mess,
I still don't like me any less,
'cause nothing in this world, you know,
can change what's deep inside, and so....
No matter if they stop and stare,
no person
ever
anywhere
can make me feel that what they see
is all there really is to me.
I'd still like me with fleas or warts,
or with a silly snout that snorts,
or knobby knees or hippos hips
or purple polka-dotted lips,
or beaver breath or stinky toes
or horns protruding from my nose,
or--yikes--with spikes all down my spine,
or hair that's like a porcupine.
I still would be the same, you see...
I like myself because I'm 
ME!

 

When I was a student, many years back, I read that it is not always possible to repay the kindness to the same person. But we can pay it back by passing it on. I think love often lives that way too. I think we can spread love, care and kindness through our love for children. Because if they are brought up in the abundance of these emotions, they know them and they will reciprocate the same. And that gives each of us a role to make the world a better place!

 

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

My trip to South Korea


As part of the GNH dissemination workshop series, I was nominated along with three other colleagues to travel to Malaysia and South Korea in March this year. I was in a dilemma about whether to join them or stay back – because my second child had just turned one year. But having watched so many Korean dramas from being a girl to now, I was tempted to visit South Korea so much that I wanted to join them. And so I did! My husband, my mother and my niece had to take extra responsibility of caring for him; putting babies to bed and soothing them back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night is quite a tiresome job for non-mothers. But my boy being a very amiable baby gave them little trouble. 

Our counterpart in Malaysia had arranged so many meetings – from meetings over breakfast to lunch to dinner besides presentations to different offices and gatherings, we were left tired to our bones on our last day there, which was 23rd March 2017. Our flight to Seoul from Kuala Lumpur was on 24th March, very early morning – which gave us only two hours of sleep. Having had a late supper with our friends in Malaysia, we hardly caught that two hours of sleep before we left for the airport. [The RGOB’s rule of having to buy air tickets through quotation victimizes us into having to take inconvenient flight timings – and budget flights]. On the flight, I had to even ask for medicine from the flight attendant for my headache.

At the end of six hours flight, we finally landed in Seoul. And a staff of our coordinator there took us in a taxi at a frightening lightning speed because we had to make to the meeting that was already in full swing. And between bright flashes of light, we were escorted on stage at the 2017 International Buddhism Expo in Seoul in our dream like state! But it was worth all of these small troubles.

What struck us in particular was their trust and integrity. We were told that if you forgot or left something somewhere, it would still be there, untouched, if you visited after a few days. And they are so polite to each other. Or maybe, it is just that the accent and tone of their language is like that.
One night, we had to catch the last train back to our hotel from dinner with our counterparts there. We rushed and just to make sure that we did not mistake between the outbound and inbound trains, we asked two young boys at the station about whether we were going to the right route – and they were so polite to us. They spoke passable English and were interested when we told them that we were from Bhutan. I still remember how they told us to listen, to concentrate on the announcement of our station because they had to leave two stations before ours. And in the entire duration of our stay there for four days, we did not see the owner of our guesthouse. The reception remained empty all the time. Such is the trust! 

And one night, as we returned to our guesthouse after dinner, there were two men outside fretting and restless. Our coordinator had blocked their car. They had waited for one hour! They did not see the phone number left on the dashboard. We were surprised to see that there were no screams of anger and blame. They parted bowing to each other and in smiles. 

But Bhutan has much to offer too. They may have symmetrical lines of skyscrapers with shopping malls and hundreds of cosmetic shops but I doubt they ever saw a clear blue sky! Or breathe clean air free of pollution. 

Our friends/coordinators in Malaysia. They truly made our trip meaningful



At the Dharma House Society in Malaysia


Probably the only Bhutanese to be at the Seoul Tower in kira
 






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...