When parking becomes nuisance

And today driving a car is not luxury at all. First, you don’t have money, but you need something to drive you around and the only option left is to avail loan from a financial institution. If you are lucky, you get the money after a great hassle. This is good because that’s how banks earn revenues for the government and you are part of that revenue-making process.

Second, you now have the borrowed money, you book a vehicle and once it is ready, you bear the burden of paying some extra borrowed money as tax. That’s good too because it contributes to the nation. Hopefully, a small fraction of this revenue reaches every mouth in the country. Third, you have to take this weird and nonsensical putting-in-the-box test to have the documents to drive, which is also good because if everyone is allowed to drive without driving license, we will have even a ten-year old boy from powerful family on the wheels.

And lastly, you pay the burden of paying to park your cars. I understand the companies that take the pain of collecting parking fees pay some form of tax to the government, but I fail to understand how their collection would take care of the immediate need of paving better road and providing better parking lots. We don’t see that happen if it is not for Dantak.

You would see young boys and girls wearing some odd looking jerseys chasing cars after cars. And even if you park for a minute you would be still paying fees. Well, paying parking fees to park your cars in towns makes sense, because there are limited parking spaces here.

The place where I stay is far from the main town. And here there are no traces of parking lots being marked. Mostly it is the residents and their relatives visiting who park here. But some people are already deployed there to collect parking fees. The amount levied is often based on the duration the cars lie idle there, but often they charge on baseless justifications. I understand why my uncle visits my apartment less and less now.

If you go to Siliguri, you will find what it means to collect parking fees. These people take care of your cars in your absence and help you to safely exit the parking lot. Do we have them in our parking fee collectors?

But for now, I make the pictures do the talking.

Comments

When they are ready

The Ministry of Education discovered 890 'underage' children admitted in schools across the country in 2019. Thus, the ministry in May 2019 issued a notification revoking the admission for these children. Majority were in urban centres. Desperate, parents and the affected schools requested the government to intervene. They also requested the government to consider lowering the enrolment age to five years. Currently, in Bhutan a child can legally go to school only when s(he) is six years old. And that policy was strictly followed a few years ago to the extent that some schools refused to admit children even if they were short of a few weeks. So, parents, mostly in urban areas, resorted to faking their children's ages. Many parents were guilty of adding years onto their children's actual ages. However, most parents, we are told, managed to correct their 'mistakes' later. Faking a child's age was rampant...

An endemic sense of place

A sense of place is a feeling that makes one feel at home and thereby at peace whenever he or she is in a particular area or think of one. It is the first impression or a deep sense of recognition that is deeply rooted in our memories. It is a feeling of happiness, and a sense of safety, an expression of endearment toward a particula r place (Cross 2001). Before I travelled to Perth for my studies, I used to work in Thimphu, though I was born and raised in a small village called Wamling in central Bhutan. Although Thimphu offers modern facilities and infrastructure, it is only back in the village that I feel entirely at home. It's here I get a sense of peace and experience a sense of belongingness; it's where I can genuinely be myself. In Wamling, our day breaks with a crowing of a rooster and mooing of cows in the distance. Somewhere a horse neighs, and another reciprocates from nearby. A dog howls and chickens chuckle in the coup. A stream gurgles down the hill turning p...

Community of Bhutanese Bloggers Conceived

And finally it happened. I must say that it was by far the most attended Bloggers Meet. In the past we had bloggers agree to attend and cancel at the very last minute. But on June 24, 2015 – almost 100% of bloggers, who confirmed came. I would like to thank everyone for keeping his/her words, especially those who had to come all the way from Wangdue or Paro. Thank you! 35 Bhutanese bloggers met in Thimphu. We were honored to have the presence of senior bloggers like Aue Yeshi Dorji and Dasho Sangay Khandu. The meeting assumed more significance because of their presence. Equally, we were happy to have many young bloggers in whom we see so much enthusiasm and potential. On top of many things that transpired during the Meet, one of the most significant outcomes was the unanimous decision reached to form a formal group of bloggers, a platform aimed at encouraging and inspiring more bloggers around the country. The members decided that we will call it Community of Bhutanese Blogger...

Nawang P Phuntsho

Search This Blog