Nawang P Phuntsho

How creative are Bhutanese people when it comes to generating new ideas to start new business ventures? It is an interesting and debatable topic. Of course there are so some creative Bhutanese who choose to differ from the mainstream. For instance, I am still fascinated by small company that cleans up water tanks or delivers LPG cylinders to the customers’ doors. There are people who make homemade soaps. All these tell us that we are capable of creating creative business ideas.   Photo: Google Images But by nature we are safe players. We do not risk being different. That’s why I think we have our young graduates competing for civil service posts.  Of course now that notion is gradually changing. Our business depends on what our neighbors are doing. We want to sell doma even when there are hundreds who sell the same goods in the locality. We open restaurant that caters to same group of people with same menus. We want to start mineral water plants even when there are alread...

Welcome to the inflated country, of course an inflated world! Purchasing power of Bhutanese ngultrum has gone down by 32% in the last 7 years, according to National Statistical Bureau. The prices of food items have gone up 6.9% compared to last year.  A bundle ( chag-pa ) of sag costs Nu. 20 today in Phuentsholing, up by 50%, while a kilogram of potatoes will cost you anywhere between Nu.25-30 and tomatoes are priced 50-60% higher. And the prices of other food items have also increased manifold. LPG and fuel prices have gone up. It is more expensive to get a ride in taxis or buses. Cars cost you more with the revised tax policy. With increase in fuel prices, it is more expensive to drive personal cars too. Soon, electricity will cost us more. We will pay more for water, sewerage and garbage.   But it is an amazing revelation that we are surviving on our same old income in a very different economic situation. Sometimes, I wonder how some families who live on Nu.100 (or...

Today (Sunday July 25, 2010) Departmental Football Tournament organized by Phuentsholing Sports Associaition has started in Phuentsholing Higher Secondary School's football ground.  16 teams are taking part in the Annual league-cum-knockout Football Tournament. As the game proceeds Shakira's Waka Waka is blasted at full throttle on the loudspeakers. People are already feeling nostalgic about the World Cup. The following are some pictures I accidentally took on my Sony Ericsson phone. (The tournament was scheduled to kick off Saturday) (Team BFAL and Phun Police XI in action) (A view through the branches) (Dying moments of the game)

My mood has this tendency to swing from one form to another, just like the weather in this part of the country at this time of the year. Unpredictable is an adjective that best describes what is happening in the southern Bhutan. It is sad some people had to encounter yet another nightmarish flashflood and some lives have been lost to the forces of nature. Some bridges are completely destroyed and roads are blocked. How unpredictable our lives are! You are there this moment and then you are gone the next moment. And forces of nature are strong for anyone to defy. I join my fellow citizens in paying my deep condolences to all the victims of these tragic incidents. In Pasakha, a couple has broken their legs.  And it is difficult to imagine their lives in the aftermath of this event, when both of them come out of shock and when they will be forced to make a living with a broken leg each. What a tragedy! Hopefully, some form of help will come their way and raise them through this nigh...

Of course it is a nice way to keep us focused. Today we live in a fast world. There are so many distractions around us. Internet is eating our time away. And our temptations are sometimes so strong that we get deeply involved with it that we completely forget to do something that’s more important. And there are training firms out there that take pleasure in identifying our mistakes and making money by training us on time management skills. One of the best ways to manage our time, I am told of course, is by preparing a to-do-list. The idea of having a to-do-list prioritizes work based on the sense of urgency and need. By doing this we save a lot of time doing unnecessary things. Simply put, to-do-lists are reminders and a very efficient and organized way  of getting work done.   Experts claim that those who are in the habit of maintaining to-do-lists are often productive and successful in life. No doubt about that. To-do-lists must be short and precise; tasks arranged based ...

Bank of Bhutan is now a primary member of Visa and MasterCard. This is expected to make easier payment options for BOB customers.  With the membership, which is first of its kind in the country, now BOB customers have the options to shop online and travel abroad without having to bear the risk of carrying cash and for increased convenience for the foreigners visiting Bhutan. Visa and MasterCard are global payments technology companies whose principle business is to connect consumers, businesses, financial institutes and governments worldwide. They provide facilities to process transactions on behalf of financial institutions and customers.  However, we should know that the companies neither issue cards nor extend credit facilities or set fees for the customers. They only provide financial institutions with company-branded payment products so that the financial institutions can use them to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash-access programs to their customers. Let’s do...

When I am bogged down with so much work and I have no time at all to write anything, new ideas enter my head and refuse to go away. But only sometimes, I make it a point to jot them down. When you are busy, you receive many calls from people you know and you don’t know. And when you are lonely, you get no calls. When you have time and want to write something so much, your inspiration fails you, your words fail you and you find ideas slipping away from you.  Initially I found solace in folktales and later fiction followed – writing short stories excused me having to be politically and factually correct in my statements. Then social issues caught me. Non-fiction is something I still am uncomfortable with. May be I don’t like facts. Are all facts are stranger than fictions? But the blogging allows us to be short and precise and personal. It gives us freedom of not writing at all, say for months. Lol…I have said basically nothing here. I know. It feels good to talk useless sometim...