Beyond Alphabets

Blessing me with her wisdom; my daughter

It is nothing new. I am trying to teach English alphabets to my almost three-month-old daughter. She did well. On the first day, she could utter only a few vowels, but the progress has been good. A, E, and O are her favorite alphabets. There are a few alphabets she purposefully refuses to say aloud with me. There are many, but I want to talk of only one today and give my interpretations. The letter C. From the look of her eyes, she is clearly disgusted. And I am sure you will mock at my assumptions, but as a father, I have a right to interpret my daughter’s wisdom.

It has been there ever since the beginning; as old as the mankind. Naturally, it is human tendency to think of someone who does a little good things to us or speaks kindly of us, we think he/she is a nice person. And everyone has weakness to nice persons. All family members and friends are nice people to everyone. Obviously nice people are to be treated well. And when you are a person in a high position, you have people looking up to you, all nice people, your friends, family members and relatives. All these people expect you to do good things to them that might somehow benefit them now or in the near future.

But it is against the moral conscience of man to favor one set of people over another. Again, it is quite a human tendency to help your near and dear ones. You just did the right thing by giving your cousins some jobs. You just did the right thing by letting your nephew write a selection exam even when he has already received the answered questions in advance. You just did the right thing by taking the road to this part of the geog because all nice people in the village live there including your own parents. You just did the right thing by offering some cash to a man of power because now your daughter has a comfortable job to take care of her livelihood.

My daughter has had the chance to be ride cars on her way to her routine injections. And she has consented to get a ride in a cab because being nice person she understands her father’s position. She understands now her father has to pay extra money to get the same car and buying a used car contributes to air pollution.

This is at the time when the entire world is talking about combating climate change and global warming. And when such talks are going on this side of the globe, some people are making millions from their industries and factories while others make millions by the very act of organizing such events. Well, talking helps, but blabbering without action is a sheer waste of energy. People look forward to such summits for they take them to foreign lands, where they will be treated like saints to star rated hotels. Our approach to climate change may not have changed at all. Some of us make living by talking on fancy topics.

Utpal Academy - Bhutan's first All-girls High School

Academic Block Welcome to Bhutan’s first all-girls school. Isn’t that wonderful news to all our parents? Certainly, as a parent of a one-year old daughter I am excited about the coming of a school exclusively dedicated to the needs of girls. Our girls need special treatment, which we can for sure entrust the responsibility to Utal Academy, Paro. Dinning Hall I really like the name – Utpal – in Buddhist world, Utpal is another name for lotus flower, which is believed to grow from mud and yet blossoms into a beautiful and majestic flower. It stands for purity and many deities are depicted holding flower Utpal, more prominently Jestusn Dolma, the Goddess Tara. Symbolically, it also stands for the transformation of our girls. What an apt name for the school! Hostel Room The Principal’s message posted on the academy’s website promises providing our young women an “opportunity to participate fully in a wide range of extracurricular activities to develop skills and qualities that...

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...

When FIVE is more than FIVE HUNDRED

Bhutanese parents complain that our children are exposed to so much foreign content and that they might soon forget our own root. Some parents also feel that their children respond well and better to stories that have Bhutanese characters and places in them. That's why the need for more and better Bhutanese books in the market. And we have only a handful of people who are committed to making this happen although the financial return is almost none. Bhutan can boast of not many writers. Here writing or publishing aspect of writing is an expensive hobby. In the first place, it is difficult to convince people to publish their writings and many leave it before they are halfway. Publishing is a complicated process. But here it is even more complicated since our publishers are not publishers in the real sense of the term. They would only 'publish' (print) school textbooks and in that they are only being wise - averting risks to their businesses. Recently, the whole...

Nawang P Phuntsho

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