Nawang P Phuntsho

To say bloggers are not journalists is to say oranges are not carrots. Bloggers are not journalists. That’s true. But can bloggers become journalists? Maybe. Can journalists be bloggers? Yes. In fact, it would be only proper and appropriate for journalists to blog their opinions as opposed to being 'politically' correct all the time. So why call oranges carrots when they are what they are? Well, it is true – bloggers have no training in journalism. That’s why they are bloggers. And for the same reason they are  not journalists. No bloggers have ever claimed what they blog can qualify as ‘journalism’.  We all do what we love the most and give our best in whatever we are doing either reporting news or blogging.  Journalists do it as careers. Bloggers do it (mostly) for hobby and out of passion. Most journalists also do it with great passion - that's true. The journalists get paid for doing their jobs while bloggers derive pleasure doing it. Journalists cover (r...

We have great appreciation and deep respect for those people who make it do with bare minimum. But wouldn't it be interesting to find out if we can really do it with something as minimal as what we pay as daily national wage? Right now that's Nu.125.  I am sure something like this would have been tried elsewhere in the world, but we need to have an established experiment closer to home to authenticate it as our own.  I have been thinking about this exercise for a long time now.  Of course, if there are more Bhutanese bloggers willing to brave this you are most welcome in the team.   The survival exercise, if it goes well as conceived, is to see if we could work and feed ourselves in a place like Thimphu. I know all of us are doing that right now. But this exercise is bit different. The idea is to be completely homeless and start from scratch. All you take is some clothes and the team members survive on how much they earn and work for. But not more than th...

Cost of living in Thimphu is extremely high. No doubt about that. How do we ascertain it? When mid-level office-goers find it difficult to survive. But then it makes me wonder how those people who live on the daily national minimum wage of Nu. 125/day make their ends meet. Is this a serious mismatch between what we spend and earn?  Looks like, some of us need to meet these people and benefit from their knowledge of survival. Maybe that way some of us can even save a few hundreds. If these people can very well manage their families and exactly match their expenses with the incomes that they earn, why do we need to go far for MBAs while we can do that right here on our doorstep?  Of course, MBA is your qualification and does not necessarily reflect in the way you manage your everyday family affairs.  Being greedy and not eating enough is different from making ends meet and also being in a position to save some for bad weather days. I certainly marvel at th...