Ngawang Phuntsho

Wow, another month is down; look at my blog, it is literally starving. Good that it is silent though. I have nothing serious to blog about even today.   Buddhism denounces enormous wealth. It is not happiness, but it invites suffering and misery. First there is the pain and struggle of accumulating it and then there is burden of having to look after it accompanied by the pain of parting with it. And this leaves us with no or less time to practice the teachings of the Buddha and nearly no time to reflect on the preciousness of human life.   In mythologies, the King of Klu (Naga; serpent) is said to have nine heads and each one carries a lump of gold. And while gold symbolizes dignity, pride, wealth, power, the serpent king is said to be susceptible to lurking threats. By token of being born in a Buddhist country, we are taught to value spiritual happiness over material wealth. And then here we are taught that happiness is more important than any amount of wealth. Our policy...

My daughter 1 month old I have just talked to my daughter. When PaSsu one day wrote how he missed his daughter being away from her on a workshop at Chukha, I might have rolled my eyes a couple of times. But now here I am. I have been away from my beloved daughter for more than two weeks now. And of course PaSsu was so right – I miss my daughter so much. I dream about her every night and her mother allows me to talk to her on the phone. Sometimes when I call her mother, my daughter happens to be doing her round of crying. But when I start to talk and console her on the phone, she stops crying. This happened many times now. This makes me think that she can recognize her father’s melodic voice. Jokes aside, I become so happy when she listens to my voice on the receiver and giggles, pretending and trying to say so many things to me.  Sometimes I wonder if she tries to tell me how she misses me and why I was being away from her for a long time. And this makes me miss her even more...

Source: www.theduluthmodel.org Today (October 2, 2010) coinciding with the Birth Anniversary of Gandhiji, the day is observed as the International Day of Non-violence starting 2007 according to the UN General Assembly Resolution. The resolution declares it as the moment to “disseminate the message of non-violence”.   It is of course a time for us to reflect on the lives of a great soul – Mahatma Gandhi who moved the world with his Ahimsa moment.   Back home, it is good time for us Bhutanese to reflect on beauty of living with Buddhist principles. It is time for us to treat others in a way we want them to treat us and extend our compassion on those suffering. Non-violence is not only about trying to stop fighting or killing. It is about being compassionate and kind to others, treating others as our own kith and kin. Of course all these are fancy concepts. But let’s admit being poor farmers in a remote village is never a crime. But it is if we insult them for being poor. I...

What a show! Finally, it came to an end with the crowning of second Miss Bhutan. I would like to congratulate all the winners and other contestants for having had the wonderful moments of their lives. But what captivated me the most was the moment when the Miss Bhutan 2010 Pageant Finale started at Nazhoen Pelri yesterday. This made me wonder if I was dreaming because I thought Thimphu Tshechu has already ended by then. But the dance by some odd musical troupe at the show featured a group of men wearing masks dance alongside a group of beautiful dancers to the tune of a song played aloud on the loud speakers instead of dancing with their feet in complete sync with the clashing sounds of cymbals at the tshechu ground. It was truly out of place. People watching the show, especially if they have watched it closely would have felt embarrassment warming their cheeks. I clearly felt embarrassment biting into me.   So much for the preservation of our culture and tradition! I heard m...

Photo:Zhiwaling Hotel Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) has announced the hotel ratings ( Business Bhutan ) where 8 hotels were rated five stars, 6 were rated four and 20 fall in three stars category. And we are given to understand as per the government’s rule only those hotels that have three star ratings and above can host tourists. Going by this calculation, only 34 hotels in the country can rightfully host tourists. Isn’t it something? Of course TCB says 65 two stars rated and 20 one star rated hotels can upgrade themselves to higher ratings within one year and 2 years respectively. Our government is trying to bring in 100,000 odd tourists by 2012 and its 2010 annual target is 35,000 tourists. We can already see these stars-rated hotels getting busier by the day. And thousands of small hotels will hardly benefit from the increased number of tourists. All these again point to rich folks making bigger bucks. I don’t have the credentials and expertise to criticize the policy. But th...

The other day, (31 st August, 2010) Bank of Bhutan formally welcomed Mr. Passang Tshering as its new Chief Executive Officer with the offering of Tashi khadar by employees in Phuentsholing. His appointment comes after the former CEO, Mr. Kinga Tshering was appointed as the Project Director for Education City. Mr. Passang started his career in the bank in 1977 and has served in various portfolios. Before his appointment as the new CEO, he was serving as the DMD of Corporate Service Department (the largest department in the bank). He is a man of large banking experience, aptly qualified for the new job; a proud product of BOB. Of course many challenges remain ahead of him and the bank in general. But all the employees are fully confident that he will definitely leave his footprints in the history of the bank. We would like to congratulate him for his new job and wish all the best in his new venture as the new CEO of the bank. To this effect, BOB requested BBS bureau office in Phuent...

(Google Image) On traditional bamboo bows and arrows, hitting the gorthig (bull’s eye) is a big thing, but now with the coming of Yangphel archery tournaments, the concept of hitting the bull has changed slightly in a sense that now the probability of the bull escaping is far less. On traditional targets the bulls are depicted small; in fact they are hardly visible if one moves away a few yards from them. Yangphel’s bull on the other hand is 25 cm wide diametrically while the target is 31 cm wide.  Statistically, the top 20 players (from three league rounds of the ongoing Yangphel archery tournament) hit 607 kareys of which 136 were hit on the gorthig and only 31 sakareys . This means the probability of hitting the coveted bull is 22.37% while that of sakarey’s is 5.01%.  Technically speaking, it is more difficult to hit sakarey than it is to hit the bull. And the highest number of bulls hit is 11 while the lowest stands at 2 in the league rounds.     O...