more and more at yangchenphug

‘Mountain Echoes’ Literary Festival at Tarayana motivated me to share some random thoughts about our existence and environment. Like each year, it became a part of my duties to salvage through tones of student articles submitted for publication in this magazine by eager, anxious minds. We all share common weaknesses. We wish to be in print, on the screen, hold center stage, become famous and nowadays hold political leadership! Besides omnipresent doubts about originality, I cannot help admiring several of the poetic ideas that reflect profound imagination and fertile ideas compared to the norm in an otherwise humdrum existence. For their age, I would consider Tshewang Gyeltshen and Clarissa Lhamo to possess the potential to become successful writers. In the media savvy Bhutan of today, more writing and media adventures are being attempted; I know many expatriate teachers and Bhutanese too who are busy writing guide books or creative works. Technology has made the publishing process so much easier; competition has pushed costs down to affordable levels. I am reaping a rich harvest from my own publications, ‘Whispering Winds’ and ‘Kissing Dragon,’ available in Thimphu bookshops(Pe Khang and Megah). Mountain Echoes is working its magic.

Bhutanese high rise peaks still beckon as they did in 1980 when I made Bhutan my second home. I was a fish out of water culturally, linguistically, politically, racially and religiously from my native Bangladesh roots. A process of assimilation began after I researched Buddhism and Bhutanese history, and intensely understood the universality of life. Religion, ethics, morals and values came to me voluntarily in this pristine milieu where the soul roams free as compared to my crime ridden background of big city life. Bhutan is truly ‘the envy of the world.’

GNH philosophy is really stimulating. In spite of tragedy in my family life, I find reasons to smile. Jamyang Khentse’s little book ‘What makes you not a Buddhist’ opened my eyes to common misconceptions that we are guilty of in a materialistic world. Yet the truth is that money is one of those shared weaknesses. People like to talk in terms of crores and millions, a question of zeroes only! Wishing to be happy, we must investigate alternate sources of sustenance. I found the Bhutanese happy in 1980 too. Bhutan is today smug and satisfied in addition to innocent happiness; earth shattering events like SAARC summit have ushered in a dynamic era, the media grows each day and the Yangchenphug classroom atmosphere reflects changing history, in spite of the negative side, the price you have to pay for development. It is unfortunate that tourism and hydropower may wreck the pristine environment but will generate vast incomes.

The national book fair has altered the academic world; I was starved for compulsory professional study materials earlier; newspapers reached me three days late from Kolkata. Research materials abound now in the school library and on the internet. I am getting interested in more degrees after I obtained yet another two year contract extension. The surfeit of books and media is staggering; one problem is excessive unnecessary information that crowd around the individual. May be it is better to be short sighted, concentrating only on essential things, relating to study, job, family and society.

Hailing from a society that works early morning to late nights, I wished to be productively employed in the evenings after office hours; helping students filled that void which would otherwise have been spent on media, movies, music and masti. Nowadays the global internet has opened up new vistas as I search for online jobs in writing and editing! Or may be I will go back to the fish and bird breeding I practiced in my childhood! There is no place for agricultural pursuits in my urban background! Happy Reading!