The Gift

Imagine the joy of the news that I am due to receive an unexpected gift of unparalleled meaning and value – I was delighted and absolutely WOWed! Surely, with this, I would have had to have hit my life’s High Note!

Then, one day, unseen and shielded from envious eyes, the gift arrived – meticulously draped inside a bundle of shimmering red silk, containing the following:

The Gift: Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless Camera body with all the essential paraphernalia that will enable me to couple my older generation EF lenses to the latest RF lens mount on the R5 camera body. The camera projects a delicate and slender look - but the beauty comes with a whooping  45 MPEG full frame sensor encased inside a body crafted from magnesium alloy and poly carbonate with glass fiber!

There are no words that can accurately describe the joy and honor I feel – suffice it to say that I am well and truly speechless!

But this uncommon angle visit finally makes me decide on something that I have been dithering for the past one year. I can now resolve to do it, with my eyes firmly shut. It is only just - and fair, that I should share my good fortune with those who are less fortunate.

During my visit to Trashi Yangtse last year to administer a grant to support the education of three little girls, I met a school teacher who had started a bird watching club in his school. I donated a number of Field Guide Books of the wild birds of Bhutan – a handbook authored by me. But I wanted to do more, for a cause that is after my own heart. Now I need no further encouragement - the above gift encourages me not to delay the act of giving any longer. So, during my upcoming visit to the areas, I am giving away the following complete assemblage of camera gear suitable for bird photography - for the use of the school’s Bird-Watching Club at the Trashi Yangtse Primary School:

Sharing my good fortune: My gift of a complete set of camera body and lenses suitable for bird photography at a mid-pro level.

In the olden days, a joke used to be told that the only person in Iceland who knew how to make Ice Cream died without passing on the recipe to any one - resulting in a situation where no Ice Cream could be had in Iceland for many generations. It is my hope that we can prevent such a thing from coming to pass in Bhutan – I would like to encourage some kids in Trashi Yangtse to perpetuate the joy of bird photography many generations into the future – an act of conservation that may be the only means by which we can ensure that some of the bird species that are bound to go extinct, are recorded and conserved/preserved in digital format, for the benefit of future generations of Bhutanese.