A Pertinent Question

This morning's issue of TheBhutanese newspaper carries the following intriguing story:

As numbers go, this is an amazing number …. Let’s do some maths:

9,084 Bhutanese flying off to Australia in ten months means that on an average a little over 908 Bhutanese would have had to make the journey by air – every month. That is not taking into account other Bhutanese travelers who would have flown out – for whatever purposes.

The question now is this:

How many of these Bhutanese travelers bound for Australia flew their own national flag carrier – the DrukAir?

I urge Tenzing Lamsang, who broke his story, to do a follow up story on the subject. For a reporter decorated with the Best Investigative Journalist of the Year Award (2025), I know that this is not going to be a man-bite-dog kind of story …. But I can tell you that he is likely to uncover something that simply do not gel – something that does not fit!

To encourage him, here is a lead:

Very recently a Bhutanese couple with a one-year-old baby had to travel to the UK. When asked, they told me that their travel route would be as follows:

Thimphu > Phuentsholing > Samdrup Jongkhar > Guwahati > New Delhi > London.

But why opt for such perilous, round-about travel route?

Why indeed????

Because nobody cares …..!!

I wanted to ask the Almighty God …. But I get the feeling that He is also a Bhutanese.

Life Cycle of the Owl Moth (Brahmaea wallichii)

I have this sneaky feeling that global warming has screwed up the timing of the moth season. I mean at Thimphu’s altitude, I believe that the moth season typically begins sometime at the start of next month …. But the fellows have been pretty active as of end of last month. Well, my worry isn’t so much that these wondrous creatures are rather erratic in their timing …. I mean earlier the merrier! But I worry that their chaotic, premature appearance could very well be an indication that not everything is hunky dory in our famous land of GNH. We can’t have that …. I mean we do have a reputation to uphold! After all, we did make a claim that we have the singular distinction of being the only country in the world that is carbon negative!!! Hehehe.

Well, global warming has sent everything into a tailspin – it is irrelevant that we have no role in its cause ---- we still have to suffer its affects. We can already sense that it has already affected even the human psyche – there is no longer honesty in our truth. Honesty, valor, duty, service, dedication are no longer virtues to be proud of – they are beginning to be seen as hindrances to personal glory and success.

Well, I remain unimpressed! For me the celebration of life is key --- being alive, and being able to find fulfillment in the simplest of life’s passages is what matters – giving joy rather than seeking it is my endeavor. It is probably the reason why wonderful things happen to me. Take, for instance, the following life event.

Of the more than a thousand moths I photographed so far, the Owl Moth (Brahmaea wallichii) is one of the prettiest. Few days back, it decided to reveal to me how it starts its life.

It starts its life inside a perfectly spherical egg that is no more than 2-3mm in dia. When the eggs are laid, it is creamy white in color. Over the days, it turns dark brown – obviously the larvae inside is maturing and ready to hatch.

I am not sure how long it takes for the eggs to hatch – but my experience is that the eggs hatched within less than 2 weeks of my first noticing them.

The caterpillars when they emerge out of the eggs are cute, hairy beings with black bodies stripped with white bands …. and dashes of yellow.

When they move, it looks as if they are slithering on their back --- they look like they move belly up - the legs appear to be growing out of their backs. But I am sure that is not true – I think they have legs under their belly.

But I have not seen the full process of the metamorphosis - how they transit from caterpillar to full grown moth … but the following is how they look when they are fully grown.

A full grown Owl Moth (Brahmaea wallichii)

The Laborious Climb Up The Ladder

Yesterday, the JAB (Journalists’ Association of Bhutan) hosted their 10th National Journalism Awards (JNA) 2026 coinciding with the World Press Freedom Day. Although not a serving journalist in the conventional sense, I received an invite to join the Association as its Member - which I gladly accepted. So, for whatever it is worth, I am a registered and active Member of the JAB. Thus, I was invited to participate in yesterday’s event. However, I chose not to be present during the proceedings - because wisdom is when you know that discretion is the better part of valor.

And I was right!!! A number of personalities in the gathering stated - with unabashed alacrity - that Bhutan’s poor press freedom ranking for the year 2026 is grossly flawed – that the Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) did a shoddy job – that the methodology they adopted to assimilate information in our case was suspect. One official even went so far as to state that there was no transparency in the process.

Nothing more than rantings of bad losers!!!

I wonder what China and North Korea thinks about their ranking? The RSF ranks them at the absolute bottom – 178th and 179th among 180 countries. They must be livid!!! Not that our 150th ranking is anything to write back home about – I mean for all our nose-in-the-air attitude, we rank way below the regional average.

I hope the powers that be understand that the way forward to improve our ranking, if that is accepted to be desirable - is not by smarting at the results pronounced by an organization whose verdict is accepted as frank, fair and truthful across the globe.

It is my understanding that not everything here is hunky dory, that we do have a need to be a little bit more open minded and tolerant about what the media is engaged in, and allow them to play the role for which they are celebrated …. It is only then that we may hope to be counted as equal among equals.

That said, it would appear that the seat holders - the media people - also need to understand that unwarranted self-censorship do not help the situation - they need to grow up to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is not fair to blame the state machineries alone for  our poor showing.

All things considered, I am happy that Tenzing Lamsang was acknowledged as he deserves to be – I was very, very apprehensive that some people might decide to be vengeful – I mean market report has it that some gutless institutions have resorted to discontinuing their subscription to his paper because he has been scathing about them …. The fact that he has been recognized as he deserves to be, is proof that we are not as bad as some would have us believe that we are.

But I was disappointed that Kuensel Reporter Lhakpa Quendren was not honored as I had hoped that he might be. I mean his recent article early last month titled “Aviation, telecom duopolies weigh on Bhutan’s economy” was simply, honestly, titillating! I suppose not may understood the implications of that consequential article …. But I was so, so very impressed by the article that I went over to the Kuensel to meet the Reporter and congratulate him in person, for his truly astute article.

ADDENDUM:

By way of clarification, the JAB informs me that only media coverage for the period between 01.01.2025 to 31.12.2025 was considered for the Awards. Thus, my last para above may be considered disparate.

Ah, Tiny Traveler Of The Night, Why Art Thou Not A Moth?

I was truly excited when I came across the following early this morning – I thought it was an unusually shaped Moth:

Turns out the tiny fellow is not a Moth – but a species of insect called Hook-winged Lacewing (Drepanepteryx phalaenoides) - most often mistaken, as I was, for a Moth. Well, I am OK with it …. I am not disappointed – I mean it is still a new species of insect in my collection. No question – it is as cute as any Moth!

Now that I am in a generous mood, let me treat you to some more of the cuties who share our universe with us. Ofcourse the poor fellows have no idea that the human species is all out to ruin their living space for them:

There is so much beauty out there in the animal world!!!