Hi ......,
Thank you for your mail ---- and I am sorry for the slight delay in reply. The truth is, now that I am fully relieved of my responsibilities at the Rotary Club as of January 1, 2022, I have been finally able to go and visit my ancestral home. I have been meaning to make the visit for a long time but never got the time.
The next lap of my life's journey has now begun.
Yes, as you can read in the Dedication Page of my book, the creation of the DeSuung organization about ten years back was nothing short of divinatory – as if His Majesty saw the future and the coming of the COVID-19. What is even more amazing is that by the time the COVID-19 hit us, the required mass was in place – the number of serving DeSuups were enough to take on the mitigation work at all fronts. Just creating the organization isn't enough – numbers matter – and it was there in full force, which made all the difference. Without the numbers, it would not have mattered.
The face of Bhutan would be totally different today – if the DeSuung were not in place, with the required numbers.
The PowerPoint presentation of my coin book is just a demo – not the whole truth. I just wanted you to see how the book will look and feel.
My narrative on what would have happened to most of the 50,000 silver Thalas (total 2,908 KGs) of 1929 and 1930 that went missing is very interesting I can tell you – but my theorizations are based on documentary proof that point to what may have happened.
A number of Western writers, collectors and historians on Bhutanese coinages had always put the date of Bhutan’s first coinage at 1790. I have discovered documentary proof that the year should actually be 1711.
Thank you for your complement – but it took me years to master the technique of photographing the coins with the clarity, evenness of sharpness and lighting quality that you now see. One collector in Belgium tells me that the coins literally pop out of the pages :)-
Now that I have time in hand, I hope to finalize the book in the coming months. This COVID-19 does not make things easy – but life would be so dull without challenges.
You are right – the Cowrie was used as money in many countries many centuries before salt, and finally metal and paper money – including the Kingdom where the sun never set – England. As you may have read in my demo presentation, in Bhutan we apparently begged Kuber the God of Wealth for it on a daily basis.
7th February is closing in on you very fast! Good luck with your house moving – I just did 3 months back. I can assure you - your biggest headache would be locating things - they seem to disappear.
Bye and take care … and please keep safe and remain vigilant – without loosing out on life's many funs :)-
I am anxiously awaiting the publication of your new book. I am sure that it will reveal some historical facts that may have escaped the attention of other writers.
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