Journey of Mercy & Optimism

This was a journey of hope and mercy that I ought to have made by mid-February this year. But life teaches us to accept that compromise is the rule - that there will always be occasions when IMMEDIATE is more pressing than URGENT. Anyway, I was finally able to make my long overdue journey to the fabled Trashiyangtse - on the 1st of May, 2024.

On this trip I did not carry my bird photography gear because as a bird photographer, it dawned on me early in life that fundamental to my journeys will always be the fulfillment of my life’s passion - bird photography. Photography will always be my final destination! On this trip I needed to remain focused on making it to my geographical destination in time ---- and make the return journey without any distractions.

I had the opportunity to finally test out the recent phenomenal gift of the mirrorless Canon R5 camera body. Coupled with a 200mm zoom lens, I shot the distant image of Gangkhar Puensoom from atop Shingner, above Ura in Bumthang. The following massively cropped image will testify to the competence of the famed camera body that boasts one of the highest megapixels of any Canon camera body.

The above image of Gangkhar Puensoom was shot with a 200mm Canon Zoom Lens from atop Shingner in Ura, Bumthang. In order to test its sharpness and resolution, the original image was cropped by about 60%. As can be seen, even at this level of cropping, the image comes through extremely sharp and smooth!

At Trashiyangtse, I photographed the famous Chorten Kora. I wasn’t so terribly enamored by the Chorten because I had visited the place many times in the part – the first time was when I was just 11 years old!

The famed Chorten Kora located in Trashiyangtse. It has a unique annual cultural festival during which time even Dakpas from Tawang in Arunachal Pradhesh of India come visiting.

On my return journey yesterday, I stopped by the wayside - past Rukubji - to record the following photograph of a signboard of a Solar Farm under construction.

The changing face of Bhutan's energy production landscape. Looks like solar energy is going to be an important part of our focus - compact, manageable in terms of size, financing and technology, faster return on investment, less perilous in terms of financial and political bondage etc. Although claimed to be less harmful to the environment, it is a claim that I am not yet prepared to accept whole-heartedly. I think there are aspects that we are ignoring. Still, I believe that harnessing the power of the sun is the lesser evil way of doing things.

The above project - coupled with a few other ongoing installations that I have noticed around the country, encourages me to believe that Bhutan is now onto a new phase in our aspirations in the area of energy production. The phenomenal surge in domestic consumption of electricity and the shift away from the traditional method of energy production and financing, tells me that we have encouraging future ahead of us. I hope we stay the course.

On a different note, I am happy that I have finally been able to deliver the promised gift of a complete set of bird photography camera gear for use by the students of Trashiyangtse Primary School – to vitalize their Birdwatching Club started by their teacher Lopon Tandin Wangdi.

The gift was made even more meaningful - by the fact that it was gifted on 2nd of May - a day celebrated in Bhutan as Teachers’ Day.

But I came back a worried man. The primary purpose of my trip was to deliver assistance to three little school girls in Trashiyangtse. It is not that they were found wanting in any way - they are all growing up to be healthy, responsible girls. But I can see that a situation is developing - quite naturally and normally - that has me worried for the future. It is a situational development that I cannot interfere with - it has to - and it will come to pass - as a natural progression of life. But in its passing, the disruption of life and living that it will cause - that is what is worrying me. Sadly, as of now, I am not prepared - rather, I am not sure how I should go about tackling the problem that is imminent.

I Am Hugely Encouraged !!!

Between 18^th to 24^th June, 2018 a total of 2,914 readers visited my Blog. Of this 2,766 readers chose to read my article titled “Please Surrender Your Subsidized LPG Cylinders”.  Of this total, 2,262 readers were Bhutan based.

The article was so popular that it got listed as one of the top 10 articles ever, since May 2010. The following are my other top 10 most read articles.

 

I am hugely encouraged that in 6 days, the article drew such a huge crowd. But that is hardly of any consequence. What is important is this:

Did it make a difference in the way the Bhutanese people think? Did it encourage some LPG users – to give up their subsidized LPG cylinders, for the sake of those who are less fortunate?

Rotary Club of Thimphu is a Global Grant Donor

In the past five years since our Charter in 2012, the Rotary Club of Thimphu has received tens of millions of Ngultrums from the international community of Rotarians - to fund meaningful projects in the Club's core areas of focus: Agriculture, Education and Health. For once, the tables have been turned on us - we recently received a request from a Club in Australia - to be a Global Grant donor to a project they are endeavoring to do.

In a swift decision made yesterday, our Club Members decided that being poor was no justifiable reason not to give. Our Club will, for the first time, act as a donor and not a recipient. As requested by the Australian Club, we have agreed to donate the requested sum to help them do their humanitarian project.

It is a joy and a privilege to belong to a comity of people who are more heart and less mouth.

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Dear Rtn. Bruce,

This is to acknowledge the receipt of your mail dated 14th November, 2017 soliciting our support in being a Global Grant partner in your drive towards raising funds to eradicate FASD among the First Nation people of the Kalgoorlie-Goldfields region of Western Australia.

In my capacity as the Club Secretary of the Rotary Club of Thimphu, I had the opportunity to put up your request to our Club Members for their consideration, during our weekly Club Meeting held yesterday.

While making a pitch for your cause, I presented the following to our Members.

1.  More than half a century ago, in 1962, it was the then Australian

     Prime Minister Sir Robert Gordon Menzies who invited Bhutan

     to attend the 14th Consultative Committee Meeting of the

     Colombo Plan – as an observer. This resulted in the Colombo

     Plan making the rare exception of admitting a none-qualified

     Bhutan as a Member. Thus, Australia has been pivotal in

     Bhutan’s joining a world body for the first time in its history.

     This was a prodigious moment for Bhutan – being admitted as a

     member of the Colombo Plan meant that Bhutan was now

     recognized as an independent sovereign country.

2. In the last one decade alone, more than 500 Bhutanese have

    received scholarships from the Australian Government. This year

    alone, over 60 scholarships are on offer to Bhutanese academics.

3. In recent times, Australia has emerged as the most preferred

    destination for the Bhutanese – both for education as well as for

    employment. Bhutanese prefer Australia over even USA. There

    are few thousand Bhutanese currently domiciled in Australia

    – very happily and comfortably.

4. In the last two months, Disaster Aid Australia (a project of the

    Rotary Club of Endeavor Hills) has donated 6 SkyHydrant water

    filter systems to 6 of our schools in rural Bhutan. Valued at tens

    of thousands of dollars, these innovative water filters dispense

   10,000 liters of filtered water every day, for the safety of

    our school children's health.

5. Bhutan is grateful to Australia – for its role as a longstanding

    development partner. In recognition of this fact, you may be

    happy to know that the Royal Government of Bhutan has

    declared the year 2018 as a special Bhutan-Australia Friendship

    Year. In celebration, the Royal Government of Bhutan is

    allowing all Australian nationals to visit Bhutan without having

    to pay the mandatory Minimum Daily Tariff. During the

    3 months of June, July and August 2018, all Australian Passport

    holders can visit Bhutan on payment of the sustainable

    development fee of US$ 65.00 only.

For us at the RC Thimphu, a request from Australia – perhaps first of its kind - is no trivial matter. I am happy to inform you that after a short discussion, all our Members were emphatic in their support for your cause and have agreed that they will contribute personally to raise the requested US$2,000.00 as our Club’s cash contribution to your humanitarian cause.

We are a poor Club but we all agreed that being poor is not good enough justification not to give. We thank you for offering us this opportunity to give.

Please let us know when is the dateline for us to remit the money. Please also let us know how or where we may make the payment.

Thanking you and wishing you success in your endeavors, I remain,

Yours in Rotary,

Yeshey Dorji
Club Secretary 2017 - 2018
Chair for Vocational/Youth Services
ROTARY CLUB OF THIMPHU
RID 3292