United Nations or United Ostriches?

Mr. Muammar Gaddafi is dead. Good riddance! There is a saying … he who lives by the gun, dies by the gun. He was a horrendously evil man and he deserved to go as he did. So, let us bundle him up, wrap him in rags, sprinkle camel piss over his lifeless body and bury him 10,000 miles deep into the sandy desert so that, if he should resurrect, it would take him a few millennium to resurface on the face of this earth.

Hang on, not so fast! The Human Rights Office of the UN wants to intervene. They want an investigation into his death. In their words; "More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture".

Oh really? Why is Mr. Muammar Gaddafi singled out for special treatment by the UN agency? What is so different or special about Mr. Muammar Gaddafi? Mr. Osama bin Laden was murdered in Pakistan (something that I still do not believe is the real truth) by the American soldiers and, supposedly, his body was thrown into the bottom of the sea – to serve as shark feed. The sentence of Mr. Saddam Hussein’s “death by hanging” was pronounced at Camp Cropper, an American controlled holding facility. Mr. Saddam Hussein’s hanging was carried out in the most humiliating manner – he was taunted till the end and an unauthorized mobile phone recording showed him falling through the trap door of the gallows.

Like ostriches, the moral eagles at the UNCHR stuck their heads into the sand and made no noise while all that was happening to lesser evils like Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Why are they doing so now? The answer is: Double standards!

The UNCHR has a habit of putting their feet in their mouths – every time they open them. If you recall, the whole Southern Bhutan problem spiraled out of control because of their thoughtless and wrongful intervention. In part, the exodus of people from the South into the Nepal camps was caused by the false sense of security and encouragement provided by the UNCHR and their hasty and misguided support.

The world seems to be going a little mad in recent years. Are there some cosmic realignment happening up in the heavens that is causing such numerous natural calamities all around the world? Is the proper functioning of the human mind being affected, as a result? Can the madness of some of our MPs wanting to break a law and build the Gorgan-Shingkhar farm road across the alpine wilderness be explained by these unseen forces at play?

I spoke to one of the MPs of the ruling party on the matter concerning this crazy idea of a farm road. He agrees that he is at times dumb founded. He believes that there are unseen forces at play that seems to be directing the hand of the government into doing things that is designed to deliver victory on a platter – to the Opposition party, in the next elections.

Is this madness or what?

A Job Well Done

The royal wedding is over and everyone agrees that the ceremony and the celebrations were fantastic. No one doubts that His Majesty has made a good choice in his queen. I myself remained glued to the TV watching the proceedings - I refused to apply for accreditation for the occasion because I wanted to avoid another run-in with the agents of the ROM. I couldn’t have been able to sanely handle another tryst with them.

While there is no doubt that the Bhutanese people had a gala time, what of the international audience; what of the visiting media personnel? How did they view the arrangements that were made for their convenience? After all, an event is as good, or as bad, as it is presented to the audience.

I played host to a Delhi-based reporter of an international news organization. I did my part to ensure that the reporter had a good time while covering the all-important event. The following is my email to the reporter and the reply I got. From the reply it is obvious that, on the whole, the Government of Bhutan and the organizers did an excellent job.


Traffic control and flow was outstanding as well. Our men in blue did well.

CONGRATULATIONS!

……………………………………………..

Hi M,

Thank you for the mail ... I am impressed that you were kind enough to inform me of your safe arrival in Delhi so promptly.

Yea .. I intentionally wanted you to have a comfortable hotel while here in Bhutan ... and I think that Nak-sel hotel in Paro has nicely appointed rooms and calm and tranquility which I thought you might enjoy after your noisy Delhi. That is why I was eager that even your last night in Bhutan should be spent at Nak-sel. I am happy that I made no mistake there :)

I hope that our government was not found wanting in the arrangements they made for the visiting media. But I know that we do not have much experience in handling such a huge influx of media personnel. Surely, there must have been shortfalls but please forgive us if you were inconvenienced in any way. And, if there is any improvement you can suggest in the arrangements, please let me know .. We will not be offended but take it as a useful suggestion ……….

Bye and take care .. and it has been a pleasure knowing you.

Yeshey”

-----------------------------

Yeshey

Thanks for reply.  Please give me your address, so that I can mail you the SIM card.

I think the Bhutan government did a good job taking care of us.  First of all, we were granted very good and exclusive access to various occations during the wedding.  Secondly, we were well fed, ha! Thirdly, although the stadium's internet did not work, internet at other places worked just fine.  As far as I am concerned, the only thing that bothered me a bit was a liason officer who was supposed to attend me and three other journalists for three days was not helpful compared to other liason officers.  He was nice enough and willing to be helpful but, in my case especially in Phunakha, he ended up creating confusions.  You can ask Rinzin for the details. Journalists are one of the most demanding and abnoxious kind of people as you know.  Especially, those journalists from the US and European countries are the worst, I think.  They think the world is for them. To meet their demands is very difficult and it's just impossible.  I think the government did well in spite of a lack of experience and the limited capacity.

I am not trying to be nice here.  This is my honest opinion.  I have seen so many ill equiped media centers in many countries. Compared to those cases, Bhutan indeed did a really good job.

M"

The Royal Wedding

Even as I write this post, I have one of my eyes on the TV screen where the proceedings of the Royal Wedding that is currently underway in Punakha are being broadcast live by the BBS. It is a beautiful event. The color, the pomp and the pageantry is simply fabulous!

I am told that His Majesty had willed that the event should be a very subdued affair. When I look on the TV screen, I cannot fathom how such an event can ever be subdued - the profusion of colors, the solemnity of the occasion, the rituals, the reverberating resonance of the drums and the cymbals and the deep throated gurgling of the Dhung and the soulful musical sounds of the Jaling - they all combine to make the ceremony into something of a monumental celebration. And it should be rightly so, after all, this ceremony goes beyond the formalization of a matrimonial union of two beings. This event is the public legitimization of the appointment of the Queen of Bhutan.

As of today, Ashi Jetsun Pema is no longer an ordinary person. She now enters a life of discipline, of commitment and sacrifice, of renouncement and surrender - a life steeped in ceremony and officialdom. The crown comes at a heavy price and I hope she is up to it - for her own sake and for the sake of her subjects - the people of Bhutan.

On this momentous occasion, I pray that she is able to fulfill her duties as Her Majesty Ashi Jetsun Pema Wangchuck the Queen of Bhutan. May this day prove to be as joyous as the people of Bhutan believe it to be.

Deliberate Misinformation II

The recent declaration by the government that Lhuentse is the most poorly served Dzongkhag in the country is nothing short of rubbing salt to the wound of the people of Khengri Namsum. If the government feels that the people of Lhuentse are more deserving than the stoically tolerating Khengpas, they should have the courage to go ahead and do whatever they want to do - without resorting to falsehood.

As a Khengpa, I feel insulted that the government not only continues to ignore Zhemgang Dzongkhag but goes as far as to deny that it is the most poorly served Dzongkhag in the country. Such a deliberate distortion of facts has serious ramifications on the people of Kheng. By denying that Zhemgang Dzongkhag is the most poorly served Dzongkhag in the country, it becomes convenient for the government to divert funds else where. But in a sense I think I can understand why our government is so poorly educated about Khengpas and their continuing plight. I want to know: how many of the members of the Cabinet - both present and past - have visited inner Kheng? It may come as a shock that majority of them, even after being Ministers for decades, have not visited Kheng even once.

Today, when there are natural calamities in the East and the West, everybody is scrambling to outdo each other to deliver relief and reconstruction material. If such calamities were to happen in the Kheng region, the government would be soooooo terribly out of luck - because no way they would be able to be so quick with their kidu! There are no roads to deliver anything! That is when the government will truly understand the calamity of their neglect.

This post is still about the Gorgan-Shingkhar road. This stretch of road that will run through the TNP wilderness serves no purpose, its construction breaks laws, it will cause irreparable damage to the environment and in all provability it will remain unused for most part of the year, if at all. If the government has the will and the financial resources to do such a meaningless and destructive road, surely it has money enough to do some useful road in the severely deprived Zhemgang Dzongkhag. Let me show you how pathetic the road network in Zhemgang is.

In all of Zhemgang, there are currently three roads:

     Tingtingbi- Gongphu road

     Dakphai - Buli road

     Tingtingbi - Wangdigang road

The construction of the Tingtingbi-Gongphu road was started in 1988. Amazingly, the entire stretch of this road runs through total wilderness - it does not touch any of the villages in the vicinity such as Tsanglajong, Subrang, Zurphey and Gongphu. The road is called Tingtingbu-Gongphu road but it stops short of Gongphu village by 8 KMs - in the middle of nowhere called Praleng! When it was finally completed in 2005 (including the 8KMs farm road that finally connected Gongphu village) this road measuring a total of 46 KMs took 17 (seventeen) years to build - an astounding construction rate of less than 3 KMs per year!

The second road in the Kheng area is the Dakphai-Buli road. This road is supposed to serve the upper Kheng areas. Its construction was started in 1996 but as of January 2010, it hasn’t yet reached Nimshong village. I cannot decide whether this is a farm road or a regular road. But the less than 40 KMs road so far has taken all of 14 years to construct - a construction rate of 2.85 KMs per year!

The Tingtingbi-Wangdigang road is actually a by-pass road that is not intended to benefit the Kheng people. This road is strictly to reduce the overall road length between Gaylegphug and Trogsa. It starts at Tingtingbi, goes through complete wilderness without touching a single village and would reconnect at Wangdigang on the existing highway, when finally done. For the Khengpas, this road is as good as not being there - like the Gorgan-Shingkhar road would be to the Lhuentsips - if ever it gets constructed.

Deliberate Misinformation

There is something not quite right about this whole business about the proposed construction of the Shingkhar-Gorgan road across the wilderness of the TNP. The more I think about it, the more I am puzzled at the idiocy of the whole business. Nothing rings true - there is something fishy about this whole business. Lets us consider the following:

First and foremost, if the politicians are to be believed, it is the people of Lhuentse who want this road. So then why is it called Shingkhar-Gorgan road? It should rightly be called Gorgan-Shingkhar road. The nomenclature Shingkhar-Gorgan implies that the people of Bumthang want to get to Lhuentse and not the other way round.

Next, if this is a farm road, why is it constructed through a desolate area without a square inch of farm land or a single human settlement? How is a farm road defined and what purpose must it serve?

Third, by definition, farm roads are designed to carry vehicular traffic of the class of farm tractors and power tillers. How will it boost tourist arrivals in Lhuentse and the Eastern Dzongkhags? Are the proponents of the road saying that the tourists will be thrilled to bounce along bumpy and muddy farm roads that run through elevations over 4,000 Meters?

One of the arguments put forward by the proponents of the Shingkhar-Gorgan road is that it will cut travel time which will result in reduction of harmful emission. Does that mean that they hope that a caravan of power tillers and farm tractors will traverse through this perilous wilderness to get to Shingkhar and beyond? If not, how is it possible to reduce emission? Certainly, public transport such as buses and trucks and passenger cars will not drive over farm roads and that too, over a terrain fraught with unsafe climactic conditions such as fog, mist, ice and snow.

Regarding the reduction of travel time merely on the basis that distance will be shortened is something that I am not willing to believe. The distance may be shorter but what is the guarantee that the travel time will be reduced? Particularly when you are talking of treacherous terrain shrouded in mist and fog and caked in ice and snow all the year round? I personally would prefer to drive five hours more but through a route that I am certain will deliver me safely to my destination, rather than risk my life in trying to reduce travel time driving over 22 zigs that may not remain open most of the time.

The government’s established cost estimate for a farm road is Ngultrums three million per Km. The overall distance of the proposed road is as follows:

          Shingkhar to Singmala            6 Kms

          Singamala to Pelphu              30 Kms

          Pelphu to Zhongmay               5 Kms

          Zhongmay to Selibizam          6 Kms

          Selibizam to Gorgan               5 Kms

        TOTAL Distance                   52 Kms

At Ngultrums three million a Km, the road should cost the exchequer a sum of Ngulturms one hundred and fifty six million. Additionally, the government has committed that the road will be constructed with the most stringent environment friendly construction practices. This will mean that the cost of the road will be will be four times more!

Why is a lie being put out that the road can be done in under Ngultrums sixty million?

Startlingly, the most Honorable MPs from Lhuentse, in their doggedness to get this road, declared that Lhuentse Dzongkhag is the poorest Dzongkhag in the country. That is in contrary to the government published statistics. Surely, putting out misinformation of this nature is being very irresponsible and designed to deliberately undermine some other Dzongkhags who deserve better treatment than they have been getting so far?

Does the government have so much money to build such lavish farm roads? If yes, then we the people in Khengri Nam Sum want some of that money because, as per the NSB’s fact sheet, as of 2008, Lhuentse has 77.5 Kms of farm road for a total population of 15,395, while the whole of Zhemgang with a population of 18,636 has only 28.5 Kms of farm road.

How about some fair deal for a change?

No Thank You, Lhuentsips!

Yesterday evening I was in the BBS studio hoping to exchange views with the panelists on the matter concerning the proposed unlawful construction of the controversial Shingkhar-Gorgan road across the wilderness of the TNP. The set of questions that I wanted to ask could not have been answered by anyone who comprised the panelists. So I didn’t ask a single question. It was a wasted effort.

But as I plodded out of the BBS studio, something stuck me. I, as a member of the Kheng community, may no longer feel ashamed to be belonging to the poorest Dzongkhag in the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is now official - the government has declared it and the most Honorable MPs from Lhuentse have declared it - Lhuentse is now the poorest Dzongkhag in the country. In one stroke, the Shingkhar-Gorgan highway has been downgraded to the status of a farm road while, simultaneously, elevating Zhemgang Dzongkhag one notch up the economic/development ladder.

I am getting serious bad vibes here. Either the government is trying to hoodwink the people of Bhutan or they are totally clueless about the state of affairs in the country that they have been elected to govern.

The drama and theater aside, I strongly object to the government and the Lhuentse MPs usurping the Zhemgang Dzongkhag’s just and factual status as the poorest Dzongkhag in the country. Just because the government wishes to unfairly allocate a huge chunk of public money to do a luxuries by-pass that will enable the people of Lhuentse to get to Thimphu in a hurry, it is not good enough reason to put a blemish on the decades old reputation of my Dzongkhag as the poorest Dzongkhag in the country. That distinction belongs to the Kheng people and, unless the government wakes up and does something to alter that status, the reputation of the poorest Dzongkhag must belong to us Khengpas.

Sorry Lhuentsips, you are not welcome to that enviable status. It belongs to the Khengpas!

Shingkhar-Gorgan Farm Road

For whatever reason, the unfathomable desperation to build a road across the wilderness from Shingkhar in Bumthang to Gorgan in Lhuentse is getting more and more preposterous. Are some of our elected leaders suffering from Brain fog or are they on a diet of Death Root? I am bewildered.

Today’s Bhutan Times features an article on their front page that is headlined “Farm Road in Place of Highway”. As incredulous as it may sound, the reporter of the news article stands by what she wrote in the article - that the government has now downgraded the proposed Shingkhar-Gorgan secondary highway to that of a farm road and that they intend to go ahead and build the road.

I was aghast at the implications of what was said in the article so I called up the reporter to reconfirm that she got her facts right. She was in no doubt that she reported exactly what she was told by the two MP’s she named in her news report.

It is incredible to say the least! I mean the government would actually build a Ngultrums sixty million worth of farm road across the wilderness that does not have a square inch of farmland or a single human settlement? Does it get any more bizarre?

According to the news report, the Gangzur-Minjay MP is quoted as saying; “……… the road is the biggest aspiration of the people of Lhuentse”. Something is totally amiss here. Why would the people of Lhuentse aspire for a road that would run through total wilderness, one that exits at Pelphu Goenpa and terminate at Shingkhar in Bumthang, at a cost of sixty million Ngultrums? Aren’t they better off asking for farm roads and other services in their gewogs and villages?

Of the two surveys and feasibility studies conducted, the latest one was undertaken from 8^th to 14^th October, 2010. Out of the 5 members that comprised the latest study group, the two Lhuentse MPs were members along with a member from the Dzongkhag Administration and two from the Department of Roads. A report submitted by this team categorically states that:

a.     There is not a single human settlement between Shingkhar
        and Pelphu Goenpa - overall distance: 36 Kms.

b.   Of that length, more than half of it will pass through altitudes over 3,000 Mtrs. Barely 8 Kms from Shingkhar, the road has to pass over a high pass called Singmala at an elevation of over 4,000 Mtrs - way higher than Thrumshingla pass which is a perennial problem during the winter months. The report also states that “because of the elevation, the construction and maintenance will be affected since the area will be snow bound for extended period of time”.

c. The report also states that the road alignment envisages a minimum total of 22 zigs. This clearly means that the terrain is very steep and thus, prone to land slides.

d. A Park (TNP) officer I spoke to tells me that the area is wet and shrouded in mist and fog half the year and the other half it is snow bound. He also tells me that the soil condition is very lose and sandy and very unstable.

e. On page 3 of the Checklist for Processing Environmental Clearance, it is stated that the construction will involve the use of explosives consisting of: Gelatin, Safety fuse, Detonator and Cordex. The results will be catastrophic - given that the whole area is unstable and fragile.

f. The TNP and the Forest Department have, on two occasions - once in April, 2007 and another in June, 2011 refused the clearance for the construction of the road on various grounds but mainly because there is a law in place that prohibits construction of any kind in the core areas of a Park.

g. The first ever photographic evidence of the existence of Bengal Tiger at high altitudes was acquired from a place called Pemi in 2001. This place is in the vicinity of proposed Shingkhar-Gorgan highway.

It is rumored that the required budget of Ngultrums sixty million to construct the road will be drawn from the overall seven billion of the SDP fund available for small development projects in the Dzongkhags. But it remains to be seen whether the SDP fund can be applied to construct a highway across the alpine wilderness that do not benefit any community. Other than that, there seems to be one other problem - I am told that a project to be funded with the SDP fund cannot exceed Ngultrums 30 million. Come to think of it, I wonder if the reason for the down gradation of the highway to the status of a farm road is to be able to qualify for funding from SDP fund? But what of the requirement that the project cost cannot exceed Ngultrums thirty million?

May be they will invite the Bumthang Dzongkhag MPs - Lyonpo Pema Gyamtsho of Tang-Chhoekhor Constituency and Dungtsho Karma Wangchuk of Chume-Ura Constituency to participate in the project since the exit point of the high way falls under their Dzongkhag in Shingkhar.

That will be really funny.

Much Ado About Nothing

Years ago, a friend offered me this rather queer kind of logic. He told me that it is not a crime to commit a crime but being caught in the act. The thought of this rather uncommon logic came to mind because I am rummaging through old newspapers and for the life of me, I cannot find a single report on tobacco related arrests in the past many weeks. So what happened? Has the Tobacco Control Act finally broken the backs of the smugglers and the delinquent smokers?

Or, have they all turned into smart criminals?

While on the subject of criminals turning smart, another thought comes to mind - that of the government’s proposal to construct the Shingkhar-Gorgan by-pass: please notice that I am calling it a by-pass and not a highway because we already have a national highway and do not need an additional one. The proposed road is said to be passing through the core tiger conservation area and cutting right across our world famous Biological Corridor which we have proudly called “Gift to the Earth from Bhutan”.

Key to my support for the Tobacco Control Act was for the need for strong laws and even stronger will to enforce those laws. It wasn’t about the need to ban tobacco consumption, as some have mistakenly misunderstood. But should the government go ahead and build that road across the wilderness that is home to some of the rarest wildlife species in the world, I would say that the spirit of the Tobacco Control Act would have been broken.

I am told that there are a number of laws and by-laws that prohibit construction of any kind within the protected areas of the park systems of Bhutan. Unless those laws are first repealed, how can the construction of the by-pass go ahead? No amount of justification, humanitarian or otherwise, can condone the breaking of a law. In particular, it would be foolish for the central government to be seen to be doing so. On the other hand, it does not seem like it is justifiable that such an expensive road, both in monetary as well as environmental terms, is warranted merely on the grounds that the people from Lhuntse Dzongkhag has the urge to get to Thimphu in a hurry. The government must bear in mind that while it seems to be eager to extend the luxury of an exclusive by-bass to the people of Lhuntse, people in other Dzongkhags lack basic necessities such as piped drinking water, farm roads and proper school facilities.

No doubt environmental conservation cannot come at the cost of human progress and livelihood. But from all accounts, the environmental damage that will be caused by the Shingkhar-Gorgan by-pass is likely to far outweigh the benefits that will accrue to the people of Lhuntse. People may offer a host of reasons why the road must be constructed, but all of them will pale against the argument that this by-pass is not critical and is unnecessary and just too expensive for the purpose it is proposed.

And what of our reputation as a champion of environmental conservation? How do we explain this irresponsibility to our many donor agencies that pumped in millions of Ngultrums to help us create the Biological Corridor and the conservation initiatives that have been put into place? How do we hope to justify the saving of 1-2 hours of driving time over the dismantling of a conservation effort that is a shinning example of our commitment to conservation?

Ludlow's Bhutan Swallowtail

The image posted below is the magnificent Ludlow’s Bhutan Swallowtail (Bhutanitis ludlowi). This is the rarer of the two rare butterflies that I hope to photograph this season.

The image was acquired from Tobrang, which is about 5 hours trek from Bomdeling, Trashiyangtsi. The photo was shot at 9.30AM on 12^th August, 2011 at an altitude of 2,281 Mtrs. The butterfly is seen feeding on a white flowering plant called Viburnum cylindricum.

I have heard some Forestry officials mention that this butterfly may soon be named as the national butterfly of Bhutan. This stunningly beautiful butterfly certainly qualifies to be called one.

The existence of this butterfly came to be known sometime in 1933-34 in Trashiyangtse area of Eastern Bhutan (possibly discovered by the famous English naturalist F. Ludlow, given that the butterfly is named "Ludlow"). Claims have been made that it also exists in Yunnan, China. However, to date, the claim and the source remain unverified.

Seventy-seven years later, this extremely rare butterfly was rediscovered on 28^th August, 2009, by a Bhutanese Forester who was than working with the Bomdeling Wildlife Sanctuary. After two attempts, Mr. Karma Wangdi from Kheng Zurphey sighted and took a specimen of the butterfly from Tobrang area. He is currently attached with the Ugyen Wangchuk Institute for Conservation and Environment (UWICE), Bumthang.

A number of officials from the Nature Conservation Division, Thimphu and the  UWICE, Bumthang are currently engaged in a collaborative research work with the Butterfly Society of Japan and NHK Television. This is perhaps the first ever such research done on the butterfly.

Honor is a serious business with the Japanese people so I am sure that they will not do a BBC tiger discovery job on us. I wish the research team the VERY BEST OF LUCK. They are still in Tobrang - I am on my way to the south of Trashigang – hunting for another less rare but even more beautiful butterfly called the BHUTAN GLORY.

Please wish me luck!

Ludlow's Bhutan Swallowtail II

Butterflies From Trashiyangtsi

For the past close to two weeks, I have been on the road in and around Trashiyangtsi area - photographing butterflies. Trashiyangtsi may be Bhutan’s most important area for butterflies.

My primary target is to photograph the rare Ludlow’s Bhutan Swallowtail (Bhutanitis ludlowi) and the Bhutan Glory (Bhutanitis lidderdalii) both of which are extremely pretty butterflies. Ludlow’s Bhutan Swallowtail (Bhutanitis ludlowi) is endemic to Bhutan and, as of now, it is found only in Tobrang area and nowhere else in the country. Bhutan Glory is found further down in Pemagatsel, Narphung and Riserbu areas including in Gedu-Taktikothi areas in the West.

The magnificent Ludlow’s Bhutan Swallowtail (Bhutanitis ludlowi) is already in the bag :) - I will post an image of it in a while. I will now be hunting for the Bhutan Glory which our own “Bird Sherub” tells me can be found in and around Pemagatsel, Narphung and Riserbu areas. I will post an image of it later - if I am lucky enough to see and photograph one.

The following are few of the many butterflies that I photographed in Trashiyangtsi area.

Photos Of Butterflies From Tashiyangtse

New CEO/MD of Bhutan Telecom Limited

I am shocked. Something is totally amiss here. It is as if something or someone is directing events from behind the scene in such a way that Bhutan is steadily being steered on a course of self-destruction and chaos. I get the feeling that some mischief is afoot.

Yes, I am talking of the rumored appointment of the Director of CST, Phuentsholing as the new MD/CEO of the Bhutan Telecom Ltd. How the hell has that happened? It totally blows my mind. With due respect to all the brilliant minds who must have got together to set the criterion for the selection of the new CEO/MD of BTL, I have this question: How did an educator get to qualify to take the reins of a high technology commercial entity engaged in a highly specialized field of operation?  It baffles me - how does a serving academician fit into a job that requires marketing skills, a thorough and up-to-date knowledge of the technological trends and developments in the three core areas of the Corporation’s business, knowledge and expertise in innovative product design and packaging etc.? Can he even understand the language the techies who make up the bulk of the Corporation’s workforce, speak?

By no means I am inferring that the Director of the CST is an incompetent person. In fact I am told that he has been doing a great job at the CST. But, no one may refute that an educator’s competencies lie elsewhere. Actually, this reminds me of a funny ad of the Naukri.com that I use to see on TV. In that ad, an extremely competent cricketer is shown pounding away with his bat at a dhobi ghat - performing the job of a dhobi.

While one aspect of the issue is that of a wrong person in a wrong job, the other aspect is that we are wasting an extremely rare talent that the country sorely lacks - that of a competent educator. In my understanding, the Director of CST cannot be of a run-of-the-mill kind of a person. He must possess some outstanding qualities and be suitably educated and trained to head and oversee a premier educational institution such as the CST. How did the government release him?

Clearly this is a double whammy situation. What is happening here is that we are loosing an established and respected educator on the one hand and, on the other, we are putting the same rare talent in a job that he is not suited for. In the process, we are endangering one of the most successful and profitable public companies that have grown from strength to strength over the years. We need the BTL to be headed by someone who can not only count on the support and respect of the company’s numerous staff, but also with an expertise and the vision to take the company forward in this increasingly competitive business environment.

The government needs to intervene and take stock of the situation before disaster happens.

A Page Out Of A Bygone Era

I was young and I was impressionable. It was a time when the skimpy “choosh” pants were being edged out of the closet by the silo-sized “GOGO” pants that became the rage of the day. It was “stylish” to sport an unruly, long and wildly flowing hairstyle known as the “Jesus cut” - not the sleek, pony-tailed type that the present-day aficionados prefer. One of the things that was in vogue those heady days was to be seen to be outlandish, nonconformist and something of a weirdo. The highest form of fashion sense was when you dared show a bit of your bottom peeping out of the opening that you intentionally slashed into your jeans. I was too much of a traditionalist and so I wasn’t into all that. But in keeping with the times, and to demonstrate my superior sense of sophistication and taste, I bought myself this utterly meaningless book titled “Book of Nothing”. A man-about-town had to be owning something funky and groovy. And, this book was simply far-out!

It was a regular A4-sized book, immaculately bound with its title exquisitely embossed in a text that exuded class and refinement. Inside, it contained pages upon pages of beautifully textured paper of the highest quality - containing absolutely NOTHING - except for a single short sentence at the bottom of each sheet - printed in the minutest print possible, resembling that of a insurance policy fine print that promises you nothing for everything. The small prints at the bottom of each of the pages read something like: “Nothing for nothing” or “It is very difficult to do nothing” or “You get nothing for nothing” etc.

On Sunday afternoons, I would take the book to such chic places as the Flury’s in Kolkata, select a corner table that is the most brightly lit among all the tables in the great hall - for visual effect. The measure of your standing is judged by how promptly a waiter presents himself to serve you. Any one needing to raise his hand or holler for the attention of a waiter is looked upon with pity and disdain. Having invested a substantial sum in generous tips during my past visits to the establishment, waiters jostled and scrambled to attend to my table. The most nimble-footed would edge out the rest and approach my table and, with supreme congeniality ask me, in usual formality; “Your usual, Sir?”

My “usual” would be a pot of fine Darjeeling tea and an assortment of pastries. While the waiter disappears into the back room to fill in my order, I would pull out my Book of Nothing and make a suave, visual survey of the great Flury’s tearoom - to see if there were any one who I recognized. Even if there were, a knowing smile and a gentle nod of the head were all that was needed to acknowledge his/her presence. Anything beyond that was considered unsophisticated and inferior.

As the waiter begins to fawn all over me serving tea and laying out the pastries, I would begin my great act of reading the book with undistracted attention - unhindered by the clang and clatter of the cutlery of a great mass of people having their afternoon tea. To complete the show, my eyes would be strained with intense concentration at the blank pages of the Book of Nothing. Occasionally, an acquaintance would pass by my table and seek my permission to flip through the blank pages of the book and utter some words of appreciation such as; “Ah .. so refreshingly different and … umm … unique” - to demonstrate his/her own level of sophistication and worldliness.

The next sophisticated thing I did was to buy myself a largish, black and white, horizontally oriented comic book titled “The Fillipino Food”. During a period when quaint little comic books with prim and proper characters right out of the Mills & Boon classics were the order of the day, this comic book was filled with morbid graphics of an energetic hero brandishing a gargantuan syringe in place of his manhood. While he himself experienced a star-spangled orgasmic release, the person whose arm he poked with his syringe shriveled and died away. On one of the sixty odd pages of the book, a woman was shown lying on her back with her legs spread wide open and a TV screen in place of her Kesang Buthri. On it was depicted the cosmic mandala, the Milky Way and the gateway to the heavens. All these abstract renderings were totally beyond my sophistication and intellect - finally exposing me for the country bumpkin that I really was.

One portrayal in the comic book that remained etched in my mind over the years is its depiction of the human race sprouting out of an old, stinking tennis shoe. I clearly understood and commiserated with this uncommon theory. That is why, perhaps, the human race, even after so many centuries of continuous evolution, still secretes the stink and the stench of its place of origin.

The Pitfalls Of Half-Truths

Half truths, like half-knowledge, are extremely dangerous. They not only help permeate misinformation, they misguide and mislead people. This truth was brought home to me recently as a result of a local weekly printing only Part I of my three-part article I wrote on this Blog - supporting the Tobacco Control Act.

It would be, perhaps, unfair to assume that this weekly deliberately attempted to mislead its readers by failing to print all three parts of my article. However, the reporter at that paper could not have failed to see that unless Part I of my article is read in conjunction with Part II and III, the core issues I raise would be lost to his/her readers. In fact, read in isolation, the Part I of the article sounds more like an emotional outburst of an adolescent rather than a well thought-out view of a seriously concerned citizen.

The following true-life incident will demonstrate how a media house has to be careful about what they print or do not print in their papers. A thoughtless and irresponsible media can cause serious problems.

Blissfully unaware that a printed version of Part I of my article in my Blog was reproduced by one of the newspapers, I walked into the office of one of my long time friends for whom I have the highest esteem and respect. In a world filled with ass lickers and gold diggers, he remains one obstinately principled person who dares to speak his mind - to the point of sounding uncouth and rebellious. He is a no-nonsense person but for reasons unknown, this day, he sounded like a person gone totally bananas.

The moment I entered his office, he yelled; “Oh there you are you asshole! Who gives a shit about what you think?”

I was dumb founded. I had no idea what the guy was talking about. So I asked him; “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I am talking about your smart-aleck article in the Journalist. You want to know what I think about it?”

I said; “What the hell are you talking about? What article? I did not write any article in any paper”.

“The stupid article you wrote on the Tobacco Control Act”.

It dawned on me that the paper must have reproduced my article and the fellow must be referring to it. I told him I didn’t know that the article was reproduced there. I told him I will look it up.

Still fuming, he said: “You want to know what I think of your views?” With that he proceeded to pull out a cigarette from the packet that was lying on his table, lit it and started to puff away at it vigorously - until he was coughing breathlessly.

I looked on aghast. Why is such a level-headed guy acting like a man possessed? Obviously my article infuriated him so much that he forgot he is not allowed to smoke in a public space. He could stand to be penalized for what he was doing.

Once he cooled down a bit, I began to explain to him my point of view. He looked a little startled and said that I said nothing like that (I realized much later that he read only Part I of the article) in the article. Half an hour later, two of us began to discuss the flaws in the Act and what amendments were needed to be made to the Law.

At the end, he understood that the issue I was discussing went way beyond the need to control tobacco consumption. I laboriously explained to him that central to my argument is the need for strong laws to bring order and discipline into our society. I explained to him that the TCA is in no way a flawless Act but that is no reason for people to trash it as a bad law. It is a law that present day Bhutan needs desperately.

Butterflies and Lizards

Can anyone ID the creatures? Look at the color variations on the two lizards. Could it be that one is a female? Or is it displaying colors of agitation?

Lizzards & Bueeterlifes

All-Hail To All The Smart-asses Of This World!

-->I am currently lodged at my dad’s home in Tingtingbi. I was in the area shooting butterflies so I dropped by to participate in the Local Government (LG) elections that was conducted yesterday the 27^th of June, 2011.

My dad and me, we usually cover every topic on the first day of our meeting - as of the second day, he will go back to howling his prayers at the top of his voice as if the Gods were deaf and I will make a beeline for the woods and the riverside, shooting whatever there is to shoot. So, here we were, talking of things this and that. We began with the LG elections.

I knew exactly which Gup and which Tsogpa would get my vote but as far as the Mang-Gey-Aapa - that is what we Khengpas called them; others call them Maang-Gi-Aap or Mangmi - was concerned, although I did not know a thing about the candidates, my dad told be exactly who I should vote for. Well, why not? The old man does not realize it but in accepting to do his bidding now, I am thinking long term. Come 2013, if need be, I am going to remind him that it is pay back time. By accepting to do what he wants me to do now will give me the moral right to ask him to do a return of favor - to vote for the political party and the candidate of my choice. You see, the world over, horse-trading is accepted as a skillful form of effective negotiation.

Well, I agree that it is rather foxy of me, but the reality is that he is the local guy and thus, my dad, and not I, has to face the consequences of voting in a wrong Local Government candidate. So, it is only fair that his decision and wisdom should override mine. As a dweller of the Gyelsa Tewa, I am more concerned with the government at the national level. When it comes to that, I cannot have my dad farting around with opposing views to mine. If he does, I will, most pleasurably, remind him of this day :).

One topic that my dad unfailingly brings up is the unfair manner in which the government took over his family land at Tingtingbi - with the proposal to relocate the Zhemgang Dzong and to set up a modern Township. In the process, his family lost 13 acres of prime irrigation land. After two and half decades, the Zhemgang Dzong remains perched on the same ancient hillock where it has always been and, the proposed Township site is now overrun with grass and weed. Particularly for my dad, it was a painful loss because he spent 21 years of his prime youth - plodding to and from the Dzongkhag Court and the High Court - fighting a legal battle with his cousin who attempted to wrest the ownership of the land from him and his family. He won the case, only to lose the land to the government.

However, this narrative is not about the injustice done to my dad but the pathetic attitude of a Dzongda the likes of who, it would appear, may be behind a lot of suffering of the poor rural folks. This is the first time my dad told me of the incident and I am disgusted that such a moron can be appointed as a Dzongda.

My dad’s grouse is that the compensation offered for his family’s land was way too low as opposed to what was given in the Western part of the country suffering similar losses - such as those in Thimphu and Punakha. He appealed to the central government, through the local government (Dzongkhag in those days) requesting that his family be given enhanced cash compensation or, failing that, be recompensed with substitute land, in addition to the pitifully inadequate cash compensation that was paid his family. His argument was that since the land tax paid by him in Tingtingbi is at par with that paid by people in Thimphu and Punakha, it was not justified that he should receive lower land compensation rates than that which is paid to those in Thimphu or Punakha.

Term after term, he unfailingly appealed to every new Dzongda who took office in Zhemgang Dzong in the hope that the new appointee might be of a different mind set and see his viewpoint and thus, take up the issue with the government. No such luck. Then one day a very smart Dzongda took office in Zhemgang Dzong and suggested to him a way out. This Dzongda told him the following:

“If you wish to get the same compensation rates received by those people in Thimphu and Punakha, you ought to dislodge your land from Kheng area and carry it on your back and take it to Thimphu or Punakha.”

There is no dearth of smart-asses in this world.