thedawaring's blog

View from Cheri monastery One Man and His Tomorrow. I have a feeling as if I am falling in love for the first time whenever I try to write after a gap of many months! I have always cherished the significance of living in this moment, for moments constitute life. We tend to forget this very moment while busy wondering about a more prosperous tomorrow. In fact, today is the tomorrow that we wanted to live yesterday. Today is the ‘future’ that we imagined many years ago. Today is the dream that we dreamed of living years ago. Today is the product of all our hard work and sweating that we have endured for many rainy days. If we fail to enjoy today, then when are merely existing but not living. Living in the moment translates to being aware of one’s state of being at the moment and being grateful and rejoicing over all the good things you have in life today. Every morning as I wake up, I pull the purple window curtains to be greeted by a majestic view of the hills of Samazing...

Mid Summer in Thimphu, Bhutan. Finding happiness towards late June It is not often that you wake up one morning feeling perfectly happy.  One Sunday morning in late June, I wake up feeling a complete new sense of bliss. I jump out of the bed and head towards the veranda. A fresh, soft and cool morning air blows gently past my face. I pull out a red polythene chair and sit to watch a mesmerizing morning magic unfold itself before me. I play the song SubhanAllah from the 2013 Bollywood film ‘Yeh Jawani hai yeh Deewani’on my old fashioned cell phone and listen to the melody fuse itself with the beauty of the morning.   After two days of clouds and rain, a bright sunny morning was opening up. The owner of my apartment was burning pine leaves, perhaps praying for a good day ahead. The smoke wafted across the space riding on the gentle morning wind. The river below my house was swollen. Debris of logs and leaves were being carried away by the murky water. In the...

The arrival of spring Before indulging in the nectar of words that I get to taste while writing, let me first rejoice that I am writing this blog after a real long time. Spring is always a beautiful time of the year to get poetic and for many people; it’s also the perfect time to get romantic. After a dry & dusty winter, signs of the coming of spring can be seen everywhere. From  fresh pale green innocent buds on withered willow trees to tender grasses sprouting by the roadsides, from the sight of gardens being prepared for plantations to the smell of fresh earth after a slight drizzle, from the melody of spring birds arriving in Bhutan to the wordless humming of happy songs by happy farmers,  here we are once again at the most crucial point in the life of everything natural!  On a beautiful Saturday morning, I am woken up by the sound of singing doves. I pull apart the curtains of my window to be greeted by the magical view of Thimphu valley. As the morni...

Chukha, Bhutan. October 3. 2014. A paradise called Drukyul. I am beginning to realize that being born in this beautiful Himalayan kingdom is by sheer luck and previous good karma. No wonder foreigners describe the place as the last Shangri-la . From peaceful morning sunrise from behind the lush green towering mountains to tranquil evening sky filled with billion stars, from countless cascades of pearly waterfalls to beautiful traditional Buddhist stupas, from serene temples to jolly monks, from merry farmers in the paddy fields in the autumn season to wandering musicians, I feel Bhutan is designed by the Almighty. Simply waking up to be greeted by a cool morning breeze against the backdrop of a promising sunny day, you can literally feel all make-happy chemicals being released in your body. And as you gleefully wander through small villages, you come across amazing display of an ancient culture very much intact even in this age of globalization. Traditional son...

Many years ago, on chilly winter evenings, mother and I would often set out for a walk after having tea. We would often go for short walks by the dusty road towards a beautiful Buddhist monastery situated on the hill in the vicinity of our home. On our way, we would hear the deep & enlightening sound of conch shell being blown at the monastery. The air in the countryside would be filled with purifying aroma of herbs being burnt for the Gods at the monastery. We would come across farmers returning to their homes with their oxen from the day’s work. The visibly tired but merry farmers would hum melodious tunes as they went by. We would come across smiling shepherds mending their flocks of sheep for the day. The flocks of sheep would bleat at the top of their voices adding variety to the evening melody. The eagerly rushing flocks would cause a storm of dust by the road forcing us to cover our nose with sleeves. We would exchange a kind word or two with the hurrying shepherd...

Why parents deserve some kindness too?? We are living at a time, when all over the world, parents and elders are increasingly being abused by their own children. They often fall victim to unwholesome and cruel actions from the people most dear to them. We are so busy today or so we think that we don’t have time to reflect on the kindness and value of parents in our lives. We forget the sacrifices made by our parents to bring us where we stand today. Our parents spend their life time worrying about our happiness and wellbeing. They save for us the sweet and eat the bitter themselves. They spend their hard earned money for our education hopping that one day their children will grow up to become a good human being and live happily in the world.  But then many of us don’t even think of their great kindness and compassion. Many of us think that our old parents are a liability.  I have a feeling that if something called God at all existed in the universe; it exists in the heart...

Topping it up in the LAst Shangri-LA According to the World Health Organization, every year almost one million people die from suicide, which roughly corresponds to one death every 40 seconds. It is among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 in some countries. Suicide is a complex issue with psychological, social, biological, cultural, and environmental factors involved. Back home in Bhutan suicide rate is 16.2 per 100,000. As of 2011 this figure ranks the kingdom as the 20th highest suicides rate in the world, and 6th highest in the Asia-Pacific region. Youth suicide increased from 24 in 2010 to 33 in 2013 and total suicide cases rose from 57 in 2010 t0 83 in 2013. This makes us question our ranking in the world as the 8th happiest country in the world.  For a nation with Gross National Happiness at the heart of every developmental activity undertaken by the government, it is distressing to learn that Bhutan is ranked 20th highest suicide rate in the world....

Alcohol in the GNH Nation Well there is no denying. We Bhutanese love alcohol. Alcohol drinking in Bhutan is widely accepted as a social norm and it is an established thinking that alcohol drinking is rooted into country’s custom and culture. Traditionally, alcohol drinks have played a significant role in Bhutan and this concept still persists today. Locally brewed alcohols like Ara or Bangchang either from fermented rice or wheat is served in every ceremonial, festival, and religious occasion. It is known fact and an evident practice that every family in the rural Bhutanese household would brew Ara for various use and purposes. The use of alcohol is therefore, considered necessary in every walk of life in the rural population of Bhutan. The customary practice of alcohol use is still prevalent in the rural areas where village folks drink alcohol from dawn to dusk underlining the significance of every time period. Alcohols are used in various ways and at different point of tim...

The Burden Two monks were returning to the monastery in the evening. It had rained and there were puddles of water on the road sides. At one place a beautiful young woman was standing unable to walk across because of a puddle of water. The elder of the two monks went up to her lifted her and left her on the other side of the road, and continued his way to the monastery. In the evening the younger monk came to the elder monk and said, “Sir, as monks, we cannot touch a woman?” The elder monk answered “yes, brother”. Then the younger monk asked again, “But then sir, how is it that you lifted the woman on the roadside?” The elder monk smiled at him and told him,” I left her on the other side of the road but you are still carrying her in your mind”.  **** Kisa Gotami Kisa Gotami was the wife of a wealthy man of Savatthi in eastern India. She had only one child. When her son was old enough to start running about, he caught a disease and died. Kisa Gotami was deeply sa...

Tale of an avid reader I must confess I use to hate the idea of reading when I was a kid. Reading was never my cup of coffee. A few girls from my school would get books from the Buddha educational foundation in Taiwan and they would read a lot. I use to wonder what’s so cool in a book that girls are hooked reading it till the end. If by chance a book came in my hand, I would just leaf through the pages and look for colorful pictures, forget reading even a single line.  Teachers use to constantly advise us to read books so as to improve language and knowledge. But it was never the sweetest of advice to follow that time. Playing hides and seeks and collecting wild straw berries from the meadow above my village would kill most of my free time. Due to this I have very limited knowledge of popular children’s fairy tales and comics of that time. However as I joined High school, things started to change for the better. One fine afternoon I went to the school library and picked u...

Ringing the New Year We are just 48 hours away from ringing in the brand new year 2014.  All of us are filled with hopes and aspirations that the New Year brings along. As for me, 2014 is the most awaited year in almost 4 years. I will be returning to my country after a long wait of four years. I will be visiting my beautiful village and meet simple and innocent villagers out there. I will be waking up in the 8 th happiest country in the world. I will be seeing the smile of happiness on my mother’s face after a real long time. This will be the year I pass out from my college. This year I will be interning at JDWNRH as a pharmacist. This year I will be writing Bhutan Civil service exams. 2014 is a life defining year for me. For the first time in my life I will start to work and earn and stand on my own feet. And I will also get a taste of all things Bhutan after a long Indian or rather Goan sojourn. I planned to bring in this exciting New Year with few old friends on t...

The impossible love story Every one of us has a story to narrate. This is my story.  I am Tensin Cinsel from Bhutan, a small Buddhist Kingdom in the Himalayas. I am a freelance photojournalist by profession.  I love photography more than anything in the world. Only and only the camera can put my mind to rest. I am crazy with this photography thing because when everything in the world dies, only photographs remain as a proof of our existence. I love travelling to different places and capturing its beauty. So, in the early months of 2009, I travelled to Sri Lanka as a part of my assignment. This was my maiden voyage to Sri Lanka. Little had I expect that my life would change forever after this fateful journey. Sri Lanka is a nation famed for serene smiles, happy greetings and helpful nature. My destination was a place called Kalawila, a town near the capital city Colombo. It is a place with very small population in the province of western Sri Lanka. One fine even...

The monk who laughed Many years ago when Lord Buddha was alive, there lived an enlightened monk named Katayana in a village in eastern India. One morning he set out around the village begging for alms as it was a common practice of Buddhist monks of that time. That same morning katayana happened to be at a house of a lady where she was having meal. He saw the lady eating boiled fish. She had a baby in her laps. She was so much caring and loving for the baby and breast feeding her with great love.  A poor skinny dog was trying to eat the bones of the fish that the lady had left behind. As the dog tried to eat the bones of fish, the lady got furious and beat the skinny dog mercilessly till it cried out of pain. The enlightened monk diligently observed all these events for a while and burst into series of laughter. The lady got irritated and decided to ask the monk , ‘why are you laughing so much without any reasons?’ The monk contemplated for a while and said,...

The concept of karma arises from the fact that everything in the universe is a product of interdependence. There is nothing that is not dependent on others for its existence. Interdependence is the nature of our existence. As I understand, karma literally means action in Sanskrit. Our own thoughts and actions translate into our being. If we perform good deed, then we get good results. If we do a bad action, then we have to bear the result for the bad action.  It is like if we sow rice seeds in the soil, we will be able to harvest rice only and we cannot expect maize sapling to germinate. As we commonly perceive , Karma is not something like a predetermined power that controls us. It is the consequences of our own thoughts and actions that we perform. In this way karma is in our own hand. In Buddhism , karma is classified into three different types. The first class of karma gives immediate results. For example, I said something bad to my friend in the morning. As a res...

Education in my village Not many years ago, people in my village had very little idea of what it really meant to be literate. Many of my village elders recall how they went about begging for authorities to pardon their children being enrolled for schooling. They would bribe the officials with oxen, pigs, chicken and the like so that they drop their children from needing to go to school and study. Back then children were meant to stay at home and help their parents in daily works. If anyone ever went to school, they would brand him as useless. This was some forty years ago. The notion gradually changed. The village folks began to realize that the only way for a better life is through education. I was fortunate enough to have born at a time when the dreaded notion was already changing. By the time I went to school, there were hundreds of children in my school from my village. Many of them dropped out due to some reason or the other. Some of us continued to manage till high school...

The Himalayan Days... I was born and brought up in a far flung village in the eastern part of the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. Growing up in a lovely village on the mountains, my subconscious mind is filled with sweet memories of my childhood days. One of the memories I still vividly remember is watching the sun set over giant mountains of the eastern Himalayas.  I used to thoroughly enjoy the beauty of the dusk when the magnificent sun would sink behind the tall mountains. The sky would appear to me like a piece of painting: the thin whiff of clouds above the mountains would be colored in different shades due to scattering of sun light, a flock of sparrows would fly by above my head. On the mountain above, the monks at the monastery would blow conch shell while they burnt incense sticks to please the gods.  The sweet aroma of the incense sticks would gradually fill the whole valley downhill. I grew up believing that nature is the greatest artist.  Everythin...