It is a bit of irony to
discover that, Zhemgang the central district of Bhutan was regarded as the
least developed and poorest district among all twenty districts. With regard to
her location, Zhemgang is not far from the capital city Thimphu, unlike many
other eastern districts. The forbidden district shares her southern border with
neighboring state of India, an inevitable developing partner of Bhutan. With
India’s kind, generous and indispensible support, Bhutan has made much progress
on her economy, telecommunication and education within short span of time.
Geographically
the district stretches from southern foothills to inner Himalayan zone ranging from
an altitude of 100m to 4520m above sea level. Towards north, she shares common
border with Bumthang and Trongsa district. One can see angelic young mountains,
passes, hills overlooking the deep river valleys. The stunning landscapes were
covered with thick vegetation making homes for thousands of different species
of flora and fauna. The region is blessed with incredibly rich biodiversity. Its
lush forests are home to 22 endangered animal species including the Golden
Langur. The
famous Royal Manas National Park is located in lower part of Zhemgang, where
one can spot the world’s endangered species Golden langur, Gangetic Dolphins and the Asian
One-horned Rhinoceros that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. The park
is the most biologically diverse protected area in the kingdom as well as one
of the most outstanding nature preserves worldwide. The
gorgeous Chamkharchu and Mangdechu flows through the middle of Kheng region and
confluence with Drangmechu and Kurichu at Royal Manas National Park. Indeed the
downtrodden Kheng region has huge potential for exploring tourism industry on
an account of her rich biodiversity, wide range of culture in practiced and
suitable weather condition in all four seasons of Bhutan.
Politically the
district is divided in to two constituencies, constituting four gewogs(blocks)
in each constituency. Since the central district administration is located in
upper part of the district, the four lower gewogs were administered by Panbang
Dungkhag (sub-district) located in Panbang. In terms of her population, she
will outnumber the population of many other districts and if we can rank the
population of all twenty districts of Bhutan, Zhemgang will never be in the
bottom ten lists. However, with the speeding of modernization at the speed of
light in other districts, people of Kheng have started to migrate to other districts
in pursuit of leading a comfortable and happier life, and as a result numbers
of empty houses in Zhemgang are alarming year by year.
The pace of modern
development in Zhemgang was never a progressive one; in fact her progress of
development was equivalent to the speed of an old tortoise. I am pretty sure
that my fellow citizens will accept the reality without a tiny hesitation and
further debate, because Zhemgang has always topped the highest poverty rate, ever
since the survey was conducted by GNH commission. Believe it or not, even today
in 2014, the largest two gewogs (block) of the district, Shingkhar and Bardho
do not have motorable road connection with other parts of the country,
consequently a huge number of humble and innocent people were forced to live in
abominable conditions as if they do not equal right to fund of the state.
People of these two gewogs uses fuel wood to cook their foods, warm their houses
and to light their rooms when the night falls. Mules and horses are the only
mode of transportation even today. There
are many elderly citizens from these two gewogs, who had never heard a car
hooting and the driver tooting, and their whole life was just ruined like
Drugyal Dzong, without being seen the tall buildings, nice cars, shopping plazas,
super markets, cinema halls, discotheques, and no point of mentioning, the
great wall of china, the White House in Washington D.C, the Leaning Tower of
Pisa and etc.
Khengpas are
hardworking human race ever to be on this earth. Without any modern agriculture
equipments in place, they practice intensive agriculture farming using their
own locally invented tools like spades, sickles, peak axes, axes, knives etc to
promise their livelihood. On an average each family owns more than two to three
acres of farm land and few numbers of livestock to provide them with a cheese,
butter and curd. A pair of oxen is must for plouging their field and a horse or
a mule to transport the imported goods, which cannot be produce locally. Like
in any other districts, Khengpas used to start their farming in spring season.
The rich fertile soil of Kheng allows to grow varieties of vegetables, crops,
fruits, cash crops that are cultivated in other 19 districts, and in addition Khengpas
are bestowed with not less than 20 species of edible mushroom available in our
forest. Our forest also provides hundreds of edible wild fruits, vegetables,
medicinal herbs for direct consumption and for the reason Khengpas are commonly
known as Prakheng (Pra means monkey in Khengkha, the spoken dialect of Khengpas).
The prominent food crops cultivated by Khengpas are maize and rice which are
harvested in autumn season. It was during harvesting season; Khengpas used to shed
lots of tears when the lion’s share of product was pre harvested by the wild
animals, regardless of their tremendous effort made in trying to guard their crops, without closing
their eyes for days and nights for almost a half dozen of year. Innocent Khengpas cry for the concern
authority to seriously look in to the matter, yet their concerns were never
credited with due attention by the concern stakeholders and authorities. But still they are contemplating for the
positive reaction from the government and quite optimistic about it.
Culturally
Zhemgang has ample of festivals deeply entrenched in her culture and celebrated
throughout the year starting form 1st month of the Bhutanese calendar
to the last month. The Dawa Dangpa
will ignite the long list of festivals, followed by Nanpola( local name) in 4th month, Bumchula and Dutpola
(local name) one day religious ceremony, in 5th month, Drukpai Tsezhi , another religious
ceremony in local monastery,in 6th month, Tageyla
in 7th month, Dawa gyapa
in 8th month and popular Kharpo
in 9th month and Chotpa in
10th month of Bhutanese calendar. Although the timing of festival
for each gewog and village may differ, the Kharpo
in Shingkhar gewog falls on the same time in all the villages. The kharpo is celebrated for five days, with
different programmes and celebrations for each day. It is not a monotonous
celebration unlike Tshechus of the Dzongs, but shamelessly we don’t have any
foreign spectators and I am sure the tourist would cry for the miss. There
are also a number of famous Buddhist temples in the region such as Buli
Lhakhang, Tharpa Choeling Lhakhang in Tama and Berty Lhakhang in Berti Village.
These ancient temples were built by the Terton Pema Lingpa, a famous revealer
of the lost religious treasures of Guru Rimpoche.
An equivalent to Paro Takstang, we have Shingkhar
Kurjey, and the significance of Shingkhar Tingkaroth Ney is as same of Bumtang Kurjey Nye. The local deity of
Radhi Sepong lhakhang bestows the
blessings as per ones wishes and prayers, like Dechenphug lhakahng in Thimphu.
According to Memey Tawla, the eldest
citizen of the village who is in early nineties said, “I have never heard a
word on the history of Radhi Lhakhang from my great grandparents since I am a
little boy, they just me told me that there was none of the villagers who can
orally narrate the story of Radhi Sepong Lhakahng since their grandpas time”.
Another special jewel of Khengpa is Buli Mathmoi
Tsho, significantly equivalent to Tang Membar tsho, which has huge
potential to attack tourist and pilgrimages. The crafting of Bangchung and
other attractive bamboo containers in Bjoka Geowg will definitely boost the
economy of Kheng region, if government shoulders the direct responsibility of
exploring the market domestically and abroad too. Only a few are listed above
and we have many more historic, wonderful and unique places and festivals to be
explored.
Should Khengpas
preserve these treasures forever or should we discover the hidden treasures and
explore it? Why our jewels are never explored, do we lack any expertise? We
heard and saw many Khengpa Lyonpos, Dashos, MPs, directors, engineers, pilots,
industrialists, businessman, doctors, teachers, hoteliers, agriculturalist,
mechanics, archeologist etc. Khengpas assume
that they are never turning their faces again one they turned their faces away
from the villages. But Khengpas will always remain indefatigably towards their
right. As Sir Winston Churchill said to his army, “Never never give up” during Second
World War, and with these three words, determinations were built, confidence were showered and motivations were ensured
among his armies, leading to England’s victory against Germany. Like an English
army, Khengpas will keep on envisaging and crying until their treasures were
discovered.
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