Gasa: The roof of Bhutan.

Gasa Tshachu.

Gasa, the home of nomads is considered as roof of Bhutan as she shares common boundary with the world’s supreme power country, the Republic of China located towards north of Bhutan. The elevation of district stretches from 1500 m to 4500 m above the sea level. One can find varieties of vegetation ranging from temperate forest to alpine forest sheltering to wide-range of wild animals. The famous and endangered national animal Takin is found only in Gasa Dzongkhag. Red pandas, snow leopards, tigers and Himalayan bears are some of the world’s endangered species found in the region.

Gasa Town

Historically the place was known before Zhabdrung’s arrival in Bhutan. The historians had recorded that Zhabdrung had en routed to Bhutan through stunning valley called Laya. Today Laya is one of the eye catchers for international tourist and well known scene for local film makers. The layaps  ( residents of laya) were well known for their unique identity.

The famous Gasa Taschu( hot spring) is located below splendid edifice locally known as Dzong. It serves as a center of attraction for people across the length and breadth of Bhutan. Not a single international tourist will return home without visiting the Gasa Tshachu. It is believed that the Tshachu can completely heal fractured bones, back aches, joint pains etc. This time of the year is perfect time for everyone to visit Gasa Tshachu. 

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To Ap Gomo.

Sometimes god is not fair I believe because god has never gifted me with basic poetic skills. However with much hesitancy I am posting my free writing to update my little home.

On the crest of snowed land,

Stand your palace in peace.

No other creatures can harm you,

You are the only source of solace.

 

You care no race for wealth and cast,

You care no color and fame.

Your kindness wants no price,

You are free of greed and envy.

 

Behold at this uncertain world,

We live in the cloud of suffocation,

Suffering in the race of social whirl,

Dump into the world of annihilation.

 

You appreciate no nepotism,

Favoritism and egocentrism,

Megalomaniacs, chameleons and sycophants,

You never grade the levels of human kind.

 

Alas, take me to thy world;

The world of eternal happiness,

That measures no power and superiority,

And free of sufferance and sadness.

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Thank You Pema Sir.

I never knew there is someone other than my countable blog followers visiting my amateur blog. Yesterday I was truly stunned and deeply humbled when an unknown person called Mr. Pema Tenzin messaged me through facebook as follows.

“Dear Norbu Sir,

I visit your blog, in fact, everyday. Your articles amazing to read. As a coordinator of a youth magazine called Students' Digest, I am looking for articles from contributors (especially from teachers and students). Your recent posted article "A memorable journey" is a worth reading. It will augur well for our readers. So, if Sir could grant your permission to publish it in our magazine, we would be great.

Thank you.

Warm wishes,

Students Digest Team.

As I read the message, instantly I knew Mr. Pema is none other than the team leader of Student digest magazine of Bhutan. Thank you Pema sir for choosing one of my articles to be publishes in your upcoming volume of “Student digest magazine”. At the same time I shall never forget to thank you for visiting my little world. This is for the first time I am receiving such an inspiring message from a genius person like Mr. Pema Tenzin ever since my blog was conceived a year ago.

Sir, your kind message will completely change my blogging atmosphere hereafter although I am still a novice blogger. Every words of your message have fueled me to keep fingering my words regardless of my limited writing skills in English. Your kind words will be cherished throughout my life.   

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Against the petition: Chamkharchu Hydropower project.

The history of hydropower in Bhutan goes back to early 1980s when our visionary 4^th King embarked our economic journey through harnessing of clean energy from our rushing rivers. Today if we look back after 40 years there has been never a slight hiccup in our economy rather the progress has been very steady.

Since then under the dynamic leadership of our great kings, the royal government has prioritized the construction of hydro powers on the top agenda after it was identified as one of the jewels of our economy.

However recently, one of the environmentalists had started online petition to put brake on Chmakhar Chu project which is likely to spark at my birth place. And the petition has proved as a source of worrisome for me and other fellow Khengpas. His petitions are solely based on degradation of our pristine environment and skyrocketing of our country’s debts due to such mega hydro project. While I appreciate the petitioner’s views, but I am wondering why his petition is only limited to Chamkhar chu Project. If he has genuine care for our environment he should have raised same voice for Kholong Chu and Nika Chu project which is on the verge of start.

According to the constitution of Bhutan article no.5 “The government shall ecologically balanced sustainable development while promoting justifiable economic and social development.”  And that is how our government has been doing for all the completed projects and the ones that are in the pipeline. Therefore I can never mistake in comparing Chukha and Shara desert like that of comparing a horse and the goat. How can one say that Chukha was deforested due to Chukha hydropower? I am always breathing clean air while plying to Phuntsholing through green Chukha. And who can believe that Mongar is Lhadhak of Bhutan owing to Kurichu hydro power? Who says that hydropower project can completely eradicate the poverty of the locality? I am sure none of the world’s top class economist would support this thesis. Can anyone name me a successful company that was never in debts during its incubation period? We must take calculated risk. Who says that United State of America never ran up in huge debts?  

For sure Chamkharchu project can alleviate the poverty of khengpas in many ways but we have never guaranteed that it can completely pull khengpas out of her poverty. Remember Zhemgang has been always topping the highest poverty rate in the country ever since the survey was conducted by GHNC. Further Chamkharchu project has an ability to echo our economy across the globe. As Arabs has oil, we have rivers. Besides our rushing rivers can anyone identify another bed-rock of our economy?

And this is what our 5^th King has to share with people of twenty Dzongkhags during 107^th national Day at Kanglung. “I commend the government for the ambitious scale of the 11th plan, and the manner in which they have handled the 4 hydropower projects, which are under construction. And I look forward to the Kholongchu Hydropower Project, with the anticipation that it will be hugely beneficial to the six eastern dzongkhags.

The budget for the 9th five-year plan was Nu. 70 billion and one hydropower project was initiated during that time. During the 10th five-year plan, the budget increased by over 100% to Nu. 146 billion and 4 hydropower projects were initiated. With the 11th five-year plan, we have a budget of more than Nu. 213 billion, and besides the Kholongchu project, feasibility for 4 more hydropower projects are being considered. This means in the near future, we will be tasked with the implementation of 9 hydropower projects, which is a heavy responsibility for the government.

It is good to be ambitious. From one standpoint, more is better and having something is better than not having anything at all. But we must also realize that increased workload compounds associated risks and possible failures. We must ask ourselves, ‘are we willing and able to take on this responsibility? Can our financial resources be matched by our human capital?’

The main aspiration of the people is that the 11th plan will succeed, and prosperity will grow all around the country. The realization of this goal depends more than ever on the government’s commitment to good governance, which should include check and balance, openness and transparency. The people must take individual responsibility and make a collective effort, instead of depending solely on the government.”

To fulfill the aspirations and wishes of our king all the Bhutanese citizenship card holders must support our government in combating corruption and narrowing ecological damages due to ongoing and upcoming hydro power projects. We cannot simply afford to point fingers at each other, rather we must work collaboratively.

The wisdoms of our great kings are always precious and priceless.

Pelden Drukpa Gyalo…

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Keeping Gasa disconnected: Bhutan Telecom.

Industrial revolution had already come to an end. And the present world is already experiencing an era of internet. One can witness that in every parts of the world the technology is traveling at the speed of light but the irony is that Gasa (the place where I stay) remained disconnected from the rest of the world for almost three weeks.

When Bhutan telecom stakeholders are being questioned they simply told us that some of the network equipments got burnt down due to lightening at Dochula, which was a lame excuse. If they have taken the matter seriously they would have fixed the problem within a few days’ time because Dochula is located just above the nose of Thimphu. If one has to realize the value of three week’s time, it is slightly greater than the whole lifespan of a housefly. Residents of Thimphu will cry loud if they were cut from electricity for a second and showers of telephone will vibrate the walls of Bhutan telecom office if network fluctuates for a minute in Thimphu.

In a nutshell it was a sheer negligence of Bhutan Telecom towards Gasa Dzongkhag. As a result I have remained completely shut off from the rest of the world for almost three weeks. But thank god everything got normal today and anticipates that the same story will not repeat again.

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Snake shaped men.

Just a couple of days ago, I went to B.H.U to measure the mass of my body. It was a few minutes’ walk from my school to B.H.U. When I entered the main entrance of the B.H.U, I saw two women waiting in the corridor of the B.HU. At a glance I knew they are none other than simple village women because both of them were shabbily and matronly dressed. May be both of them were in mid fifties.
This type of scene is very common in all remote places of Bhutan. There are many elderly citizens of Bhutan, who had never heard a car hooting and the driver tooting, and their whole life was just ruined like Drugyal Dzong. Those people had never heard a story of 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.

Snake shaped men.

I didn’t pay any attention to them because we don’t know each other very well. I just parked myself on the long bench that is purposefully fixed for the patients to take rest. The health worker was busy attending a patient inside the dispensary room. The two women stood up and started to stare a postures displayed on the wall of corridor. Those postures were displayed there in order to create awareness on global health issues like HIV AIDS etc.  You know what happen then. By default I was forced to act as an eavesdropper. One of the women pointed her finger at HIV – AIDS posture and told her friend” I am afraid that these men has snake shaped abdomen. I doubt whether such kind of human being really exist or not she exclaimed with her eyebrows raised.” May be those men were starved for many years and their lower body got shrunk in this state. But I am sure they are non- Bhutanese” answered other women politely. 

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The return journey. Pilgrimage part II.

Unable to fulfill the first mission, we have decided to visit another pilgrimage site popularly known as Sepji Goenpa on that same day. The site is not far as previous one. But we have to climb up the hill from the road point till the monastery. In order to avoid the hill we took shortcut while returning from earlier pilgrimage.

The hot afternoon was withering away when we scrambled and stumbled through the dense forest. The new path seems bit okay at the beginning but the situation kept on worsening. More the distance we covered, the forest grew denser with thick bushes and shrubs. After sometime we were landed in the thick lines of bamboo plants stretched in every direction. The forest seems totally virgin as there was no any sign of wild animal’s passage. It was too thick and bushy that provides impossible for us to move to and fro. We must be the first human to break the virginity of that forest I must admit undoubtedly.

Our destination.

After scrambling and crawling through the forest for almost two hours, we saw the sunlight glistening on the leaves of trees before us. The birds were whistling as they mourn for the setting of evening sun. Slowly trees seem to vanish and only the sweeps of grasses were stretched before us in the never ending line. At last we saw a tall cypress tree and no other trees can be seen around it. Slanting rays of evening sun were glimmering on the colorful paintings of monastery. Finally we knocked at the door of caretaker timidly like a tired a wind.

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