The Gregorian calendar year of 2018 came to an end and gave
in to 2019 from today. Sometimes in early January 2017 or perhaps few days before
the year closed, I had promised the following to myself, what I termed then as My
2018 Resolutions. I share here most of those resolves along with a note of
my self-appraisals:
Prologue: As the 2018 curtain fell, I look back and what comes to my mind instantly is ‘ Man proposes and the God disposes’. Not a very big fan of ritualistic faiths, when I look back the memory lane of 2018, my mind gets clouded by the sad reminders of several close relative’s lives lost this year – my two elder paternal uncles (Badiba: there is no proper English word as specific and as dear as in Nepali for relations) and also an aunt (Badima). By the way the exact translation of this relation is - wife of my fathers’ elder brother and there is another word ‘kaki’ for wife of father’s younger brother, and still different words for every aunts/ aunties from father’s side, mother’s side, etc., – that much now for poor English language!
I think the year concluded with a biggest bang! His Majesty the King, in presence of K4, adorable Gyeltse, other Royalties and the Je Khenpo presided over the 111th National Day of Bhutan that was proudly attended by the people of Samtse on 17th December. Few weeks ago some enthusiastic friends from Thimphu had gathered in a small room in Thimphu and had decided that we should offer Kusung Thug gi Mendrel on this unprecedented occasion. I joined the group without a second thought and drove to Samtse crossing the new bridge connecting the district with great excitement. As soon as one entered the town, one would not miss the visible changes in Samtse. Not just the magnificent gates, flags and the white wash, which are generally temporary and cosmetics, there were real visible signs of development such as the new ground with artificial turf, newly paved wider roads, new township, etc. It was all festive, also for the fact that this one of the oldest towns of the country got officially connected by a motorable road across the great Amochhu (Toorsa River). Of course the Bhutanese are always great Chadri performers, especially under time pressure. It was an excellent arrangement, very well organized and detailed. I was somewhat overwhelmed to see the extent of preparation and wondered how many days of sleepless nights the Dzongda and other involved might have spent. My deep respect and appreciations to all for making this 111th National Day in Samtse, a cherishable experience.
On a very personal front, I feel I had a very exciting year. I was able to work towards my future physical security, (whatever modest it may be), changed my car and had a stint of new administrative position but quite did not make it making me realize that I also have some inadequacies! I am not interested to work on those short comings but I would rather work on my strengths and look forward to many more exciting years. All that happened this year gave me the proof and confidence that I still have enough resilience, drive and positivity that will not fail me, my family, my well-wishers and if I may in my own small way also say, ‘my beautiful Country, King and People”.
1.
Heath being on the top of my priority list, I
said to myself:
ü
Run 3 Kms every day at 6.00 AM
ü
Every day at 7.00 PM do 30 minutes yoga/
meditation
ü
Play badminton every Sunday morning or walk for
2 hours
ü
Drink a lot of water in the morning and add more
fruits and vegetables in the diet
I give only 4/ 10 for this topmost criteria for success –
instead of those runs I promised to myself, I made 2 Kms walk and those I mostly
fulfilled. Instead of 30 minutes, I made my Yoga sessions to 20 minutes but
performed on most days. Sunday resolution went out of the window, because often
this was like another busy week day and was dedicated to doing all the other
chores such as cleaning car, visiting the family guest house in Paro for never
ending maintenance, vegetable and other shopping, or simply idling. I never got
doing a single two hours walk nor played badminton except for about a week in
summer vacation!
2.
Life-long learning must be an essential pledge
for any educated person and that I prominently spelt out/ repeated in
deliberations with my students. To stay true to my profession and to begin
charity from home, I said to myself:
ü
Read half an hour every evening and finish a
book every month
ü
Write 2 pages every week, mostly in weekend and
holidays with one article on the blog every month.
I am often embarrassed to say to myself that I am not
reading as much as I should! I do read few paras to few pages everyday but I
could only finish one motivational book this year! What a shame, I have
postponed completing 5 partially read books over my winter vacation! I will
report to myself again at the end of 2019 on this important target and
hopefully compensate for the receding year’s shortfall!
Writing is even more painful! One need to have discipline in
writing. I did not learn this in my schooling nor learnt from some of my friends
and siblings who have shown such endurance in writing that they produce minimum
of a book every year! I need to be pressurized to fulfil this goal and again hope
to compensate in 2019 by completing at least a book!!
3.
The third important thing in my personal life is
Social and Family life! I thought by doing the below, I will be able to promote
this mission too:
ü
Meet one old friend or relative on the last week
of every month
ü
Contact all siblings once in every 2 months
through skype/ messenger or phone call
ü
Visit parents once in every 3 months (4 times in
a year).
ü
Eat out with family once in a month (middle of
the week)
The above are never to be scheduled like this again. There are
several factors that go in achieving these delicate missions. The fourth is
somehow doable and I think I achieved to a great extent. I need to ask my wife
to confirm if I did miss these in any of the months!
4.
I still have a great dream to travel and see the
world. Any travel, long or short
requires two most important resources - time and money and I have scarcity of
both! Even if I could spare some from what I have, the priorities are
different. So I intend to achieve this goal using my professional platform by:
ü
Looking up for opportunities for fellowship or
guest speaker (once in a year)
ü
Getting involved in Research/ collaboration with
a publication one in each year
The first one was partially fulfilled and the 2nd one mostly
achieved. I am happy about it but I have realized that my dream of travelling
around the world is unlikely to be fulfilled in this lifetime.
5.
Upon crossing the fifty mark, I started a bit
worried about our (me and my wife’s) future financial security. So I made up my
mind to do the following:
ü
Save Nu (amount hidden) every month from my
salary
ü
Buy a plot in (area hidden)
ü
Sell plots that you do not intend to live on (location
hidden)
ü
Plan house construction in (location hidden) as
soon as it is permitted
ü
Improve facilities in the guest house in Paro
and attract some more airbnb guests.
I have done pretty well in this important preparation for a
retired life. Reading a rather melancholy article by a senior retired beurocrat
recently, I feel that I am better off even though quite behind many of my
counterparts who have achieved their financial security much before me and much
more robustly. Except for building a retirement house, which is postponed till
another year, I have done well in all other areas.
6.
Equally important fulfilment is your
intellectual quest. Recognizing this a bit late in life, I had said last year
to me that I would:
ü
Attend one public talk
ü
Teach some RTC classes
ü
Develop professional/ work plan for beyond 2020.
Well, this I could not do out of campus, even though I
wished, because of my doubled professional responsibilities, which naturally
took priority over everything else, I did attend several at my college and to
the best of my satisfaction I was also able to teach some basic Biology Classes
during a bridge course last summer. I wish to continue doing that or similar academic
undertakings now on!
Prologue: As the 2018 curtain fell, I look back and what comes to my mind instantly is ‘ Man proposes and the God disposes’. Not a very big fan of ritualistic faiths, when I look back the memory lane of 2018, my mind gets clouded by the sad reminders of several close relative’s lives lost this year – my two elder paternal uncles (Badiba: there is no proper English word as specific and as dear as in Nepali for relations) and also an aunt (Badima). By the way the exact translation of this relation is - wife of my fathers’ elder brother and there is another word ‘kaki’ for wife of father’s younger brother, and still different words for every aunts/ aunties from father’s side, mother’s side, etc., – that much now for poor English language!
All of the three who demised early this year were old and
fragile but the unanswered question still remains why all in this year and why
within less than 3 months? To add to my fury, most recently the family lost a
person of my generation, a first cousin to a heart attack adding more woes and
pain to me and my entire large family circle. Talking of this mortality, the bitterest
feeling comes from the loss of a young relative, a neighbour and friend to the
dread of cancer. All these reminds us about the impermanence and the
helplessness against this reality of death.
Life must go on! The year 2018 must be also credited for all
the happiness and excitement it gave to Bhutan, my family and me! There were
interesting outcomes of the series of Election that the Constitution gave to
the people of Bhutan! Such was the fanfare that even I was few times lured to
participate in this national event as a contestant but was (happily) never
adequately invited nor attracted to it.
Remembering the first election, the National Council, the candidacy
was a huge rush and resulted in a crowd of unemployed graduates, freelancers
and casual entries into this contest. For 20 seats, as many as 180 odd
contestants participated in debates (some were pretty bizarre) and ultimately
the Bhutanese were required to vote for one in every Dzongkhag (District) and
did that pretty well. Voters went for very young yet promising members for this
important House of Review (for want of better translation it could be called
Upper House of Bhutanese Parliament).
And come the time to change the ruling party! Bhutanese are
turning out to be notorious voters. However small they might be in numbers,
they are highly unpredictable. At least the last three elections have proven
that. Any amount of coaxing, luring and
cajoling will not convince our very democratic and futuristic voters to stay
with one party after five years. The change happened and again resulted on some
kind of world record. The Election 2018 gave Bhutan a surgeon PM, with a young
yet an entrepreneurial cabinet.
I think the year concluded with a biggest bang! His Majesty the King, in presence of K4, adorable Gyeltse, other Royalties and the Je Khenpo presided over the 111th National Day of Bhutan that was proudly attended by the people of Samtse on 17th December. Few weeks ago some enthusiastic friends from Thimphu had gathered in a small room in Thimphu and had decided that we should offer Kusung Thug gi Mendrel on this unprecedented occasion. I joined the group without a second thought and drove to Samtse crossing the new bridge connecting the district with great excitement. As soon as one entered the town, one would not miss the visible changes in Samtse. Not just the magnificent gates, flags and the white wash, which are generally temporary and cosmetics, there were real visible signs of development such as the new ground with artificial turf, newly paved wider roads, new township, etc. It was all festive, also for the fact that this one of the oldest towns of the country got officially connected by a motorable road across the great Amochhu (Toorsa River). Of course the Bhutanese are always great Chadri performers, especially under time pressure. It was an excellent arrangement, very well organized and detailed. I was somewhat overwhelmed to see the extent of preparation and wondered how many days of sleepless nights the Dzongda and other involved might have spent. My deep respect and appreciations to all for making this 111th National Day in Samtse, a cherishable experience.
On a very personal front, I feel I had a very exciting year. I was able to work towards my future physical security, (whatever modest it may be), changed my car and had a stint of new administrative position but quite did not make it making me realize that I also have some inadequacies! I am not interested to work on those short comings but I would rather work on my strengths and look forward to many more exciting years. All that happened this year gave me the proof and confidence that I still have enough resilience, drive and positivity that will not fail me, my family, my well-wishers and if I may in my own small way also say, ‘my beautiful Country, King and People”.
