Quarantined: Days 3 – 7

Nothing exciting is happening in quarantine! All in all, we are spending our time pretty leisurely -mostly reading, writing, watching news on television or some interesting YouTube programmes.

Last night I was woken up at about 1 AM by a very loud noise from the next door. This guest was speaking on her phone and I could even hear the person on the other side talking. She would speak very loud (almost shout), make funny exclamations, laugh aloud and sometimes even scold the person on the other side. This process went on for over an hour. In the morning I had to lodge a complaint to the hotel management and make sure it is not repeated next day to spoil my sleep. It seems the information got conveyed effectively as the event was not repeated again.

I was suffering from severe toothache from day 2. I hoped it would go away but was only aggravating. On the 4^th day, I called Dr Gyan and asked for advice. He prescribed antibiotics and some strong anti-inflammatory medicines. I forwarded the requirements to the hotel staff, a Dessup volunteer serving through the whatsapp connection. She was kind enough to forward it to a hospital staff who in turn delivered the medicines in the afternoon. What an incredible service! This perhaps happens only in Bhutan.

Even with medicine, the pain was coming back frequently until Day 6 and less frequently from Day 7, but did not go way completely. It would start at a particular point between upper right molars but would spread throughout the jaws and gums, neck and head. I have to somehow sustain the pain until I am out of the quarantine and is able to see a dentist.

In between there were few online meetings and discussions with the management team of the college, almost every day. Besides these official engagements, I still have enough time to read. I hope to read some more books in next one week that we have here.

Food is reasonably good in the hotel, even though there is some monotony in the menu. The volunteers make a big bang on the door after dropping the food on a table kept next to the door. They disappear from your sight immediately. Door is closed right away and permanently. Food comes in small aluminum foil packs. Breakfast at around 8 AM includes fried rice and occasional puri and sabji with tea in tiny paper cups every time. Lunch at around 1 PM includes rice (invariably) with dal, vegetable curry and occasionally some non-veg item. At 4 PM you get your tea in small-sized cups along with some biscuits and occasionally some fries. The supper is at around 8.30 PM and is not very different from the lunches. We are habitually fond of milk tea and insist that we get some fresh cow milk in our tea and hopefully make curd for meals. The dairy shop in front receives and sells milk to people who keep dropping in throughout the day. We have managed to get at least 3 times a bottle of milk each through a contact in the pharmacy. This gentleman has been kind to add a bottle of fresh milk with our purchase from his shop and drop at the hotel counter for delivery to our door table. So we continue enjoying milk tea and continue making curd as a supplement tastemaker in our meals. Thanks to the curd that we brought from home which is serving as a starter.

Amidst reading writing and some official correspondence with the workplace, we do enjoy the sun that finds its entry from three panel window into the hotel room, which is luckily facing east. We do brisk walks across the room, do some stretching and yoga poses to give ourselves some exercise. We also watch people on the street, cars passing by and cleaners cleaning the already quite clean road.  Once a while the noise through a mike from across the border breaks the silence and reminds about a very different mood out there. Prayers or spiritual hymns, Bollywood songs or some political speeches are overheard frequently assuring everyone that life is moving on as usual in spite of 3^rd or 4^th wave of corona surge in our neighbor's great land!

Here in the hotel, everyday tests results are announced by the staff through the whatsapp group and fortunately until this time all the ones tested from this hotel have shown negative results.  On the 7^th day we gave our test to two smart ladies who appeared at the door in their full PPE. Also everyday few people are seen leaving the hotel on completing their quarantine and heading for some other destinations. These travels are very well coordinated and organized by the Task Force staff and Dessup volunteer staff. This is amazing how we have become very efficient in managing affairs in these times of dire need. In spite of all these, virus is making its way into the communities. Country saw a surge in cases with one more death reported recently. Phuntsholing is seen leading on the country’s datasheet. Unfortunately one more patient with kidney troubles succumbed to COVID infection taking the national death toll to four. We hope and pray that this is the last tragedy and the last wave of pandemic.

Day 2 - Quarantined

 From Central Hotel Phuntsholing, January 24, 2022

This loss was deeply felt. We had a plan to interview Madam CK this winter and to write some kind of biography about her, a thought that came too late. Later in the day we were connected to a live forecast of the funeral by Madhu, Madam’s grandniece which was also exclusively shared for her nephews and niece in Kathmandu and Darjeeling. Included in this close virtual group. This has to pass and life has to move on – that is the key lesson that we have always learned from such incidences.

In the evening, Tulasa started reading a book by Dr Byanjana Sharma (Bhattarai), Gham Astayeko hoina (The Sun is not Set) and occasionally would read out lines from the book, which was a memoir of a mother who demised back home in Nepal when the author, the youngest daughter, was a student in Australia and was unable to join the last rites. Author had a daily diary written expressing her feelings for her mother and how finally this helped her come out of this melancholy. She has described a theory developed by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross which suggests that we go through five distinct stages of grief after the loss of a loved one: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance (https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/5-stages-dealing-with-grief-sorrow/). This is a very practical lesson for everyone since none is spared from such tragedies at some point in time in our lives.

Well, Madam CK was not biological mother of Tulasa and this may be seen by some as a bit of over-reaction. But often your emotional bonds with a person defines your relationship with the person and not only a family connection or a blood relation. The reality is that we are now in a quarantine and have no other option but to mourn from here as we can’t visit the family even though it is just about two hours drive from here.

Just a day before on the 22^nd January, one of the greatest Buddhist Zen master and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh had died at the age of 95 in Vietnam. Tulasa had enjoyed reading his “Old Path White Clouds” some years ago. She would keep mentioning about the practical and universal ideas about life, living and death detailed out in the book which is a recount of the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha over the course of eighty years. The book speaks through the eyes of Svasti, the buffalo boy who provided kusa grass for the Buddha's enlightenment cushion, and the Buddha himself. This popular book was given to Tulasa by a young man Yeshi Dorji who incidentally died suddenly before she could even return the book to him. The book remains with us even now.

Two days later on 25 January, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, one of the most prominent contemporary masters in the Nyingma and Dzogchen traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, passed into parinirvana. No one including these spiritual personalities who have worked to bring world peace and taught us about the cycles of birth and death can escape death. Some random statistics says that nearly 163,000 people die every day which is about 114 per minute and almost 2 per second!! So what is so frightening or sorrowful about death? We also know that the world birth rate is almost the double the death rate. That is why the global population is always on the rise. Life has to go on is the key answer to all the sad feelings!

Second day of quarantine for us here in Phuntsholing is pretty pleasant. It is sunny and seems warm outside. The streets are empty except for some pigeons flying freely around. Occasionally you see some stray dogs running aimlessly and chasing each other. On the other side of the road there is a row of 3-4 story buildings mostly looking brown from outside. These are beaten hard by summer heat and heavy downpour this place is known to receive. An old Ama is seen walking to and fro a narrow and short verandah with her prayer beads on her hands. From one end of her verandah she will be able to see the Lhakhang just about 50 meters away inside the park. She would look up at the temple with folded hands once a while. On the next building I see a middle-aged man making swift strolls within his short porch for over an hour. Few people are seen coming out on the street masked up with ‘movement pass’ on their hands and small bags with essential stuff.

People are mostly out to get some basic supplies from few stores that are open at this time. There are just two shops open on this side of the road from what is visible from my windows – a medical shop and a dairy. People enter into these and get some stuff and return. These stores seem to be doing some brisk business during the lockdown.

COVID and Quarantine – Day 1

    After confinement of nearly two years in Thimphu, this winter vacation we decided to travel south and beyond. Upon getting a permission from the Department of Immigration to travel out (a requirement in Covid time) of the country, we packed our luggage, bid goodbye to our younger son, Suraj, who decided to stay back and work on his film, and drove enthusiastically towards Phuntsholing. Passing through new transit arrangements at Sorchen, briefly stopped in Phuntsholing and drove straight to Mechetar (Khandothang). After a couple of days, had a pleasant drive further to Dorokha and made some visits, and returned to Samtse for few more days of warmth and then to the exit point in Phuntsholing. The Omicron was on rise globally, few cases were suspected to be emerging in Bhutan but determined that we will travel out, we left the gate with some amount of hesitation. Life out there seem as normal as before and soon we forgot about the pandemic and spent our times with the near and dear ones that we had been missing for too long!

    After nearly two weeks, equally nervous we reported at the Bhutan border gate only to be welcomed back with all the protocols in place. Within an hour we were in a quarantine facility – Central Hotel in the heart of the town. There were some preconceived worries about the hotel, so I tried calling out some good friends for their help in securing a reasonably good hotel. We were advised that the hotels are packed due to the recent surge and there would be no choice of hotels. In his briefings, before getting into the hotel, the young Dessup mentioned that it will be a 14-days quarantine (unless we test positive when tested half way through) and the first night would not be counted. As we were settling down and got connected to the hotel wifi, the first news received was a very tragic one. We had just lost a veteran educator of the country and the first woman graduate of Bhutan, Ms CK Gurung in Samtse. Tulsa had been a huge beneficiary of Madam Gurung since her primary school days. Madam was not just her teacher and a mentor, but a guardian and a Godmother with whom she had stayed for couple of years until she became a teacher. Ever since Tulsa (called Tulsi by the family) remained a part of the family and particularly close with Madam. This loss was very personal for us and it was very hard for Tulasa.

    As the news got spread across the country and beyond, there were a lot of condolences and RIPs pouring in the social media of which the most comprehensive was the one from our distinguished educator and the former Education Minister Lyonpo TS Powdyel.  I take this honour and also liberty to quote and re-post his post as it is:  

“The Noblest of the Sector Noble... no more...

 It is difficult to believe that this life larger than life is no more. Just a few days back when I contacted the family, I was given to understand that our beloved Madam Gurung was getting better even though still very frail and bed-ridden.

 One of our brightest stars in the Sherig firmament dimmed into her heavenly abode at eighty-seven yesterday even as the day was drawing to a close at Gurung Basti in Samtse.

 Miss CK Gurung, as the outstanding life-time educator was well-known, symbolised the noblest virtues of the Noble Sector and inspired a whole generation of educators by her exemplary dedication, edifying grace and rare commitment to the highest ideals befitting the mission called Teaching.

 Even as a primary school student in my village, I used to hear my elder brother speak in glowing terms about his amazing teacher and mentor at the erstwhile Samchi Lower Secondary School and then as his trainer at the then Teacher Training Institute (TTI) where Miss Gurung was one of the only two Bhutanese lecturers when the first teacher education facility started in the country in May 1968. Lopon Samten Wangchuk moved on to pursue his spiritual calling.

 When I came to Samtse to continue my studies, I would often obtain fleeting glimpses of the highly revered Miss Gurung as she followed her trainees in her quintessential elegance and awe-striking presence. Years later, when I myself joined what had then become the National Institute of Education (NIE), of which Miss Gurung had become the first Bhutanese Principal, a fresh and excited young lecturer, just returned from my training, immediately found a true idol and mentor.

 The first batch of our B. Ed graduates passed out in 1986 under the oversight of Miss Gurung and her highly motivated team. Samtse and Paro Colleges of Education have over the decades done a most commendable job of preparing the nation’s vital teaching force and of strengthening the country’s educational destiny.

 As the first Bhutanese woman graduate, having attended excellent schools and well-known institutions including in Edinburg, Scotland, and with work-experience in Singapore, Hong Kong, the British Army School in Malaya, Miss Gurung was well-travelled and led many Bhutanese delegations to important events and assignments abroad.

 With all these distinctions, Miss Gurung still chose to continue dedicating her life and work to the cultivation of her first love – Education – when she could have selected any department in the government then and become what people would call ‘a big shot’. And, that made all the difference. She became ‘a bigger shot’ as an educator and raised hundreds of dedicated leaders who have made a difference in their own right.

 There was something uniquely characteristic about Miss Gurung. Despite being a scion of a well-known family, there was no trace of pride or arrogance in her. Though a spinster, Miss Gurung was a mother-figure to all and her benign warmth radiated everywhere even as she lived out and expected the highest professional and personal standards in those in her charge.

 Her self-effacing demeanour, innate good cheer, infinite goodwill and respect towards all, her positive outlook, and her almost saintly disposition earned Miss Gurung rare reverence from all whose lives she touched in her own endearing ways.

 Soft-spoken and approachable but armed with a no-nonsense confidence, Miss Gurung lived by example and naturally inspired numerous batches of young men and women who took it upon themselves to take on the most difficult, yet the most important, mission in the world – Teaching. And that generation of Miss Gurung’s students has done the nation proud in good measure.

 A veritable institution in her own right, Madam Chandra Kala Gurung was a recipient of coveted awards and singular commendations for her outstanding contribution to the advancement of education in the country. The Ministry of Education had the privilege of acknowledging Miss Gurung’s life-long service to the education sector in its own humble way during the celebration of Sherig Century during 2012-2013.

 At a time like today when education and educators all around the world are under the scanner for different reasons, it was our good fortune that we had the likes of Miss Gurung to look up to and do our part in this vital endeavour called nation-building.

 On a more personal level, it is a regret that I wasn’t able to visit and pay my respects to my beloved mentor, the dreaded virus having come in the way. But it was enough to know that Madam Gurung was there... With her gone now, like so many of my other venerable elders, there is a palpable void that will not be easy to fill.

 May the noble soul of our beloved mentor rest in peace in the loving company of her virtuous ancestors in heaven...

 And, may the Almighty grant the bereaved family courage to overcome this painful loss...

The legend is gone, but the legacy lives on...”

 I thank Lyonpo Powdyel for his succinct yet a complete account of the life of Madam Gurung and also pay our deep respect and homage to the departed soul.

NEW YEAR 2022 from Down Under

Another New Year is here again. One more year of pandemic has passed with no relief anywhere in sight.  When Covid-19 was declared a pandemic in early 2020 by WHO, most people thought it would be just about one year thing. Adding to the optimism, vaccines were developed in a record time and implemented within a year or less. First dose, second dose and now the booster, but the virus refuses to give in.  It is, on the contrary, changing its forms and is becoming resilient by day.  The master copy of COVID-19 mutated into Delta in early 2021 and the year is ending with another successful form called Omicron. Numerous other forms would have arisen and disappeared unnoticed and harmless. Who knows what is to come in 2022?  While the world is trying to cope up with “new normal” that is mostly characterized by frequent lockdowns – national, regional, local, including extra-ordinary protocols followed in conducting normal businesses, no one is sure about what the new normal would look like some years down the line!  Mask has become another piece of essential body cover, at least in public. In a way the face masks in varied designs and colours have turned out to be one great equalizer among people of different strata, as the virus itself has been.

 

Bhutan has been extra cautious as always. In spite of just three deaths and that too with underlying issues already, and most of the time without a single active case in the country, we have often surprised the world with extra-ordinary precautionary measures, even if that was at the cost of our own mobility and of course our fragile economy. With 21 days of compulsory quarantine for cross-border travelers, tourism, our second revenue earner was the first victim. Hotel business is on prolonged hibernation (except those few luckier ones who are surviving or even thriving due to quarantine services). The in-country quarantine requirement has come as a big relief to the 3-star and below ranked hotels.  Even with reduction in the international quarantine to two weeks, tourists are not likely to show up. A portion of the lost revenue is expected to be compensated by the remittances that continues to grow with our youth continuing to venture out.

 

After nearly two years of confinement in Thimphu, the most privileged city in the country, following long deliberation, my wife Tulsa and I dared cross the green zone last week. Upon filling out the usual Check Post Management System (CPMS), one uniquely Bhutanese version of new normal, I cautiously and with utmost vigilance drove up to the new check-post gate at Sorchen, made entries and received signals from the RBP personnel there to continue drive down. Just across the checkpoint, the red zone is marked by small hotels and restaurants apparently doing brisk business with drivers and commuters waiting for the next move. Some of them were seen playing carom, others simply chitchatting, with their vehicles parked at the side. This is the transit point, where the goods are transferred by the loaders adding that extra burden to the otherwise privileged consumers up there. To some extent this penalty is also borne by people down south who often get some of their supplies such as vegetable during summer and the third country-imported garments and gadgets from Thimphu.

 

Our second largest city, Phuntsholing looks deserted, though cleaner, obviously with very little business. Half of the shops are locked up, perhaps the consequence of the fronting crackdown. At this time of the year, this town would be bustling with visitors, practically people from all the nook and corners of the country, including visitors from across the border. I stopped my car close to the border iron fence and looked across, only to see few closely standing buildings with billboards, quiet and perhaps most of the doors shut. There was no one visible, except for a lean person looking eagerly through the iron bars, as if waiting for some partner in crime to snub some illegal stuff across for a peanut profit margin! May be I am being too suspicious… I changed my thoughts quickly. May be he is just curiously waiting for his business across border to become normal!

 

After a short rest, we were dashing across dusty bank of Amochhu (River Toorsa). There is no proper road differentiation on this flat sandy bank, except for few ‘diversion’ signage that guides the drivers. The surface is uneven and undulating. Several large trucks carrying sand pass by as usual and the river embankment work seem to be going on forever. We passed through the new housing colonies for people rescued from across the border some one year ago, a Royal gift. You drive pass this terrain and across the beautiful bridge on the Toorsa only to enjoy the calm of beautiful villages, forests and gentle curves, overseeing the Indian plane. Our first destination was Mecheytar (Khandothang), our first winter home.

 

Weather is pleasantly warm here.  At the surface, the life of the villagers here seem very normal. Young people are busy making some money through odd jobs that are easily available due to absence of cheap labour from across the border. Some people do express their disappointment about the inter-zone quarantine. Largely this is an accepted new normal for the people here but are unhappy for not getting the quarantine facilities instantly. I am told that these limited facilities are heavily subscribed. It is everyone’s hope that this one week quarantine will be done away after all eligible people get their booster!

 

Globally countries are dealing with new waves of pandemic differently. There are national and localized lockdowns, night curfews, travel bans and many more all over the world. But gradually people are complacent and even protesting against the restrictions. Some smart scientists are making wise guess about the newest variant that it is milder in its virulence even though it is spreading like a wild fire. The virus is likely to stay around in its evolved forms with varied degree of virulence for some time to come if not forever. WHO optimistically says if all the countries in the world vaccinate 70% of its population by mid-2022, the pandemic status will get downgraded to endemic or something milder!

 

Amidst the emergence of millions of COVID experts, a layman can also say quite definitely that there are a lot of empirical data on the nature of this virus and the experience of dealing with its impact, that should help to make reasonable decisions on dos and don’ts, as we also continue living our lives. For sure, we can’t continue the way we were in pre-covid times nor can we continue the way we are now in, forever. It is time that the policy makers take some calculated risks and make bolder decisions to give social life a chance and put back the economic development on track. It is time to test the human courage and resilience against this invisible enemy. Whether we like it or not, as the world decided to move on, a small country like ours will also have to make hard choice very soon.

 

Until then, goodbye to yet another pandemic year of 2021 and a warm welcome to the NEW YEAR 2022.

Dorokha, January 01, 2022

 

Standing at the intersection of a very painful and an utmost hopeful Year

     At the end of each passing year and at the start of the New Year, I get down to writing down my thoughts and sometimes I do publish on my blog or just let it go. This unprecedented time around, while trying some introspection, I decreed myself as someone quite optimistic, resilient and hopeful. At the same time, I also know quite definitely that I am an introvert, even though I consciously work hard every time to come out of that tag.  In the pandemic and during the two rounds of painful lockdowns in the country, I took up two online courses, that was generously provided free of cost by Coursera. One of this was on ‘Speaking to Inform’. I am yet to do a self-appraisal to see if the five weeks long course has brought home any significant impact on my mildly reticent nature.  

    Year 2020 was a very rough ride for the entire world. In this short write up I will not be able to give the full account of the distress this tiny invisible demon brought to the world. Loss of dear and near ones, pain and sufferings among millions of people throughout the world – indiscriminately among rich, poor, developed and developing countries with not a single nation spared, this is indeed a deadly virus. Many say this is one most contagious global pandemic in nearly hundred years, even though many more localized contagions had been causing often miraculous diseases in different pockets of the world throughout the past century. Again, it is beyond the scope of this short personal account of mine to justifiably speak about the scale of its negative effect on the lives and livelihoods of people, local and global economy, psychology and the emotions of affected overall.

    Back home, Bhutan had been, as always, blessed by the leadership of His Majesty the King, who in this unparalleled pandemic, personally supervised and directed the Government of the day in handling the pandemic most efficiently even if that were at the cost of the country’s small and vulnerable economy. Life is given the topmost priority here and that has mostly paid off. Even though there has been at least two major lockdowns and most recently a community outbreak, we did not lose a life because of this deadly virus nor has the suffering of the people been as acute and widespread as in most other countries of the world. In Bhutan, people who lost their jobs benefited from the benevolence of the King and continued receiving the Kidu (relief financial support) throughout the period of this difficult time. Even those on the higher ups of the economic strata, a lot of them benefited from bank interest waiver and deferment of the loan payments. I do not know if there is any other nation in the world with such compassionate social security and welfare schemes that provides such care and support at times of critical needs such as the one that the world is going through.

    As our country, just like most others in the world, awaits the arrival of a vaccine, the stress and pain caused by this virus continues to prevail and in many parts of the world it has reappeared in a bigger wave and with mutated virulence. But the quick and record turnaround time of the vaccine (because of today’s scientific advancements) has also brought a lot of hope to the melancholic world. Bhutan is also hopeful of getting out of this terrible state of affairs latest by the middle of 2021, if not earlier.

    At a very personal front, I have not suffered anything at all. Neither I lost my job nor have even one of my institutional colleagues. We collectively learnt to live and work with resilience and adaptability. The academic year got concluded successively and all of us together learnt many new lessons. Learning never stops, especially in a dynamic academic institution and today there are plenty of newer ways to make learning meaningful, vibrant and exciting even in the worst of times. But as of now it is a lean academic season and in normal times I would be on my vacation somewhere in a warmer location. Curse the virus, this time after nearly 5 decades, I am stranded at my workplace (still working online but leisurely) and lost that privilege of a yearly mental renaissance I enjoyed working as a teacher and an academic administrator all my life. Feeling somewhat hopeless, I have settled down at my cold residence in Thimphu to spend the so-called winter vacation, and it is very likely that we will burn more wood inside the bhukhari this winter. I feel sorry about this increased ecological footprint I am going to leave behind.  

    Biggest consolation in the ongoing lockdown is that the weather is extremely beautiful, with blue sky and sunny warm days. As expected the nights are chilly but with bright waxing and waning moon, and full of beautiful perpetual stars (you could count all of them from your lawn, only if you could stand the chill). It seems in this pandemic the happiest entity on the planet is the Mother Nature. This is obviously a clear warning from her to the world that the time is still not fully lost and she can regain and rejuvenate if enough restraint is exercised by the human inhabitants. If not, either you suffer from her devastation or be prepared to face another natural calamity such as the COVID-19!  

    Homo sapiens are most evolved and intellectually most advanced and perhaps “civilized” of all the species, at least in human’s own interpretations. But as the acclaimed author of Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari puts it in his book, this species is the most unsettling and destructive organism today. The year of 2020 was no different from most past years in terms of human conflicts. Brexit, US-China bitter exchanges of words over trade balances and more recently on the genesis of the Virus itself, US-Iran never ending acrimonious debates, the spillover effect of the conflicts in Africa and middle-east, etc., are some of the ongoing incidences continued in 2020. Think of Syria where a powerful nation just bombards it and another more powerful is just a bystander since it has nothing to lose or gain;  conflicts have never ended in Sudan, Yemen or Libya and most recently new ethnic strife arose in Ethiopia causing a huge refugee crisis in Africa. At the same time the recent so called Nagorno-Karabakh war, was a deadly armed conflict between Azerbaijan (supported by Turkey), and the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh together with Armenia. There is no end to human sufferings be it due to these destructive and selfish international groupisms (some openly and some stabbing from the back) and distrust. Fascism and unilateralism is raising its egoistic head again and again in many countries including the so called very democratic and developed nations, and there is no end to the contemptuous thought of expansionism and fear of wars even in the twenty first century.  

    One brighter side of the pandemic is the development of the idea of work from home. While the technology is constantly promulgating and refining to support these efforts, for many the accessibility and affordability is still a far cry. One of the most affected sector in the pandemic is the education – especially the primary and the secondary schools. In Bhutan, the government early on asked teachers to begin online teaching and most schools started using free e-learning platforms. While the higher education sector was more successful in this regards since the adult learners have better access and adaptability to the new normal, the most impacted were the children from rural areas. We still do not know how many young kids will be fully derailed for good from the track of education. A thorough study and rectification measure needs to be put in place before we lose a generation of citizens to illiteracy and lack of a better career. On the hindsight choices for self-learning, inexpensive ways of organizing of the seminars and conferences (webinars) boomed overnight and a lot of people unexpected to meet in normal times got connected through platforms like skype, zoom, meet and bigbluebutton, etc.,

    Personally, I was busy picking up threads from various sources and was engaged in knowing about how the online teaching-learning could be made most effective and real experience for the learners. I was able to monitor the progress made by the students along with improved efforts from the esteemed faculty colleagues. The online resources were gathered in plenty and were made available to the learners making them take responsibility of their own learning – an institutional vision that was long awaited to be fulfilled. Similarly, students had to exercise, in auto-regulated mode, the much desired academic honesty as there was no one to supervise and correct the bad behavior. Most importantly they understand that it is their own learning. No one should be just happy with a piece of paper at the end of their university education, afterall the purpose of education is to gain some authentic knowledge and skill in the discipline that you have chosen to serve yourself in your entire life. Digital education and blended learning is the future and this realization has to come to all the educators, education managers as well as the learners, and there is no going back – pandemic or no pandemic.

    I, not only learned some of these new sources of education, but also took up online courses and used my time in reading a couple of books. Of all three that I know of, the third book of Harari, the 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century turn out to be most engaging and delightful. This book is a mixture of arguments and commentaries, philosophical yet realistic, pessimistic yet forward looking, and full of anecdotes, often judgmental and egoistic. The author seems to be a great believer of technology which is expected to replace human skills and endeavors. He seem to have rejected the exclusiveness of ‘isms’, yet he ends the book with his strong inclination towards the concept of mindfulness and meditation (specifically Vipassana). There is a lot to reflect and write about this book which I would not do in this short narrative on the occasion of a New Year, that the whole world is looking towards with a big HOPE. One other useful discipline that I imbibed and wish to retain in my life is the practice of Yoga. I am grateful to one of our international students, Irene de Jager for taking me through, along with senior management of the college, a 45 minutes daily session for nearly six months that should become a habit now on.

    Finally on Vaccine: Someone had said that ‘when Bangladesh sneezes, Bhutan oranges catch cold’. Similar analogy can be applied when it comes to vaccination against COVID 19. I would say if India gets vaccinated Bhutan is very close to getting immunized. Our porous border can operate with some ease and we can put our economy back on track. As the year 2020 is closing, there are daily news of countries beginning to vaccinate their populace or at least acquiring or making attempts to acquire doses of vaccines as soon as these are made available by the manufacturers. There are welcome competitions among the makers of the vaccines and with enough choices to make, we will have a kind that will suit each country and the pockets to go with it. Hopefully each country will be able to immunize enough population so that the infection is curbed down, if not fully eradicated. As WHO has said no one is safe from infection unless all the countries are safe. This is a typical character of what is called as a global village that we live in today. Optimistic as I am, by midyear of 2021, we will be almost close to normal activities. However the lessons learnt must never be forgotten and the skills and new knowledge gained must be preserved, promoted and further enhanced to keep ourselves prepared for such or similar paralyzing mishaps – whatever may be the scale and geography of the future natural calamities.

C-Virus, Holidays and School

Amidst the alarming and heavy doses of news of deadly corona virus, I survived a severe flu just within four days. Perhaps the local virus shied away sooner than usual this time. As I laid on the bed and held similar precautions as needed by the c-virus patient (except I was not completely isolated and did not get the media attention) that were advised by millions of experts through varied news channels and social media, deep inside I was wishing I was not the first Bhutanese victim.

 While there is hardly any space left in the social media for any other news in last couple of days and since I also have no access to any other media like radio, TV or print for the last few weeks, I have a lot of time to look around the vicinity. As always when I am here at this time of the year, Tulasa and I go for some walk especially on the dirt roads (avoid busy and narrow highway), passing through the beetle nut trees and small houses, which are quickly getting replaced by larger mansions. The ground is flatter, the open plain below is scenic and beautiful especially when you see from distance, and the temperature is generally soothing.  However this winter there is complain about the lack of enough sunshine. Local people blame climate change and the trans-boundary pollution for this prolonged gloomy winter. I tend to agree with them on both reckonings. Everyone else also say that this winter had been exceptionally cold. Did I hear this last year and also in the last to last year? Whatever may be the truth, my short escape from the chilly Thimphu to supposedly warmer south has not been as cheering as it could have been.

Of course life is generally quiet here (no stray dogs), people are busy with some agricultural work, though this is somewhat a lean season. Every household also has few cattle, goat, chicken and pigs to rear. Work never gets over in a Bhutanese village and they will never be able to shut the house completely even for more than twelve hours. So the entire family cannot dream to go for holidays or pilgrimage, even if they could afford. Someone has to look after the house all the time. In the last one week or so when I am here, I see parents of school going children are particularly busy as the schools are about to reopen after a long winter recess.  Despite hopes expressed by few stakeholders to delay the reopening owing to Wuhan crisis, silence from Ministry of Education was loud enough and the schools are opening as scheduled. Perhaps those posts were from some teachers who have not finished their winter chores or this aspiration could be from lazy students who wanted to enjoy the ‘freedom’ a bit more. But I am sure the parents, who are tired of managing untamable kids during the last two months, would not like to be a party to this conspiracy.  This reminded me of some hopeful calls that I receive from my staff and students in the early mornings of first snowfall in Thimphu!! Thanks to our culture of declaring first snowfall a holiday.

I hear that quarantine services at the only airport in Paro has intensified, and our Chinese brethren are targeted, not here in Bhutan but throughout the world, as if they themselves are the highly contagious virus. Here down-under we have open border, and thousands go in and out every day. As the schools are about to reopen hundreds, if not thousands, of Bhutanese parents are visiting the towns across the border for last minute shopping. With the new relaxation of five years old getting admissions from this year, the excitement is running high with both parents and kids, while the shopkeepers across the border are having the last laugh of the season! Just in my family here, there are two boys trying to fit into new ghos, and their older siblings helping them put the covers in their tiny notebooks. I think this was much needed change. Unlike in the past, living conditions are better today and there are fewer kids to care of in the families. As a result they are physically healthier and mentally smarter and therefore ready to start learning early. I see both these boys in this village house are comfortable operating smart phones; they download games and engage for hours in all sorts of fun that they find in the virtual world in this small device. Young parents who are mostly school drop outs have no idea as to how this is destroying their kids’ tender brains. So this new decision from the government gives everyone some comfort that at least now in the schools they will use their time in learning and divert their attention to textbooks and reduce the exposure to these dangerous devices that we all have also become victim of.

Until the Sun shines brighter, adieu!!

Looking back at the last of the -teens of the New Millennium (2019)

My wish for creative writing is in dwindle, and I am fully aware of this! I also know deep in my mind that I should read more, write more, keep my blog updated and alive and perhaps start planning to write a book few years down the line. Today when I visited my blog site I found that it is already a year since I wrote last. 

As the 2019 curtain falls, and as in my last piece that I wrote around this time last year, I will be again writing mostly about myself.  Of course, living in further shrunken global village, owing to ever aggressive social media aided by faster, more affordable and more powerful internet, I also cannot avoid speaking on few global and local issues that made some impact on my mind and perhaps my life too this year.

First I want to talk about the issues around our own home, Bhutan. Whether one likes it or not, some of the key headlines for this year were no short of despair and disappointments that included rapes of the minors, murders, molestation in our esteemed schools (unfortunately often involving our highly respected guardians and the promoters of knowledge), corruptions (most often committed by the most revered and privileged civil servants) and several other immoral occurrences that often gave us shivers of hopelessness in our otherwise upright and high spirit.  Increasing number of fatal vehicle accidents (mostly due to human errors), additions in the HIV cases, upward trends in suicides, serious concerns with oversee youth employments were among many other melancholies filling up our headlines. Drug trafficking, additions, smuggling also featured once a while during the year. Of course fueling hopes in our GNH spirit, there were several positive incidences too that we must not forget to count. Improved connectivity (both physical and virtual), no cutoff for Class X (many young people directly benefited were obviously happy), completion of another hydropower project, and few more socio-economic and developmental programmes which are all well intended initiatives of the Government of the day.  Above all and as always the most significant rays of hopes and dreams originated from the wisdom of His Majesty the King. Addressing the 112^th National Day, the HM made few significant and historical announcements that will have a much longer impact on the people of Bhutan, especially the future generations. As always the message was clear, something no one could miss, and in specific points:

Of the three Royal commands, the foremost was a concern of slow economic growth. In this regard, HM clearly directed the Government to chart out a clear economic road map for the 21^st century.

Secondly, as a small nation we should be doing better than what we are now. In this regard, the government, lawmakers, civil service, and institutions have been asked to undertake the responsibility of restructuring and improving our laws, policies and procedures.

Thirdly, our Youth: HM commanded that it is in our hands to build a better future for our children. “One of our most important national objectives, is to empower every single child in Bhutan for success. Bhutan’s future will be mirrored by the strength and capabilities of our youth.

For our children to excel, they must adhere to the highest standards, and have capability, integrity, discipline, 21st century education, unity and solidarity.”

To meet some of these youth development activities, Gyalsung (National Service) will commence from 2022. It will be a year-long training for those attaining the age of 18. The one year training will include a 3-month military style training, and a 9-month program in areas like agriculture sciences, entrepreneurship, computers and coding, health sciences, etc.

“Gyalsung will provide direction and encourage our youth to be strong, independent thinkers, capable of serving the country. It will bring the youth of Bhutan together in a shared experience and act as a rite of passage- irrespective of their economic or regional backgrounds.”

The crowd applauded in excitement when His Majesty announced that Their Majesties are expecting a second Royal Child. What could be more special gift for the people of Bhutan than this for 2020!

All in all the clear message to the public as well as the government of the day is that, with the five year cycles of election and Government formations that we have adopted, we must not get in the culture of short term  targets simply based on the political compulsions.  

One other big news for the youth, especially the high school graduates, is the plan to expand and deepen the Technical and Vocational Education and Training, making this a very sought after choice from next few years.

All in all I think Bhutan has something to look forward to shaping up in next two to three years. The elected government holds responsibility of accomplishing these noble goals.

On the personal front:

My growth in 2019 was amidst the usual vocabularies such as academic calendar, students, faculty, university, programs, examinations, results, meetings, and so on and so forth. These are all the primary functions in the academic management, but anyone would need some additional fuel to keep one burning normally and not get burnt out. It is important to avoid getting fatigue. This could happen when your job requires very fixed routine and your mind gets occupied immensely by the events around the humdrum. Sometimes excitements and enthusiasm run high, but often equally low run your frustrations. Your mind is often not your own but is the storehouse of concerns, worries, deadlines, difficult resolutions and unpleasant decisions.  

To counter these challengers, where do you draw your breather from, your mindfulness and calm? Of course they say one can do breathing exercises, meditations, yoga, etc., but these require a great deal of self-discipline and the impacts these bring are often inadequate (at least for me). However I had been extremely fortunate in 2019. I was able to enjoy some exciting travels. With three visits to Europe, I was able to happily tick off my travel bucket in 2019 - Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, France and Norway. This came pretty unexpectedly but definitely with a great deal of learning opportunities, exposure and rejuvenation.

The highlights of the travel for me was the discovery of a small nation state of Liechtenstein in the heart of Europe.  Small, rich yet with such display of simplicity and authenticity, this country is extra-ordinary. Anyone fortunate to travel that part of the world should not miss out this country. Of course everyone knows about Switzerland but to be there in person and feel the height of advancement along with environmental conservation is awesome. I felt the nature/ creator also had been extremely kind to some of these beautiful countries of Europe.

In general after meeting people from different walks of life and knowing about their aspirations and apprehensions in their own countries, you begin finding a lot of reasons to love your own country. The excitement of development is over in these developed nations and they are seeking new happiness. Bhutan is one country that many think can be a great example of a nation trying to live the philosophy of happiness – at least that is what most people relate Bhutan to (among who know us). The biggest of concerns for most educated and intellectual groups in most of these European nations today seem that of not just the perceived fear but new experiences of climate change.

Not just the adults, even young adults and children are tensed and angry, and are taking to streets to draw the world attention. I am sure Bhutanese children can also rise above the rhetoric and contribute in learning from these global concerns and be prepared for their own future. I am obviously not preempting them to raise slogans but be aware and sensitive to these global trepidation.

While there is a clear environmental consciousness and also effort to reduce consumption in some of these developed nations, there are clear reverse trends here in our developing world. We are rushing towards unsustainable ways.  Many of the developing nations are deep in debts mostly owing to unsustainable consumption and productions. 

Climate change is the biggest global threat today and it can be minimized to some extent by changing our personal habits, moderating desires and being conscious of our own individual footprint on the mother Earth. This year I am trying to avoid using any single use pet bottles such as so called very popular ‘mineral water’. I would also like to appeal my family and friends to support these small steps and also make their own small resolves.

Let us blame the world only after we have taken some actions at our individual level.

Of few books that I read this year, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari largely kept my mind occupied. His arguments about the natural and biological built of human nature, historical manipulation of the earth, cultural, political and economic evolutions (as ‘imagined orders’) are witty, provocative and in many ways powerful. He also explains how negativity and gossips brings pleasure in humankind. Even though the Homo sapiens sapiens have now succeeded in settling down as diverse ethnic groups, linguistic and language groups,  as tribes, nationalities, etc., the fundamental biological and social human nature runs deep in our consciousness. There are instances of annexations and imperialism continued even in recent years but these are much smaller in scale and scope compared how unsettling and overambitious humans of the previous centuries were. The author reminds us of a need to be more kind, compassionate, tolerant and humane since we all ultimately belonged to same common ancestor.

                     

In Summary:

Time seem to be the biggest healer. This is evident from the fact that even the worst tragedy which happened a year ago or even few months ago seem to be less painful than the most recent one of the same magnitude and form. The case in point is the murder of a small girl in Paro few months ago and the most recent mysterious death of little Dena in the broad daylight of Thimphu. There were many more terrible tragedies that impacted the lives of several families as well as the Bhutanese societies this year. It is often a blessing that our memories are short lived and generally we are very forgiving compassionate being living in this land. This may be a blessing, but it should not make us complacent and let these tragedies keep hammering us. Social media has definitely played some positive responsibility in keeping us connected, informed and integrated in the society. I hope to wish this side of the social media proliferating. A small country with a small population ought to be more accommodating, harmonious and understanding. Let peace, prosperity and happiness prevail in Druk yul and the world at large in 2020 and beyond.