A Wise Voice

I may not look like the son of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck

But I have some personalities like him

And have the power over my soul

I may not be the brightest bulb in a group

But I can light through

To walk ourselves

I may not have the heart of Lord Buddha

But I have feelings and sympathies

And a virtuous heart

I may not speak gracefully as you wish

But I have a wise voice

Listen to what I say, not how I say

I may not be strong like John Cena

But I can hold you when you fall

And fight till I cannot move

I may not have a sumptous three square meals

But I have a heart that can be trusted

A love that will keep us alive

A smile to keep you happy

I may do something you don’t like

I may have asked you to care for me

But in the end

I care you more than anything in the world

Happiness is the Gift of Life

We celebrated International Happiness Day on 20^th March. To mark this, I have a very short story told by my mother. I have briefed it here: In one urban center, let's say, Thimphu, there lived two boys; one was from a rich family and the other from a poor family. One common thing they had was undying friendship, they were friends. Rich had everything, poor nothing, except his kind parents and two brothers. Likewise, the rich boy had parents and three brothers.

One day the poor boy visited the rich boy’s house, and he saw that the rich boy’s family was not very happy. Each member did their own work. Brother busied himself with computer- playing games. Mother was playing card games with a group of men and other children were fighting, and the father was quarreling with mother. The house was not clean. The poor boy was not even asked to sit. Although they had everything, they didn’t have happiness. The house was in mess. When the poor boy came back, he was heavy-hearted, he learned one thing, and although he had nothing in his home he had happiness. His family stayed happily. They shared everything together. The house was filled with care and love. It was a cleaned house. It was a happy family and a happy home. The poor boy understood one thing then, that happiness was the gift in life, given by god to them. And there was nothing better than happiness in life.

Songing Heart

The best music touches deep into our hearts. And it keeps alive and kicks the sorrows and depressions of life.

I love blues music, real blues songs, a kind of sentimental and jazz, a pure kind of music, no hip-hop, big-bang, or sharp pop. I am a pure, simply a guy who came from “Aamo Chi lay” backdrop. But to be frank, some music didn’t fascinate me. It is like talking eachother. I used to listen to some English music. And radio was the main source of music at those times- in the1990s. I knew all timings of radio shows, like BBS, AIR, VOI, BBC, Shillong broadcast, and others. Shortly, my brother gave me his tape recorder that made me buy many audio cassettes and listen as long as the batteries last. So I have listened to most songs in English, like Beatles, in which “Let It Be,” is one of my favorites, Eagles’ “Love will Keep us Alive,” George Michael’s “Careless Whisper,” Bryan Adams, Police, CelineDion, Spice Girls, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Call to Say…,” Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up,”  Elton John, Savage Garden, Ronan Keating, Backstreet boys, etc are some of my favorites- to name a few.  

 I also love singing. I used to pick up my bass guitar and rock on the stage, most of the time unprepared. I vividly remember singing the song, “Tears in Heaven,” for my late brother, Sonam, “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” and others. But now, I sing in the toilet; nobody would listen to a husky old voice these days.

It's ME, singing "If Tomorrow Never Comes." Tomorrow comes if you believe...

I remember the first album I bought was of Modern Talking, and their songs keep me still high and alive today. This German duo is my favorite. The songs like “You Can Win If You Want,” “ You're My Heart, You're My Soul,” “Cheri Cheri Lady,” “ Brother Louie,” and “Give me Piece of Love,” still keep me mesmerize and humming. They are the best songs I ever have in my life. The song “You Can Win If You Want” keeps me moving forward in my life. I think this song is a story about our life, the journey we make where nobody knows. Try listening to them. They are the best, though it’s a little bit of synthpop type, it’s worthwhile and melodious to listen to. It teaches so many good things about life. Empathy, love, care and i would say quite heart-rendering songs. I often listen now and cry out remembering about my past days.

Modern Talking (google images)

Kidnapping is a Huge Business in Sarpang

No wonder, everything happens for money. One would sell one’s father, mother, brother, sister…etc for money. One would kill, murder, and transform one’s beliefs for money. Never wonder, one could do everything under the sun, just for money. Because of all these things, I have begun to lose trust and I am a tough guy to take into consideration. I seldom believe anybody easily-to let the cat out of the bag. And it’s very hard to count on people like that sometimes. Anyways, people have become evil now. There is an old Buddhist saying, it says that the world does not change, it’s the people who change. Time tells it so.

Sarpang kidnapped cases have become a little curious. Within a short span of time - three months, four kidnapped were executed. And it was executed very badly. It was like casual, easy kidnapped. A taxi driver was dragged from the broad road for more than three weeks. An old man like my father, 60 years or more was beaten and pulled out in the evening from his house for another three weeks. And very recently, a student in the bar was kidnapped in broad daylight in Sarpang town. The good thing was everyone saw the shot, but nobody even dared to fart. And police…everyone knows, police work is to chase the dogs, during this student kidnapped time, police may have been snoring with their unloaded guns pointed towards their two big eggs.

Not so much to worry about. The deals will be on very soon and you get the people back, though mentally tortured and sickness that would exhaust throughout the life. The ransom price tag for that taxi driver was a bit lower than that old man. And I think there will be a hike in price for that boy. There is no fixed price as such. Inflection and deflection keep on going. The last price for an old man was Nu. 5,00000/- Five lakhs is so much for a poor student now. I hope our government negotiates the price tag and brings the boy back safe home.

But seriously, border areas have become unsafe places to live in. Commodities may come cheap but one has to risk life to live. Sarpang, P/ling, Samtse, S/jongkhar, Ngalam, that fall bordering India have become dangerous places to live in. People have no mind of peace; nobody knows who the next victim is. Some media reports show how worried people are about their security. The last time, some officials from Assam visited Sarpang and have promised that such an incident wouldn’t be repeated. Despite this assurance, it goes on very violently. How ashamed is it? Can we believe people now? I bet you, don’t believe it so easily.

Now, stop playing blame games. Every one of us must be alert. Carry patang or knife inside your gho. Or learn taekwondo or martial arts. Be in groups of trusted people. Travel together with known people. Of all, our government must do something very quickly. That something could be a higher and tight security alert, secret agents in different places, and tight border security.

Our border with India is very porous that makes it easy to escape many goondas after creating enough problems inside. Even a single mosquito shouldn’t pass from the borders. But as per the police, the apprehended lists last time, some mosquitoes are already in our land. They have made a partnership kind of business with Indian counterparts. Business is business after all. The sons of the kingdom of Bhutan want to abduct their own people. There is a Dzongkha saying, “Zayang bangchung nang za, awa tang yang bangchung nang tang.” The rough adaptation could be, “Eat from the plate and defecate on the same plate.” So we are here, you don’t have to go far in search of the soul, the soul is very much in you. The deadliest enemy comes from the most knowest and friendliest people. Bhutan, it’s our own people, and it’s a real shame for all of us. We believe in good; our farmers are humble, happy, we believe each other. But what makes them turn their world, I think it’s money. Don’t crave too much. We are GNH country. No wonder.

Pronounce These Words and See How Good You Are

Read this poem by B. Shaw. And if you can correctly pronounce every word in this poem, you will be speaking English is better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world. After trying the verses, a Frenchman said he’d prefer six months of hard labour to read six lines aloud. Try them yourself.

c'est la fin

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

- B. Shaw