portfolio 73

My friend cannot digest anything that is undone or unsaid. Or mysteries are what can wake her patience. She cannot stand unclear statements. She has to find out what’s going on. It’s like when everyone says that there is no solution to a maths problem, she wants to prove them wrong. Basically, her wind blows opposite to everyone else’s. This is the most amazing thing about her. So a while ago, when I told her that the Indian script has still not been deciphered and people still cannot justify the Indus valley civilization as clearly as the other civilizations, she said, “Wow.” Now that was really funny because I expected her to blow off and start googling, or atleast freak out a little but she was in the middle of maths. And nothing like that came out of her.   Plus, I was the spoiler myself. I started by saying, “Let me tell you something that is going to kill you from the insides.”   That was exactly like, “Let me tell you a funny joke that will roll you on the floor ...

I’ve been in a boarding school ever since class seven and I have six solid years of experience in listening to frequent bells, sharing a room with twenty other girls and eating mixtures of food from everyone’s home. So I can be of a help if you ever ran hungry in the middle of night, five hours after the usual dinner time in hostel. But that’s not what I am going to talk about. What has always amazed me rather than scared, were the various ghost stories in all the boarding schools I’ve been to. Now that’s very interesting because we always had somebody to blame on to when something unusual or even usual happened. If you fell over the stairs, you could say that a spirit just pushed you. If the door hinges creaked, you could say that there are spirits screeching between them. If somebody was ill, then it’s said that s/he has dirtied the ghosts’ dwellings or walked to the bathroom alone in the middle of the night. It was actually very fun to have somebody or many unseen “bodies” to ...

03.08.2015 Did you know that eating meat can not only harm your health but even harm the earth? It's surprising how we've been eating meat almost all our lives and never known this fact. The workshop on compassion by Jangsa Tshether Tshogpa, an animal saving organisation, was yet another enlightenment. This morning when I checked my college webmail, I was so happy to see the message that Jangsa was going to come to our college. Just over a year ago, they visited our school in Punakha to educate us on the sucidal issues and I tell you, it wasn't the kind of workshop where you would be falling asleep or scribbling some cartoons pretending to be listening. The workshop went all day long but I wasn't even a bit tired. This team of volunteers brings up very reasonable talks and I always get inspired. I am especially very amazed with one of the speakers, Phuntshok Rabten, who I hear is also a writer. I am so glad that today he spoke on "Dharmic Science," something ...

The first day of my college starts with a workshop called "Universal Human Values and Professional ethics." We haven't been explained the reason(like in school) why they were doing this but I think this workshop is aimed to make us better persons. I am amazed that to be a better person, there are technical steps and rules we should follow. There are limits and horizons to keep our minds in control. I am amazed that in a technical college, everything is so technical. Today was the second day of the workshop. We were talking about happiness and I am again amazed that we are taught to define happiness in a definite sentence. It said: Happiness is a state of being in harmony ,or, happiness is when there is no contradictions in our thoughts. I honestly am a little against the theories they explained after that. So when we were given a chance to raise our doubts, I wrote, "Can Money buy happiness?" My question was answered after a list of other questions. The speaker ...

My holidays went by very quickly and I just figured I haven’t done much to be proud of. It was a six-month holiday and I feel like it’s just been six days after my exams. It’s about a week to college and I don’t even feel like it’s a week to college. Everyone asks me the same question; “Are you excited?” and I answer them in the same old tone, “I don’t know” and may be smile a bit after that. Well I don’t know in fact. I have mixed feelings about college and that tells me that I am in a crucial stage of my life. I remember when it was a week to high school. I was already done with the packings, prepared for the new place and the most important thing was that I was able to imagine how it’d be. But this is different right now. I’ll be going to the College of Science and Technology (Popularly known as CST) in Phuntsholing to study Architecture. And the thing is that I cannot at all picture myself in college. I know this is dramatic and may be funny to some people, but right after hig...

We are often conscious of our first impressions because it’s when we are judged how we are. We take only a little time to know somebody because we master in judging them by their first impressions. In our society, if we are seen wearing a cocky hairstyle, we are labelled as somebody not responsible or somebody who wouldn’t understand traditions. I reckon most people know that it’s not wise to judge people and we even don’t like to be judged. But these kinds of facts are difficult to change. More than HIVs and bird flues we are diseased with “Stereotypes” and what’s more, we are hardly able to direct ourselves to the right concepts. I cannot anymore explain this in general. So let me just get down straight to my point. Tattoo. Anybody with tattoo on his/her body is looked at as a drug user and if allowed in a school, considered as the rule breakers. Now, how in the world does it make sense! A person with tattoo is rejected in many institutions just because of the belief that people...

11.05.2015 How often do we fear of death? When we have become so old that we can barely walk? When somebody we know has passed way? Or, everyday? Everything was normal today. After many days of rain and clouds, today was a bright sunny day and everything seemed to be going well until this terrible news blew up everyone in our neighbourhood. A neighbour had passed away just a few minutes ago. She was a young pretty girl and this was, like any other death, least expected and least wanted. It was just yesterday that we saw her happily coming back from her work and didn’t even have the littlest trace of sickness or misfortune. And today everyone is mourning over her soulless body. I know this is normal. This happens every now and then to somebody we know and to somebody we don’t know. To some loved ones of ours and to some we don’t even know they exist. But it does come to everyone of us. Death, we sometimes get to witness it and hear about it and one day it’s going to happen to u...

The cover page for Tshorwa the fourth When my friend Nono Jimmy told me that we can still send our articles for our school magazine, Tshorwa the fifth, I felt like I never graduated or left the school. It was like I was still wearing the school uniform drenched with sweat on a hot summer day in Punakha. There was a series of beautiful memories reeling in my mind and for once, it was like sitting back among the editorial board and reading the articles for Tshorwa’s fourth edition. Being a member of the school magazine’s editorial team was actually reading Punakha Higher Secondary School. Not only the students voice were we going through but there were always a lot of people who’d keenly express their feelings about the school. The most amazing thing was that everyone had some kind of story with the school and may be the kind of stories which they mark it as the most unforgettable ones. For me, getting admission in Punakha Higher Secondary School was a dream come true. I don’t...

Eating meat is one of those things I do even after knowing its numerous demerits. I don’t know if it’s because of my undying love for chicken or the natural human greed for meat but I do admit that chicken is one delicious meal I can’t keep away from. Many people find it difficult to avoid eating meat especially that we consider meat as a main source of nutrition and moreover the kind of charm there is when we say that “It’s beef, or pork or chicken for dinner.” We-are-so-cruel. I often have a conflict within myself whether to be a pure vegetarian or just not think about those poor animals slain every now and then for a meal. I once saw a documentary movie on animals who were being slaughtered mercilessly for meat. They were stabbed and butchered like vegetables. Nothing could have saved them from the shiny butcher’s knife which swayed just above their lives. Nothing even if poor dumb animals like them knew their arriving death and shed tears from their eyes which blinked like a dying ...

Kitiphu, at a distance If I were a vulture, I couldn’t possibly have known how high this beautiful mountain touched the sky. Kitiphu is one of the most wonderful ridges I have ever been to. Having Tharpaling monastery, once the seat of Kuenkhen longchen Rabjam, at its feet, this holy mountain stands up to about 7,500 meters above the sea level. I’ve been living in Bumthang ever since I was born but I could make it to Kitiphu only a few weeks ago. Thank god that a reason and a strong determination came up to string some lungdar(prayer flags) on that mountain. The main reason why people go to Kitiphu is to put up prayer flags considering the fact that we gain luck if we do so. I’ve also been told that during the second king’s reign, this mountain used to be a bypass between the then two capitals, Bumthang and Kuenga Rabten(Trongsa). I wonder how people could have been able to walk for days, sleep under trees and cook beside the paths. the mountain ranges we could see from Kitip...

                                            The first time I learnt about argumentative essays, I wasn't so happy with what I would be doing for my two high school years. I always enjoyed writing narrative essays in my junior years because they were like telling stories and I enjoyed telling stories or just hooking up a story. It was always easy. But having to write argumentative essays demanded a lot of knowledge and strength.I felt like I was forced to put down every sentence and my ideas came down making no sense. And I was breaking one of the core rules to write an argumentative essay: DONOT MAKE UP EVIDENCES! But I was helpless. Sometimes I used to feel stupid arguing from both sides. My English Teacher, Sir Norbu Tshering, used to let us write so many argumentative essays and he called them "Practices". He started by first telling us all the steps and then lettin...