portfolio 73

I was sitting on my desk on a cold afternoon in Thimphu and everyone was expressing their joys and worries about the potential snowfall that day, -Joy, because it’s snow and nothing about these angelic white crystals is frowned upon by anybody, and worries, for the dangerous icy road that will freeze transportation like a corpse. But I like how it keeps us all stranded in our homes, close to the warmth from all sorts of sources ranging from the fancy electric heaters to our loved ones. The last snowfall was a couple of weeks ago, and it spread joy like it spread millions of pictures on the internet. It’s amazing to see how people celebrate snowfall in ways beyond the pictures they take. For instance, snowfall in our culture promises good harvests and fortunes for the whole year and an omen such as this is taken so seriously that if there was no snowfall, we begin to suspect our fortunes. Also, snow is an important element of the climate cycle that balances the earth’s temperature. ...

Punakha HSS, 2014 (Source: Sir Nobu Tshering) I think the greatest gift I got in life is to be able to learn, from simple alphabets to the wonders and mysteries the universe holds. What makes me anxious is how time travels so fast and that in two years, I’ll be graduating college. As much as it makes me happy that I’m completing a stage in life, it also makes me sad that it is one end to being a student. Tree House Design, 2016 Unrestricted Imaginations To have a job, earn and to be helpful would be great in life but for reasons I realized today more than ever, I want to be a student forever. I want to wake up in the morning with a purpose, go to the class and learn. I want to keep scribbling on my notebooks everyday with new things. I don’t want to step out of this student life- The feeling is quite like when you don’t want to get out of a favourite outfit even when you have to. So here are some good reasons why I would want to be a student forever. 1.  ...

November 15, 2017. CST How often is the library your soul-resting place where it’s only you and your book venturing through a whole new world completely controlled by you? How is it your bed room when there are others snoring beside you? Walls rise up higher than everyday and they run along every little space found however optimized they may be. Ornaments, are hung on buildings, women’s body and let’s speak for real, where money has found no place to settle. And every so often, less is more.  (All the metaphors are intended by the way). I think it’s real that two person can share one soul even over simple things like a book, a piece of cake or a common taste for movies. But can they be in love? May be. Soulmates are people who have found a similar version of themselves and approved its existence- it’s like looking in the mirror with the right outfit and liking how you look. Self-love. The most important thing for survival these days, because nobody will love you m...

Ugen woke up to a cold empty morning anticipated with nothing but dead silence. It still seemed like it was in middle of the night and there wasn't a tinge of noise except for the one it made when he scratched his back and rubbed his eyelids against the eye ball. He rose his neck without completely getting up and saw that his roommate wasn't back yet. He buried his head under his warm blanket and thought he could go back sleep. But he couldn't. The only louder noise he now heard was his own heart thumping against his chest. He opened his eyes at once and stared the ceiling, panting in his own bed. The letter he wrote last night. He jumped off his bed and pulled out the brown box quickly. He'd left his pen uncapped in the book and the big Hello-Kitty on its top bulged the thin cover of the book.  He slowly opened it like a kid afraid of an illustrated 3-D monster sprouting out from the book. He picked up the pen which was diagonally blocking some of the wor...

October. The time when winter started to send its chilly warning and the night sky became clearer. The time when the leaves already left their twigs while the cities glowed with lights and colors of festivals. Everything was so perfect and the poets felt every single moment in thousands of ways. But in a lonely room towards the far east of a college dorm, few drops of tears fell on the last Harry Potter book. A pair of sad brown eyes slowly rose from the final page, followed by a deep sad sigh almost shivering. Ugen stepped out in his balcony, his eyes gazing out into the distance and slowly brightening as he saw the lights the city showered in. He looked up at the sky, luxuriously sprinkled with stars and clearer than ever. He looked down at the city and back at the sky, and again and one more time. It was like they mirrored each other. He has never seen it as beautiful as today. He drew a heart in the air with his index finger, and giggled at himself. He heaved deep ...

What if we could write letters to the god? Actual letters that god would read and reply! We could tell god everything! We could tell him how afternoon classes are mind-numbing in this heat and how you wish you could go take a nap right under the fan in your room. We could tell him how sometimes you want your notebooks and pens to walk towards you and write by themselves. We could also ask him why many things are disoriented and all people do is mystify them more. I used to write a letter to god every week when I was in school. Not really hoping for the reply but just incase if he knew that there was one person trying to reach him atypically. I might have written hundreds of letters and they were all some kind of diaries of mine hoping to be read by god. I sometimes felt like god actually read them (Aren't they supposed to be watching us from the top?) I was very nice in my first letters. I lied that everything was okay and often made up stories where sick peop...