TALK TO STRANGERS, IT’S WORTH IT

picture source: Google

“I have been working in project DANTAK for the last 35 years as a daily wage worker. And the last decade or so has been quite lonely as I am on my own,” said an unknown labourer working on the road widening works near Narphung with whom I struck up a conversation.

I was heading to Dewathang to bring home my son from school after he wrote his last exam on December 13. I had to wait for the road to open for traffic at an ongoing road widening work site. It was cold, and the overcast weather isn’t doing any better for the labourer working on the shaded side of the mountain. I took out some pieces of Doma-Paan and offered the labourer who accepted it gratefully.

It was a brief talk but, talking to him just reminded me on how lucky even those Bhutanese who consider themselves as poor are. Even the so called poor in Bhutan have a roof over their head and also own a plot of land. We are not poor at all.

This man whose forefather migrated from Nepal must have struggled to get a legal status in India. Despite having been born in India, he hardly had time to stay at home. He had to find a source of income to support his family. And without education, the only way to find even a menial employment was as a road worker in DANTAK and that kept him separated from his family for a long time.

“My wife died long time back when my daughters were still kids. And despite the struggle, they have now all grown up and left me all alone,” he said ruefully.

I learnt from him that one of his daughters was married off to a man in Kathmandu, another in Gauhati and the last one stays in another place, the name of the place just trailed off as he scampered to attend a signal from one of his friend.

The brief interaction made me realize how unkind life has been for him. He is ageing and he does not even have a home to go or any social security from an organization he dedicated his life to. Even today, he is a daily wage worker. He is worried but the road ahead is just a blank…why?

Picture source: Google

Little ahead someone flagged me down. Another Indian man looking dignified asked for a ride. I agreed to take him if he is willing to go till Dewathang.  I begin talking in English to ignite conversation. He spoke few words and then asked me if I knew Hindi. We begin our talk in Hindi. I wondered if my Hindi was any better than his English.

I learnt that he is an engineer working on the road widening work. He is going to Gauhati to meet his family where they have made temporary home to enable him to work in Bhutan. He is from Uttarkhand. We talked about the tragedy of flood there and the beauty of mountains. The image of tragedy is still vivid in everyone’s mind.

We talk about Indo-Bhutan friendship. He is a fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I think he will bring back all the black money and also root out corruption.” He mentioned some figure of black money but I have difficulty remembering figures.

I asked him what he thought of Bhutan. “Ah, this is a beautiful place, friendly people, clean environment and so peaceful,” he said. He added that Bhutan’s entire population of about seven lakhs can all become prosperous with abundant resources if the income is equitably distributed. I couldn’t agree more.

picture source: Google

He appreciated availability of organic vegetable for consumption and said that, there would be a niche market for Bhutanese organic fruits and vegetable in Gauhati as many affluent people are becoming more health conscious. This is what I always felt possible and if explored may provide our farmers a lucrative outlet for farm produce.

We would have talked a lot more but we reached our destinations. He said, it was first time he was travelling with a Bhutanese and it was an entirely different experience. “I thoroughly enjoyed this trip,” he said. And he asked me to drop at his place when I travel on this highway for a cup of tea. He asked my phone number and dialed a call back so that I can register his number.

Finally when I reached my destination little further from where I dropped my travelling mate, I checked my phone to see time and I saw a missed call. I called the number back thinking it must be important and the voice on the other end said, “Sir, hum haain…Sushil.”

Who Sushil? And then I remembered it was my travelling mate’s cell number and yeah, it is him Sushil, my new friend. I had to save embarrassment, so struck a short conversation.

“Haan Sushil…..gaari to milenga na?”

“Milenga sir,  zaroor milenga.”

“Aacha…tab to thrik haain.”

“Daaniya baad…thank you.”

It was an eventful day interacting with strangers. I urge, we need to talk more, break the ice and there is always something interesting to learn. Everyone has a story to tell like the labourer and Sushil, if you want to hear their stories, talk to strangers instead of shutting yourself closed inside invisible walls.

 

picture source: Google

Gyembo Namgyal

December 14, 2014

09:00 AM

Note: I am so sorry; my blogs are always becoming long. I know, you don’t have time to read them but, if you begin reading, I am sure you will read it to the end.

Happy weekend and HAPPY NATIONAL DAY on December 17.

A DAY ON THE ROAD

It was an early morning on October 1; I hit the road to Khaling. The crisp early morning breeze is an indication winter is not far. The road was tarred in the name sake, potholes are so common that you have a feeling they may have been there by design. The dzongkhag road is known to be notorious for poor condition but, the stretch of the national highway from Narphung to Khaling is no better.

It is a well known fact how diabolical truckers are on Pemagatshel road but what I experienced on the national highway was even worse. From Kharungla, I caught a convoy of light cars heading to Radhi for Krodikali retreat. They were following two trucks apparently carrying cement consignment. The trucks refused to give way for the smaller cars for a long distance. I think, it took five to six kilometres of incessant honking from the cars to make the truckers let them pass.

I think, Bhutanese are known for their infamous road habit and that experience only confirmed the fabled status of Bhutanese drivers. Road rage is common in Bhutan. Verbal altercations are sometimes known to have led to physical confrontations. Even in the milder form passing reviling comments and glaring down gawkily on each other is a common thing that happens every day. The poor road condition and the inconsiderate drivers on the road make driving not so pleasant experience.

One thing also struck my mind on why this stretch of about 40 kilometres on Samdrup Jongkhar-Trashigang highway is not seeing any widening activity. This stretch is where the widening is in dire need as some smaller stretches are the most difficult and precarious ones that continue to see frequent fatal accidents.

If prioritizing widening works is based on traffic volume, the least that can be done and must be done is fixing potholes. Widening works will take long time to complete even after it is begun so, fixing potholes shouldn’t be construed as waste of resource because it will have to be used for years.

While on this part of the road, one cannot miss the progress of Yongla Gonpa re-construction on the spur of a towering mountain overlooking the plains of India. The concrete frames have come up and people cannot wait for those concretes to metamorphose into a beautiful temple. It is the nation’s guardian and a symbol of national pride so the sooner it is restored, the better is will be. It needs to rise from the rubbles and corruption scandals to its old glory.

And then just on the foreground of this sacred temple, a stone quarry looks out of place and likens to human profanity. It simply looks like an ugly cancerous scar eating into human flesh, as it eats its way into the lush green forests. Just a few kilometres away, another quarry is ravaging into the foothills of a majestic peak defacing the pristine environment. Looking at these scourge, I just wondered whose interests these environmentally degrading ventures are serving.  Certainly, this kind of business does not serve the interest of common people or even that of the nation at large. They just benefit few individuals at the cost of larger national and local interest.

I was engrossed in the thought of the complexity of issues like these, for the rest of my return trip. I weighed pros and cons of mining and quarrying in a fragile mountainous terrain like ours and no matter how you look at it, I saw it as undesirable business for our country.  If not in future, at least for the present time, environmentally degrading business and industries must be restricted as we have abundant renewable and other less damaging alternatives that can suffice the needs of a population of about seven lakhs if they were equitably distributed.

As I pushed further lost in these thoughts, the sight of an interesting landmark on the precinct of a small roadside town brought me back to my senses. I stopped for a mouthful of Doma-Paan. I was holding the betel leaf and areca nut and as I was preparing to smear lime, out of curiosity I tuned on to a FM station. What I heard playing brought about profuse smiles on my face for the rest of the journey.

There cannot be a perfect coincidence of me preparing to chew Doma-Paan and the song on the FM radio playing an ode to Doma-Paan in Bhutanese culture at the same time. Part of the lyrics said something like this, “Doma, Paani, Tzuni Suum……Rang Dang Thuen Rey Thuen Tshey, Khamto Rey Rey Zhewar Joen……..”  Roughly translating as; “combination of areca nut, betel leaf and lime that makes Doma-Paan……….those dear and near ones, come have a mouthful of it….”

Sometimes, coincidences can happen when you least expect. And it can either bring back fond memories or at least bring about smiles on your faces. Those kinds of experience are just beautiful like the one I experienced that day.

Happy Reading and meet you again soon on this page. Have fun and take care everyone.

Gyembo Namgyal

October 6, 2014