The Talking Mountain

At her age, I barely knew the existence other than my parents, relatives and a tiny village. Except for a few auspicious hospital visits, I was never exposed to the outside world.  At 5, the farthest I knew was the boundary of my home and village.   ” The Frog in the Well knows nothing of the mighty Ocean   A little innocent boy draped in torn clothes and bare feet, I never imagined I would one day sit in front of a power laptop, phone, sofa, have a cosy bed and walk around a high rise building and drive a car. Fast forward, the world including my village has changed so fast and so much. The road and electricity were never thought to be the basic necessities of livelihood. And more over, people moving outside of their community for education, work and livelihood was never envisioned since farming work used to be the supreme end.  We never imagined the power of technology would grow this powerful and sophisticated and dictate us like today. Whatever are the happenings; there is no looki

Paddy is a lifeline for many farmers of Tsirang. However, in recent years, cultivation of this crop has seen a great decline. The reasons cited were urbanization, water scarcity, climate change, human-wildlife conflict, labour shortage, difficult nature of the work and more.   Despite these challenges, it is humbling to see our farmers still upholding age-old practices of paddy cultivation their forefathers have practiced and inherited. Perhaps, the good news is that around 50% of the farmers I know are self-sufficient and few are extraordinary farmers who have their paddy stock for as long as 2-year.    Except for essential goods like salt and sugar and oil, these groups of farmers need not have to worry with lockdown, inflation and ban. For a cultivable land-scarce nation like ours; it would be of great help if another 15% of us are self-sufficient for rice and chili production nationwide.    Passing by around the lust of the paddy field and not being able to help nearby farmers is a

𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻   𝗼𝗳   𝗛𝗶𝘀   𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆 ’ 𝘀   𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀   𝘁𝗼   𝘁𝗵𝗲   𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻   𝗮𝘁   𝘁𝗵𝗲   𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴   𝗖𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘆   𝗼𝗳   𝘁𝗵𝗲   𝟴𝘁𝗵   𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻   𝗼𝗳   𝘁𝗵𝗲   𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱   𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 Recently, I met a 27-year-old woman who has a four-year-old son. She works in a café, and makes Nu. 12,500 a month. Her house rent is Nu. 7,750. She is her family’s sole breadwinner. I was dismayed to hear about her struggles supporting her family and trying to make ends meet.  Thimphu is seen as a place of opportunities for our youth. But the young people I met in Thimphu face many challenges. They work long hours, six days a week. But they make less than the average monthly rent for an apartment. They live with roommates and pool their incomes just to get by.  When we have a fever and sore throat, we know that we are sick. Similarly, when our youth are struggling to make ends meet, this is a symptom that our country is unwell.  We ha