Rare Collection of His Majesty's Quotes to Mark 42nd Birth Anniversary

 

I've picked this beautiful Kupar of HM to remind 

of our selfless king in action. 

Pic: HM Facebook Page

On this joyous occasion of the 42nd Birth Anniversary of our Druk Gyalpo, His Majesty The King, I would like to offer my heartfelt prayers for the long life, peace and happiness of His Majesty. 

As we celebrate this special day in an unusual mode, I made up my mind to copy a few random quotes of His Majesty from my old diary, which I feel is appropriate sharing at this critical juncture, when the whole of humanity is undergoing tremendous knocks from the coronavirus. 

These quotes are my everyday guiding stars. And there is so much we can do for the country as a citizen –truly, madly and deeply!

If this Royal word doesn't excite you, make you more humble, more noble, more human, NOTHING WILL. 

” Our King

Throughout my reign I will never rule you as a King. I will protect you as a parent, care for you as a brother and serve you as a son. I shall give you everything and keep nothing; I shall live such a life as a good human being that you may find it worthy to serve as an example for your children; I have no personal goals other than to fulfill your hopes and aspirations. I shall always serve you, day and night, in the spirit of kindness, justice and equality. 

 

” Corruption

Corruption is unambiguous. There is no great, or small corruption. And no one is above the law. 

” Wonderful Leader

I will follow in my father's footsteps. My father set the bar very high. He was a wonderful leader.

” Teacher and Education

I will always support teachers throughout my reign. I will give you more importance and more recognition than any other sectors because you are going to make the greatest difference to the future of our country.

” Unity

We must always stand united in spirit and purpose. We must always be one nation with one common goal.

” Our Effort

A careless person’s mistake will undo all our effort. It will undo everything we have achieved so far.

” Our Peace

We are the guardian of our peace, stability and harmony. Bhutan being a small country with less population has a great advantage and can be well organized.

” Smallness, Responsibility, Government, Virus

At such a time, we must exhibit the strength that comes out of our smallness, remain united and support one another. During such exceptional circumstances, the government will take the responsibility of alleviating any suffering to the people due to the virus.

Long 👏👏👏 Live

Your Majesty

Looking Back to My Radio Days

My parent had in black color 
90's model or early 2000's

source: google

Today, as I recall back to my childhood days of 2002-3, it gives me some melancholic feelings of listening to 2PM "Live Call in Show" hosted by, Ugyen Tshering Nagadik and Sharpem Sherpa.

Back then, radio used to be one of the biggest pride and possessions, means of information and entertainment. In the midst of day's meal my family briefly catches the 10AM Lhotsham (Nepali) bulletin and a few songs before heading into afternoon works.

With technologies in its best form, the existence of close-knit family culture and unity is in the verge of extinction. All we can do now is, keep those memories hiding inside and move on with life. 

Fast-forward, many years have elapsed and the voices of my radio still echoes inside me, but just in hope. Today, whenever I'm driving I prefer FM Radio to pools of stored songs. 

Today, I listened to the same talk show from a younger generation of hosts by name, Tshering Wangmo and others. Like the old hosts, they keep the show going forward by being–so lively and eloquent, but not much of the old songs are being on the playlist and on request from callers, signaling the taste in music has gone far to hip-hop, love songs, et al.

I used to thoroughly enjoy the radio show with unflattering energy and spirit. One thing that gripped me so much is the politeness of the hosts. I wish we had such services in daily affairs, business, and in offices. Today, embarking into a sophisticated world of technologies is only making our lives more difficult to be that old community and losing the edge of humanness is everyone's guess. 

The first English song I listened to was "Whisky in the Jar" by Metallica. This song used to be one of the most requested and heavily played songs in those days and one of my favourites too. Not so sure, how many callers have known the meaning of the song, but to me it's nothing more than the title of the song and the singer, raspy voice and few heavy metal echoes. 

Today, with access to a limitless platform, I took advantage of the Internet and my self-containment mode mood, I hooked up reminiscing about my young days, giving me ample space to find the meaning of the song I listened to. 

Whisky in the Jar is an Irish tale-song of a highwayman who was betrayed by his lover and sung by The Dubliners folk band in 1962. The song is one of the oldest and most loved songs probably originated in the mid-17th century and has dozens of forms. However, Metallica, an American heavy metal band had made this song to another generation of rock fans with their version in 1998.

Music is something that everyone loves to listen to and be with. It has the power to connect, calm and reconnect old memories of a person, and forgone days. Music has the power to heal and help overcome life difficulties. It consoles the heart and soul, and makes you forget everything. 

 

I wish I'd the Panday's voice and Udit's melody, Richard's vocal and Dylan's composition. These are the voices I grew up listening to and they made me a whole different person -strong, wise and sensible, altogether. 

 

There is no denying that my taste in music has not changed much, both old and classic still hold a special place in my heart, and it's all to that sweet little radio that has shaped my taste in the world of music. 

 

 

Book Review: The Tentacles of Love

The tentacle of love is a beautiful book by a Bhutanese author. It has got a lot of motivation for the reader. Though the whole package is about the expedition of a teenager to experience love, it has way more to extract especially for young people. 

It's a pretty impressive and immaculate story to reflect upon in life. 

The most striking part of the book is the undying support from Yoezer's parents. This idea holds true parallelism for all. Yoezer is shattered by the betrayal of his love but his parents were there to heal his scar. 

A word of praise for Mr. Tempa Tshering for promoting the culture of writing.

The book is worth reading. 

 

Review: LUNANA: A Yak in the classroom

Why Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom a must win Oscar movie?   

The story is about dreams, passion, education, hardship, culture and the rapidly changing scenario of a small kingdom wedged between two Asian giants. The movie opens up to tell the story of a young school teacher, who dreams of going to Australia to pursue his singing career. However, he was sent to the world's remotest school for a year where he starts to become more thoughtful, subdued and slowly begins to realize life beyond Capital. 

 

1.    The lead actor by name Ugyen Dorji looks so natural and spontaneous, appealing and lively with his role. He has a natural flow of acting and to me he looks like a born actor. Probably an actor without any makeup face has impressed me a lot. 

 

2.     The lead actress by name Saldon was extra special –natural flair and unique charisma. 

 

3.    Supporting roles by name Michen and Singye put up their part so well and matured, natural and spontaneous. They are the ones who hooked me so much in the story. The supporting role should be like how they did in Lunana. 

 

4.    Pem Zam and her friends have utterly stunned the scene with their childhood innocence. At such a young age without any exposure beyond their village, they proved their elegance and innately talented acting characters in the movie. They all are the real heroes and charmers! 

 

5.    Asha Jinpa has given everything with his power and space. We get the sense that the role of a community leader is much beyond and powerful. This should be the sense of duty to TSA-WA-SUM. I can relate to someone's quote –"It takes a village to raise a child" is never far from the truth. 

 

6.    Angles and frames are technically great. DoP (Director of Photography) must have a good vision of the movie. These two qualities gave the film extra beauty and specialty. The other technical aspects such as direction, location, time (season), movie time (length), setting and lighting were well taken care. The movie was packaged and rendered professionally and technically well. 

 

By my rough guess, this movie should win the Oscar. 

A must win for me! 

 

 

Book Review: Mathematical Mindsets

The book Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler is definitely worth reading as it is impactful and has great information available for leaders, parents, teachers and friends.

Math as it is seen is a very feared subject amongst people of all ages, gender, race and region and also one of the most hated subjects at school. 

The author put forward that math is a beautiful subject rich in ideas. However, too often it is taught as a subject to separate math genes and without. However, the author argues that there is no such thing as a 'math brain'. 

This book covers different approaches to get to the same goal and underlines what can contribute to making a math subject more lively and successful rather than making a handful people feel that math is for them. It covered hundreds of research studies and laid some mouthwatering tools and techniques to fuel future learning.

The author drills deep into what holds students back when it comes to math and how to unleash their true potential through creative math. 

Though this book talks about a global perspective, it also gives opportunities to introspect on the local context. The author argues that people's mindset; mentality and stereotype belief are seen as threat. 

For generations, people hang on to the idea of children who are genetically gifted in math and the whole gifted movement is built upon such notions nipping the bud of the young learners, which is impacting a large section of society today.

The education system focuses on gifted individuals and cocked for exam success has done more harm than good.  

This book is a complete masterpiece of information, well researched and packaged and rendered so professionally. 

This book is worth reading. It is time for change and maybe this book will help you find small ways to start implementing change today. 

 

It is one click away. Get the free pdf version! 

Try to recall your math teacher, math class, math marks, -does it make sense, make you feel happy, or sad. 

Once Again, Our King is Leading

When everyone is losing hope and faith in their leaders. Our King has a different story. The story that touches lives everyday. 

If I have to make a wish for the world leaders, it would be the exemplary leadership of His majesty The King of Bhutan. I would request, please learn the art of greatness from my king.

This is not the first time our kings have touched such a subject. So world leaders must know that the power doesn't come with the barrel of a gun but with a great vision, love and care for others. 

His Majesty granting Medical Gift Hampers to foreign workers at HCC [Punatsangchhu] isolation centre took my breath away. It touched my heart so deep. It gave me a feeling of a happy family, feeling of care, feeling of safe and a feeling of unity. 

Then I whispered to the Almighty above for the continued good health of His Majesty. May we fight this COVID pandemic successfully? May we live harmoniously under the great leadership of our kings?

It gave me another moment to feel proud and happy as a Bhutanese citizen. 

...and my King is my IDOL.  

Bathup, the Signature Dish For Lockdown

I am not a foodie guy. However, lockdowns have given hell of time to explore the unexplored subjects. I have had a lot of time to complete some unfinished tasks. I did substantial reading and writing work. Listening to Tedx talk and exercise, babysitting and cooking among others. 

Let me share with you one interesting thing I had in this ongoing lockdown. I have prepared "Bathup", which I call the "signature" dish for it's taste. 

I have tasted Bathup from many different places and restaurants. The most I had was from Zangdopelri Restaurant, which is located in Hongkong Market. Thimphu. 

Nonetheless, all have tasted quite differently. It could be due to different ingredients, or different styles of making. However, the closest I came to know about the Bathup making process was from my brother during the first nationwide lockdown. Until then I never realized the process is quite simple. 

After tasting his homemade Bathup, I have always lived with dreams to prepare myself someday. I lived many moments behind just dreaming but it never happened until I locked up in another lockdown, which gave me ample time to think and prepare long over due Bathup. 

I requested my wife to guide me. In return I promised her a delicious Bathup treat. However, I made a deal to ask her again, in case I forget anything such as ingredients, quantity, timing, etc. 

With the long hanging taste of my brother's homemade Bathup, I checked the required ingredients in the kitchen. I had saag, tomato, onion, garlic, ginger and meat. I make sure there is enough Sichuan pepper [Thing-nge], which I believe is a real charm of this dish. 

I started off by making Maida dough, and then chopped saag, tomato, and onion, minced garlic and ginger and finally laid hand on meat [pork], chopped and fried. By 10 minutes everything was ready. 

Then I worked on preparing the required shape and size of the dough. I took infinitesimally slow in this step, as it required my fine hand skills, patience especially while cutting into smaller pieces. One needs to be extremely careful and delicate in this, otherwise you will mess up making nothing more than a "Maida Ball". 

After this, I added it carefully in boiling water with constant stirring. After a few minutes, everything seems on track. Then added fried ingredients with light stirring.  

It took me 25-minute, while on average the experienced, or the trained cook may take not more than 15-minute, or so. 

As much as I am concerned about the taste, I was also concerned with the presentation. So I gave my 100 percent without losing any focus. Since I don't want to disappoint my hungry wife waiting outside and ruin my hard work.

While we were having the Bathup dinner, my wife suggested that I quit my teaching job and start up a small Bathup corner in the town. While I take her idea, I am equally worried how many of us know there exists such a healthy dish. 

She said, I am the best Bathup maker. That means, my Bathup tasted not so bad, or she is simply flattering to push me inside the kitchen...