Hike to the tiger’s nest

Last month, Rima and I hiked up to the tiger’s nest, Taktshang in Paro. Now I don’t think I need to introduce Rima to this Bhutanese blogosphere. Because. Because who doesn’t know her? Anyone out there?

I met her for the first time when she visited Bhutan the month before that. When I told my family that she’s my internet friend visiting Bhutan, they rolled their eyes at me. Thanks to the internet, the world has become small.

I love that she’s filled with infectious positivity towards life that she tries to share that with people around her. How to live one’s life, one at a time, I think I should take lesson from her. I’m sure you all agree with me on this.

The hike up to the tiger’s nest was the second time for both of us. For me, particularly, it was after 11 years. 

I hiked to Taktshang as a teenager then, on a school field trip. 

So much has changed in over a decade now. The hiking trail has improved. The railing at Taktshang was not there, now it is there. A nice café is there for the visitors to rest and enjoy a good cup of coffee/drinks. And the number of visitors has increased subsequently.  
That morning, we were blessed with the perfect weather. The sun was behind the clouds, making the day very cool for the hike uphill. 

On the way up just before reaching Taktshang, we lied down on the bench for a rest. The sun was up on the face and there was the sound of blowing trumpets somewhere up on the hill. Listening to the distant trumpet with the eyes closed brings such bliss to one’s heart. In that moment, it occurred to me ‘yes, if there’s one place I want to be, then its here.’ Somewhere up in the mountains, where sorrows and frets are a distant thing of the past.

It was an easy climb uphill for me where the calm Rima took her time with such grandeur and ease. However, the descend downhill was a little difficult for me. But no complaints, it was a good hike. 

sixth edition of the Mountain Echoes literary festival

The sixth edition of the Mountains Echoes literary festival began yesterday in Thimphu. It will be held till August 22, 2015 and is dedicated to His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo in commemoration of His Majesty’s 60^th Birth Anniversary celebration.

This is the sixth edition but the first time for me to attend the festival. I have always wanted to attend it but somehow, I never got around to do it. So a year back I promised myself that come hell or high, I will be attending this year and I made it. I’m so proud of myself.

As a bonus, it happened just 2 blocks away from my office where I can sneak out from work and attend the programme at my discretion. It’s quite interesting that you have a plethora of choice on the programme catering to your convenience since the sessions are being held at four different venues.  

What particularly piqued my interest was Jamie Zeppa’s conversation with Neha Tara Mehta and Pawo Choyning Dorji’s session The light of the moon: The legacy of Xuanzang.

I read Zeppa’s memoir Beyond the sky and the earth during my freshman year in Sherubtse. The book is so full of wit and humor and I could relate to the places she mentioned for I was physically present there when I read it. 

Her underwear story in the book is particularly so funny. When she mentioned the story this morning again, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Beyond the sky and the earth is one of the books which I loved immensely written by a foreigner on Bhutan. When I saw her name for this year’s festival, I had to double check it. For I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought she left Bhutan for good.

Jamie Zeppa reading excerpt from her book Beyond the sky and the earth

Zeppa says that she is back to the country after a decade and it’s difficult for her to navigate around Thimphu now, for it was a small town in 1989 and now Thimphu is a city.

I loved it when she said “When you fall in love, you lose yourself” when asked about how she came to write the memoir.  She further says that when she fell in love with Bhutan, it changed her profoundly. Just like in her book, I found her very witty and candid in person. For her writing process, she says, it’s very helpful for her to have a boring life to write. So much inspiration there. 

Please excuse the grainy photos from the phone.  

With Nawang and Zhonba

I have been following the works of Pawo on instagram and facebook. His series #sacredpathsproject on instagram and adarsha photography on facebook are absolutely beautiful. 

In his moving tale of The Light of the Moon: the legacy of Xuanzang presented this morning at the Royal University of Bhutan, Pawo has crisscrossed the ancient silk routes to retrace the paths of Xuanzang, a Chinese Buddhist monk and has come up with astounding tales. 

He is such a good storyteller. The facts, stories and photographs supported to bring about Xuanzang's tale simply blew me away. Nawang said that he was moved to tears at the end of the session.

I wish I had no work so that I could attend the festival full time. There was not a single empty chair available. Luckily I met Nawang and Zhonba and we sat on the floor on the aisle. In an earlier twitter conversation with Zhonba, I was informed that I have to join the floor gang, which I didn't mind. It was so worth the time. 

If you haven’t attended this season’s mountain echoes, I’d recommend you to attend it and show some love. You can check the programme here and accordingly attend if you are not able to devote your full time.

On writing

It wasn’t a deliberate hiatus from this little blog. Work wasn’t that stressful as it had been for the past eight months. I had plenty of time on hands to sit down and write on the mundane things in life which are as vast as the sky. Perhaps, the vastness of the mundanes overwhelmed me to write, you’d think. Or I was unplugging from the internet. Neither of it. I chose not to write.

There were some mornings when I got out of the bed and thought to myself, ‘I will start writing today.’ Then like this August weather, my mind would change and I would find myself lost in the sea of activities only to come home tired after a long day.

Other times, inspiration would strike me while in the shower or when out on a stroll. I’d immediately write it down for consumption at a later time. Later, I’d sit down to work on the idea on my PC, but to be lost for an hour or two in the internet black hole. Exhausted, I’d shut down and sleep.  

I thought, “Hell, what’s happening to me? Is it a creative block?”

There were too many thoughts and ideas running on in my head. The thoughts were fogged-out landscape from which occasional memories appear like isolated trees, in an almost broken panorama.

Like in Stephen King’s words, I was approaching the ‘act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair – the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart.’

The sense of nervousness and excitement from too many thoughts stopped me from writing altogether.

This morning, I put off the TV, carried my PC to the living room where the light is good and where my adored stack of books lies to give me strong vibes. I sat down on the couch and started writing with cups of coffee to pull me through the whole process.  

Usually, I write on my desk in the bedroom where I have the pastel wall as complete front view and the jungle view to the right from my window. But from my living room, I have the view of a small set of my neighbor’s kitchen garden where tall maize plants have overgrown and I can see the quaint neighborhood. The change in the writing space was the perfect vibes for me.

How’s your writing process like? Do you have a favorite place to write or you write where you can?

Book Review // La Ama

La Ama (a mother’s call) by Chador Wangmo is a story about one woman’s harrowing journey from a terrible marriage to the past which was equally ruthless and to an uplifting future. 

It’s a story that deals with a lot of difficult themes like betrayal and domestic violence, adultery, LGBT, and the recent popular entertainment culture of drayang.

One fateful night Dechen Zangmo runs away from the ‘mad house,’ the house that she once had set her heart in, only to be met with an accident. What’s she running away from? 

From a jealous and an abusive husband who treats her as a piece of furniture.

One is immediately narrated a series of events from the past which led her to the present situation. In that series of past events, it tells us why Dechen Zangmo could never complete high school. The teacher who is revered the most in the society is the reason behind Dechen’s leaving school. The circumstances Dechen faced is still prevalent in many schools in rural Bhutan.

From witnessing her parents separation to taking refuge in her annoying aunt and uncle’s crammed house in Chinese line in Phuentsholing to working in a Drayang for a living until she gets married, Chador Wangmo gives us a vivid and engaging story of one woman’s journey for survival and the triumph over the forces of violence.

It’s a bold book that depicts the tolerance of Bhutanese women to adultery by the significant other for reasons of their own, about how being a gay is a taboo in our society and the large influence of bollyhood in the life of an average Bhutanese girl. 

I felt extremely conflicted at times where I had to put down the book, contemplate and start reading again. 

All in all, it’s a nice read with just 198 pages which can be finished in one sitting. 

Bloggers Meet

I’m still giddy from yesterday’s blogger meet. Giddy from having met so many wonderful souls. Are you not?

Already, a couple of blog buddies shared about last night’s experience and I’m also bitten by this bug to be on this bandwagon.

Well, well  it was an epic bloggers’ meet last night, since it was my first time ever to meet such a large group who shared the same love for art-the art of reading and writing. 

I have always wanted to go to a bloggers’ meet but somehow the universe conspired against it. Nawang and I discussed about it a couple of times on chat the past year too. When it happened last night, I was super excited. And the positive response from all lovely blog buddies was even incredible.  

It was the meeting of your kindred spirit. It totally blew me away to meet people whom I have always admired, imagined about, traveled and shared the same thoughts through their writings. It was like meeting my favorite radio personality. When you hear the person on radio, you imagine so much about him/her and only when you meet the person in real, you can fathom it.   

Time flew so fast. I feel like I didn’t get enough time to sit and talk with everyone present. A good chat over some drinks was not enough since you have so much to talk about. Everyone has a blogging niche. It is this niche that separates you, makes you unique and makes you stand out in the crowd. This is what makes you truly special as a person and a blogger or a writer for that matter. 

I feel privileged to have met so many wonderful people. And thank you all for the 100% attendance. I hope to see you all again not somewhere across the horizon but in the next bloggers’ meet which my friend Nawang has talked about in detail here.

Happy Holidays!   

Picture stolen from Nawang's blog since I forgot to take any. :P

Summer Readings

If you have been on this little blog for some time now, you’ll probably know that I’m an avid reader. A book on the coffee table, another on the nightstand, on the refrigerator in the kitchen, in the bathroom and sometimes on the shoe rack and in the car. That’s how I tend to carry books everywhere I go.  Sometimes, I get so broke yet the urge to buy books and read becomes arduous for me. It is unhealthy, I know.

With 2015 as the National Reading Year, I often hear people picking a book to read. It’s never too late to start anything, I believe. This small step by an individual will go a long way once the reading habit is developed. My brother and sister has picked up this habit as well. It’s such a delight to see a book on their nightstand. It fills me with immense joy.    

I have recently completed reading these books amongst others and I’d recommend if you’re looking for light summer reads like me (I’m forever on the hunt for good book recommendation).

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

One of the most important works in American Literature, The Great Gatsby is a novel that offers damning and insightful views of the lives that are corrupted by greed which is incredibly sad and unfulfilled in the roaring 20’s.

The events are narrated through Nick Carraway, a young Yale graduate. Upon moving to New York, he rents a house next door to the eccentric millionaire, Jay Gatsby. Every week, Gatsby throws a party at his mansion and all the great and the good come to marvel at his extravagance and gossip about him.

Despite his high-living, Gatsby is dissatisfied. 

Long ago, Gatsby fell in love with a young girl, Daisy who is now married to Tom Buchanan.

The novel portrays the unfinished love affair of Gatsby and Daisy, Tom’s suspicion and his mistress, Gatsby’s fortune through illegal gambling and bootlegging.

However, the reality of the situation is that Gatsby is a man in love. Nothing more. He concentrates all of his life on winning Daisy back.

This book is definitely one of my favorites.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

I enjoyed this gothic classic five years ago. Five years later, I picked it up and felt the same enjoyment as I did for that very first time. The story, and in particular the language blew me away. 

Also known as The  Modern Prometheus, it is about a scientist who creates a monster and the awful events that follows.

Victor Frankenstein, obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, he assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.

However, I like the fact that the book allows reader’s to see events from the monster’s perspectives. I could sympathize with his loneliness when humans spurned him away. It’s a painful book. It’s hard to believe that this book was written by an 18 year old girl in 1818.

My Beautiful Shadow by Radhika Jha

Set in Japan, it tells the tale of a young Tokyo housewife, Kayo whose obsession is beautiful clothes and accessories. A drug that threatens to destroy her life as a good wife and a mother.

Reunited with her beautiful childhood friend whose life appears glamorous, Kayo wants to become her. In that pursuit, she is pulled deeper into a dark underworld of yakuza, debt and prostitution.

So far I have been fascinated with Murakami’s works and whatever little I have come to know about Japan is through his books. Compared to Murakami’s Tokyo, Jha’s Tokyo is a total different world. It’s about neighbors being your police, judges and your jailors. It’s about the Japanese bias against Koreans who probably owns small businesses and the Americans whom her husband seems to enjoy working for.  

A powerful tale of one woman losing her way and a mesmerizing tale of consumerism gone mad.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

This was my all time favorite book as a child. Now even as an adult, I enjoy reading it as it brings back happy memories of my times spent in Tsirang with my mother and brother.

Our quaint little house was in the middle of a guava, mango and orange orchard. On summer afternoons on weekends I used to sit down under the guava tree in my turquoise little frock and read Heidi while my brother used to pluck guavas and hand me down. He was my soldier and my provider. 

These happy memories were tucked inside the book and it never fails to bring a smile on me till today.

Memories aside, Heidi is a story of a five year old orphaned girl who is left by her aunt to stay with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Heidi soon becomes a local favorite. Several years later, the aunt snatches Heidi from the Alps to become the companion of the wealthy but specially challenged child in Frankfurt.

Transported to the anonymous city, Heidi is lonely and longs for the Alps and in the meantime she learns to read and turn to God. The story encourage honesty, integrity, kindness and deep religious faith-the sort of reading that parents should encourage but sadly seldom do.

Emotion Code by Bradley Nelson

I was curious when a friend talked about emotion code and the trapped emotions all of us have. A couple of conversation and I was already intrigued. So I asked him to email me the pdf copy and the audiobook. Boy, it was truly fascinating.

The book talks about a form of energy healing that helps to get rid of emotional baggage. The Emotion code uses muscle testing to find and release trapped emotions that affect your health, your relationship and your successful mechanism. 

It’s one of the simplest and the most effective form of energy healing.

It provides you with amazing facts and research which helps to understand your body to a greater level. Interestingly, you can check your trapped emotion yourself and treat it as well.  

I got pretty excited about the book and shared it with a couple of friends and family. If you would like, I’d love to share. Drop me a message in the comments section below.

Have you got any recommendation for this summer?

on loss and broken hearts

This morning, the mascara wand rather did a somersault on the eyelash

the eyelids swollen from yester night’s rendezvous

I suspect the heart unraveled strangely. I’d weep, pause and start again.

Accusations hauled at each other, speculations made

The heartache overwhelming that it would explode.

Like a volcanic eruption, the well suppressed feelings of love and oneness exploded.

The wine triggered the flow of emotions, perhaps.

Or the pang of loss, perhaps.

The thought of you slipping away is too unbearable.

The moon shone through the balmy summer night.

A hint of tear glittered in the corners of your eyes.

You tried to shield it, yet it was prominent on that Greek sculpted face of yours.

Is it okay to be broken-hearted?

Or how much you loved?

Times solves most things.

And what time can’t solve, you alone have to solve it.