སློབ་དཔོན་ང་།

One thing that every blogger crave, care and boast about is number of readers and followers they have. Number of follower is proportional to their circle of influence, or atleast assumed that way. Yet here I am, writing, but without followers and readers. It takes buckets of courage to write which I derive from story of astrophysicist and Noble Laurate Dr. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Today, I write this to remind myself of his great story.  Subramanyan Chandrasekha r Dr. Chandrashekar was a brilliant astrophysicist and remarkable man who achieved stellar success in his field of his interest. Despite his stellar success in later part of life, he worked in relative obscurity when he came up with revolutionary ideas and discoveries because scientist took about 30 years to accept his ideas and works realted to stellar evolution. Despite rejection of his work, scornful remarks from his mentor, and disappointment he faced, he overrode the momentary failure by focusing on subject of his i...

The choice is yours. You hold the tiller. You can steer the course you choose in  the direction of where you want to be-  today, tomorrow, or in a distant time to come.  - W. Clement Stone                          In what can be praised as bold and decisive move, schools re-opened and students are back into books. It is a national achievement to rejoice. We have experience over-load from keeping schools closed. Should experience be the best agent of positive change in education system, COVID-19 was the best, but, wait; it is underwhelming to witness schools driving back to same-old-themselves. A recent viral ‘ban and shame’ photo of someone carrying a smart phone to school is one revelation of schools heading back to old-selves. Numerous school re-opening Office Orders and Notifications shared on social media (by schools) showcased how reckless and indifferent schools are to students owning cellular...

When the voices of children are heard on the green,  And laughing is heard on the hill,  My heart is at rest within my breast,  And everything else is still.  -William Blake (Nurse’s Song)  We miss our students on the school lawn. We missed your entry and exit at gate. We have nothing but wish for you to be with us; sharing your dreams and aspirations. We miss the fun with you and run after you. We miss your cheers and dribbles on the playground. We dearly miss your smiles and stories. We miss your voices and ideas. Your art and handwriting too. No matter how unintelligible and indecipherable they are, they are dear to our heart. “Only know the lights when it’s burning low” make better sense now.  COVID-19 labored hard to interrupt the assumption and popular understanding of education and schooling though it took us by surprise. Schools, the cradle of future Bhutan is missing her visionaries, thinkers, writers and artisans. Leaders, planners, and makers of ...

In the drab domesticities of ordinary  I dilute my sacred self over and again. Bullied by goals and hollow aspirations The gifts and possibilities are killed. The negated goodness of self, Scattered under the carpet of perspectives, Endures the struggle to preserve. Self, the temple of divine, Conquered by curse of pounding thoughts, Given itself to the earthly drug and dirt, Relishes harboring a will of its own. Sanctity of self, Denied of his supremacy in pretense And falsification of worthiness, Verity of sacredness is devoured by denial. Sanctity is consoled as bereaved. Yet, this scared self, Pushes himself to being, Seeks to empower his weakness, Beckon the truth, Radiate the power to heal, Redeem the sanctity, and Reclaim the honor To restore the scared self. Note : This poem has no formal format and does not follow any standard.

As the clouds are preparing its downpour.  Here I stand, Under the ramshackled gazebo, roofed from thatch and hays, Grossly engrossed  In my silly understanding of the noble text. Here I stand,  Amidst the buzzing flies tolerating insect bites, Grossly engrossed  In the interpretation and misinterpretation of humankind. Here I stand, In the friendship of majestic stupa, listening to the humming tunes of flattering flags,  Grossly engrossed In remembering and forgetting what I read.

For centuries powerful empires embarked on restless search for resources. They were ruthless on their dominion(s) and expeditions, wars and conflicts became necessity for survival. Europe became hothouse of military, economic and political power struggles by fifteenth and sixteenth century. By 1770’s James Cook expedition swept away the civilization of south-western Pacific region . “…worse fate befall the natives of Tasmania. Having survived for 10,000years in splendid isolation, they were completely wiped out, to the last man,woman and child, within a century of Cook’s arrival.” Tasmania native are, now, the subject of historical study and lecture series only. Cooks expedition and political situation that followed pressed the delete button on Tasmanian culture, civilization and whole of their existence. For around 45 years world experienced one of imminent threat from power struggles and two locus of global power. Let lone survival of humanity, even the existence of planet itself w...

Teachers should not aspire to produce enlightened students if we live a constipated life. Teachers must live an enlightened life to produce enlightened students. We must first become great teachers to have great students and great education, but how should I become great teacher first? This question irks me every day. In the wisdoms of His Majesty the King, “Good is not good enough.” Mediocrity is not our trait, it is not even ‘good’ because we live in a great nation. We have great leadership in the form of His Majesty the King and great vision is already vouchsafed upon us in the timeless wisdoms of their Majesties. When the nation has great leader ad great vision, if we however have only good teacher expecting to produce great students, we as teachers, are nowhere close to the logic. Jim Collins, an American author, consultant and lecturer said, “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” If teachers settle to just being good teachers, we are pulling down the national visi...

I eat four heavy meals a day from Monday to Friday. I do this to replenish the depleting energy that result from tiring teaching hours. However, I realized that eating four meals a day does very little to replenish the lost energy. To sustain my interest in teaching and to hone by teaching capacity, I had to undergo habit diagnosis with deep introspection of my daily teaching habits. Today, I will share with you some practices and habits that helped me replenish my energy from morning till evening every day, all round the seasons. 1. Have fun with students Most of the time I was too much into rules, maintaining the order, disciplining the children, managing the class, controlling the noise level and running the class smoothly. If I am not in one of those, I was into far serious business of making myself clear. As I engage and hang on more and more to such practices, I have failed to realize what I now realized. I hardly liked what students enjoy and students seldom enjoy what I ...

“…When Bhutan opened to foreign tourist in the 1970s, our leaders resisted the temptations to harness the quick fortunes from mass tourism and was instead was prescient to formulate a visionary policy of High Value-Low Volume tourism. The wisdom of our tourism policy has led to the emergence of a strong Brand Bhutan - an exclusive destination.” -His Majesty The Druk Gyalpo Ever since Bhutan started welcoming foreign tourist in 1970s Bhutan became one of the top scorers as an exclusive tourist destination. Our country was able to harness the immense potential of tourism under the precondition of comprehensive planning and visionary leadership of His Majesty The Fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck. With “High Value-Low Volume” tourism policy, tourism is one of biggest revenue earners that contribute to our economic development. The cautious planning and visionary policy not only generated substantial revenue but also shielded us from many of the negative impacts and pitfalls o...

Jaigon Street Books If you are a keen reader who ran out of books; this is where you should come. Books of Jaigon Street are exceptionally cheap. The prices are beyond reasonable. For an example, Sapiens; A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (one of the Top Ten Bestsellers of Sunday Times) is sold at 70% of the actual cost. With some bargain, I bought the book at around 50% of the actual price. Isn't it cheap? It is right! Other bestselling books such as "Making of Michael Obama" and Stephens Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly effective People” are also sold at almost the same discount rate of actual price. Save for the few dark or blurred picture inside, books are of reasonable quality. The prints are good too. I bought some books such ‘Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’ in the past too and I'd issue with the neither the content nor the print.  If you buy the same book with same paper quality and print from renowned book stores, you pay the exact p...

Dasho Chewang Rinzin, Director of RIGSS puts “Above the clouds every day is clear day.” On certain cases, working for an organization isn’t always above the clouds for many reasons. We juggle a lot through the clouded system, unpredictable weather of superiors and muddy team who could juice out the energy. We get messed up through the maze. These reasons are often circumstantial. What is not circumstantial is our approach and strategies to face the challenge and get above the clouds. To save myself my frustration and humiliation, I use Non-Expecting Approach to get the things done at my work place. I don’t expect recognition, reward and sympathy from other. I simply do my job for the love of doing. A Non-comparing Approach is great tool to practice. Few people has big circle of influence for the irrational reasons and they enjoy privilege of recognition without sweat and effort. I practice non-comparing attitude. I still do my job like a pro. Truth, at times is like ‘Acho Dhaka’ w...

As we embrace the glorious past, vibrant present, and bright future aspiration, His Majesty the King Jigme Kheser Namgyel Wangchuk always guide the prosperity, security, unity and sovereignty of this nation through timeless wisdom and sacrifices. One of Royal guidance is conveyed through Royal Address conveyed in various national occasions. Of many Royal Addresses, Royal Address of National Day delivered at Samtse has two salient points. One was addressed to political parties and other was on civil and public service. The first part of address was on political parties with underlying message of unity. His Majesty in his address, clearly reflects on the commitments of political parties to work for wellbeing of people and nation. In doing so, His Majesty the King expressed the need to work towards strengthening our peace, sovereignty, and unity while achieving equitable socio-economic development in line with visions and long-term, aspirations of nation. His Majesty the King at Sa...

Porter Erisman (former Vice President of Alibaba) tells a captivating and charming story of how Jack Ma rosed from obscurity and went on revolutionary ride in e-commerce. Photo sourced from Amazon . Erisman's personal account of Jack Ma's struggles and triumphs are shared with disarming candour. It's thus hard not to fall in love with such real life valour. It's also hard not to share how a school teacher, a "Tech Dummy," found Alibaba and lead it to become dominant e-commerce player world wide. Such extraordinary success serves to be beacon of encouragement by exemplifying how an individual can realize his dream by overcoming inevitable obstacles through passion, diligence, and resilience.  This article is thus written to share some of the selected lessons from the book which is "both essential and instructive" to those who may love to read through or accidently come across my blog. The ideals from the book may sound business oriented ho...