MB Boys and their rivals have been fed the carrot. Or were they force-fed, so to speak, to ensure the survival of our harmonious and polite society? The Royal Bhutan Police were the honest broker. The ‘’pledge” is a reconciliation between themselves – essentially a reconciliation between us and them. (more…)
I take the boy in yellow brocade gho featured in the K2 supplement (Kuensel dated 04 August 2010) for XiangchupTynze Jatshel. The boy is cute with chubby cheeks, the name beautiful, and hence only befitting. One is commensurate with the other in all proportions. (more…)
It’s rush hour. Amid the hustle and bustle an elderly woman squeezes in, utters “ladies first” rather condescendingly, and then haughtily slips past all. I retract my steps, sit back on a bench and doze off. I’m dreaming, and in my dream I’m chatting about gender equality with my alter ego. I go first, and ask: “Are women crying wolf as and when they talk about gender equality, and lack of it?” Admittedly, there are some religious and/or spiritual and customary dos and don’ts that put or rather seem to put the fair sex at a disadvantage. Some are religious or spiritual features, others traditional or customary remnants that distinguish us. Otherwise, I’ve not evolved enough to notice any chains that shackle women from realizing their potentials. The glass ceiling fell and broke at the turn of the century. Splinters lying around are transparent and translucent. (more…)
One of the obvious accompaniments of an individual’s sojourn Down Under would be, no doubt, his or her exposure to the Australian way of speaking. Whether you are there for a brief spell or on an extended stay, or whether you are located on either extreme of this vast wide continent–up in the Northern Territory or down south in the Isle of the Apple (Tasmania in Aussie slang), or by the same token in Perth on the far western fringe or as an interim Queenslander on the eastern edge–it would be near-impossible to be oblivious to or to have not been affected by that somewhat rakish, heavy, raw and even folksy style of the Australians as they speak; not to mention that formidable reservoir of their exclusive vocabulary and slang!
“Supply creates its own demand”. Who cares? Unemployment generates its own antonym. This is more important. Employment is only one ‘un’ away from unemployment – just two letters. Great economists propounded theories of employment. Still unemployment is an ill that all economies – irrespective of size, system and health – suffer. Considering all factors constant, one person’s unemployment should ideally and logically be another’s employment; hence, the paradox. It’s very straightforward – no need to run from pillar to post and wear out two pairs of shoes to earn just enough to buy a brand new pair. The devil finds work for idle hands. There is more to this saying than meets the eye. So let’s take cue from the actual market forces one at a time. (more…)
Seated cross-legged on a yak-hide mattress, Angay Lemo, a sexagenarian, mutters “Om mani pad me hung”, with a rosary in one hand and a mini, hand-powered prayer wheel in the other. It’s Saturday. And she’s been all by herself. Her only son, a middle-aged officer, and her daughter-in-law are away, holidaying in Bangkok. Her grandson and granddaughter are away in the discotheques. As is customary they are not expected until three in the morning. She has little or no inkling about what they do and are up to in the discotheques and beyond. Even little does she wonder about their whereabouts. (more…)
All because of the hole the pole goes unruly and awry. “Ah, they rhyme, don’t they?” he asks laughingly. “What? It’s not funny – don’t laugh!” I warn him. Bees fly from far and wide and flock to the flowers to collect nectar. “And that’s alliteration,” he barges in again. He’s only being humorous so I brushed off nonchalantly. Some do not fly back but their wings flutter; they are trapped in the petals and dead. Who would you blame: the killer petals or the killed bees? ‘Disabled 17-year-old raped’, read a Kuensel headline dated 06 June 2010. Once again! (more…)
Here’s my take on the ongoing “beautiful game” in the form of limericks, written in their usual rhyme scheme and meter. I was almost through with it this evening when Brazil crashed out unceremoniously, and I had to change some of the verses. I am posting it before there are any further upset, forcing me to re-write my lines! Enjoy! (more…)
Pause for a while in our fast-track lifestyle and think long and hard about what and who we actually are. Whether man or woman we are human. Therefore, frailty, our name is human. With all due respect, my sincere apology to you, Shakespeare, if I have startled and spun you in your grave. Frailty is embedded in human psyche. You and I and one and all are overwhelmed by the self-centred activities of the here and now. We chit-chat about this and that now and then, we expose our outside a lot to cover a tiny dot inside, and we are only deepening our hypocrisy. Isn’t it crazy? (more…)
Thirty-two nations are fighting over one ball vying for the FIFA World Cup Trophy in South Africa. The vuvuzelas are reportedly deafening. But have they drowned the criticism of the Jubulani? If the Jubulani could speak, it’d lambast FIFA and all the 32 nations kicking it mercilessly. We saw Italy win the World Cup in Germany. That was four years ago. I had more hair and less wrinkles. I do not know if I’ll watch the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014. Sure I’ll be older than I’m now. The bottom line is that we all grow, and grow older. I know we all know this – I make no issue of it. My point is that let’s not disillusion ourselves that growth stops at puberty! (more…)
