Deliverance

I grip the steering wheel tightly as I take the curves at 60. I am alone, and I am shit scared. It is late night and I usually don’t drive alone at night. With a cigarette clenched between my lips and music blaring from my car speakers, I snake the treacherous roads of the hills above Wamrong.

I have to reach Mongar tonight….because my darling lay in the Hospital, crying out my name, waiting to deliver our baby girl.

Hope is a Thing with Feathers (or Blue Petals)..

Today I went for a walk around Sherubling school campus. The oncoming cold had chased all of summer's beauty away, and all that was left were the withered, dried blades of grass that tried their best to relive their summer days.

I walked on, my eyes taking in the brown barren gardens, and contemplating the futility of life because everything will have to die at some point.

Where's My Captain?

While the Old went out, the New isn't in.

So we’re all in a rudderless ship,

Awaiting for the Captain’s appearance.

And the crew is restless, in anticipation…

How is the Captain? Where is he?

Random Thoughts on a Lazy Afternoon

What am I doing here? What is my life’s worth? How many people will miss me when I am gone? How many people missed me when I left Gaselo?... Orong?... Nganglam? My worth is my reputation…among my colleagues, my friends and my students. But who are they?

Lost Poetry

Eyes scan the crowd,

Ears perked for the familiar,

My nose is ready

To pick up the scent.

The Lonely Night

It is a dark stormy night as I make my way down the muddy slippery dirt-track towards my destination. I do not want to stop because it is not safe.

Wild animals are rumored to roam these path at night, and especially at a night like this, even unearthly beings might be out on stroll. I check the path in the headlights of my motorcycle… I can see only a few feet in front of me. The rest of the path is swallowed by the mist. That’s why I do not see the huge chasm created by the recent mudslide.

Martshalla 2003

The school stands alone

huts surrounding  it…

The villages are far away,

Surrounded by the jungle.

One-Ness

There comes a time… when we heed a certain call when (Bhutan) must come together as one…

I used to remember these lyrics and sing it. My Value Education teacher used to make us sing to it in the class. He'd drum away on his guitar and we would bang the desks, shouting at the top of our voice. Of course we were in class VI. And he was our Principal.