Feeling the Missing........

The stone in my heart has just started to become lighter and lighter that suddenly, it feels so damn heavy with the approaching date for me to leave the place which i couldn't find any reason to love in the beginning. It has now unexpectedly encircled me warmth of it's hidden beauty. The nectar of joy just poured on the buds of my tongue that now i have the letter on my hand which is asking me that i no longer belong here.

The extreme struggle of not being able to adjust in Mongar forced me to put for a transfer. I accepted the challenge for not being spoon fed and learn through hardship, the way to grab independence for the first 4 months of 2016 but soon my pillar of holding on just broke and finally i sealed my sign on to the transfer application.I desperately wanted to leave the place at that moment.

I don't remember how the time sped forward bullet fast after that because, soon i saw my mundane face turning into contentment day after day, my lips curving into smile weeks after weeks and my mind getting cleared months after months. I saw myself surrounded with new set of friends who wouldn't go hangout without me, who would make me into a crazy laughing buddha when being accompanied by them, and pasted unfathomable polarized memories into the 2016 album of my life.

Tshering, Chimi, Tashi, Lg boss, my immediate neighbours whom i was reluctantly avoiding them for the 1st few months being a stranger. Well, fate played its sweet melody without our knowledge. We became the squad for doing crazy stuffs thereafter disturbing the other neighbours time and again with our undiscovered alien voices, dancing, having meals together daily like a family.

Soon, a new member, Sither joined and she was the queen of all crazy, funny, psychic but of all, the kindest. Only after few gatherings, did we come to know how she, herself was drowning into the ocean of depression and sadness that she still mentions,," You all pulled me out of the dark ocean into which i was almost neck down". Her personal life was a living hell that, we came to her life as a saviour and i am sure, the almighty planned so. We all believe so and will keep doing so.

As the year 2016 was nearing end, and as the tide of time went flying, we were soon introduced to same flock of psychic friends. Common factor being Tshering, we came to know Sampa, Bir, Jigme, Dorji, Sangay, which was a 1:1 match for our group.

My 1 melancholy life in Mongar became 10 strong band of happiness by the end of the year.
 It was in the mid of sipping the juice of Mongar's beauty with my squads that i was ringed to inform my transfer to Thimphu has been approved. THUD!!!! I completely forgot i even applied for transfer.

I almost jumped with joy but WAIT!. The excitement for approval was short lived; only for few seconds. I saw the laughing, smiling faces of my friends there and to my surprise, i felt the pinch of sadness for having to leave them at once. How the samsaric life of human play games with the emotions. I am always reminded, "Nothing is Permanent". To one point, i almost had the urge to cancel but there, i got a call from my mom how happy she was with me coming to be near her. She has been ill for a very long time with an unknown disease and she almost told how she wanted me, her son who is working in hospital wants to be with me.

Priority always to my parents. I now accept the gamble of Khorwa. It has always been difficult for me to accept the fact of departing with my loved ones. But, i optimistically believe what ever happened, it happened good. You leave your friends here, you have your old set of friends anxiously waiting there; the colleagues here are left out but your new staffs there have decorated door for welcoming me. Change is inevitable. Let me munch it up.

World isn't large and now with the technology reaching peak of standardization, you always bump to each other. I thank almighty for letting them come into my life even it was for a short duration of time. I will miss you all. Mongar was all beautiful because of you all!.

Towards the Namdroling paradise. Part 3.

Into the heavenly realms of gaylug, kagyud and nyingma studies, inserting purity of sacredness in the form of blessing, we had ourself inside every monastery towards every reach from our stay.
Magnificently standing there for more than 30 years, the temples are the echo of thousand tibetans crying for their homeland, monks for their religious freedom and childrens for their himalayan toys. The traditions and cultures well preserved and the temples destroyed in Tibet are rebuilt in every part of their refugee settlements. It is so painful to learn that the rinpoches and great lamas of Tibet are all struggling to keep their Tibet alive for the future generations, moving around the world spreading the message of non- violence.

With our gelong guide, we visited each and every lhakhang whose doors remain usually closed but was open in all when we reached.

After feeling spiritually satisfied, we reached back to our dormetory and there was our proprieter, our boju, 76 year old angaay. She invited us for a tea and we had a long conversation about her family and her life. Winkles marked around her face but smile shinning ever green, softly would her voice flow with an accent of a pure tibetan. She showed her care towards us like her own grandchildren and we could feel presence of grandmotherly love. She lives there all by herself, a house built by her son who is a khenpo. She says, " with my Sons prayers, I can still run, move and jump like a child" when we said, she looks so strong even at that age.

 With our Boju!!

The next morning, when we were to leave, she again invited us for tea and it was very touching she had woken up early, keeping a small glass of milk to prepare us a tea. She gave us a wonderful hug and a kiss when we came out of house. A bell of emotional thud surrounded our heart. It was as though we were going back to college after being on a vacation with our famiily.

With a final goodbye, we made our journey back to our college after feeling fulfilled and packed with blessings.

Towards the Namdroling Monastery. Part 2.

Brightly colored spectrum of VIBGYOR scattered into an arc above the shinning golden plated statues as if the god and goddesses of heaven has seated immobile guarding the purity of the sacred temple. A sudden gush of peaceful feeling prick the heart of every viewer visiting for the first time as soon as the arc of heavenly rainbow is spotted.

"Gateway towards the paradise", should it had been, the entry majestically leads to Zangdopelri and the huge golden temple. Trees well nurtured which were planted years before when Penor Rinpoche with few monks took refuge in this land after the Tibetan invasion, has now shooted up so beautifully that a remarkable difference can be made between the vegetation within the monastic premises and the vegetation little bit further away.


  It is said that the temple was built with only 300 rs that His Holiness Penor Rinpoche had when he first came there in 1960s. Only the ground floor was built at first, slowly the 2nd,3rd and the 4th were added.

Two of us, after our nap for 2 hours, put on our gho and started our venture towards the cleansing our mind into the Zangthopelri Zhingkham.

With a sacred expression of sadness, the ground floor carries the statue of Guru Rinpoche and it is said when Penor Rinpoche had himself liberated from the earth, the statue grieved as well and a marked difference in its expression is recorded in a footage before and after the His Holiness. It was un-believable.

Up above on the 2nd floor had the statue of Guru Rinpoche with his two consorts on either sides. Towards the left was the Penor Rinpoche's statue in a meditating position. After he breathed his last, his body had been in that position for 7 days.

On the 3rd was the Chenrig Zig and the top most had the statue of Lord Buddha.
The temple was a depiction of how the real Zangthopelri existed in the heaven which we ordinary beings would perhaps never get to be there.

"GOLDEN TEMPLE", as it is said to have been named by a foreigner and is spread like wise, lies few meters away from the Zangthopelri. A small opening leads way into a giant hall with giant statues of Lord Buddha at the middle, Guru Padmasambhawa towards the right and Yepamey statue to the left in the far end of the hall. The walls painted brightly depicting the history of god and goddesses in their search towards truth, attaining nirvana and subdueing the evils.

Hundreds of indian tourist crawled over the floor, some coming in, some out, mostly snapping pictures. We offered our prayers and headed towards Droelma lhakhang.

The area surrounding monasteries had flowers, green tall trees and grasses growing fresh all over. Well plated flat stones in between as if the sacred garden of heaven was brought plucked from above.  If one wish to experience paradise, Mysore monastery will have you in.

Our first day visit ended with some Tibetan momo and indian biriyani. Traditional Tibetan shops occupied the area outside the gate with ant- like tourist crawling all along the streets. Finally, we headed back to our room for the second night doze off.

Towards the Namdroling Paradise..part 1..

The journey on the plain pavements of India usually carries me swiftly without disturbances through my throat but this time i felt my head spinning as soon the pungent smell of bus poked into my nose as my journey towards the paradise i longed to go for till now kick started.

Its was 9.30 p.m. Lights off but the rays from television screen hanged on the metal wall near the first front seats hit brightly over us.

There we were in the middle of Bangalore city with our heads too heavy as if a pumpkin had been placed above and as if the pool of liquid were all dancing inside. In such condition we stepped into the second bus and sleep of tiring journey knocked us out for almost 5 hours with sun radiating directly upon us from the window. With dust swirled yellow around our hair and robe, we reached the heart of Mysore town. It was similar to any other indian town, busy with traffic, shops everywhere and film poster pasted on every wall.
Through the same bus station, we headed onto another 2 hours journey towards khushalnagar from where the GOLDEN TEMPLE of Namdrolling paradise was only 30 minutes.

As we neared towards our destination, the air itself seemed to be welcoming us with fragrance of multi-coloured flags and   lungdar raised onto trees and houses.

The vegetation greened with tall evergreen trees, beautiful flowers, and grasses grown well carpeted over the earth even at this season of the year. The place felt truely blessed. Well, a familiar looks with red robe and shaved head riding a bike ran in a sudden gush towards the way opposite to ours and finally, we had ourself on the pathway leading the heaven of Mysore Buddhist monastery

We called  our host, a bhutanese monk who was a relative of our friend. He greeted us with a charming smile on his face and  three of us went in search of a room. All the monastic guest houses were packed, even the rest of the hotels outside were full. Tired and weary,  we went into further search and finally an old women proprietor of two storied house  at her seventies rented two of us her room underground which was quite big at 200 per night.  We took a shower and finally took a relaxing nap till we dozed off completely.

To be cont.....

Coming home again!!!

There is no other joy greater than the joy of knowing that you are going back to your country, your people, your home and your family after a long, long years stay outside. Every year, at this point, excitement builds, energy thrives and patience struggles as the mind is hurried to make a go and step on the earth of motherland.

I am done with my final year as of now till the result is out which would probably be during January month, which means i have an extra days, weeks and a month to be spent this time at home unlike previous vacations which would only be for a month.

Enthusiasm and marbles of anxiety is jumping inside me. Many thoughts and feeling, unexplainable excitement is taking over me these days. Being out of the borders, browsing net, reading and viewing the events, news, programmes and seeing the pictures of our family gone to a picnic, pilgrimage, adventures etc, makes us feel so much wanting to be there and be a part of it.

There's a whole lot of things that is planned inside my head, that i am to do back home. Well, nothing as such but eating  job job of bhutanese dish  is my first priority in the list which i would not delay even an hour after stepping in the sands of Phuentsholing. I am so done with the bindi, sambar, plain dal, yellow yellow curries whose names which i still do not know. Even the thought of this food chokes me to feel like a vomit. I just wonder  how the hell for three long years, have i been eating those. But i am thankful for i have reached till here because of its metabolism.
Red swelled up yuechum, cheessy cheese ema datshi, shiny slime sikam along with giant ema marb and dried norsha gote, ohh!!, the thought of it itself makes my mouth watery.

Second is to have adventurous rounds in and along the mountainous paths, breath in the mist of fresh and cool air, listen to the birds chirping in the dense evergreen forest. This time, i wil have winter season all to my self. Sweating in the heat of raichur and biting and clapping drama with mosquites has all scalded off my skin rough with red spot appearances. I just wish, snow falls early this year, densely covering whole of thimphu white all over. I haven't seen snow for the past three years and i just got to get covered in it once.

Well, many more are in my list. I would have it done when the time comes. So nature of Bhutan, wait for me, i'm coming!!!

Journey back all over again

Continued....

Having Peldon's last exam postponed, we were back to our own college, back to my hostel, back to the room. Early morning, i was back on my own couch. Super relaxed, i fell for a whole day nap after having a tiring journey. Till afternoon, the next day, i could sleep soundly. I woke up and the feeling of those supra orbital bones of both eye pulsating  had finally gone. It gave me sign, my eyes got more than enough rest but to freshen up a bit more i got in for a bath.

"It wasn't a restful day and the weariness of the journey hadn't subsided that suddenly I saw five more miscalls from Peldon after I was taking bath. I knew what she wanted to say…"

The particular line above from the previous post seem to have given a wrong idea or should i say confusing. My poor ability to express the things the way i want does not seem to be pouring out in that way. I have mentioned that, since Peldon's exam got postponed for two days or three, not being sure about the dates and the complicated situation of staying in hotel for another few days would be like 1000 kg burden for her, so we had decided to make a go and come back trip.
That was the last situation back then in Devangere.

Back in my hostel room and in my bathroom, i was in shower, rubbing off all my tiredness. :D . After the shower, when i checked my mobile, there were five miscalls from Peldon. Yeah! I knew, what she wanted to say. I called her back and she told me, " i got the call and my last exam is tomorrow", that!, was what she said and that!, was the answer i was expecting which indirectly meant we had to leave the night itself. Barely, did i sleep only once in my bed after coming back, i had to head the journey back again on for 8 hours to and 8 hours fro back again. I thought about the cool place, the park and the freshness there, and replied "ok Peldon, no worries, lets move". The next thought was about the long hours on the humping and bumping bus, my expression was like Phurba Thinley trying to squeeze out the constipation :P ( Yuck) .But the latter thought i  kept to myself.

That was it. The repeat telecast of  our journey then. We got dropped off to the bus station at 9 pm by our same friends, enter and rode on the same bus with same conductor and driver, reached there exactly at the same time as before, lodged on the same hotel and the same room. The story after that was Peldon finally completing her last exam and again humping and bumping back to Raichur the night itself.

That was one Hell of a journey to be remembered!!

The Next Day: Towards the park

Ghajini  did kill our time for atleast 3 hours. For another two hours,  Rahul Gandhi, Modi, BJP, Congress and Bollywood stars on election kept  me going on. Boredom reached its height.

‘Wai, lets go for an evening stroll through the park nearby, I saw it near to our hotel”, Peldon insisted after having her unfinished nap of the previous night when she was sorting out her practical notes inside her brain. I instantly got up as she just stole my thought.  Dust setting by, cool air on the way, end of tiring day, time for spacious moment with family is what the set of evening brings on.

Peldon had a one day break.  She would resume the next day with her next two exams. Meanwhile the day was free for her as well as for us to explore the new city. Till afternoon, we jailed our self inside the hotel due to the heat outside. By evening, the park cleansed our boredom.

A Big open space situated at the heart of the busy city, fenced neatly with the iron bars forming a giant rectangle. “Ice cream!!” , I stepped forward towards the man with a metal box, like a small child. With ice cream to keep our mouth busy, our legs rejoiced the walk after being stiff for whole day.

It was melting off fast, so i sucked it hard eventually...

There were weird eyes staring at three of us from all sides. It was unusual for the remote places like Devangere  in India to receive  fair, small eyes fellows like us. We gave  no shit and just moved on ignoring since it was nothing new to us. We entertained the situation many a times in our own place in Raichur.

Peldon started her pose and shots with Kinley taking on with camera. Her face slightly turned, lips as if to kiss someone, one leg slightly bend and crossed with other leg is what I assume to be her favorite pose. I could see a fat elephant standing dead towards the centre and two tigers facing one another into a battle field just behind the giant. Young ones  rode them fearlessly, laughing, smiling and playing while elders hold them from beside.  There were mothers holding the hands of their one year old child learning to walk, old parents happily holding onto their grandchildrens’  and couples sharing their moments to the fullest. A perfect family time and a place.

A sudden puff of thick smoke hovered above the tree nearby, followed the ear piercing , creaking sound of unknown creatures flying in the air above from tree to tree. Those weren’t  birds. Something else. I strained my eyes hard above and soon I noticed several ridges on the wings of the creature and the head was unusually large. BATS!! Oh yeah. It was bats. The smoke disturbed their day upside down nap. They were restlessly flying from one tree to another. I always thought bats always resided in dark habitats, in a cave or something cooped with least sun rays but we encounter many a times in Indian trees in town where bats just hung themselves under the tree branches. I never saw bats in Bhutan, so I excitedly admired their aerial features and enraptured them in my camera but it didn’t come clear due to their flying motion. 

BATS.

Definitely a BAT.

Peldon was still giving her pose in various scenery while Kinley was still her photographer. I was trying to gather wonderful moment pictures of the park, people , bats and children but soon I ran off with the battery and the excitement just melted.

Back to hotel. It was already dark then. We filled our night bellies with Hyderabad chicken, omelet and chicken biriyani. That was awesome dinner. At least for me, ate the girls share too that finally when I was back to hotel room, I felt like having a C-section and have removed whatever was inside. :D.

Morning of next day: I opened my eyes slowly for I heard the BANG twice. Peldon was dozing off with the book on her hand. The book loosened from her grip and fell on the table twice. Working hard!! Pitied her for she had to come so far to do an exam with all the expenses on her head. Nevertheless she had good friends like us….:P…

It took unusually long that day. Last time, she completed within 4 hours but  that day, four hours of waiting took a boring hell out of us. There was no nice place to roam nearby and the day heat was uncontrollably harsh, so no plate of option was left other than to wait on that hard steel chair.

She finally appeared with satisfied exam performance but she brought along a news  which was not worth lending ear to. Her last exam got postponed. What kind of board exam is that, anger ringed my ear hard. Postponing thing about exam wasn't new to us but  in the middle of the on going exam, was definitely an unpleasant news. All of us got confused. She had no idea when her exam would be then, probably two days later. But she was running out of money and staying in hotel for two more days would mean, no eating and no coming back to Raichur. We were helpless when it came to money matter. We lost into individual thoughts to sort out a way. Finally, we did. We decided to go back and come back again when exam date is fixed. I was quite reluctant at first due to the tiring journey on bus but as we say “friend in need is a friend in deed” and at that time, a supportive company was what she needed the most. Stress of  exam,  thoughts of expenses and burden of  travelling 8 hours to and fro, definitely her brain needed some peace and warm company.

The very next day, we drove back to our place in Raichur.

It wasn't a restful day and the weariness of the journey hadn't subsided that suddenly I saw five more miscalls from Peldon after I was taking bath. I knew what she wanted to say……

Note: I assume you all got why i took another few more days to update the second part. It is because of the call i got the last minute from Peldon....

To Devangere: An unexpected Journey.

For five days, I was out on an unexpected journey accompanying my friend. I only had my mobile facility through which I kept the update of new post by other bloggers and with my facebook. Well, with this five days stay at Devangere, I have collected few rays of my experiences which I want share. Let me make it into a story like form in a way to give a new taste to my blog. The journey is divided into parts since it will be very long otherwise to read in one go. Hope you guys enjoy it!!

It was 1.37 a.m. Setting inside the bus, the rumbling noise and the trembling motion. Half asleep, half awake, eyes dancing with pain of sleeplessness because, every time I closed my eyes, the sudden jerking off the seat whenever the bus passed on the bumper just knocked off the sleep. Sore butt having to be seated continuously for  5 hours then and had still four more hours. Kinley, next to my seat, her hair tidily made into a bun with few of her hair fringes dancing with the rush of air coming from the window. Both legs pulled up on the seat, folded completely, squeezed on the chair and battling hard to get some sleep. Beside me was, Sanketh, my local friend who was bus phobic, hated travelling through bus but he made an exception this time.  Peldon on the other hand, after 6 hours of anxiety, tension, and worries has finally fallen asleep.

5:45 p.m, 7 hours earlier, I was as usual, facing the laptop browsing through news feed. Dazz came inside my room pushing in the door hard and told me to call Peldon. I reached for my phone. 4 miscalls!! No wonder, it was from Peldon. I called back. It was Kinley from the other side. She told me, Peldon’s practical exam is confirmed and she has been placed in Devangere, 300km away from our place  and she has to move the night itself since the exam was to start  just the next day after tomorrow. Peldon called me again the next time. Her voice was shaking, sounded like, she was about to burst into tears anytime. She told me to get ready and pack the required things needed for five days. She was suddenly told by our professor about the exam  which made her panic with anxiety and worry. I was to accompany her along with Kinley. Sanketh came along with us being a protective shield. He told he will get us all settled up properly and will drive back the next night itself. Indians especially the auto drivers, get their nerves up when they see chinky, fair people like us and it is quite unsafe to travel to places in India if we haven’t been before.

At around 5:30 a.m the next day, the dawn had just broken, we smelled the morning freshness of Devangere. The streets were dead silent with no people, we made our way towards Chetana Hotel. We had the rooms reserved. Weary and tired, for four hours then, all of us lied flat on the bed.

Pizzatic omelet...Covered the whole plate.

Buzzing of people and honking sounds of vehicles outside became alive and woke me up. From the balcony of the hotel, I could see the road has finally become the mini Mumbai traffic, autos and cars trying to find way and bikes and scooters squeezing through the small spaces in between. Peldon came knocking inside our room and told us to get ready for we had to find the college where she was to do the exam and get familiar with the labs and equipments. We pushed in one plate of puri each in our belly and a tea. Then we caught an auto to drive us towards the college.

“Sanjeevene College of Paramedical Sciences”, the sign board read, hanged on the wall beside the door of the three storied building. We entered the wide open door, 2-3 dried flower pots were lined up below the window. In an opening, we came into a corridor and against each side was alternative doors with small name board attached above the doors reading “office room”, “Principal”, “Assistant” and finally "staff rooml”. Peldon went inside the Principals chamber while we waited outside. She looked pale when she came back. She said the principal seemed strict and she was worried she would have hard time during exam. She was told to meet the final year B.Sc Lab technology boy who was in the laboratory up in third floor. Just few steps away from the principal’s chamber was a small, cramped stairs leading to second and then third floor. The second floor was dead empty and the corridor seemed like, a white witch would pop out from the doors anytime. Third floor opened into a wide hall like room where chairs were placed and we could hear girls laughing and making noises. Suddenly, the noises seized. It was a classroom. A teacher had just entered the class. Overall, it took me back to my primary school arena and I felt humorously funny watching the grown up college students acting like children.

The one and the only Building.

1st floor

2nd floor. Do you see the white witch there??:P

Sanketh is bored terribly:3rd floor.

Just opposite to the class was the lab. Inside we went and met the final year boy. Peldon had her discussion about the exams, oriented through the equipments placed on the tables. One set of ESR stand, a centrifuge beside, small hot air oven and an analytical balance placed behind it. “Bavana”, a practical record book on the table read. I lifted up and was browsing through it. Soon, a big girl with papers on her hand came inside the lab with a huge smile on her face. She greeted us with gentle smile and introduced herself as being one of the student to do exam. She saw the book on my hand and took it away saying it was hers. Peldon instantly got close with her, asked her about the exams, made uncountable queries. They got acquainted quite well and she was glad she got a nice company. Finally we came outside and got into the auto. Peldon poked through the opening of  the  auto and said “ Bouna, bye, see you tomorrow”. “Bounap yaa, what’s bounap?”, I asked Peldon humorously. Kinley on the other hand, gave a sharp, ear pinching laugh who was sitting beside me. “ Its bouna, her name”. Suddenly I remembered the name on the practical book. “Zai, its  Ba-va-na, not bouna or bounap” I corrected and we drove off laughing out loud.We reached back to hotel. Our stomachs were already grumbling by then. There was a restaurant below. We went inside and got seated on to the family chamber. Mushroom fried rice for two girls, vegetable biriyani for Sanketh and I ordered for vegetable noodles. As we waited for the order to arrive, I could hear the whirling of the fan hanged above our head, children and wives shouting on the other table and an old hindi song was buzzing from old sound box attached on the corner somewhere.

There was no work then, all of us once again drenched into sleep. At 8:30, I went to drop Sanketh till bus station, got the ticket back to Raichur confirmed and came back to hotel where I saw Peldon busy with books and Kinley browsing her mobile lying on the bed. There was four days ahead of us. Peldon had her work to do. Kinley and me, had no idea, how we were going to kill the time.

My time pass in the hotel room. A door sized mirror infront.

Tomorrow at sharp 8 a.m, we reached at the examination centre, wished her luck and soon she disappeared into the lab. For 1 hour, two of us waited outside, talking about usual things. Next one hour, we strolled around the area, terrifying the people around seeing two chinky couple walking almost hand in hand together. I could read their expressions, the way they stared. We came back and waited for another one hour. Peldon came out with satisfying look and she was happy with her performance. Next day was a break for her, so to kill the few more hours of the day, girls insisted to go explore the shopping malls. On the way towards hotel, they saw jeans and shirts hanged on the shops and instantly, I could see excitement on their faces. After lunch, we went from shop to shop. Both of them caught an item each. I just gave a look on shirts but didn’t buy a thing.  We ate up almost all shops, one by one but reached back to hotel tired with only two items that two of them bought earlier. The day ended with few mushroom spring rolls for dinner and three bottles of water. It was one hell of a day, three more days lie ahead. 

Mushroom spring roll.

Second part of the Journey to be continued………..