karmachoden

Happi Lomba and Hontoe

On 23^rd December, people of Haa were blessed with the visit by His Majesty the King and her Majesty the Queen to celebrate the happi lomba. The lomba is celebrated on the 29^th day of the 10^th month of the Bhutanese calendar. It is the onset of New Year for the Haaps and parops.  Happi Hontoe (dumpling) is the specialty of the day. House hold members compete to eat Hontoe. Hontoe is a special dumpling made of barley flour with ingredients such as dried spinach, turnip, cheese, butter, pepper, red chilly powder, and salt. These days people even mix fresh spinach, cabbage and mix the maida with barley flour. Taste of hontoe differs from one house to another.  It depends entirely on the mixture of the in gredients. The size and shape of the hontoe also differ from one another.

I was reminiscing my childhood on this year’s Lomba. As a young kid back in the village we used to go around singing ‘Lolay’ from one house to another. ‘Lolay’ is a song wishing people happy New Year, good luck, success and happiness for the year. Those days we didn’t understand what we were singing. We did it for the sheer pleasure of it and off course the excitement of getting something in return for singling lolay would add to the charm. Those days most people used to give us in kinds, like hontoe, some meat, rice etc. Few would give in cash and we would vie for that.

I see that this practice has now died in the village. Children no more go around singing lolay. Somehow people have failed to preserve this age old tradition.

A-Z of Wonder Woman

Appreciate the little things in life

Befriend but be cautious

Consult others but take your own decisions

Don’t say ‘yes’ when you have to say ‘no’

Expect less or nothing from others

Forgive and forget. It saves a lot of pains to yourself

Give as good as you get. Don’t let anybody mess up with your life

Humour is essential. Learn to find humour even on a crappy day

Inject fun and pleasure into your life. All work and no play make ‘Jane’ a dull girl

Juggle your way through multitasking. It needs simply will power

Knight in shining armour appears only in fairy tales. Face the reality.

Learn to say ‘no’. It saves lots of stresses

Manage your thoughts and your actions will be taken care of.

Never forget the blessings that come each day

Observe, learn, filter and take in only what is necessary

Put yesterday at the back of your mind. Live for today

Question more but intelligently

Remember to forget the things that made you sad. Let go of the past

Stand your ground when you know you are right

Think positive thoughts all the time. It makes you a better person

Undaunted, Undeterred, Undismayed, Unfazed, are the 4 Us you should possess

Venture out and take the risk. It is worth than not doing anything

Winter is here but spring comes soon after. Be optimistic

Xerox your inner beautiful self on the face. It shows a lot

Yearn not for happiness from outside. Remember it is within you

Zero on the negative thoughts

Hope Springs Eternal

There are times when you feel down

When all the odds are against you

When you feel you are not loved enough

And understood better

There are times when you feel the cash flow is low

When you suffer for even a single pie

When you feel bogged down with financial stress

That makes you feel you are all alone

There are times when you feel betrayed

By friends, brothers, sisters and all

When you see the whole world is nothing but betrayal

That makes you lose trust in others

There are times when you suffer the pain of loss

 Agony of loneliness, fear of the uncertain future

When nothing seems to be right

And everything seems to go wrong

There are times when you feel frustrated with life

And blame god for the fate that you are in

When you feel your prayers are not answered

That makes you lose faith in religion

It is at this time you should look deeply

Into your life and you will find

That hope has not left you

It is when hope is what keeps you going

Ifs…and… Buts…of Life

If only we know what the future has install for us

But we don’t know and can’t predict

If only we know how to live one day at a time

But we don’t live knowing that we can if we try

If only we say the right thing at the right time

But we don’t say  knowing full well that we could

If only we do and act the right thing

But we don’t do and act even when we know we can

If only we have not said and done what shouldn’t be done

But we know we couldn’t have avoided- a human frailties

If only we could appreciate the good that we see in others

But we fail to do attributing to being just a human nature

If only we could all develop positive attitude

But we know we are filled with negative thoughts

If only we could lighten the burden of others

But we won’t even try and we say we can’t

If only we can plant hope on the face of the unprivileged

But we can’t afford to because this is a cruel materialistic world

If only we could make somebody smile just for a while

But we only know how to frown and burden somebody‘s day

If only we could spare some time for the lonely and old

But none would even if we could make their weary day gold

If only we all try to get into somebody’s shoes

But we dare not do that for fear of pinches

If only we could love and get rid of hatred

But our soul is such that it only knows to bear hatred

If only we could be grateful even for a little gesture

But we only gather the little faults and forget the great deeds.

                                                    If only…if only…if only…

But…but…but…

Life is full of ifs and buts

It’s all in our hands how we make a living out of it

Ethics on the road

Every now and then we hear of people discussing on the traffic rules and the right of way. This will be an ongoing discussion throughout no matter how much the RSTA and the traffic police come up with many rules and regulations. It is an issue that will have no answer if our very people who use the road do not heed to traffic rules. Just recently I saw a Tucson run over and throw off a little boy just as the car was nearing the zebra crossing. It is one single incident that I noticed with my naked eyes. There are many hit and run cases we hear on a daily basis both reported and un-reported ones. Speeding cars never seem to take heed of the zebra crossing and at the same time there are also people who think zebra crossing is their right so they take their own sweet time to cross the road. In one incident I saw a car speeding off on fire. This not only poses a risk to the ones in the car it also poses serious threat to the pedestrians.

Then there are cars that splash off water to the pedestrians especially on the rainy days. The victims are mostly school going children. Imagine having to stay in the class for a day soaked in rain water. The speeding cars never take note of the puddles on the road and worst still not being able to empathize with the students.

Honking persistently by the cars behind you especially when you are in the convoy is nerve wrecking. Honking in a residential area is prohibited by law but imagine when somebody can go to the extent of honking early in the morning just in your parking lot.

Round about is a huge confusion. Everyone thinks everyone has the right of way. It’s a matter of who will get into the roundabout first and so everyone tries to do that. it’s like Russel Peter saying, “somebody is going to get real hurt tonight.” But no one knows who is going to get hurt. So is the case while in the round about. The ego of the person behind the wheel plays a huge role here.

In short many people behind the wheels do not practice any driving ethics. Just knowing how to steer the steering wheel and driving on is not adequate enough to be on the road. One should be equally oriented on the rules and regulations and most importantly just follow some civic sense of driving.

If only all of us could practice some simple rule of the thumb of driving, I am sure we can prevent lots of mishaps that are currently taking place in our capital city and elsewhere in the country. We see a lot of fancy graffiti articulately placed on legible sign boards that send out so many messages home. In one of them I saw a graffiti that read, “If you marry speed you will divorce your family”. Another catchy one says, “Speed is like a knife that cuts your life.” Very true but nobody take heeds of these fancy one-liners.