FB hiatus for the Holy Month.

Hibernation/Hiatus for the duration of this Holy Month starting midnight today from FB. No comment, no blogging , no imparting information or lessons of any kind but I shall continue to read and learn from fb friends. Thank you and hope to communicate again from 2ndweek March.

When did or does Male Fire Monkey Year start in Bhutan?

If you refer to Kuensel issue today you might,  like quire a few others along with Kuensel, assume the Male Fire Monkey Year begins today the 9th of February.  For Chinese and Tibetans the Male Fire Monkey year began yesterday the 8th February. Their Losar fell on 8th February this year a day ahead of Bhutanese.

For Bhutan,  Male Fire Monkey year actually began on the 30th of the Bhutanese 10the Lunar month. In the Dratsang , one week rituals are performed to bid the old year goodbye and for blessing the New Year. The ritual ends on the 29th of the 10th Lunar month with the Lue ( kind of religious effigies ) procession at the end of which the effigies are set on fire. Thus the New Year starts fresh and blessed on the 30th of the 10th Lunar month.

This fact explains why the baby Prince born on 5th February is proclaimed to be born in the Male Fire Monkey Year.

I do not know why the animal sign cycle begins this way in Bhutan. Maybe it is to do with the Bon religion. In my village some ritual associated with Lombo are of Bon culture. Lombo or New year celebration in Haa and Paro Dzobgkhags occurs from 29th of 10th Lunar Month to 1st of 11th Month. Any baby born on and after 30th Lunar Month will be considered to be adopted by the new animal sign.

Traditionally Losar in Bhutan was celebrated by officials. Each Dzongkhag have budget set aside for the celebration. It was considered as the King's New Year. Bhutanese Losar had no significance on the animal sign. General common Bhutanese celebrated their own calendar of New Year the first being Lombo followed by Nyinlo and Chunipai.

Welcome O Great Crown Prince to Your Kingdom, Your People and the Royal Families !

A Star is Born ! And a Dynasty embarks upon a new journey ! The much awaited arrival of His Royal Highness the 5th Wangchuck  Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bhutan has taken Birth yesterday the 5th of Feb., 2016. Great Happiness and Celebrations !

The whole Dragon Nation, the People, the Royal Families and especially the glorious Royal Parents their Majesties the King and Queen can now smile with relief and feel blessed by the Triple Gem and the ChhoeChongs of Pelden Drukpa.

Pelden Drukpa ! Lha Gyal Lo !
Pelden Drukpa ! Gyalsey Gyal Lo!
Pelden Drukpa ! Gyal Lo !

Welcome Your Royal Highness the future  King of Bhutan ! May the Crown Prince light up the good fortune of the Tsawa Sum. Happy Birth Occasion Your Royal Highness ! Welcome to Your Kingdom and the People and the Royal Families !

Well Done Your Majesty the most beautiful Queen of Bhutan ! Enjoy Good Health and Happy Days always. Your Majesty's first and foremost Duty as the Queen on the Dragon Throne has been fulfilled. The glorious Rainbow of the Dragon Kingdom has blessed all of us !

Congratulations to the most Proud and Happy Father His Majesty the King. Thank You Your Majesty for Sharing the Joy with the whole of the Nation.

Congratulations to their Majesties the great grand King and grand Queens, the grand grand Queen, their Royal Highnesses Princes and Princesses, the respected grand Parents and grand grand Parents, all honourable members of extended Royal Family and finally to We the People of forever Sovereign Kingdom of Bhutan !

The Sixth Wangchuck Dynasty King of Bhutan is Born ! May the Crown Prince enjoy great health  and may Peace and Prosperity continue to Bless the Kingdom!

The National Son has taken Birth in the Royal Garden Palace in Thimphu the Capital of Bhutan on Friday the 5th of February, 2016 coinciding with the Bhutanese 27th Day of the 12th Month.

Pelden Drukpa ! Gyalsey Gyal Lo !
Pelden Drukpa ! Gyalsey Gyal Lo !
Pelden Drukpa ! Gyalsey Gyal Lo !

The confusions and divisions that could result from perplexing signals from the Bhutanese Cabinet.

1. Every Minister has adopted two Dzongkhags. That was a public declaration at Pema Gatsel about a month back.

2. Today the Govetnment decision is 4 Cabinet Ministers from the Eastern Region of Bhutan has formed a special Committee to babysit Eastern Dzobgkhags people interests.

2. The Yongfula airport is to develop the East. So not really for overall national connectivity ?

3. The Klongchu hydro project is not a national venture but a eastern Bhutan economic push lobbied by the 4 cabinet Ministers. When was the project conceived?

4. The East West Highway expansion would in reality benefit the whole nation. But it is declared to be built only for the East according to 4 minister task force.

5. The additional schools planned in the East could very well house students from all over Bhutan. But politically these investments are only for the East so declares the 4 minister task force.

In retrospection, maybe the south high ways were deemed to be only for the lhotsampas in the south and therefore was cancelled. I believed the highways would serve the whole national purpose and therefore had lamented the cancellations.

In retrospection, maybe better relationship with China and  embassy level relation with Japan was determined to be only in the interest of Foreign Ministry officials' posting opportunity and so was concluded to be irrelevant. Perhaps a thought about national benefit would have resulted in a much more worldly polity awareness decision.

The people may not speak out or maybe they will speak but only what superiors want to hear. How and what will people of the East, South and West view the 4 cabinet minister committee for the East. In it's endeavour to project a pro East image, the Government is raising the stake in political gamble. Every political party must look after its own welfare and promote future party prospects. However, could confusion and divisions achieve political party goal in a sustainable manner ?

When PDP defeated DPT in 2013 , my comment was that there may be many reasons put forth for DPT loss but ultimately their leadership has to realise that PDP was politically more smart and that PDP President simply played his cards well. A man's outer image may change with transition from opposition leader to the Primeministership but in 3 years duration, he could not have misplaced his political direction. So the political acts till date maybe only represent half the Act. That's why these appear confusing and divisive to me and possibly to some others also. The whole picture would emerge by 2018 !

I respect the diversity of the East, West and South. Also since East have more population and more educated population and more employed population, the migration trend would naturally be more in the East. There are gungtongs in all rural areas of Bhutan and where the migration movement is more, there will be more empty village houses. In Haa Dzongkhag for example all the hill top village settlements have disappeared. The famed Gompas are reduced to just the Temples and that too because Central Monastic Body kindly took over the management. Education, economic opportunity and population integration have changed traditional social fabrics. . In Paro the gem of western Bhutan, the souls that vibrate today  are Sharchops the people from the East. Thimphu Thromde the capital of Bhutan will have major Lhotsampa voters within a decade.

As a Bhutanese, I do not think we need to have special cabinet steering committee for East, West or South. Bhutan belongs to all Bhutanese and so freedom of migration and residency must be respected and comprehended in socio economic plans. The eastern Bhutanese will understand that west-east highway or Klongchu hydro project will not be exclusively theirs to enjoy. In the west, the western people are out numbered by people from the East and South. Exclusivity is unheard of  and not even expected. There are almost 100000 people living in Thimphu Thromde and there are less than 5000 original Wang people voters. A revolution have taken over in the national demography and our political leaders are still stuck in the mud pool of regional politics. A four Cabinet Ministers task force for the Eastern people may serve some purpose if the objective is to consolidate their constituency influence but then four MPs cannot gain a Government. So PDP needs another 5 task force comprising of balance Ministers and other MPs.

By all means, please take development to all corners of the Kingdom but do it in the name of national prosperity and benefit for all Bhutanese. We can get excited about 20 Dzongkhags, several Dungkgags and over 40 proposed Thromdes of various sizes. But reality is that all of Bhutan put together is still a pigmy size compared to the West Bengal State of Republic of India. So dividing Bhutan by region wise, ethnic wise or culture wise cannot sustain long term national goal. The geographic and population size of Bhutan is too small to be divided in such political manner.

Kuensel seems to be panicking on BFF/Zimdra coverage.

Kuensel Headline News on 1st Feb,2016 is Damage Control .  " Investments like BFF's in Zimdra Food is Legal ".

Let's not be concerned about the legality of financial transaction between BFF and Zimdra. Let it be. Legal or illegal what has happened will not be visited by any legal authority.

Just to remove disinformation:

1. Bhutan Football Federation is not a registered company under the Companies Act of Bhutan. So Company Act does not apply.

2. Zimdra Food and Bhutan Football Federation are not listed Companies under Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan. So opinions of RSEB is meaningless.

3. A financial expert especially one who hides his/her name is either non-existing or a fair weather personality. And in any case it is an individual opinion.

Thus Kuensel has quoted no legal or official  authorities in making its Headline assertion. The lengthy writeup is a damage control attempt. A national paper engages in such exercise under pressure.

So young minds in Schools and Colleges should be wary of manipulations by media sources in the process of doing damage control.