There is still that love of being part of something permanent.

Perhaps you might like to enjoy a story related to rural life.

The last 9 days from 13th to 21st September,  I was physically engaged in finishing a humble but very necessary and immensely useful cowshed complete with a fireplace room  to heat cow feed, a store room to stock dry grass, a bigger storage for dry pine needles for bedding the cows and another shed to store left over timber and firewood stock. And yes another important feature the electrification as most cow feeding and milking chores are done late evening after finishing field works in addition to early morning similar chores before field works. So electric light is a boon.

The stone walls and roofing structure  timbers were ready by the 13th. I just reached my village ( Haa Wangtsa ) to help with the roofing and other partition works. CGI sheet roofing is simple if roofing structure frames are done right. So Thursday afternoon ( morning I was driving from Thimphu to Haa )  and Friday morning was devoted to helping and directing in framing  roof structures and in the afternoon the actual roofing was done. Roofing is always done on a Friday which is considered natural calamity proof like fire and flood.

Saturday was Primary Election voting day, So I began the electrification work in the morning as Saturday is generally considered a fire day as Sunday is for water connection and plumbing. But plumbing is not required and water connection was already there for the old semi- permanent cowshed which had to be dismantled as wooden  pillars were giving way and a permanent structure build in its place. With electrification half done, the afternoon was voting time and getting few hardwares from the town.

Evening of polling day was solemn as result was read out by BBS anchors and PDP Party along with a 2nd term opportunity for Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay from Haa was eliminated. Unfortunate it was but not all hope is lost and 2023 looked promising for PDP Party. The 1st son of democratic  Haa had managed to establish grassroot foundation for his PDP Party nation wide. And on the whole the consolation was that Haa stood by the Prime Minister along with majority of rural voters nation wide.

The Valley of Haa and its people had always stood for the King and Prime Ministers from Haa. The first legendary Prime Minister was Honourable Jigme Palden Dorji who enjoyed an incredible relationship with the people of Haa. He was the one who handed over Haa Dzong to Imtrat for temporary use. And if his life had not been cut short in 1964 by assassin bullets, the Dzong would have been returned to Haaps and Haa Valley would today be a far more developed and a flourishing modern trade route between Bhutan and Tibet China. Alas! History is hard to foretell and great vision remains a dream like a bridge too far away to cross.  I have often wondered if someone else will rise to fulfill the  dream. Then another Prime Minister with similar first name was on the political track to achieve the dream but unfortunately he too was felled by  bullets not metal but political India fashioned bullets  in 2013.    

Now getting back to the cowshed. It took me and the house wife few more days to get all facilities done for the new cowshed but it was done ultimately.  BPC rules requires a licensed house wiring personnel to do the electrical  wiring.  That is understandable so I got such a person to review the electrification works in the evening. He was engaged in mask dance during day at Haa Tsechu.  He was satisfied and kindly provided a copy of his licence to be submitted to BPC Office. I still wonder why BPC also required a Thram copy and CID copy of the Thram holder. Perhaps BPC is wary of alien cowshed owners requesting for new electrical connection from earth.

There are two shops with photo copy service.  One opened by 8: 30 am for business but  did not have the photocopy machine in working condition. The other I was told will open for business around 10am. Luckily a businessman  friend had a small photocopy machine at his home. Thus on 20th the first working day after Haa Tsechu, I was able to make necessary cash deposit with all documents for a new electricity connection with BPC office in Haa.  The BPC man came to the site  and he was quite happy with the long sturdy  wooden ladder I had fashioned for him to reach the top of the high electrical line  pole. He also checked the electrical  wiring insulation and earthing connection. He seemed satisfied and hurrah now a permanent electricity line connection has been provided.

The long ladder was dismantled again as I needed the long poles as rafters for the fire wood shed. The cows were moved in to the new shed on the auspicious evening of Friday the 21st September. Hope the cows found it comfortable. I found that the old enthusiasm for doing something worthwhile in the village  is still there but physically it gets more exhausting. An urban  deskman is better off thinking, planning and writing than hammering or sawing as required during construction. But life has variety and colours and thats why every day is interestingly lively.