How big is our life?

It’s late afternoon in the far-east while the west is still snoring. The African continent has an entirely different climate now and it’s bitterly cold in the tip of Scandinavia. For once I feel myself fixed at the centre of the world. Grandiose news from all across blow through the land, signifying how huge our world is. Oh, the big stuffs we people can make happen.

Yet looking at myself, in a small cosy room, where the only thing constant is the tick of the second hand of my alarm clock, I cannot help wondering how really big our life is...

Four months from the count, 6 bars of soap, 2 toothpaste tubes, 2 bottles of shampoo, a dozen roll of TPs, a bottle of liquid kitchen soap, a bottle of hair oil, 3 litres of cooking oil, 20 bottles of soft drinks...

I have 8 more months to go, and given the trend I have, predictably to use up, 12 bars of soap, 4 toothpaste tubes, 4 bottles of shampoo, 2 dozen rolls of TP, 2 bottles of liquid kitchen soap, 2 bottles of hair oil, 6 litres of cooking oil, 60 bottles of soft drinks...

Is our life eerily quantifiable in terms of little objects? Or am I just over-reacting to the pangs of having to live alone. A world of billions of people and yet we can’t be more lonely than a man cast away in an uninhabited island for years. There is no sense of panic whatsoever, but to live amongst millions of people and feel lonelier still we should thank our grace we have what we call our family and friends back home.

Perhaps the larger number of people in a family of the society you know keeps us from worrying about the little stuffs that matter to us. Life should definitely be larger than what you and I perceive to be. We have too much to ask for and give back in return.

Yet looking at myself, in a small cosy room, where the only thing constant is the tick of the second hand of my alarm clock, I cannot help wondering how really big our life is.

Or is it just as puny as I make it sound...?

What's your New Year Resolution?

A dashing discovery about myself have made me decide not do something I have been doing for the last couple of years. I seem to spend a good amount of energy and waste an equal amount of time drafting a list of resolutions and then enjoy the brunt of never getting any done. That’s why no new year resolutions for 2010.

It feels weird to think this way because follow it or not I have always had a list. Yet I feel free because I need not necessarily burden myself with a list I never follow anyway. It only makes me feel like a criminal for not doing, or just doing the opposite of, what I intend to do. However, such a new-year-resolution freak that I am, I have thought of a few people/body that might want to take up for tryouts because it could help everyone.

Here goes 5 of my random thoughts, in no particular order of merit or consideration;

1. All bloggers should resolve to post at least 2 posts a week (will seem very less for the regular bloggers, but let’s take the lazier counterparts into consideration)

2. Given the galloping pace, Bhutanese couple will have to say ‘No divorce’ in 2010 (hehe, I know you guys will bungle up. It is a fashion most of us cannot do without)

3. MPs should say ‘No Pay Raise’ for 2010 (They will bungle up too)

4. GNH Commission might want to think of another name for their good office (for some reason I still find it weird )

5. Education Ministry might like to squeeze ‘Shakespeare’ back into the school material.

I can go on, but you know how long, boring and nasty a blog can get. Perhaps some of you would like to chip some of your ideas in.

The 3 wise monkeys...not so wise choice (Part 2)

continued...

“I am not just sure if anyone who gave me this thinks I am evil or like a monkey,” he mused.

Evidently, he hadn’t heard much about the 3 wise monkeys. I slowly shifted myself to a safe distance from him so that he or anyone else would not see my face just in case it gave away. I had more to worry about because if he didn’t understand the monkeys he would definitely not understand, and like, what I wrote in the card. Boy, was I glad we were to be anonymous about our gifts! But some of them were proudly proclaiming that the gifts were from them, and in no way was I going to do that. Well, not until I give it a thought and then maybe write to him later and explain my intention, which was in no way running parallel to his thoughts now.

To make matters worse, I suddenly realised he was a German. My worries quadrupled! Just few weeks ago we had a racial fuss in the class where one of the class mates who felt victimised by racism made an outrage by posting several stuffs about Germany’s past history, using words like ‘cruel’ and ‘evil’. Of course this had nothing to do with him or the few other Germans in the class, but it is understandable that if someone talks of Bhutan and I would feel the pinch even if I am not the Bhutanese they are referring to. Thankfully, that was resolved very quickly much to the relief of all of us. But here I was, wretchedly forcing the sunk memories to resurface. Damn!

So you can as well tell now that he had his reasons of self doubt. I can only console myself simply for the mere fact that I wanted to give him something that he could, if interested, keep it with him for the rest of his life, and that all that he was thinking of were outrageously out of the world and never an inch close to my intention. Did I think of him as a monkey? No man! Did I think of him as Evil? Come on, he’s one of the most formal class mates I have been with. I have always appreciated his professionalism and had a deep respect for him. So there I stood, watching him silently and hoping he won’t read the card, because he was found to misunderstand. But that’s the beauty of Murphy’s Law, the thing you don’t want to happen, happens. He read it. If there was a hint of smile of his face then, it was completely gone now. I could see more blood on his face.

I hadn’t thought what I was dragging myself into when I wrote the following;

“Hi (Name),
You are the fourth monkey! So, “Think No Evil!”
Merry Christmas!
Your Secret-Santa”

Let this be a lesson to you all as well. Gifts with intent of humour can back fire when it involves cross-cultures. Now let me sit back and hope he googles up the three monkeys and gets the good meaning. Messing up his Christmas is the last thing I had in mind. Teaches you good to monkey around. Phew!

The 3 wise monkeys... not so wise choice (Part-1)

Great occasions call for great gatherings and great gatherings are always endowed with great presents. I had my good moment today and it came with a nice gift too. Two rather. I received one in the tangible form which I would treasure a lot for at least the next year (I got a very cool Diary for 2010). The second is in intangible form and I would treasure it for the rest of my life, and perhaps my sharing this will be helpful to you too.

Well, before breaking off for the Christmas holidays we had agreed to have a nice Christmas get-together. The class came up with the wonderful idea of playing Secret-Santa; where we pick a name of one of our classmates from a lucky-dip box and then buy a gift worth 50 Kroner (can be more) and give it to him/her during the lunch gathering. Of course during the whole process it is kept a secret because we secretly dump our presents on a table when no one is looking and then the co-ordinator calls each of our names to open our gifts.

I roamed two days around Copenhagen looking for a gift for the person I had picked up. Think as I might I could not zero on a gift that would be funny (which was the actual theme; a gift with a sense of humour) and at the same time which I wanted that person to cherish for a good length of time. You would think 50 Kroner is less, but I think we can get a decent gift if I talk in Bhutanese monetary terms (roughly Nu 500). Just as I thought my second day hunt was in vain too, I chanced upon a stall selling small and beautiful artefacts. There, among many, I spotted the three wise monkeys and I let out a huge sigh of relief. I had finally found the gift!

The seller snatched 60 Kroner (say Nu 600) from me but I was happy nonetheless. Getting to my room I scribbled a Christmas note on a card and lo, all set. I didn’t give a second thought then, but has got a thousand running now. You should have seen his face at the gathering when my class mate opened his gift from me. The first expression on him was self doubt. Of course he made it known by saying it loud.

“I don’t know what this means, someone explain it to me.”

Not many seemed to know, but a friend barged in and talked about how cool it was and that the monkeys inform us about, “Seeing No Evil, Hearing No Evil, and Speaking No Evil.” He was even more confused now.

“So he thinks I am evil?”

“No, no, no,” some of them spoke in unison. “This is a nice gift.”

I was standing there beside him all the time, acting equally surprised by the gift and asking him what he got. He was the most confused man I had ever seen in my life, at that moment. He was not so sure how he should react. But I could tell he was flustered and did not think of the present very well.

(to be continued...)

Miss Blogging

Yoo hoo, guys, surprise, surprise! How have you all been keeping? Or do I have a reader at all, now that I disappeared into thin air and seemed never to return? Anyway, it always feels homely to be back and be able to know that you have all the time in the world to write things you want to and not feel obligated or fear the consequences of being graded, and being graded low at that (which would hint I have failed miserably).

Blogging, believe you me, is a lot easier than actually writing for exams. I don’t have to worry about negative or non-constructive feedback. If he or she thinks badly of my article(s) then it’s probably because he or she has a poor taste of readership or has a brain tinier than the tiniest bugs around. But damn, I do not have the luxury of enjoying the same muse with regard to the academic papers I write. If the teachers think I suck then I am doomed, despite their poor sense of judgement and yet again the tiny brains housed inside their guiness-record-breaking thick skulls.

Okay, forgive my stupid thought. Was just checking my voice-box. You know a singer’s voice is always rusty when he sings again after a long gap. Or how a car sputters when turned on after days of non-use. Talk about crankiness and I need to work on my page too. Give a face lift perhaps. But I suck at creativity! Still not an excuse enough not to try. Yet I ‘ll suffice myself by what my teachers have taught me from the time I could distinguish words; “Never judge a book by its cover.” Phew, more and more excuses. If excuses were drops of water mine would put the pacific to shame.

Now the good news is there are loads of good blogs my friends are following and I am beginning to enjoy them. It’s cherishing to read these enriching blogs and we are surely in for a great treat. A shame I ever missed that treat.

Whew, okay, that was not very hard to blab! And to say, some think blogging is really hard! HaHa.