Letter to my best friend

Dear DRUK 11,000,

Good people say that you are the root of evil deeds, I did believe on that statement when I use to be among one of them. Even the ardent Buddhist practitioner has a superstitious belief that drinking alcohol is against the standard norms of Buddhism despite the fact every ritual is incomplete without usage of an alcohol as a DUETSE (blessed holy liquid) but it does have a logic as drunkard people hardly have a good judgmental capacity.

Back at college life, when I use to be among one of the social drinkers I had a good experience of how alcohol alter the character of decent people. As a seldom drinker I use to observe how people act after drinking and found that there are three stages of alcohol intoxication.  Till 35% intoxication of alcohol people enjoy the company of drinkers, they share views on intellectual talks which I find is bit encouraging. When they reach 75% of intoxication level, people start to develop an extra sense about their behaviors and feel themselves insecure about the situation and simply worry about what people around them might think about their drinking characters and finally when people cross 75% of intoxication level they  forget about themselves and tend to act senselessly.  Reviewing the story behind why Buddhist followers are against the consumption of alcohol, I should quote that the pious monk must have reached beyond 75% of intoxication when he slaughtered a goat and slept a night with a young lady, which are against the practice of Buddhist philosophy.          

Clinically it has been proved that consumption of alcohol is injurious to the health and it’s a sort of poison that instantly kills a thousand of consumers around the globe. Despite the tendency of the liver to grow after certain level of damage, chronic alcoholism results in liver cirrhosis which is the cause of ultimate death. 

Down the line few months after getting employed as civil servant, although I was aware of above beliefs and the proven scientific facts, I did drink lot of alcohol. Brand didn't make much difference, as my sole objective of drinking was to have intoxication to get rid of mental disturbances that I was suffering from.  Druk 11000, the only beer brand available in Bhutan after the ban imposed over import of externally manufactured alcohol products dominated my preference followed by the highlander whiskey. 

Though drinking habit was in my hereditary line, I could experience that once you are into alcoholism, the hardly developed good habits easily get wiped away. Prior to drinking habits of mine, I use to have meals in time regularly in spite of my marital status as bachelor and everything use to be with routine. The word called “mess” wasn't in my dictionary until I adopted the habit of drinking.

Druk 11000, I am thankful to you for accompanying me during both the happiest and bad times of me, which I won’t be able to forget you in my life ahead. Being able to hold you was the pride of me. To be with you was the happiest moment of my life. But going away from you will be the deadliest nightmare I will ever have which will haunt me down. Even than I ‘m left with no choices than to go away from you because of my medical condition.

BYE! BYE!   DRUK 11000, hope to be with you in future if my health condition improves and I will miss you.

Yours faithful consumer 

Eye-catching scene from my recent tour

Direct translation - Jamkhar : name of the village , Thuu :  lower part of the female reproductive tract in local dialect. This structure is considered as a sacred place (shrine) and its located facing Jamkhar village on the way to Trashiyangtse. Its  legend is associated with the practice of night hunting  at Jamkhar village and  says that whenever this hole is watery, its confirmed that one's night hunting will be successful. 

Single flag pole with five straight  leading shoot that serves the purpose of hoisting five different color flags which are considered as auspicious in Buddhism ( Tangma chu village, Lhuentse)

Stone that resembles like a giant frog. Except  artificial painting, rest of the structure is natural. (Above Sheree chu, Mongar) 

Trying to know about myself

Scientifically it’s proven that female reach to menopause at the age of 45 which literally means that there will be no birth after 45 years old. But exceptionally I came to this materialistic world when my mother was one year behind to attend golden jubilee in her age. Though I broke one of the universally accepted scientific laws but was not fortunate enough as I was deprived of breast feeding right after few months of my birth. Twenty five years ago, being born to humble family in one of the remotest village of GNH country, currently abundantly seen formula milk and bottle feeding must have been  hardly available to use, so in substitute of breast feeding I was brought up by feeding  with locally brewed alcohol until I got admitted to Pre primary. Sonam Tobgay (Bhutanese translation- Sonam: luck, Tobgay: prosperous) is a name given to me by my grandfather who was by then an abbot of local monastery of our village. Logic behind why I got this particular name was that my grandfather had a perception that I must be a child with lots of luck, since I was delivered when my mother has practically crossed menopause phase of her life and it’s rare to see women giving birth at such age.

Regardless of grandfather’s perception, in reality I was never blessed with so called lady luck. Proper breastfeeding is clinically advised for a child to have sound mentality and physique development but pathetically every day I was fed with more than a litre of alcohol in place of breastfeeding despite my tender age and it was a daily part of my diet until I started my schooling. If I am to go with the approved theory of science lesson which explains the impact of alcohol in tender age children, by now I should say that I am an exceptional scientific specimen surviving against the approved theory without any visible abnormalities. 

When I was approximately three years old, my dear father by then who must have been in mid fifties passed away untimely. Being located in one of the remotest part of the country without accessibility to modern amenities and exposure, villagers lived with full of superstitious beliefs. People believed that my father died due to black magic but in reality recently after consulting with my mother I believe he must have been infected with malarial disease as he was sick right after returning trip  from malaria infested area. Untimely death of him deprived me from experiencing fatherly love and care. In spite of my mother’s agony over losing her dear partner, she had a hard time consolingly me about the death of my father as I always demanded him to be present with me during several occasions. These days, my heartache and cheeks get drenched with rolling  tears when my mother shares me about incidences like sleeping with my father’s Gho (Bhutanese traditional dress for  male) during bed time and demanding to eat in his Bang-chung (container made from woven bamboo used as plate) while serving meals.

Every legal document interprets that I was born in month of December, 1988, a Dragon year which contradicts with my current Bhutanese calendar’s zodiac sign. According to my parents, I was born at the end of Hare (rabbit) year of Bhutanese calendar and I belong to Hare not Dragon. So after doing little home work about my date of birth, according to Bhutanese calendar I came to know that its technically right that I belong to Hare(rabbit) year in 1987 although I was biologically given birth somewhere in the mid of February 1988.  The simple reason behind the confusion is that Bhutanese calendar is always lacking behind by two to three months comparing to widely used Christian calendar.