Culture and Youth of Bhutan

Hidden in the folds of Himalayas, Bhutan is an extraordinary country. Her valley so beautiful comprising of the rolling hills, dense forest, and deep valleys steeped in Buddhist tradition and culture. Bhutanese culture is intrinsic and aboriginal. Culture is the beliefs, values, behaviours and material objects shared by particular people. Bhutan is best known to the outside world through its rich and unique culture heritage. This is a gift passed on from generation to generation.

source: SARYN

With the passage of time, developmental activities in this hidden paradise have opened a new chapter. The lives of the people became more comfortable and tranquil. People are also developing new habits and their mentality had also altered and ultimately it leads to the change in the culture of our country. Amongst those people are the youths, who enjoy the luxury and comforts of the materialistic world. Modernization encouraged our youths to cope up with the changed way of the life. The youths and culture of our country are becoming contradictory. The youths are showing love towards western culture and adopting them, which today they associate with modernity. Our rich culture of Buddhist values are slowly giving way to the Hollywood and Bollywood culture.

While Bhutanese culture like Dzongs, architectural styles, games like archery and many others upsurge in fame worldwide because of its uniqueness, our non-material culture, i.e., values and beliefs,(our belief in local deities and faith in religion) language, songs and dances etc… seems to be diminishing in its popularity. Why? Because youths are not bothered. It is indeed very sad to learn that in this stage we hardly see youths speaking our own languages fluently. When observe them speaking our language, they at least use one foreign word in every sentence. Mixed languages have now become a nuisance. When inquired, our parents proudly says that they wore only our national dress in every field of work and every time but now, our beautiful costumes are neglected and youths prefer baggy pants and shirts, chains and bangles over their wrist, and earrings and bear long dyed hairs even by the boys. The boots measures twice their feet and bodies all painted or scratched with disgusting designs of tattoos. Is all these Bhutanese culture? These are not the aboriginal Bhutanese culture.

Drukyul is filled with hospitable man, who embodies love to all sentient beings, have loyalty and devotion to their motherland and possess a great faith in religion. Festivals were part of their life, from where they learn lots of good ethics, but youths of today are out of that vicinity. Given a choice between visiting a monastery and a discotheque, they would prefer the later. The former is ignored. Their lack of interest in our fabulous festivals and enchanting places cause deterioration and lost of its values. Actually the culture in which the youths are now stepping in are the much traveled path of barbarism where lives began with illusions.

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The youths of today betray the belief that unseen spirits live everywhere- in earth and on trees, skies and water, rocks, forests and valleys and even in the ground under our feet, taking advantage of the bilateral factual scientific beliefs. In reality our own convictions in just mentioned perspectives are the source of peace and prosperity because when we fail to respect them or annoy them, they punish us with disastrous natural calamities causing great loss and bereavement. Moreover those beliefs have helped Bhutanese to preserve the country’s ecosystem and bio-network, offers landscape which is one of the biodiversity hotspots. The culture and natural heritage is the only asset of the nation and their preservation and conservation is one of the main pillars of fulfilling his majesty fourth kings’ philosophy of Gross National Happiness.

We the youths of today are the future leaders and citizens of the country. We need to pass down to our younger generations, the rich cultural heritage which was gifted to us by our forefathers. Time teaches us the desires, ambitions and dreams that grow up before we realize it, but let’s not blame the modernization for ourselves losing our culture. It is indeed our scandalous behaviour which leads to happen so. While promotion of these traditional values is the responsibility of every government agency and every citizen of the country, sole responsibility lies in the hands of the youths.

The value so called “Tha Damtse” the collective meaning for various values such as loyalty, gratitude, and unity, and “Lay Jumdrel,” the consequences of our thoughts and perform the sacred duty of rekindling the dying ambers of culture and tradition, thus to promote them so that in the process of modernization these values and national identities are not lost. This is one way of epitomizing our inner thoughts to the outside world. Let’s take care of every second so that hours can be cared by themselves, through the practice of values which are taught to us by our gracious teachers through physical education, career education, value education, etc.., so that the sun of peace and prosperity will shine till eternity in this land of Mystic Splendour.

The Last Lecture.

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”

—Randy Pausch

The book titled The Last Lecture is written by Randy Pausch based on an upbeat lecture titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" giving by himself on September 18, 2007, at Carnegie Mellon. Now why it was his last lecture? Only because Randy was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and that his stay with his beloved wife and three children in this world was numbered few months. Indeed I have read this book last year so my low capacity hard disk in the mean time became corrupt and forgot almost everything except the fact that the book is encouraging for we youngsters to seek our dream, when he writes “An injured Lion still wants to Roar.”

Author Randy.

When Pausch,  a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon was asked to give one such Lectures, it was not about dying though he was fighting with deadly cancer. Rather he recollected all his memoirs and presented in such a way that he could leave the message to his children the advices, which he would give after some twenty years. But for the father who cant wait any longer to give such an advice, he took that platform as a privilege to leave his message. through out his lecture he shares how he lived his life, what situations inspired him to do what? Where he learnt what lessons? et al.., therefore the  lecture was more about the Art of Living.

Literally speaking his first chapter titled An Injured Lion still wants to Roar doesnot deal about how we have to deal the situations in achieving our dreams but he writes how he managed to prepare the presentation slides for his last lecture though his health was really deteriorating. This particular title itself is an inspiration for me to strive towards achieving our dreams despite the adversities.

Randys source of inspiration to dream big as I judge: “Man first walked on the moon during the summer of 1969, when i was just eight years old. I knew then that pretty much anything was possible. It was as if all of us, all over the world, had been given permission to dream big dreams.” 

If you wait long enough, people will surprise and impress you.” Randy was reminded by a friend of how we should look for the best in everybody. We do believe that first impression is the best impression but not in all the instances. In certain situations, as laid down by Randy, I feel that we have to wait long enough to discover the good side of the people next to us. After all every stern leader possess an empathetic nature as well.

The Book.

After learning that his video was watched by millions worldwide on YouTube, he made the following remark; “I am flattered and embarrassed by all the recent attention to my "Last Lecture." I am told that, including abridged versions, over six million people have viewed the lecture online. The lecture really was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful. But rest assured; I'm hardly unique. Send your kids to Carnegie Mellon and the other professors here will teach them valuable life lessons long after I'm gone.”   

Besides his book, was labeled Number One Best Seller on New York Times. Combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence, Pausch, in this book has made his his lecture such a phenomenon. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

Pausch died of complications from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008 at the age of 47.

The Norms of Life.

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Kindness, the sweetest of all language
Is seen by blind and heard by deaf.
Insult not to others, for this is a luggage
Neither man could carry, nor could he bear.

Negligence; with desolation at infancy,
Is life’s hateful enemy; to have a prosperous living,
Exuberant one should be. And to attain ecstasy,
Yeah, what we need is self believing.

When things go wrong, as sometimes they will,
Abandon not but try hard with good notion.
Nourish the conscience, as failure builds skill
Then go on- there lies the path to perfection.

Easily we can conquer the obstacles,
If target is set with determination.
Outstanding result awaits like miracles.
Only if we stick to norms of our life.

Being Blessed and Lucky

Floating above a mighty lake is a yoke with a single hole. The ebb and flow of waves as and when breeze swirls, it takes the yoke from one corner of the lake to another and never did it remain static. At the bottom of the lake dwelled a turtle, which live an eternal life but with both the eyes blind. By karmic virtue, the turtle has the opportunity to come up to the surface of lake to sense the light once in every hundred years, but the probability of turtle to fit in the hole of the floating yoke is so rare. Such examples are cited in Buddhist texts to relate how difficult it is to be born as a human being. So having born as the human in this beautiful world, aren’t we the luckiest person in this world? 

There are many people who are crippled and handicapped, with eyes blind, legs lame, vocally dumb, mentally psychiatric, and the list goes on. Though lucky to be a human, yet they are so unfortunate that they cannot sense the true beauty of the world in which they live. Their lives are shrouded in the clouds of ignorance and even if a beautiful rainbow is casted on the clouds, they neither can feel the splendor, nor sense the pleasure. Having blessed without impaired physique and with ideal mentality, we can enjoy every glitz of glamour, face every bits of obstacles, and pave our own path towards the destiny. What more qualities should we possess to be the luckiest?

Yet there are those ill fated kids, who get conceived in their mother’s womb but fails to see the light. While many children die soon after birth, many more are killed by their own mother through abortion, thus not only depriving their child to come in this world and seek their destiny but also risking their own life. Furthermore, there are instances where many children are abandoned by their parents and land up in slavery or doing odd jobs. Some children even don’t have a privilege to live with the gender they are fertilized with when their greedy parents alter the sex, what a disgust. But lucky are we, being the original self, born and brought up by affectionate parents, cared and loved by loving relatives, and surrounded by network of trustworthy friendship. 

Meanwhile many people breathe their last at such a tender age, and have to leave this world. Every nook and cranny of the world is insecure, the air, the water, the land. A crash of plane leaves the entire passenger charred. Derailment of trains kills and cripples thousands. Road accidents cause more havoc. I cannot tolerate to hear such dreadful news about explosionsand bomb blasts killing many innocent people every now and then. Where is the secure place when a dog bites ones leg while walking down the footpath, only to get infected with rabies followed by death. Hearing and looking in such cases there is nothing I can do but to pray for those who deceased and condemn the situation, though of no help. But we are blessed not having to face such fateful incidents. 

The greatest pride in me is being the son of Palden Drukpa,

 “Where the mind is without fear and head is held high,

Where knowledge is free,” - RabindranathTagore.

Where divine king blesses his subjects with utmost care,

Where benevolent leaders guide the nation towards path of perfection,

Where citizens enjoy equal rights without partitions and fragmentations,

Where Gross National Happiness echoes from the corner of every valley,

Where Buddhism roots deeper for enlightening every soul,

 And where the sun of peace and prosperity will shine till eternity. 

Murder 2.

So in order to relieve from those woes, to alleviate the mental despairs of anguish grief, and to regain the lost sense of humanness (reference to the last poem), I along with my friends and few localites planned to go for an outing. This time the six-lane road widening project has caused lots of devastation as well. Initially there were lots of trees by the roadside which provides us with refreshing shades as we move by Auto Rickshaws. But no more now. Besides I could see group of local dwellers with axe and hatchets chopping every single piece of stump available on the roadside like wolfs tearing off the innards of their kill. Indeed it’s a good sign because this calls for the judicious utilization of the limited resource they have. 

So in the summer sun of scorching nature, with temperature as high as 40 degree Celsius, we dared to move out and directed towards a recently opened Glitz cinema in the main city. The film was to start at 10:30 am but the lethargic nature of few colleagues made us late by fifteen minutes. Damn it! This is something I do not like for I sticks so much to time. The rate was high with each ticket costing 150 Bucks, a total that the striving rickshaw paddlers won’t fetch a day, but we finish it for a two hour long entertainment.  

Climbing up by the escalators and lift to the seventh floor, entering the Glitz Multiplex for the first time was kindda thrill comparing to watching “Three Idiots” couple of years ago in a suffocating ordinary cinema hall. Watching Avatar in Eilex was a cosy and superb one though. More thrill as the scenes on the wide screen featured the sensual and exciting scene between the Arjun and Priya, no sooner we got seated. 

The film, like every Bollywood exhibits the true but disheartening incidents that happen in some parts of the Indian subcontinent. Arjun Bhagwat (Emraan Hashmi), who plays a former cop, makes his living by doing odd jobs for the gangsters of Goa. Whether he believes in god or not but regularly, he visits the church to donate money for the orphans so we can call him the Robin Hood of Goa.

Priya (Jacqueline Fernandez) who's in love with Arjun is a models for sleazy magazines, which is why we can see her shedding some part of her cloths, showing the viewers her erogenous zones. Such scenes, whether call it either unpleasant or erotic but the viewers seems overjoyed as they welcome it with applauses. She speaks less but whenever she tries her eloquence, her dialogues are lost inside Arjun's mouth as he indulges her in one smooch after another.

What brings more thrill and scream is a psycho-killer, Dheeraj Pandey (Prashant Narayan) who became an eunuch cross-dresses himself woman in the event of his task in killing the call girls and prostitutes. His procedures is simple, change himself into a witch like woman, sings a melodious hymn, and with his hatchet compels his prey to scream so that he can record it before chopping into pieces and disposing off in the pits.

Now the duty to trace several prostitutes, who have almost vanished in thin air falls on Arjun, because the police is not keen to rake up the issue of the missing girls for fear of media backlash. Arjun is compelled to leave Priya. Somehow, Arjun suspected Dheeraj as the culprit behind such mystery but he is required to prove with clue and evidence. Dheeraj having caught by Arjun, takes to the police custody where he confessed to his sinister deeds but his neurotic nature saves him. 

Police: Tell me about where you are from and where you live?

Dheeraj: Hmm. I have a brain tumor so I couldn’t recollect where I am from and where I live.

Police: Ok, so you don’t know your address also. Then with whom do you live.

Dheeraj: Ok, I live with my uncle who is somewhere else now.

Police: What’s your uncles name?

Dheeraj: Oh, he got such a unique name. Wait let me remember. Ahh,,, I forgot it. Actually once he wrote his name in my diary pad but for now i have left the diary at home, the address of which I don’t remember.

Through an intricate mixture of dramas and suspense, with unexpected twists and distressing violence, finally the climax is reached when Priya was called for the a photo session by Dheeraj not knowing she is going to breathe her last. But somehow fate drags Arjun to Dheeraj's home before Priya did, where Arjun discovers the secrets thus revealing the fact that Dheeraj is the serial killer.

The movies as the title suggests spats lots of blood on the screen, and the screams really raise our adrenaline rush, thus relieving us from our daily customary woe and cries, or your hectic days, let me say.

Murder 2, A Bollywood movie directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Mahesh Bhatt, starring Imran Hashmi and Jacqueline Ferndez is rated 3 / 5.

Photo Courtesy: http://boxoffice9.com/gallery/Bollywood-Movie-Gallery/Bollywood-Movie-Stills/Murder-2