Your avatar...

Okay, our new site is up and running. And you would have noticed that reading your comments is easier and more enjoyable. That’s because all of you are using usernames. And unique usernames make following comments and discussions easy.

But most of you have not created avatars. Avatars can be photographs (like Abi and I have used) or caricatures or any other picture you think is appropriate to represent you or your mood. They are not necessary. But, like usernames, they’ll make following your discussions lively. They are also fun.

Abi Narayan showed me that easiest way to make an avatar is to use gravatar (for globally recognized avatar). Gravatar is a free service that allows you to use your avatar image in all gravatar-enabled websites including this site. If you’ve already posted a comment, but haven’t yet created an avatar, you’ll see the gravatar logo beside your username. Replace that with your image!

Featured photos...

This website now offers a panel, located immediately above my latest entry, that will feature one photograph every week. I encourage readers to share your photographs, particularly those that tell a story which may be relevant to a particular week.

This week’s picture, of the Druk Wangyal Chortens in Dochu-la, was taken by Lhendup, a photographer with Bhutan Observer. The 108 chortens were commissioned by Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck to commemorate His Majesty the Fouth Druk Gyalpo’s service to the people of Bhutan.

In the background, is the Jigme Singye Wangchuck Range.

Our new address...

Able Abi

Welcome to your new site!

As promised, I’ve added a little bit of colour to this site. And I’ve changed the format slightly to make visiting this blog easier and, hopefully, more meaningful. But the site is not final – it’s work-in-progress. So please let me know what you think of it. And I’ll try to incorporate as many of your views as possible.

Actually my friend, Abi Narayan, will. He’s the one who has put in many hours to improve my earlier boring site. And he’s done it all for free.

Thank you very much, Abi.

Investigating rewards?...

The First Annual Media Award’s prize for Investigative Report of the Year, the award’s most prestigious category, went to Kuensel’s Phuntsho Choden. This came as no surprise. Phuntsho is good. Well done.

But what did come as a surprise was Tenzing Lamsang. I dare say that Tenzing has contributed significantly to the development of a free media in our country since returning to Bhutan after a stint with the Indian Express, one of India’s biggest and most respected newspapers. From politics and government to the civil service and business, he’s covered a lot of ground. And he’s done his share of investigating. He works hard: I’ve seen him in action. And he’s brave: I’ve read his stories. So, by our standards, his work is indeed very good.

Now what surprised me yesterday was not that he didn’t win. But that he wasn’t even nominated for the investigative report category. In fact, Tenzing Lamsang was not nominated in any of the four categories that he had participated in – his name was not mentioned at all yesterday.

I’m shocked. And I’m disappointed.

Media awarded...

14 different prizes were up for grabs during yesterday’s First Annual Media Awards. Of them, I was especially interested in seeing who would bag the prize for the best editorial of the year. Editorials, after all, are important: they express a newspaper’s stand or opinion on issues. And editorials are powerful: many readers, especially in rural Bhutan, accept, without any questions, the opinions expressed in the editorials as the truth.

So who was awarded the prize? The prize was awarded to not one, not two, but three journalists representing the three main newspapers in our country – Kuensel, Bhutan Observer and Bhutan Times.

What does this mean? That the editorials, one from each of our three leading papers, were equally good. Or that the editorials, one from each of our three leading papers, were equally bad. Or that the judges, appointed by and paid for by the government, were guided by considerations other than quality of the editorial.

Government awards media awards...

Today, on World Press Freedom Day, our government organized the first Annual Media Awards. Yes: the government organized the event. This is good, but could also be dangerous.

This is good because our government’s sponsorship of the annual media awards could be seen as support for the media. After all, the government is recognizing and rewarding the best in the media, in spite of the fact that, due to the nature of their jobs, those in the media regularly question, and sometimes even confront the government.

This could be dangerous because the media should not allow the government to decide who among them to recognize and to reward.

So from next year, I hope that the media is able to organize this important event without the government’s involvement. At the very least, the winners would draw much more pride and satisfaction knowing that they were recognized by their peers, and not by judges appointed and paid for by the government.

Star gazing...

Yesterday, our government organized the 8th Film Festival Awards. Our government’s sponsorship of the celebrations is indicative of their support for the movie industry. This is good.

Our movie industry has played an important role in promoting our national language and culture, in generating employment and in providing countless hours of entertainment. I thank them and congratulate them for continuing to take Bhutanese cinema to new heights.

Congratulations to the winners of the 8th film festival awards – you are our stars.

(Till last year the film festival awards were organized through private sponsorship, mainly by the Zimdra Group.)

Happy Teachers’ Day...

Gakiling has only one school, a community primary school. It is in Rangtse, a small, impoverished village located four walking days from the nearest motor road in Haa. Tshering Dorji is its principal.

In 2006, after teaching for about three years in remote schools in Samtse, Lopen Tshering volunteered to go to Rangtse to establish a community primary school. There he met enough children to start the school. And he saw a community eager to build their school. So together, they – farmers, children, and teacher – erected a two-room hut that would become Rangtse’s first classrooms.

Early the following year, 38 children showed up for school. And Lopen Tshering got to work. He taught his students to read and to write, to sing and dance, and to work and play. His first students included a paraplegic and several toddlers in the “pre-school” section. By the end of that year, the school had treated the public of Rangtse to their first ever cultural show. But that was not all: the principal took the show on the road, where his talented students entertained admiring crowds in Sombaykha and in Dorokha.

Today Rangtse CPS has 97 students studying in classes PP through III, many coming from villages that have never had a child attend school. The school now has four teachers including the principal and his wife. And they have a few more huts, some of which are still being built. But that is still not enough. So all the teachers – the principal, his wife, and the two others – live in one room. That room is furnished with three beds and one cupboard.

Lopen Tshering has shown how much can be achieved with so little. He’s built a school from scratch. A school that gives hope. And that provides the only opportunity to escape poverty.

So today, on Teachers’ Day, I want to recognize the hard work that Lopen Tshering Dorji and his teacher friends have put into building Rangtse CPS. And I want to acknowledge the tremendous sacrifices that they have made. And thank them.

I wish Lopen Tshering and his teacher-colleagues throughout our country: A very happy teachers’ day.