Sangay Dorji is one person who does have good sense of civic responsibility. I chanced upon him fixing potholes on the road to Dechhenchholing. He collected soft rock, gravel and mud from a nearby landslide to fill the larger potholes. And within minutes, even before he was finished, vehicles started plying on the repaired side of the road.

Sangay Dorji, who lives in Dechhenchholing, drives a taxi on the weekends. He decided that he didn’t need to keep driving on a certain rough patch when he spotted a small landslide above the road. He’s already filled the potholes with mud and gravel several times. Similarly he keeps fixing the uneven – and dangerous – offset at one end of the Dechhenchholing bridge.

Here’s Sangay Dorji – a role model – in action.

A winner

Almost 200 of you took part in the poll to decide who would be our sportsperson of the year. Thank you for voting. And thank you for your many comments. I closed the poll at midnight on the last day of January.

The race was close. Ugyen Yoeser (cycling) and Devika Darjee (cricket) ran neck and neck in our informal competition. Eventually Devika won, but by barely a whisker – she secured 55 votes against Ugyen’s 53.

Devika Darjee was the only lady among my nominees for the sportsperson of 2010. She beat nine men to the top spot. Congratulations.

Devika wins Nu 25,000. She should contact me by email to claim her prize.

The prize money comes from the Nu 200,000 I collected for completing the Tour of the Dragon, a bicycle race from Bumthang to Thimphu. All of it is being spent on social work, especially to promote sports.

 Photo credit: Kuensel

Shebji

Shebji is Sombaykha’s northernmost village. And, civil servants, especially Dzongkhag officials, traveling to Sombaykha normally spend a night in there. After walking continuously downhill from Tergola (at about 4000 meters) through alpine meadows, giant rhododendron forests, and subtropical jungle to Shebji (about 1500 meters), most travelers are happy to rest their tired knees in this little hamlet.

Now, in accordance with our age-old traditions also still practiced throughout rural Bhutan, travelers can choose to eat and drink, rest and sleep in any one of Shebji’s eight houses. Each one of them would feel honoured and very happy to offer their hospitality to any traveler, even if the traveler was not known to them.

Most civil servants choose to rest in Aum Kunzang’s home. Aum Kunzang and her husband, Ap Kinely, who served as a Mang-gi Ap at one time, happily welcome all of them to their two-storied farmhouse and offer them their best tea, food, ara, and bedding. They have a constant stream of visitors to entertain – two to three groups every week during the winter months, some traveling to Sombaykha, others returning to Haa. Yet they don’t charge a thing. There’s no price attached, or expected, for their generous services. And, it would be downright rude to enquire.

So how do they manage? Another tradition allows travelers to gift a little something – in kind or in cash – as a token of their appreciation to their hosts. Naturally, the hosts always refuse. But, if their guests exercise a little determination, they have no option but to accept.

Aum Kunzang’s guests always leave a gift for her. Those “gifts” more than cover her expenses. In fact, she’s embarrassed that she makes a tidy profit from her hospitality – hospitality that she charges nothing for.

GNH and business, not mutually exclusive.

Dr Chencho’s project has won. Dr Chencho is an Ashoka Changemaker! Well done!

Lighting candles

Dr Sanga Dorji, Chief Physiotherapist, JDWNR Hospital, on 3 December 2009, at Hotel Taj addressing his guests who had come together to celebrate International Day for Persons with Disabilities:

Honorable Tshogpon, Honorable Lyonpos, Honorable leader of the Opposition, Honorable Thrizin of the National Council, Honorable members of the Parliament, Representatives of the International Organizations, Dashos, Leaders of the Business communities, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen …

Dr Sanga’s introductory words were ordinary – this, in fact, is how almost every speech for almost every official occasion in Thimphu begins. But he said it with passion, and great satisfaction.  For him, every one of those words was profound. The words meant that he and the growing community of people with disabilities had come a long way in the twelve months since they celebrated International Day for Persons with Disabilities in 2008.

During the celebrations last year, the Government was noticeably absent. But this year’s event was well attended. Ministers, civil servants, parliamentarians, private businesses, NGOs and international organisations had turned up in full force to celebrate the lives of people with disabilities.

This week’s banner celebrates people with disabilities. It features our special people showing of their abilities, from embroidery and cakes by Draktsho to demonstrations and lessons on how the blind and the deaf communicate.

Now back to Dr Sanga. Many of us wondered if he’d ever get married. He did, in 2008, after completing a master’s degree in Rehab Medicine. Dr Sanga is a loving husband and a proud father of a four-month old daughter. He is also an accomplished professional.

I interviewed Dr Sanga recently.

Dr Sanga, please me a little about yourself.

Well … I grew up in Bemji, my village in Trongsa. When I was six years old I remember helping my parents in our farm and looking after our cattle. I had no problems with my vision, and like all other boys was enjoying life in Bemji. Those days most parents didn’t send their children to school, so I knew that I wouldn’t have to leave my home for a long time.

But when I turned eight, I started losing my sight, and in a matter of six months I became completely blind. I was confused and in shock. When I turned ten, my mother bought me to Thimphu Hospital to see if I could be cured.

The doctors in Thimphu told me that I had become blind because I did not have enough Vitamin A. They also told me that I would never regain my sight. Dr Samdrup, who was the Superintendent of the hospital then, reported my case to HRH Prince Namgyel Wangchuck who sent me to the Blind School in Khaling.

So, actually, I would not have attended school if I did not become blind! In many ways becoming blind was a blessing in disguise. Of course, there are many disadvantages in being blind, but then, a lot of good has come out of it too.

You are Bhutan’s foremost physiotherapist. How did you choose this profession?

By the time I reached Class 6, I started thinking about a career. I may have been blind, but I was wanted to become a professional and to be independent. So I asked my principal, Mr Philip Holmberg, what blind people did in the West. He told me that the three most successful careers for blind people were lawyers, professors and physiotherapists. I immediately knew what I wanted to become. You see, as a child, I used to suffer from frequent toothaches, and I had to go to the hospital a lot. So, at quite an early age, I wanted to work in a hospital, and I realized that physiotherapy would allow me to do just that.

I studied till Class 8 in the Blind School. Then I studied for two years in Khaling High School. After that I worked in the Department of Education, mostly attending to telephone calls. I would also go to the hospital to observe the physiotherapist, a Burmese doctor, at work.

In 1989, I got a scholarship from the Royal Government to study in London. I studied for two years, and then trained as a physiotherapist for four years.

As Bhutan’s first physiotherapist, did you build the whole programme yourself?

In some ways, I suppose I did. But I also got a lot of support from my colleagues, especially from physio-technicians, some of who were very helpful. Also, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup was the health minister at that time. Lyonpo Sangay gave me a lot of practical support, and was very helpful in expanding the physiotherapy services to the districts.

Are you happy with your work?

Oh, I’m very happy. I find my work enjoyable. I mainly do clinical work, but I also teach regularly. And, since I am the head of the physiotherapy department, I have to do some management work too.

I meet a lot of people in my line of work. And I enjoy that. I get to meet people from different professions and different backgrounds. And, when you interact with them you get to know the good things in their lives, but also their personal difficulties.

Who are your role models?

I have many role models. But, as a visually impaired person, the person who has inspired me the most, and who I look up to is Helen Keller. Although Helen Keller was born with multi-disabilities (she was blind, deaf and dumb) she received an education and succeeded in life. She authored many books that have inspired countless people, especially people with disabilities.

Helen Keller has given us many proverbs. I enjoy them a lot. My favourite proverb is “Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”. I agree with that completely. Cursing the dark will give us no light. But lighting a candle will surely provide us an alternative.

I hear you like to trek. Tell me how you trek, with whom, where and how often.

Yes, I love trekking. I trek with a good group of friends including doctors, physio-technicians and civil servants. I coordinate the treks. We generally do about two treks a year, one in the spring and one in the autumn.

Of course, I need a “sighted guide” to lend me an elbow. I just follow the guide and my friends.

I enjoy being in the forests, and in our mountains. I love to sit by the bon fire, free of all other noises in the wild. I feel at peace and enjoy the freshness in the mountains.

My most adventurous trek was the pilgrimage to Singye Dzong in 2004. We walked for three days to get there, and three days to get back. We camped for five days in Singye Dzong visiting all the sacred sites.

My favourite trek is to Dagala. It’s not too tough and there are plenty of lovely lakes. I went in October, so the weather was perfect at that time.

What are your other interests?

I enjoy listening to every thing – radio, TV, cassette player and the like. Mostly, I listen to news and current affairs. I also listen to stories.

What do you think about support for people with disabilities in Bhutan?

Things have improved, but a lot more needs to be done. Infrastructure and services have to be made more accessible, especially for people in wheel chairs.

We had to have the International Day for People with Disabilities in Hotel Taj. It was expensive, but it is the only hotel that was accessible for people in wheel chairs. We explored many hotels, but they were either too small or were not accessible for wheel chairs.

Our hotels as business must look into it, not just for people with disabilities, but for other people as well. For instance, many tourists visit Bhutan, and some of them are old people who may have difficulty in climbing stairs or may even need wheel chairs. Making the hotels accessible will benefit such tourists as well as local disabled persons.

Also, our policies should not be to develop something just for disabled people. Whatever we build, we must build for the use of all people, disabled and non-disabled.

Have you considered joining politics?

[Laughing] I’m so happy with my current life that I don’t think of anything else.

Mountain bikers

I’ve recently started cycling again. So I was happy to bump into Kuenga Wangchuk, Pasang, Singye Tshering, Amier Mongar and Nima Palden. Kuenga is a bike technician with Yu Druk, a tour company that specializes in and promotes cycling in Bhutan. Pasang owns a tour company, Singye and Nima are guides, and Amier is a bar tender at Bhutan Suites.

The five friends bike together as often as possible, but at least every weekend. Most of their routes are around Thimphu. To Tango Monastery, for example. Or to Kuenselphodrang. And, sometimes, to Sangaygang from where there’s a lovely 5 km biking trail that runs through the beautiful forests and passes by Wangditse and Choekortse.

Yesterday, I met them in Shaba, as they cycled from Thimphu to Paro, where they would have lunch, before heading back to Thimphu.

They said that they might let me ride with them. So, I’m already looking forward to the coming weekends.

I enjoyed Aum Sonam’s cooking thoroughly. It was clean, wholesome and traditional. So I asked her if she would be willing to make lunch for other travelers between Bumthang and Mongar or Trashigang. Her answer was “yes!” quickly qualified by “but they should call me first”.

Her farmhouse is located among Thidanbi’s bucolic paddy fields about five kilometres uphill from Lingmithang. It’s a natural lunch stop when traveling from Bumthang to Mongar, or from Trashigang to Bumthang. If you want to try Aum Sonam’s food, telephone her at 1770-1287 or her husband, Thinley Namgay, at 1764-4057.

I’m quite certain that tourists would also enjoy a visit to Aum Sonam’s. Besides cooking lunch and brewing tea, she could be easily be distilling ara, frying zao, or pounding tsip, all traditional activities that more of our tourists would want to see.

I already know where we’ll have lunch on our way back.

Ap Kaila

I’m in Bumthang en route to Eastern Bhutan. And, like most public servants passing through Bumthang, I’m staying at Kaila’s Guest House.

Kaila Tamang, originally from Katmandu, came to Bhutan in 1969 to cook for Fritz Maurer, a Swiss cheese-maker. He worked for Mr Maurer in Sha Gogona and in Chamkhar before joining the logging center at Lamai Goenpa as the head cook.

When, in 1984, Mr Maurer built the Swiss Guest House, Kaila was recruited to manage the guest house. He worked there for 10 years till, in 1994, he bought an acre of land in Chamkhar (for Nu 20,000).  In 1995, he built the original guest house (which was destroyed by fire in 2003), and started operations a year later.

Kaila’s Guest House is a family-run business. Aum Choenzom, his wife, their sons and their wives run the guest house entirely on their own. That’s why the guest house is so warm and homely. That’s why the food is so good. And that’s why Kaila’s is favoured by tourists, expatriates and locals.

Active Nopkin

Is this site too serious? Do I complain too much? Does my writing lack style? Am I boring?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you should visit Nopkin.com. There you’ll find a good supply of exciting stories and funny jokes, all contributed by members who write and live by the Nopkin maxim: “make somebody’s day!”

Nopkin is the brainchild of Sangay Tenzin. When Sangay joined work, in 2005, he realized that it was difficult to stay in touch with his friends. So he decided to do something about it. He painstakingly developed a website that was a cross between a blog and a social networking site. And, on 13 April 2007, he launched Nopkin.com.

He’d actually tried to call his website Charo.com or Charo.net, but those domain names were already taken. So he settled for his nickname, Nopkin.

In Tsangla, nopkin means “a lazy or a clumsy person”. Sangay and his friends used it to describe their English teacher, Nopkin Sir. But one day, Sangay’s classmates mistook him for Nopkin Sir. And from that day on, his friends affectionately called him Nopkin.

Is Sangay a nopkin? Is he lazy? Consider this: Nopkin.com already has 2630 articles, 1447 jokes, 1126 photographs and 66 polls and 1280 members. And the impressive numbers keep growing. That’s one big, valuable resource for Bhutan. Definitely not something that a lazy, lethargic nopkin would be capable of producing.

Need more proof that Sangay is not a complete nopkin? Members of his site automatically belong to Nopkin Volunteers for Social Service. And Nopkin Volunteers have already carried out several cleaning campaigns in Thimphu and beyond.

Go ahead, make somebody’s day – join the Nopkin experience.

Mind our language

On 24 June 2009, H.E Pavan K. Verma, India’s ambassador to Bhutan, talked about Culture, Identity and Globalization. The talk, which was organized by the Centre for Bhutan Studies, was attended by wide cross section of people, from scholars, teachers and civil servants to consultants, businesswomen and politicians.

Ambassador Verma, an accomplished scholar and writer, warned his audience that, due to the unprecedented reach of globalization, change in Bhutan is inevitable. And that unless we have an intimate knowledge of our own culture – a knowledge that can only come from deep introspection – we will not be able to exercise discriminating choice about change and tradition; we will not be able to stay anchored to our culture, our identity and to GNH.

But he also noted that Bhutan is blessed with vision and resolve. The vision – that of a society that changes, yet is fully conscious of its culture and identity – is a gift from His Majesty the King. And the resolve, to achieve this vision, is articulated in the Constitution.

Ambassador Verma also touched on an issue that I thought was particularly important for us: language. Culture, apparently, is hard-wired to one’s brain before the person turns 18. And, native language – or mother tongue – plays a significant role in that process.

Our country has barely 600,000 people. Dzongkha is our national language. And, we have about 20 other languages and dialects. These range from Tsangla and Khengkha which are widely spoken, to Moenpai-kha, Lhopi-kha, Gongdugpi-kha and Chalipi-kha which are already classified as “endangered dialects”.

The medium of instruction in our schools is English. So every school-going child learns this foreign albeit global language. And English is the preferred language among much of the educated elite. This is inevitable. And may even be good.

But I am concerned. Hence, the last poll on our national language.

60% of you can speak, read and write Dzongkha. 21% can speak and read, but cannot write Dzongkha. 11% can speak, but not read or write Dzongkha. And only 8% cannot even speak the national language. In other words, 81% can speak and read Dzongkha. That’s not bad. And, 92% can speak Dzongkha. Not bad at all.

Our polls are not accurate. But still, the results are reassuring.

Now what about me? My spoken Dzongkha is barely passable (you’ve seen me struggle in the National Assembly); I read, but very slowly; and I cannot write. I must learn to write. I must learn sumtag and ngadroen.

Our next poll is about women in our society.