Secrets of our leaders

In my last post, I invited you to think about what was causing a part of the Trongsa Dzong wall to be perpetually wet. “Andrea” and “YPenjor” put forward some good guesses. But, alas, modern cement is not to blame. It isn’t a hidden lake. And sub-terrain water seepage is not the cause. Nor is leakage from the rooftop. Or seepage from recent plumbing. The answer is history.  Yes, history! No one could quite tell what was causing that particular part of the wall to stay wet throughout the year. And that wet patch would not be covered by…

Portrait of a Leader

Mieko Nishimizu sat in silence, absorbing every word on her laptop screen. It was the 16th of December 2006.  The sun had not yet risen over her home in the British Virgin Islands. And she’d just received the Fourth Druk Gyalpo’s last Kasho – a simple announcement abdicating the Golden Throne and handing over the responsibilities of Druk Gyalpo to our new King, His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. As tears welled up in her eyes, she reminded herself that she had anticipated this announcement, not in 2008 as most of us expected, but much earlier, on the National…