Saturday, June 28, 2014

Melodrama


 Dramatic scene, I am in
Melodramatic I have been
Existence, worthless here
Narrow mentality I to bear
The change…I too feel
Heartache. Now won’t heal
“What happened?” I am asked
“Nothing “I stay masked.
It was my choice
Face it, Tears I to rejoice.
Nobody to blame
It’s all because of me, I claim!

Is It Just Me ?

We human beings are impossible
We know our future yet we
Ask people to predict it.
We know the consequences yet we do it.
We know what lies ahead yet ignore.
What is wrong with human beings?
Is it just me or all my race?
It is just me making wrong decisions?
Is it just me sleeping while others study?
Is it just me…answer me!
I demand answer…I then realize.
Yeah... it’s just me with stupidity within!
I realize ….chose blankets over books.
I realize, chose pleasure over pen.
Now got so little time…choices limited!
Can’t be tamed I thought!
Tamed, I realize!
Is it just me, procrastinating?
Is it just me, irritating?
Is it just me, dumb and foolish?
Yeah…it’s just you!
Parents trust upon me…
I playing with it…is it fun?
I must answer the questions in their eyes
Do you have answers for those?
I must answer but I lost the right!

Death too seems unfair...what am I? Is it just me?

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Bhutan and Happiness.

Bhutan is a country populating 741053 people.  It has put forward Gross national happiness claiming happy citizens are more important than rich ones. Bhutan now is a developing country, no more the poorest. Bhutan may have developed but it still has the same happy citizens. Their happiness did not depend on the economic status of the country. When the country develops and becomes richer the citizens remain the same only the facilities develop. Hence their happiness is independent of money, instead happier they feel the better they work making the country richer. In addition, Aspinwall (1998) holds individuals who are happier better incorporate information leading to new ideas, which leads to creativity and invention. Therefore, happier the Bhutanese richer the country. However richer Bhutanese doesn’t mean happier Bhutanese, since their happiness depend on emotional contentment, living upon values and virtues stated by their religion (Buddhism) and family relations, social interactions and friendship.
The physical or materialistic contentment gives one only insecurities while emotional contentment gives one the precious so-called happiness. Baucells and sarin have explored Scientist’s findings about American millionaires living in huge, luxurious houses barely happier than Masai warriors in Kenya who live in the huts. With general literacy rate of 63.0% not all Bhutanese find happiness in seeming luxury. Since only 1960’s Bhutan opened the door to outside world. Budding Bhutan and its people needs happier environment and not superficial richness. Bhutanese have lived and are still living with fluttering prayer flags, green nature and smiles in the field while farming. Their emotional contentment beats any other physical showcase of happiness. According to Ricard (2007) Inner contentment contributes to social peace. Individual who is at peace with oneself will contribute naturally to establishing peace within one’s family, one’s neighborhood and if conditions permit society at large.


A family in shingzangmo.



The old man of the house wakes way before everyone in the house.
As the rooster coo-coo, Aum Kinzang is awakened, she then makes her way to the kitchen leaving    ApLanga Daza snoring.
The two daughters when done with washing up accompany their mother who in the kitchen is preparing the breakfast for the family. It’s Saturday, a day they had arranged for beating maize that would produce a local snack known as tengma (beaten maize). The oldest and the youngest work together.  The preparation for this day was planned weeks ago. The stored maize from the season is soaked in water then boiled. Next comes the drying, the whole process takes two days before it is roasted and grinded in the mill.
This family owns the only mill of the village. When Mr. Thinley Tobgay one among the two sons-in-law of the house was questioned about how the idea of installation of mill occurred to his mind, he answered with a grin “Well! The distance we had to travel and the money we had to pay just to grind our rice or to even make some local snacks struck me that we and my village needed a mill here, in the village itself.” “It benefits the village as well our family,” he added.
Since the installation of mill in the village, it has been three years. A lot of people come to grind their rice or any kind of pulses. They pay according to the villagers’ traditional way of weighing known as khaw. In 40kg of tengma they have been receiving approximately Nu 3200 worth of profit. They take their tengma packets to Tashigang and it even reaches Thimphu if relatives come by. Again extra income comes from the sales of the vegetables they grown in their fields.
When they start their work, all the family members gather around and start roasting the maize on the big pans. Children playing alongside. Some young ones helping them roast, and even a number of people from the village come to help.
Tashi Dhendup, 12 shares,” its fun to roast the maize grains while talking to your elders.”
“It’s a time to connect and learn more about every generation it seems, “shared a 19 year old Tshering Dorji.
Every generation in this family lives learning and working together. A perfect harmony.




Media - Democracy and Bhutan.

Media and Bhutan.

The ministries receive valuable feedback and the people’s objectives which work as a future guidance for them to make necessary changes in their programs. In a country like Bhutan where a large number of people are illiterate with poverty rate of 12% and lack the ability to voice their problems on some platform which can be taken knowledge of, media itself becomes the voice of the people.
In an age of timeliness and demand for information, the media plays a crucial role in informing the public about politics, campaigns and elections. Additionally, the media helps influence what issues voters should care about in elections and what criteria they should use to evaluate candidates. On March 24, 2008, thousands of Bhutanese voters flooded the polling stations across the country to cast their votes for the first ever parliamentary election.  The shift to democracy had undoubtedly empowered media. What was earlier thought as sensitive issues were now tackled strongly and intelligently. It began disclosing corrupt practices of individuals and organizations, studying government’s plans and policies and keeping track of political moves. Stories were decorated with bold headlines and reliable sources including the high level officials.The mass media constitute the backbone of democracy. They identify problems in our society and serve as a medium for discussion. They are also the watchdogs that we rely on for uncovering errors and wrongdoings by those who have power.


Media and Democracy
Democracy of a country can become successful only if its media plays its positive role otherwise it can never become a successful democracy. The Bhutanese media saw a considerable growth since 1980s with the establishment of BBS and the newspaper Kuensel, and the small information revolution that took place in the 1990s with the introduction of television and the Internet (Dorji & Pek 2006). The country’s first newspaper was established in 1986, radio in the late 1970s and television and the Internet introduced in 1999.  The media is one of the most powerful channels of effective communication. It can make or break individuals, organizations or governments. Today, the prevailing understanding of the role of media in a democracy is to empower people by engaging them in constructive discourses. Media is responsible for holding the government accountable for their actions and keep public well-informed of the plans and policies concerning them. A free and independent press is considered essential for democracy; among others, it acts as independent watchdogs of the political, social, and economic institutions and conjures public interests to be prioritized in government policies (Bennett, Lawrence & Livingston 2007). Journalists claim that media, newspapers in particular, have been playing a very bold role in the democracy unlike before. Bhutanese newspapers today tackle almost every issue related to corruption in the government and private sector, elected leaders and their accountability to individuals, human rights and public policies. The media supplies the political information that voters base their decisions on. Taking the recent election which was held on 31st May and 13 July as evidence, the circumstances like the rupee crunch and gas subsidy had caused an uproar among the general public. Taking advantage of this issues PDP (People Democratic Party) promises to solve the issues which influenced the voters’ decision. The media updated people on nation’s issues and the politicians used it for their benefit.

Role of media in Democracy
The democratic ideals can only be satisfied when all voters are educated and informed to the point where they are able to understand the most important political issues. And this responsibility is given to Media. Most people won’t be Media literate and what is shown and informed will be soaked in, better than the sponge. Election is the key factor in persuasion of Good governance. We cannot afford to make mistakes as that would cost on resources and happiness, most importantly, on the trust towards democracy.
Media’s significant role in democracy are to make people more aware of their rights, aware them about political and social issues, initiate debates on the relevant public issues, draw attention towards institutional failure such as- corruption, preferential treatment, unsympathetic attitudes and general inefficiency of the government machinery and create pressure for improved government performance and efficient delivery of public services extending public accountability. Media also acts as an interface between government and public. It can often be taken as the mirror of the society
 Linsky (1986) found that the media plays a significant and commanding role in democracy and public affairs. He also maintained that the media substantially impacts the formation of political agendas and the performance of political institutions. Graber (1984) commented that “Although the verdict is mixed about the extent of media influence on various political arenas, evidence strongly suggest it is a sizable factor.”


I conclude media and democracy will help each other grow.