The blogosphere botch

I would like to inform my friends that, the transfer of my blog from the blogspot to my personal domain has caused some minor problem with the follower widget. I personally apologize you all for this problem and I really feel bad as the time and effort you took to sign up as a member has all been wasted. You are once again requested to join this site as a member.

Supreme words of Buddha

If only this deluded mind of ours could understand this profound teachings of the Buddha, this world would be a better place to live in. Imagine every being in this world following nothing but these supreme words of the Enlightened One, this world that we live in would be a heavenly abode in itself. A world without war, crime, famine, hatred, anger, so on and so forth - free from all the negative actions. I ask to myself when do we each see a Buddha in us and this be the ultimate Buddhaland.

Down-side of having a common name

Am i getting too much obsessed with my latest undertaking, the job of blogging, or is it just an outburst of passion for a moment? To this, i don't have any answer. Every bit of free moment i get, I see myself excessively engrossed in this webpage, tweaking and shaping every bit of its outlook. My long lost passion for the "html" has once again risen from its ashes like a phoenix.

However, this is not really worth the topic. The purport of the story is something to do with my name. As i came across random pages in the net, one comment caught my eyes, which read "blogging in a secondary domain is not a serious blogger". I thought, well, if that be the case, how much does it cost to obtain a personal domain. Moments later, I was on a search spree to look out for the cheapest domain provider. Having found one, the next was to check out for the availability of the domain name. I wanted my domain to be just as simple and that be my name - www.karmatshering.com. It said, the domain is not available and instead recommended me with some deviations to it, which i did not like.

Out of utter curiosity, I instantly checked the content of the site which bore my name. What comes next is not something which i would be proud of my name. The webpage opened with a tagline "Karma Tshering is a scam artist". It was a sad and a disgusting story of how this conman, claiming to be from India, scammed off hundreds of dollars from innocent people in the US. I feel so ashamed of sharing the same name, and that, there is a risk involved should i ever go to the States as there are many awaiting for a revenge. For the moment, i don't have to worry as there is no mention of me going to the States in my calendar- another reason for not making it out.

Whatsoever the case be, I have also a pride in my name for there are many who have risen up in the social ladder, in all spheres of life. And for now, I don't have to worry about having a personal domain as the name has already been taken, neither am i a serious blogger.

Proud of "Farmer Engineer"

It's 08:30 AM and thank God i don't have a class today, yet, i have to get out of my cozy bed, lest it becomes a norm. As people say, first things first, the first thing that i did or rather do is start-up my notebook and open three websites; facebook.com, kuenselonline.com and bbs.com.bt- the latter two being the national newspapers. Nothing much was happening back home per the news, random tweets and posts from friends, a couple of updates in kuensel and yet another disturbing news on stabbing in BBS - stabbing has become the order of the day these days, sadly.

Well, what caught my interest is, rather a report on one ingenious "Farmer Innovator" as the reporter quotes. Budhiman Mongar, 48 from Sibsoo, Samtse, Bhutan, is busy attending to the orders of his innovative products. What surprises me most is that, he attended only upto 3rd grade, but his passion for machines caught the better of him. There was no turning back on his journey towards innovation. His innovation led him to realize one product after another, getting busier and popular day by day. One must ask what is education, if one cannot bring about any changes in the society? or rather is education the only path to success? To this fuzzy questions, he has a discrete answer to it. Known to his community as a "Local Engineer", he truly is one. Some of the eye-catching products that the media features are: Parabolic dish antenna, milk churner and a grass chopper. It is indeed a true inspiration to me for it isn't any alteration of the existing products in market. Instead, iron rods, automotive axle, flywheel, bicycle chains, spokes and ofcourse his brain goes into the making of these products. I wish him loads of success in his future innovations. "Necessity is the mother of invention"-Plato.




For further details, check out at The Farmer Innovator

Bhutanese version of Thanksgiving Day- Chu-nyi-pa Losar

Little did i know that today is Dawa Chu-nyi-pa Losar( direct trans: 12th Month New year) until i logged into facebook early morning-which is a part of my ritual, and came across a stream of wishes marking this event. It brought a sudden gush of nostalgia, and for a moment, I was lost in the flashbacks of those good old days. How i wish i was there, to be lost in the wilderness of the celebration.

Well, let me explain a bit about the specialty of this particular day before i flood with stories of how i found this specific occasion as a kid. How do i start it?Well, to begin with, I firstly cross-checked with the calendar that i recently downloaded from the kuenselonline to doubly ensure that today is unmistakably the Losar( not that i don't trust my friends) ,and yes it was. This year, the Sharchokpa Losar( named after its popularity in the Sharchop community) aka "Traditional Day of Offering" is on the 24th of January 2012. No matter what date and day the Gregorian calendar reads, this Losar is always the first day of the twelfth lunar month. "This" because, we also have another Losar( the first day of the first month of the year as per the lunar calendar)-which is logically the new year. Anyways,it is always good to have as many holidays- atleast to me.

The day being widely popular for gulping down jars of ara, bangchang, cingchang-all of which are locally brewed liquors, and the never ending merry making programs( the celebration lasts for weeks in rural areas), all that the people know is the fun part of the story. In essence,the Traditional Day of Offering is actually a time of offering and thanksgiving for the Bhutanese people, typically directed towards Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the founder of Bhutan, who came to the country during the early seventeenth century. The day is locally known as "Buelwa-phuewi-nyim"- a day of offering.So,to speak, we also do have a "Thanksgiving Day" in Bhutan - ofcourse, without the turkey. The government, for some reason, had taken off this holiday from the national gazette for an year, but had to reinstate it following the outcry of sentiments from its people.That was so naive a decision, per se.

Coming back to the continuation of my memoir, as a kid, this day had a significant grandeur for several reasons. On this day, parents used to wake up early morning and prepare thukpa (rice pudding) which as a kid wasn't that fond of, the pepper would give a million twitch on the tender lips. The exciting part was, however, every kids would be dressed up in their best attire and would walk around in the neighborhood to show off or atleast in anticipation of silly praises. We would each be clutching few notes received on this day from our parents- the newness of the notes was of importance rather than the amount- how silly was i then. In my case, no matter what, the notes would have already reached the deposit box of the nearby shop around midday - I was pretty fast in it. By then, parents would have done with all the menu for the lunch. There would be exchange of delicacies with neighbors. I usually wouldn't participate in the luncheon, no matter how delicious it was, as the disappeared notes would have already given me enough fill-up of candies, crackers, cookies, etc. There would be various scenes in and around the locality,in all kinds and forms, especially the after-effects of the locally brewed liquors. Archery match amongst the elderly would be more of a merry-making than the competition. People would also engage in playing dego,khuru,yum,etc in smaller groups- which are all traditional games. With the eventful day drawing towards an end, large number of families would gather around a fire for a grand dinner, often the pig's head as a delicacy(poor pig) and ofcourse rounds of ara and circular-dances. In a nutshell, Losar is one particular day when both young and old alike, rejoices in these festivities of the occasion.

I never knew that i can blabber a lot. It is already 6:00 PM and i need to celebrate myself in my own small ways (Phaksha paa with rice and Calsberg as a substitute to ara- how does it sound?). Luckily, i have some bacon and chilies and oh! i need some radish. I am off to the store to get it before it is closed. Once again wish everyone a Losar Tashi Delek!

Connecting People( Adapted from Nokia)

This blog is an outcome of my desperate attempt to remain connected with friends and families back home (Bhutan). The recent blacklisting/blocking of the facebook from the Druk Green's server( the company where i am employed) was an effort to enhance productivity of its employees who are supposedly more engrossed in this viral social network. I don't know how productive the employees have become post-blockage, but I know for sure that it created a complete disconnect with my fellow-mates. Therefore, this very basic and a rudimentary blog-page of mine (a true novice in blogging) is my single-most endeavor to reach out to those people who i can be re-connected with in this virtual platform.

Every effort shall be taken to keep my blogs updated so as to keep you all abreast of the happenings around me,but in the event that i don't, kindly empathize this poor me for the enormous amount of assignments that i am battling with.