Friday, September 23, 2011

ILLOGICAL LOGIC

Blank page, real words, beautiful feelings, resplendent music, actual world, wonderful rhythm and soothing wind. Why do these things appeal me? What is so ingrained in them that pulls my heart towards these expressions? Why do even questions of these sort appear?

The answers are something I know not of. A smile in my face does a good deal when things don't go the way it should. And then, everything else seem to smile together, including even the thoughts that  by then, lasts no more. These divine things have their own glory, only if we could have modes to decode them, instruments to measure them, ways to describe them and the realization that they actually exist.

I write today without taking into consideration the need to logic or sense that usually words function under the realm of. That is because when the words no more flow from the brain, it flows from an individual unconscious. And I call the individual unconscious as one's spirit, one's Atma.

There were days on earth where people asked questions. They still do, the only difference being, they have started getting answers. Do I make sense today or am I letting the sense to make itself. Perhaps sense need to be invented. But how do you do that?

One glorious moment of history had a time when a personality with a blue face, with a divine smile and presence just closed his eyes and the flute in his hand told it all - the glory of the beauty this universe has. His name was Krishna. Do we today, have enough silence to decode the universal appeal of music? Do we any more, understand how beautifully this world is made? How do humans endeavour to find out the questions they have forgotten to ask?

Silence, today, treats me as though I was her best friend. The wind of silence and peace flows by my hand in such pleasure and joy as though it wants to nurture me in her mirthful warmth and delightful motherly touch. And when it passes by just like the tender touch of a child, peace grows like maturity itself!

History is at its apex. Time has its testimony. This very moment is what we have got. This shall surely remain but the more you delay, the more you will miss. This is the time that makes me realize what redness has in store for me and that yellow has its own glory and green, its own dances to display. This is the only moment we have where the colours speak, the winds sing, the pictures express, the beauty shows and the grace bestows.

Today, I refuse to follow the rules of logic and intelligence and sequence. Because the rules have begun to invent itself. When a line speaks by itself, the rules only carries the outer function. The real function of a word is comprehended by the heart - and indeed the heart knows how it feels like while making sense in a realm that was never before accessed. When we know how to derive meaning out of seemingly uncalculated, 'un'-thought, unplanned and illogical lines, than do we venture into knowing that there are as many worlds away from this brain as the brain itself can count. But alas! The brain in its blunt ignorance has been considering itself as the sole and pure source of knowledge. Please! Existance is much much more than what this brain and the senses make us see. It is difficult indeed to know that this brain, unfortunately, can not take you to the world of joy.  And yes, JOY is the word. The brain can indeed spell it, J...O...Y...and tell you its meaning, but it is only the 'heart' that will make you FEEL it!

So do you allow me today to make no sense and actually make the biggest sense? Do you permit me to take you somewhere which is nowhere near the world of logic and actually take you to the world that in fact, exists? Do you today, escuse me for speaking out for what comes out and flows out sponteniously straight from some corner of a world I can only FEEL? Do you then, please let me end here witout a conclusion because the empty space that I'll leave after this sentence will have meaning only your heart will understand...............................................................................















































































Thursday, September 22, 2011

'NIRMAL' - PURITY

There is a word used in the Indian Sub-continent called 'Nirmal' which basically means 'pure'. The relevance of this word, in today's world seems to have lost to such a degree that it feels almost scary to even jot down a few lines along the meaning of that word. The world needs a better platform to function if we need to know how is it that things make difference. And when the world knows how to do that, it will be a day that has been awaited.

But, despite the fact that in today's world people are more offended than pleased talking about 'purity', I would none-the-less like to venture into taking the risk. When mankind knows, ultimately, what he has lost, it will be too late to even repent. But purity is a state that humans can not lose in totality. That good news apart, it is perhaps essential to note honestly that one among many things that we have lost is our 'Nirmal' quality; the purity - the innocence.

My mind, at this very moment is blank while thinking how is it that humans will ever realize the proximity of their being to what I would like to call as purity. For convenience sake I will define purity as a quality that reflects the image of God in its spectacular form - that image which resounds the silence of reality, the stillness of time, the romance of the nature and the magnificent value of living.

Anything that has no speckle on it would be called as pure - just like a scar-less mirror that reflects the image in its real form. It is just like the dew drop shining in the earliest time of the day, absolutely untouched and essentially silent and beautiful. But no man is either the nature or the dew; neither are they the sun or the moon. What are they? They are the only creatures on earth who can describe all of them. They are the ones who can decode the joy out of things that are ordinarily perceived otherwise. But, Alas! There is a catch! Humans can no more enjoy everything they see. They have become grumpy animals who are no more happy about what the nature has to give them or display to them in its utmost genuineness and, again, 'purity'! Is it because they have themselves lost their purity? Possibly, and in most likelihood.

But, evaluating whether or not they have lost their purity land us nowhere near the answer to the question, how do humans find a way to enjoy again? How would they be equipped again with the level of consciousness that knows how to appreciate, enjoy and live?

The pure side of the unconscious can make things change for the better. It is essential, however, to realize that all of us are seeking a transformation that has the potential to achieve PURITY that allows us to go back to where we originally were. But humans are not like mirrors where the scratches can not be mended anymore. Purity can be regained and re-established and it MUST be. How else can we reflect the seemingly ordinary and mundane things in its joy and mirth - that they are primarily meant to be?

Do we have time to look at the azure of the sky and the magnificent grey of the clouds and its enchanting movements and patterns? Do we, anymore, have time to listen to the chirping and singing of the birds above in the sky or those on the trees? They may be saying something to you! Do we anymore have the need to take a glance at the picturesque green of the nature and the spectacular vigour of the flowers swaying just on our ways. They perpetually tell us 'What are you sad about, smile like us'!

But to hear those voices, and to see and experience those beauties, there needs to be a pure heart. We must be able to take our attention away from our daily doses of thinking loads of nothing but sex, violence, drugs, fashions or gold! The mind must rest in peace. It must get rid of the ripples that perpetually fritters away their attention. How can a lake reflect the clear image of the sky until it is swaying with ripples all over itself? Have you ever tried the power of silence? Have you ever experienced the magnificence of simplicity? Have you ever danced in the glory of silence and have you ever beaten the drums of glory? This sounds platonic and heavily utopian, but I wish I could make you believe that there is nothing more easily achievable than this.

Purity is all about seeing things in its right perspective. Its about being a healthy human being. It is about writing, feeling and experiencing reality in its real shape. Like writing this essay would not essentially be possible without the aid of instruments like a paper, pen and a 'willing' hand; reality or living in it would essentially not be possible without the aid of instruments like purity and of course, a 'willing' heart - the willingness being of nothing, but just to take rest for a change; sit down with a blank mind or a blank page and enjoy the beauty that flows like the ripple-less ripples of lake OR....start writing down without thinking!!

Pretty much like what I am doing!

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to be silent and enjoy the PURITY even more. Bye!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Poem

On That Smile of Yours!


Shall I say that it glitters with glare?
Or that it speckles with a bloom known not of?
With a radiance of gem would its description share?
Or to describe your smile, do words fall short of?


I do not see heaven in your smile,
For, zenith of a different glory does it read,
A journal of its own kind does it file,
A bud of flower grown from its own seed.


Where from have you come? Where of have you been?
Oh dear smile, I have waited for you long,
A damsel of quest for ages, longed to be seen,
Here you finally are, the horrid elixir of the drunken song!


A genial, gentle touch of mirth as if growing with moments,
A pleasant pasture of prime providence as if timely bestowed,
As if, sweet melodies of love's words it comments,
As if, wondrous grace of sway it best showed!


Have I done it than I wonder, the grand task?
The task of doing justice to your existence.
Oh great smile, you will be the one to survive the last,
And time shall bear witness to your magical instance!!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Digital Connectivity, a Boon


Unless experienced by oneself, it’s hard to explain how it feels to be studying all alone far away in an alien world distanced from one’s kith and kin. Being an international student might seem a matter of privilege. Although it is very much true, it also means a lot of sacrifice. It forces one to separate from the familiar setting of environment that one had been brought up with – the culture, language and the way of living that one has been accustomed with since birth. Discomfort and a sense of utter alienation is quite one trouble that an international student like me must face; the nostalgia and homesickness that I perpetually need to experience is quite another problem. I wonder how difficult it would be had I not been able to remain always connected to my family and friends back home. Thanks to the digital technologies such as Blackberry and Skype that this is precisely the thing that I do not need to think much of.

There are but many ideas that have been debated for or against over the recent time regarding the effect of connectivity that certain digital services provide. Many are of the view that they reduce the distance between one’s loved ones and hence are very useful while a few others  firmly disagree arguing that such things only clasp people for overindulgence. Such different and often opposing ideas or sometimes persecutions are not new or surprising to witness.

Not to disagree with those who do not have much good impressions with these digital worlds, there are good numbers of demerits about them. As many accuse the technology, overuse of the services such as Yahoo! Messenger, Skype or Blackberry can make the users addictive to them. This overindulgence can make people generally slack and lethargic. No other works might be perused with enthusiasm and interest including the most important household chores.

The most disturbances can be caused to the students like me who are prone to be influenced by the distractive nature of such technologies and remain indifferent towards their important responsibility of studying well.

Adding up to the above disadvantage, certain services such as Skype can not, moreover, be easily accessible. It can be accessed only when we are in front of a computer. Internet disturbances or problems like server breakdowns can cause a lot of trouble in connectivity.

However, considering the need to remain connected with our family and friends and being accessible to one another in need, the merits of the technology of the VOIP (Voice Over Internet Process), and internet emails far outweigh the demerits. Firstly, being in a faraway lonely place, estranged from one’s family and friends, a student like me can be able to not just send electronic mails regularly but also talk limitlessly for hours altogether with them – that too in a very cheap rate. It is literally only the cost of the monthly payment of our internet connection by which we remain connected with our dear ones continuously and limitlessly.

Secondly, the connection that I will be able to make is quick and efficient. I will be able to make instant emails from my Blackberry and be able to directly link and talk to those who are online. Not just do we get to talk to those whom we want to, we can see them too in video calls in VOIP services such as Skype. This technological marvel has in fact, demolished all the geographical barriers and boundaries and made this world an interconnected, highly inter-accessible global village. They have literally reduced the size of this world and the gap among people. Moreover, I can make use of these revolutionary technologies everywhere I go. No matter where I am, I can sent mails and remain connected to my loved ones with the help of a mere handy set of my Blackberry. 

And indeed, the ‘handy’ part of the entire game is one big advantage that scores the most. I am perpetually and effectively connected with everyone globally with a device fit in my small palm. I do not need to carry the whole PC with me; the entire world is literally in my hands! Moreover, the need to remain in constant check with the changing time is an important aspect. These technologies are the vogue of our time and the inability to access them would be a matter of regret. Better still, they are not a disintegrating element, rather just the contrary, advantageous for the benevolence of the entire human race.

Conclusively, it is a matter of great technological marvel that we are very fortunate to access and witness. VOPI and internet facilities such as Skype and Blackberry have proved useful in increasing connectivity among people globally. For an international student like me who is located in a place far away from one’s family and friends back home, Blackberry  Skype and least to mention, facebook are indeed a boon.


Sunday, February 27, 2011

Who am I?

“I” is the most illusionary word in the dictionary. We often use it to refer to things that do not exist, or to talk about things that are either less or more than the original. In other words, ‘I’ refers to falsified ego. If I have to tell you the truth, therefore, I am not this ego that persuades me to believe that I am smaller or bigger than someone else. I am what I am. I simply ‘am’!

I am not this hands that write this essay, for it is just a small part of this most complicated and complex entity, my body. I am not this eye, for it often sees things that do not exist and make me believe that they do and it does not see things that truly exist – such as God! I am not this nose that has now almost forgotten how to cherish the beautiful fragrance of flowers. I am not this limbs that often walk the path of, or perform, adversity. I am perhaps not what ‘I’ am.

In reality I am the innocence, creativity, satisfaction, love, detachment, forgiveness and integration. But this “I” is not any one of them.

I am a bundle of responsibility. I am a son who needs to fulfill the dreams of my parents who bartered their sweats to bring me up. I am a going-to-be parent myself, who needs to be responsible like what my parents are. I am a student who needs to (apparently write a CIA) be responsible enough to succeed a course that is pursued. I am a citizen that needs to justify the cost of my motherland. I am an employee who needs to be sincere and loyal. I am everything that this world has made me to be. What about that 'I' that existed even before I came in this earth?

I am primarily the part of the universe in which great things like love exists. I am the undeniable and eternal part and parcel of God the image of which reflects in my heart. Yet my responsibility to make that reflection clear and apparent is basically what “I” am.

I am a human looking for the answer to the question: who I am? Even after answering the question, perhaps I do not know the answer! 

What is a human?

Upon reflection and having lost in a reverie looking into this blank white page wondering what human being is, I just realized that human is indeed a blank paper in which he writes the words either of wisdom or follies. Just as my writing a good, reflective and sincere paper in this page would determine the extent of marks that I would get from my teacher (apparently I am writing this for an assignment), things are quite the same with life. There is someone, high, up above, yet everywhere who monitors every word that we write in this page of life, and that is the…clichéd, overly talked about, undefined entity, whom people often refer to as God!

Human, as I understand having researched my heart out in the field of spirituality, is an image of God the almighty. Saying so looks so simple, yet this is often not understood in its complete sense. We err, we misbehave, we go astray and so forth; we do things that an image of God, ideally, ought not to do. But alas, it is ironically humans themselves who need to understand in their full consciousness that they are now a blurred, hazy, distorted and obscure image of the original. 

I would immediately like to digress from the hectic debate of 21st century: Who defines good or bad? Or who defines morality or goodness? I would counter those debates only if I wanted to defend badness. 

Human being for me, therefore, is the embodiment of innocence that cherishes the nature and its beauty and acknowledges the entity that created it. Humans are those creative units of this universe that define and reflect the beauty of universe itself. Humans are those creatures bounded, without complains to the path of Dharma and righteousness. Humans are those instruments that resonate to the rhythm and contralto of divine love. Human is a drop of the ocean that streams together and collectively losing its own identity, in its greater identity of being a ‘human’. Human is a quintessence of detachment and forgiveness that defines itself for the existence of universal love. Human is ultimately, that life which has no meaning until it gets connected to the power that created it (an inspired definition!).

Having defined humans thus, I would rather assess, all to my chagrin, that there are but a few “HUMANS” in this earth!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The one who understands this is not intelligent but WISE!


Kuonki….morning bhi khabi night thi…!

With a stark dim twilight of the dusk what results is the darkness of night. The darkness along with its blinding affect also does one thing…herald the serene, joyful light of the morning.

Well, day and night appears everyday. What’s so enchantingly philosophical about it?

‘Indranayan Jyotish Vidyalaya’, an independent and an exclusive astrological organization based in Bangalore, India, has something uncanny to say about the very common phenomenon of day and night.

Some of the eminent analysts and astrologers of the organization with their unfailing clairvoyance and ability to analyze things, say that the phenomenon of day and night function as a daily re-occurring microcosmic subtle indication of a greater macro-cosmic occurring of the similar king of phenomenon.

It explains that exactly as the night appears, that can be directly related to a period of time or an ‘age’ that denotes this night-like darkness in the form of the existence of a period of time during which people loose their innate sense of righteousness. The period therefore should be characterized by darkness. The period which, in Hindu scriptures, is referred to as 'Kali Yuga’. And this is the period in which we the people of the current generation dwell in.

And interestingly, no matter how clichéd it might sound, “after this prolonged vicious darkness, morning is surely nor far,” said Swami Vitulukrishnaiyer, who has spent his whole life in the field of astrology, and whatever he has predicted hitherto, has never failed to come true.

Through his experience, learning and an innate sense of divine accomplishment he claims to have experienced an eccentric feeling of a ‘vibrational’ effect, a sudden change in the cosmic activity that is not likely to be felt unless a change of an epochal nature is evident in this world.

He relates his experience as a testimony to the predictions of many scriptures of the past most important of which is the one given by ‘Bhrigu Rishi’ a saint and astrologer supposedly having had divine powers. He, 2000 years ago, had predicted that after the year 1970, there will be a great shift in the cosmic activity of the universe heralding a complete change in humans and the functioning of this would in totality. And it is after the year 1970 also, that Swami Vitulukrishnaiyer started sensing this ‘change’ in the ‘vibrational effect’.

This partly also explains the ‘Mayan Calendar’ of the ancient tribes of America which also predicted a change that would occur during the same period, a shift of the age of ‘pieces’ to that of ‘Aquarians’.

So what does all this mean? “A change of such nature and magnitude is only possible if the world has marked a final epiphany in the evolution of human kind. It could be possible that the most powerful divine force of the universe has taken its birth to transform this world and that we are either unaware or ignorant about it” said Swami.

If, at all, this was to be true, what else is needed to be done, except…….”wake up dude, the sun has already risen!” 

A fiction Report - you don't use your brain if your believe this!!!


Age-less beauty, now a reality? 

Health is wealth and beauty, treasure.

People, since times immemorial have been searching answers for questions as thus: Can beauty be ageless? Utopian writers have always specified a “yes” in terms of Arts and literature. But what about the physical beauty that is apparently the most important ‘x’ factor for youths? And unfortunately no poetic explanation and platonic verbosity is of help for generation of today as far as the concept of beauty is concerned.

Scientist of the Asian Institute of Miraculous Drugs (AIMD), based in Bangalore, India, has ultimately come by an answer that might interest the beauty-conscious youths of today. Dr. Philip Marvel, an experienced researcher and scientist of AIMD claims to have discovered a drug that, to the surprise of people, can really make beauty ‘ageless’!

How does it work? The drug is developed, through intense research and findings, by fusing the genes of humans and the animals which live for more number of years – animals such as tortoise! When this drug is consumed by humans, the normal growth and changes of the body as well as the skin prolongs, sustaining the youthful features of humans such as the beautiful wrinkle-less skin.

The apparent question that appears is that if the genes of two different entities are fused, will there not be a confusion in the personality of the human, or in other words, if humans consume the human-tortoise fused gene, will his personality depict the tortoise behaviorally  or other wise?

Dr. Philip Marvel explains that the genes that will be fused are only those that plays the role of bodily beauty and growth and not any behaviors as such.

What ever complexity might entail or what ever risks the drug might involve, the answer the youngster were yearning for has finally metalized. Now all it takes for a youngster to be eternally beautiful is to grab a tablet or two of the miraculous drug and make one’s beauty ageless……down to the explanation of any practical human and not the old poetic, utopian intricacies!

A small objective thought process!


Identity???

The way by which a person is known to this world, or the image that a person forms to the society to be recognized can be defined as ‘identity’. Being popular or common, being rich or poor, being aristocratic or downtrodden are all part of identity that we differentiate humans with. A person is identified as kind, compassionate, rude or cruel all for the impression that one has created in the eyes of the people based on their inherent distinction between two obvious opposites of qualities.

The Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang is documentary in substantiating this image of the equal opposite of good and bad that is projected in a person. This philosophy believes in the non-existence of anything without the presence of both the positive and negative aspect of qualities in it. If summer exists in Yang, winter becomes the Yin, and if Yin projects femininity, Yang forms masculinity. Not in a different line, thus, is the opposite of ‘good’ in Yin and ‘bad’ in Yang drawn in forming the judgments of the qualities of human beings.

The factors determining the identity of a personality is many. Physically a person can be identified as strong or weak, emotionally one can be positive for happiness, joy, laughter or enjoyment and negative in anger, taking to tears, agony and frustration. Mentally one can be sound or unsound, and morally one can be ethical or unethical, kind or rude, compassionate or cruel, natural or unnatural.

Popularity of a person is one big factor that contributes to one’s identity. Yet popularity is determined by factors such as talents, affluence, appearance, work, affiliation to already popular people and deeds.

Great spiritual leaders who preached the essence of living and the meaning of life are identified as ambassadors of the God while people who perpetrate human cruelty, terrorism, criminal offences such as rape, murder or theft are deemed to be the envoy of evil in humans.

Determinants and elements of such distinctions are endless. What appears to be macrocosmically dominant is the general disparity of human identity between the two big qualities of ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

Essay


Should handwriting be an emphasis?

Gone are the days where writers of imminent stature or those wanting to be one used to sit under a tree and write a poem with the juices of their mental geniuses and dexterous abilities placed high. What takes now for a written piece of article to exist is merely the tip of fingers! Thanks to computer revolution.

Technological innovation and our heavy dependence on them, as thought by many, makes us disconnected with the conventional ways of human lives. Conventional methods are assumed to be more important than the new. This concept incorporates the example of our gradual indifference towards the habit of writing with our hands. This habit used to be a matter of our ability to shape beauty in not just what is written but also the way it is written. Beauty, therefore really seemed to be shaped by the way a thing looks like and not merely what it contents.
Sit in front of the computer and move your fingers ferociously, your work is done – the benefits - less time consumed and an additional advantage of auto spelling correction and being able to cut and paste, add and subtract anything and anywhere in the article unlike having to tear off the entire handwritten page if a little error is committed!

But no! Things have not changed too drastically. Not everything that we write in life can be done away with the speed of your newly adjusted fingers. What about the examination? We still need to write with our hands and taking a chance of ignoring the importance of handwriting could seriously hit us hard! Needless to mention, those friends of us who came to us lamenting about the low marks that they got in their papers for a major reason of lack of neatness and good handwriting and other dexterous techniques of beautification; are documentation of this fact!

But the question which is rather a mysterious one and more hard-hitting than this, is that whose mistake it is exactly? It is wrong for the teacher to expect one’s students to present one’s paper neatly? Yet it is the students’ mistake that they have chosen to move along with the time and they neither have good handwriting nor do they chose to have it, having realized that they have now a better choice of writing better, faster and easier – in a computer? Is it the teacher’s mistake having to correct hundreds of papers of the students who have left their handwriting no more comprehensible or it is the students’ mistake who, having influenced by the computer, no more remember how to be neat? It is the teacher’s irresponsibility or the students’ carelessness?

It is most unfortunate for a student to have scored less in a very important examination just for the messy handwriting that he writes in. Yet neither the age, nor the computer; neither the teacher not the student can be blamed for this. However, there are categories of students who inherently are born with lack of basic art such as neatness or carefulness. Computer’s influence isn’t much the determinant of their state. What about them? Not all questions can be answered.

However, the important thing to remember is that trying to evaluate whose mistake it is, is not going to take us anywhere near our goal. It is us who needs to pass the examination and not the teacher. It is therefore extremely important in our part to rectify our limitations and write things better. A solution could be by limiting our dependency on computer and practicing writing in the paper more than just being carried away by the mere joy of speedy fingertips!

In the process there are much more benefits that we can avail. Using computer less will save much of the electricity! It will improve our handwriting and what more – it will help us pass our examination!!!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Short Story

His Tears!

There was a knock at his door.

"Come on aii1, you don’t need to be so formal with me. Please come in.” Said Lhakpa engulfed in his quilt, his eyes crimson, a small book in his hand. She entered the room and left the door ajar.

“I just came to see what you were doing” Said she casually.

 Lhakpa closed his book and placed it aside. He loved his mother and she adored him in return. She was forty but her charm was many years younger. Her eyes were expressive and her smile broad and warm. She was always amused when Lhakpa’s friends remarked that he looked like his aii. Lhakpa, in his school was a personality; many fell short of words to describe. Her eyes ransacked around the room being a little surprised to find the charm of the room faded.

“Oh! Your certificate has toppled down,” remarked she looking at the glass-laminated certificate on the table near the window. It was lying flat.

“You know the wind, aii,” Lhakpa justified. A few days ago, the same incident had occurred and she had castigated him for not caring about it. She said nothing today. Both knew the reason why, but neither of them spoke. She lifted the lamination and made it stand as usual. She looked at it and read:

This certificate is awarded to Master Lhakpa Dorji for his excellence as the best player in the Inter-Dzongkhag2 over-all games competition held in Bajothang Higher Secondary School from October 10 – 15, 2010.

This wasn’t, by any chance, the first time she had seen the certificate but the more she read it, more she discovered that there were more reasons to be proud of her son than of anybody else in this world.

“Lhakpa, where did you keep them ALL?” her eyes were the mixture of wonder and sympathy.

"What is the use of them now, aii? ” He looked at the other side evasively.

“You didn’t answer my question, did you?” she appeared stern but he knew how kind she was. He had no option left. Though reluctantly, he lifted his hand and pointed towards a direction, his eyes still crimson but filled with tears now. She looked where his finger pointed only to see an old musty box. She walked towards the box, kneeled down and opened it. He stayed in his bed unmoved.

Dozens of medals were strewed in the box haphazardly, many of which were of gold, some of silver and a few, bronze. Another uncounted numbers of certificates and prizes were placed on the other corner of the box. She picked up the certificates and read them randomly. One said, “First in Basketball Competition,” the other said, “Academic excellence for the year”. Another certificate read, “The best speaker in debate competition”, and several others talked about similar things like football, volleyball, quiz-competition, extempore speech and so forth. She stopped reading and placed them back in the box. She closed her eyes and let the drops of her tears prowl along her cheeks.

“That certificate didn’t fit in there.” Lhakpa muttered looking at the same certificate in the table. “Pema had come to see me sometimes ago. I asked him to collect all medals, prizes and certificates all around the room and put…them…in…the…box…” He forced himself not to cry.

“Why?” she asked, although she knew the reason. Her tears were still flowing like a summer’s river. He was silent for a moment.

“Why are they needed now…?” This wasn’t just a question, it was frustration. The force of his emotional finally defeated his stoicism. He cried helplessly. “They are not needed anymore,” he cried, “not needed aii.”

She said nothing but wept with him. She could only embrace him, console and mollify him, but she couldn’t share his agony. She couldn’t preclude his mournfulness to gradually alter to that of a noisy, helpless cry. He continued crying ceaselessly.

He suddenly threw off the quilt that covered him hitherto out of a sudden intense pang of exasperation. He stopped crying momentarily and looked at his legs with his eyes wide open. She too looked at his legs only to confirm for yet another time that, HE HAD NONE! He had lost both of his legs.

The door of the room opened wide and only half of Lhakpa’s father entered the room. He said solemnly, “I’ve talked to my boss, he will arrange for a vehicle everyday to reach me to the office. I’ve decided no to buy another car!” He was about to turn his head away to leave but he looked back at his wife and son and remarked, “I don’t want to take a risk. After all, who will earn for you both if I loose my legs too?” He walked off and slammed the door quite loudly to make both of them startled.

Lhakpa neither moved nor expressed, but there was something that did the both… his tears!

1: Aii - "Mother" in Bhutanese language
2: Inter-Dzongkhag - "Inter-District"
Note: Since this story is set in Bhutan, the names of people and places as well as certain expressions are Bhutanese.