Losar Tashi Delek to my neighbors

The festive season is here and I send my heartiest New Year greetings to all the lhops around. Theirs is the first of the festivals to follow; owing to the mountainous geographical landscape partitioning the regions and historically being ruled by many petty rulers there are infinite festivals in Bhutan. These festivals evolved out the belief system, myth and mythology of individual regions, some well known losars we relish are Lomba, Nyilo, Thue-Baab, Chu-nyi pai losar, nya-ru, Dassian, daw Dangpai losar etc and lhop lo is one such festivity developed on the banks of Amo chu river.

Lhop dancers adorning their ancestral dress during the inauguration of
 new court building.

These losars are usually an end product of a good harvest and provided people of differing regions with differing platforms to thank the forefathers for the tranquility bequeathed, local deities for the best harvest, friends and family for the help, relish new harvest, appreciate their input, etc and it’s also a big time to smile at the bygone years with celebrations and look ahead with hopes. Timing too is different as the growing season and harvest season differs from place to place.

Normally we follow two types of calendar in Bhutan i.e. solar and the Bhutanese lunar calendar but the lhops of Dorokha region follows the third type i.e. Tibetan lunar calendar. I am not aware of the third one and upon inquiry I learnt that theirs is a month ahead of ours. 29^th day of seventh month of the wood female sheep year in Bhutanese calendar is considered as the 29^th day of the eighth month of the wood female sheep year in Tibetan lunar calendar.

Like the 1^st day of eleventh month is a new year for haaps and parops [though celebration starts on 29^th of the tenth month] the 29^th day of 8^th month of Tibetan lunar calendar kick start a new year for the lhops and they become a year older (birthday makes less sense here). On this day families join together to have a good time and it all starts with ku (maternal uncle) making the offering. In lhop culture it’s the groom who leaves his ancestral home to join brides’ family but the maternal uncle is the sole decision maker and head of family of his ancestral home. Ku is highly respected by the family member.

The complete offering were not done at my host’s place due to recent demise of a family member and also it’s not his paternal home otherwise he’s a always on with celebrations yet I enjoyed everything that’s LHOP. I understood that the first day is just a simple one and continues for few more days with different mandatory offerings and merrymakings. Will catch up each program as it unfolds…

Please join me to wish them a prosperous year ahead… 

Call for a Ministry

15-0 humbling of Dragon boys by Qatar in the second round of world cup qualifier made me to go beyond my usual thinking margin. I was all set for the match half an hour early with all my usual chores completed before 9:00 PM which normally stretches till the mid-night.  Night favored me with a clearer sky after continuous down pour since last few days, which otherwise would have disturbed my DTH signal or might have prompted recurrent power cuts that has revolved over as a habitual customs in Dorokha.

source: BhutaNews

 I knew it would be an uphill battle for Bhutan yet I was rather optimistic about the prospect of holding the game into a competitive end. The pre-match analysis went quite my way despite the fact the analyst had a better idea of opponents strength. The recent success of our young boys boasted our morale especially with the qualification to this round after hammering Sri Lanka home and away. Over all spirits were high and last two defeats haven’t dampen Bhutanese moral.

In spite of conceding 28 goals in last three international outings I still hold high flying hopes on our young boys. Football in Bhutan is a recent history yet we came too far with limited infrastructures, funds and most of all a very little tactical & technical knowhow. We do not have a reputed football academy nor do we have an advance selection procedure, with these many shortcomings instead of luxury at our disposal I think we must sort it out in an appropriate manner for our very own good.

Taking the football to other level or exhibiting Bhutan to the outside world along with GNH needs a thoughtful investment and careful planning which means what we are doing today is good but not enough. The relevant stakeholders, departments and BFF are exceptional till date yet the demand on the international font is incomparably high in all dimensions.

I believe instituting a ministry exclusively for the development of sports and sports related infrastructures would do us good. Our boys are young and have a long carrier ahead; we also have junior talents with lots of promise. Careful and consistent molding will help us attain our goals sooner rather than later. Not only are we good at football, we have the potential to compete in all other disciplines. A gold medal at Asian Boxing championship in Bangkok by Tashi Norbu recently is a green signal of the rising competency of the Bhutanese in world of sports. We have all the riches in terms of potential and enthusiasm, so a ministry with specialist personnel, wisdom, fund, investment, continuous molding and etc would shine luck on us soon.

Hoping for a ministry to keep up the level we are hoping for…

Note:- its my humble thought and would love to hear your views la