My
recent visit to the capital reminded me of an old story that I almost
forgot. The story telling was the best
pass time we had as a rusty village boy herding the cattle and collecting
firewood to keep ourselves warm through the harsh cold winter of Haa valley.
I
have heard myriads of folktales imbedded with myth and mythology custom and
tradition, religion and culture, divine and devil, and so on. An oracle or an
astrologer predicting or foretelling fortune or calamity would always fascinate
me as a young boy, and frankly had it not for my fate and modern education at
doorstep I would have become an astrologer under Tsib jagar of paro .
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| Thimphu main Traffic |
As
a student, we still have to herd the cattle during the weekends and once during
our usual Sunday lunch time story telling session an elderly man who joined us
narrated a story of an astrologer predicting the life of a newborn. He said the
astrologer arrived as requested and did all the cleansing rituals and
formalities and finally sat down to do all the calculations of the child’s
birth signs, star and so on and after long silence in a meditative posture he finally
spoke. “The child will have many vehicles around him and will deal with it
almost all his life,” enunciated the astrologer. Happiness filled the house and
it’s all smiles around, family and villagers were all happy and some said the
birth brought YANG (riches of the world
or bless by the god of wealth) some predicted the child to be a great
builder/contractor while some thought the boy would be an mechanical engineer.
Perception matters here for no one sees the future. Can you see the future he
would question? Then he continues… the days pass into months, months in to
year, years piles and finally came the judgment day. The boy finally turned
man; He joined arm force and became a traffic police and remained surrounded by
vehicles every day.
Thank you for Reading........
