Change

A human life seems like a long time.

If one lives to a good old age which now seems to be in the 70 years, we are talking about 900 months or 27,000 days or 648,000 hours or so. That seems like a long time. And as we go through it day by day, it appears that it is going slowly.

However, the minutes are ticking and our life is quickly passing us by - though often we don’t realize it. We look forward to our birthdays and new year – with joy and anticipation. We don’t think that with every birthday and every new year, we are moving quickly to middle age and old age and towards the inevitable.

That is not to say that it is a bad thing.

With age comes knowledge and wisdom. With age comes scrapbooks and photo albums filled with a lifetime of memories. And hopefully they are good memories. Hopefully we can look back, during the last leg of our lives, and say that ‘I am happy, my life has been well lived.’

 

We don’t often see the changes that take place, some small and some big, but changes nevertheless. In living our lives we sometimes get caught up in the small things and often forget about the larger picture. We often take for granted those who matter to us, assuming that they will always be there. It is only when children leave the homes to spread their wings and fly or new babies are born or people die that we realize that change is happening.

And that is fine – because change is inevitable.

The important thing is for us to realize that change is happening all the time and that life really is impermanent. It is important for us to sometimes take stock of our values, our expectations, of the people we hold dear, of the choices we make daily – and to see how we want to go from there. It is necessary to look to each day and see how we can make it worthwhile so that at the very end, we can truly say that our life has been worthwhile.

It has been a happy and well lived life.

The good Samaritan

Are people inherent good or inherent bad? That is a debate that many people down the centuries have been engaged in. Much of people’s thoughts and ideologies have been shaped by their personal experiences in their day to day lives.

I am not here to engage in this debate. Sometimes I feel that people are inherently good, and then there are times when I do see the dark side of human beings, that I am inclined to believe otherwise.

Regardless, I recently had an experience which I thought to share. I had parked my car near the hospital. When stepping outside, in my hurry, I had dropped my car keys and left without noticing it. When eventually I found it missing, I searched everywhere for it – looking under the car, around the car and generally tracing and retracing my steps everywhere.

Eventually with the key nowhere in sight, I got my spare key and started driving home, feeling rather unhappy and disgruntled. I drove slowly, a lot of things weighing on my mind. Two minutes later as I swerved around a roundabout, I suddenly heard the sound of something falling on the roadside.

 

I couldn’t believe it but with hope in my heart, I quickly stepped out to take a look. There right in the middle of the road was my car key – smooth and shiny. I can tell you, the sight of the key filled me with such warmth and gladness.

I had looked all over, but never thought to look on top of the car. Some good Samaritan had found my key near the car, and not knowing where to keep it or to find me, he/she had kept it on the top thinking it a logical place for me to look.

How grateful I am to that good person, who saved me so much work in making a spare key and in also filling me with hope. There are good people there, who are kind and ready to help. And it is these people who make the world a joyful place to live in.

Life is a journey, not a destination

This is one advice my father often gives me. When I am rushing through life and trying to get everything done, he says life is a journey and not a destination. Try and enjoy the little moments – for it is ultimately these moments that we will remember and cherish.

Yesterday, some friends and I were on our way down to Phuentsholing from Thimphu and down the Chukha road, which I remember in my childhood calling the ‘snake road’ – due to the winding and never ending curves. Small waterfalls were flowing at the side of the road and further down the valley a number of mountains, greens of different shade, were rolling into each other, enveloped by soft white clouds.

We continued our journey, winding down the Thimphu-Phuentsholing highway through changing vegetation and passing by small landslides and fallen boulders. As we passed through Gedu the air became heavier and we were surrounded in mist. Thick shrouding mist – greyish white all around - we could barely see 10 feet ahead of us.

Just when I thought that our journey would be likewise gloomy all the way to Phuentsholing, we arrived at Jumja – the unstable stretch of land where landslides often obstructs the journey of many travellers. I have travelled on the highway many times, but it was my first time being awed by the magnificence and splendour of the scene.

The sky was serenely blue – stretching all the way across the plains where it seemed to shimmer and blend into the horizon. Below in the valley, a soft milk-white blanket of clouds covered the plains and puffed all the way into the distance. Blending with the blue, some clouds above were swirling and it was as though a whirlpool of white on a blue canvas.

I was above the clouds and I was below the clouds – I was in the clouds.



It was no longer important why I was going down to Phuentsholing. Or what I was leaving behind in Thimphu. It was just me and the wide expanse of the sky. Me and the embrace of the clouds. I felt free – simply enjoying the moment for what it was.

And in that moment I recalled the words of my father – that life is a journey and we must try and enjoy it to the fullest.

Fireworks during the Royal Wedding (15 Oct 2011)

Under a crystal clear October sky
thousands are gathered
on the steps of the national stadium –
Changlimithang.

Strangers and friends
stand amidst mingled breaths
and joyful laughter
this clear frosty autumn night
waiting - in collective anticipation.

Then with a loud cracking sound
a fiery red flame shoots into the sky
and with a ‘pop’ bursts into a thousand stars. 

The second follow and then the third 
and soon the night is a splash of colors –
golden sparkles, streaming silver
crackling green and sparkling blue.

And with each ‘Phak pok Phak”
and every ‘Woosh’ and “crackle”,
there is  a vivid explosion in the night 
a brilliant shower of colors
Frizzling and streaming
spiraling and dreaming
cracking, flaming, dizzying…

Strangers become friends 

and adults become children.
For in this timeless moment

                                      everyone comes together in joyous harmony 
                                           as history is made in the Dragon nation
                                                 under one clear October sky.