Bhutan Road Trip

A Foot Ball Match in Gedu Capus of Bhutan Royal University

The famous Animal faced dance during the dance festival in Chuka

Chuka- Monastery

Taktsung- Huge Climb- But a serene place-Guru Padmasambhava meditated here

Prayer Wheels at Tashichho Dzong, Thimpu

108 Chortens- In the memory of the Royal Bhutanese Soldiers who laid down their lives fighting the insurgents from India under Indian Government's instructions in 2003

Punakha Dzong

It was nice to see our good old typewriter in action .... Chennai 26/11/2012

Child marriage as remedy for rape

(Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala and former Haryana Chief Minister who shot into national infame after the Mehem by-elections dominated the discourse once again last week).

But why early marriage, when there are easy solutions available- Those who do not know how to contain their dick from misbehaving shall be castrated; a better way to prevent rape than what Chautala suggested. After all we do not allow our children to play with a matchbox. We remove it from them. Don’t we?

All is fair in love and football...

When the match started

Saramsa United Fans

It was real fun watch a football tournament in Saramsa, Sikkim. It is, they say, an annual event commemorating Gandhi Jayanti. The bapu is remembered here even though the freedom struggle did not take place here in Sikkim. It was a match between Saramsa United and Sikkim University. Of course, I was there to cheer up the university team as children whom I knew well -- like Passang and Robin – were part of the team.

In Sikkim, football is serious business. The whole of Saramsa- women, men, children -- were there to cheer up the Saramsa United: they carried chairs, mats (otherwise they have to squat on the wet ground) and umbrellas to challenge the threatening rain clouds. Line umpires were there in their uniforms ready with the flags; a borrowed slate and chalk piece to write change of the players was a poor replacement for the LED board we see in international football. But that did not matter. A clean black board was on the stands where the number of goals to be written. The official gallery was made out of bamboos and plastic sheets made the roof. Behind the ground was thick forest. 

The ground was so muddy;   I was wondering how they are going to play with so much slush around. My apprehensions did not last long. The players marched to the ground and the game began in the midst of cheering and whistling. Both the teams played well and many fell down in the slippery ground, some time in ankle deep holes. Most of the time, players sledged through. Then the University kids scored the first goal disappointing the huge Saramsa United fans; it was a match on their own ground; but the spirited crowd cheered their team up. When they scored the first goal, women sitting on the edges of the elevated stands just jumped into the ground, never mind the slush, to celebrate.

Occasionally you see a player running towards gallery asking for water to wash away the mud from his eyes. While they played, mud sprayed to the gallery too. Finally, the university team won the match. We jumped to congratulate them; but no handshakes and of course no hugs too. They were almost unrecognisable with slush all over the body. I am sure what they really needed was a thorough scrub and lot of hot water.

I enjoyed every bit of the game from the fun fouls, the chiding of elderly women, rhymes of the children to cheer up their favourites, the last minute desperation of the Saramsa United players and finally my team winning the game, 3:1. I am waiting with a lot of excitement for the next match my kids will play on September 23....

Rumtek Monastery – Sikkim

New Monastery

Rumtek Monastery (The Dharmachakra Centre) is a must visit, if you are travelling to this part of the country. It is situated 24 KM away from Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. There are two monasteries in the locality- the old monastery which was built in the sixteenth century under the guidance of the ninth Karmapa and the new one. In fact when I visited the Rumtek Monastery for the first time, I was not aware of the existence of the old monastery, just two KM away from the new one, down the road.

Prayer Wheels

The new monastery was built in the 1960s (the construction began in1962 and inaugurated on the Tibetan New Year day in 1966) under the guidance of the Sixteenth Karmapa who fled Tibet in 1959 during the Sino-Tibetan conflict.  Sikkim had a long-standing relationship with the successive lines of Karmapas in Tibet and the old monastery was built in Rumtek under the patronage of Sikkim king (Chogyal-The Dharma King). He invited the 9^th Karmapa to build monasteries and one of which was established in Kagyu lineage in Rumtek.

Prayer time

The new monastery is bigger than the old one and it is a Tibetan architectural marvel with colourful paintings on the walls. Also you see a wall painting of Lord Ganesha which is a rarity. We were told that the Karmapa had a dream and he instructed to have a painting of Lord Ganesh there. The Golden Stupa that contains the relics of the 16th Karmapa, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies are the other major attractions here. And you can spin the prayer wheels which are fixed on a wall, clockwise, while climbing down to the entrance. The recent earthquake destroyed some parts of the monastery and repair work is going on.

Veg Cafe run by monks

There is a vegetarian cafe near the monastery; you will get coffee, thukpa, momos, etc there. The beauty of the cafe is that its windows open to the scenic mountains and you can see mist playing hide and seek while you sip your hot coffee. And the coffee is served by the monks (they run the cafe) 

Young monks playing with local 

children outside the new Monastery

 Of course, one word of caution. It is a routine for the tourists who visit Sikkim to visit the monastery too (It is a part and parcel of the tour, I heard). But then you know how people behave in a typical tourist place. There are boards requesting visitors to maintain silence. Either they do not read it or they do understand what they read; or it could be that they do not care for it. They talk so loudly despite seeing people meditating there.  Children run around uncontrollably.  I have made three visits to the monastery and onall the occasions this was the story.

Old Monastery 

But down the road, just a couple of kilometres away, where the old monastery stands, it is absolute serenity and in the midst of thick misty forest. Thank God it is not in the tourist map. Hardly anybody visits there. A local friend took us there for the first time and I fell in love with the place. The 16^th century monastery is not a gigantic structure (compared to the new one) but it has a charm. Monks walk around in their burgundy robe silently. Inside the monastery some of them were chanting prayers. I liked the old one for its simple but magnificent structure, ineffable peace and the eternal silence. The paintings on the wall depicted hell (which was a bit scary) and there was the idol of God of destruction and our friend told us that the monks pray for peace and to prevent destruction.

A Young monk at old Monastery 

We spent a lot of time in the old monastery, had our food (carried from home) under the kiosk and walked towards the forest in a meditative mood. There is a tree adjacent to the gate of the monastery and the local friend told us to look at the tree through the camera lens and surprisingly it looked like Buddha in his meditating posture. But my son told me that he could not make out anything. May be that image is a creation of my mind and the mood at that time. May be Siddhartha’s eternal travel, searching for answers to the mystery of life was blowing in the wind that slightly shook the trees. I shivered a bit; not due to cold but thinking that love, lust, anger and frustrations still rule me.

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