Friday 20 November 2009

SEYCHA

At the age of 72, you may expect meymey Korla to be around the cool shed of Changmey Gonpa counting the prayer beads. But you also may not like to see this old man to starve to death. His wife, abi Dowa has died 4 years ago. They had no children.

By late afternoon he would be seen by the bank of Gamri with his old fishing rod. His nephew had bought for him from Samdrup Jongkhar when he came to attend the abi dowa’s funeral. One such afternoon he was caught by a Forest Ranger. The Forest Ranger explained him the liability of legal action for fishing. The Forest Ranger asked meymey Korla to come to his office to discuss the penalty.

The next day, the old man walked all the way up to the gewog office. He spoke gently as he placed his, as old as him, jola on the table, “Lopon you know, due to the freezing temperature outside, fish usually don’t come out from the rock in the morning. But today I was lucky. I managed with one”.

He reached out for his jola and took out approximately a foot long fish which had not even breathed its last. “I thought I would offer this to u as seycha (an offer made to ask for forgiveness)”

How can a lopon reject an old man’s offer?

IF ONLY

If only she could see the tears in my eyes,
If only she could feel my fragile heart,
If only she could understand how I feel about her,
It only she could turn back to see I’m dying for her,
If only she could feel the depth of my heart,
If only an angel could take the message.

The time would stop by to marvel bond of love,
The birds would fly by to drop down the flowers,
The buds would bloom into a beautiful rose,
The bees would sing the song of love,
The wind would gently whisper words of love,
And the butterfly would fly out of the cocoon.

Then the pain of love would dissolve into the sand,
And the world will watch us love till the end.

Friday 13 November 2009

love in dreams

I’m in love with a girl. In fact I was in love ever since I saw her. But It wasn’t until I realized that the joy of beauty last forever. John Keats couldn’t have said anything truer. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She has one of those glistening brown eyes whose glance makes my heart stop beating for a while. Her nose is perfectly curved and underneath is her little rosebud mouth almost revealing her glistening white teeth. She has this same sweet smile all the time. Probably she is not capable of crying, of being sad or of being angry. As she speaks, her voice is filled with music. But ah! It is her heart-so soft and gentle that makes me close my eyes and do nothing but think of her.

This is lovely evening in the woods. For rose is sign of love, I find the most beautiful rose in this world, kneel in front of her and whisper, “I love you so much.” She smiles, takes the rose with one hand and gives me her other hand. I take her hand in mine as I gently draw her towards me, our face almost touching. I draw her closer. She blushes as I touch her crimson lips with mine. I kiss her, touch her, caress her and let myself float into the world I’ve never been.

But alas! This is just a dream and no love is as sweet as in dream. I just want to hold her tight in my arms and never let go. But it would mean a dream come true. A dream becoming reality. And Realities are not always sweet as in dreams. Often, realities are harsh and brutal. And I don’t want this to happen to her. Perhaps she must be a bird made to fly about freely in the sky, bringing joy to everyone who sees her. I simply cannot cage her just because I need her and that I’m selfish. So I’ll let her fly across the vast blue sky in perfect harmony and anybody who sees her pass by would say, “Here goes an angel.”

Someday, as she flies over the far-off cities, someone would lay a trap and she would be caged forever. I won’t regret it for I’ll be losing something I never possessed. At least I loved her and I let her go. After all, future will be all-together a different story-may be her version of “love in reality”.

Gambling with an old woman

Once an old woman with a bag walked into the bank and said she wanted to deposit her three million money. The clerk at the counter saw it was quite a huge sum of money. So an old woman was directly sent to the manager. The Manager instantly grew suspicious and asked an old women,

“Oh! grandma from where do you bring this huge sum of money”.

“I won a gambling”, she answered nonchalantly.

“So, what is that, you gamble”

“It’s nothing uncommon”, said an old woman as she drew her bag closer to her, “so wanna know young man? We can have one if you wish. I bet you one lakh, tomorrow morning before nine o’clock in the morning your testes will change the shape into square”.

The manager cannot help out a laugh,” hahaha…you must be joking”.

“No I mean it. Don’t you see Grandma has an amount of three million?” she said opening the bag she brought and made the manager to have it a glance. The Manager thought there could be no way his testes would turn into square, so he gladly accepted the bet. They made an appointment to meet the very next day at the same place at 9 o’clock sharp.

Almost Throughout the night he couldn’t sleep well as he checked his testes time and again. The next day he woke up and fumbled for the last time to see if his testes are still oval in shape. He smiled as he went to the office anticipating the victory.

The old woman, this time, has come with one another man. The Manager asked,”good morning, grandma. Who is that with you today”. “oh…he ‘s a lawyer, grandma has lots of money, so I brought him with me”, she answered.

“Whatever! old woman, I’m sorry I think you lost the bet”, He said as he pulled down his trousers and called her to check it out herself. So she walked up and felt the testes, “ah… of course it is still in oval shape, grandma is lost”, she admitted but without the twinge of loss in her accent. At that moment the manager saw that the lawyer was banging his head heavily on the wall in his office. So he said, “ you see grandma, what’s your lawyer doing?”.

“Oh! That”, she said, “I think it’s because he lost the bet too. I said I would fumble the testes of the Bank Manager in his office. He wouldn’t believe me so I bet him two lakhs for this………”

A story on full moonlight

May be I've never encountered greater romance in my life.

Last night I got a call from my old high school friend. Her voice was as sweet as usual. We talked of how difficult it is to be in foreign land. She said she missed me so much. I laughed.

Suddenly she asked me, "Do you see the moon?”

I went over to the window. "Yea, I do," I answered, surprised.

"I see it too," she said, nearly inaudible. I thought she was crying.

I was about to say, "so what?” when I slowly went back through the memory lane and remembered how she would compare me to the moon. I remembered how she used to call me ‘yongba’ as she arranged my gong (a white scarf worn with gho). I remembered how she would run to me after evening prayer and whisper in my ear, “goodnight dear”. I remembered how we used to steal glances during the morning assembly. I would smile. She was a wonderful friend.

She once told me that her boyfriend never gave time for her. It never bothered me. In fact I never cared. After all it was their love story. But why does it bother me today?

“Happy valentine day Kinzang”, she said finally.

I looked up in the sky. It was a bright full moon night. Why would the valentine day be on full moon night if it wasn't for a reason.

“Bye”, she hung up.

“Happy valentine day Pema”, I whispered.