"IN DISARRAY"

It's been 20 days I am back from the trip to Bhutan , Today when I sit down and go through the details of the trip, I remember the walk to the taschicho dzong , which we walked with long strides, drinking the fresh air . What would be more charming than to dream while walking over, enjoying the sunlight and the caressing wind. The Dzong ( Fortress) was magnificent. It is throne house of his majesty and summer residence for monks. Being a structural engineer i was wonder struck when Pari told they don't use blue prints while they construct the monasteries. We didn't hire any guide,which added to one of our advantages.You go any direction you please without any guide , save your imagination, without any counselor explaining what we saw. All three of us hated tour groups and planning in advance. We were glad that we didn't come with any guide else we would have lost a good experience with the immigration office. I always hated government office, they look at you as if you have come from another world. The people never smile at you. Its very scary to enter a government office in India. Well here we were surprised when they welcomed us , they were fun to talk , they taught us how to say "hello" and "thank you" in Dzongkha . They talked about their culture and economy ( ha ha ha... one of them talked so much and ended up proposing each one of us.. Though it was sarcasm I can never forget him in my entire life ) . The walk to the Taktsang lhakhang( Tiger's nest) which was one more best thing happened in Bhutan.We walked watching pine trees lighted with yellow rays of the blue sky. When we were depleted of strength while climbing, we went down on knees bend forward and drink the cold pellucid water wetting your face,it is just one great experience.The scenery from the Taktsang lhakhang was breath taking. It is almost miraculous to think of the construction of the monastery when there were no modern machines around. Even with the availability of the technology, it would be a big task to come up with a beauty like Taktsanag Monastery. How we were awfully hungry by the time we reached the top and how we begged for some food from monks and they were very generous to offer us some .
At every corner of the place, We were dazzled by the building’s magnificence and improbability. The whole country was like a museum for us and we watched everything with amusement. The people are as pleasent as the place is .They are a deeply, friendly people, simple and serene. In Thimphu we left almost a lakh worth camera and we realised it next day,when we went back in search of it ,the shopkeeper had kept it safe and she advised to be careful in future ( had it happened in India , they would have scared you away or fought with you for doubting their honesty). When we asked for help for booking a cab or hotel they would help us profuesly .
After entering Bhutan I realised why the blogs I read described it is mysterious place hidden for centuries up in the Eastern Himalayas. I always wanted to see how the world was until it was invaded by pursuit of materialism. My wish has been fulfilled for there still exists such place which has retained most what we have lost, where we can see and hear the melody of birds, The sound of flowing river ( The water in the river was very clear ,if the same river was in india we would have turned in to whichever colour we wanted , blue , pink or green ). When I come to unspolied place like this ,I am in heaven . I really hope that they can hold on to that for as long as possible. As for the architecture is considered ,All the temples have grand colorful paintings depicting the wheel of life and the biography of Lord Buddha.The Bhutanese sense of their place in their world is found in the mural paintings of the four harmonious friends on the walls of temples. ( Its a story which perfectly demonstrates harmony, interdependence, co-operation and friendship between four animals who become close friends).Exterior looks of the window and other wooden items are same as that of it was 100 years before, I guessed that paintings on the Bhutanese window are not just for beauty but they have deep meaning. The houses were almost two storyed .
All the rides in Bhutan gave stunning experience, Watching the towering Himalayas, the verdant slopes. The Bhutanese know to ride really really fast, at times when I was on the road, i would look out of the window to detect any signs of large rock rushing ominously over us :) . The scary part in the rides were there was about 1.5 lanes and we had to squeeze by the huge dump trucks going other way of the corner , of course we were the ones riding on the edge of the cliff.
I know nothing more enjoyable than that happy-go-lucky wandering life in which you are perfectly free, without shackles of any kind, without care , without preoccupation , without thought even of tomorrow. The 10 days in Bhutan made me feel, real me. we had passed 10 happy days of listlessness and liberty. The trip made us experience the soul of country and given me moments that will linger in my mind forever. Hoping to visit Bhutan sometime soon.

P.S : My writing doesn't do any justice for what i saw and Experienced in Bhutan. Whatever I have written here is too small or too less.

Love Bhutan
Anu

I missed my yoga classes for a week because of my hectic thesis work.The preliminary part was finally over and I was back to my normal routine. After the rejuvenating session in the yoga class I walked with the jaunty steps to get milk and Newspaper.Someone from behind called me "hey", when I turned back she said hello...I said hi, It was the woman who works for some corporate, She was waiting for her cab, everyday we exchanged hello's and smile.For a minute she was silent and there was awkward question mark on my face. She asked " Are you ok ??" . With laugh I said " I am perfectly fine, I was only busy with my paper work in my college" . She said she thought something terrible has happened to me for she has not seen me that whole week ,and to my surprise she broke down in to tears. I don't why she was crying but it was pretty obvious that she had some problem. She managed to smile at me and said that she had lot of problems at home my tag "Have a nice day" at the end of conversation and smile everyday, meant more than I could imagine . She said she has missed it terribly for the whole week.she also said I have a beautiful smile ( he he for which I was little blushing but didn't let her to realise it). I realised that couple of words and a smile would make someone's day :). My mom always said good people share smiles ,words,favour's and she made us live that way.I always smiled at people and would add "have a nice day" tag at the end of conversation, Sometimes I smiled like big bob bumble bear even at strangers. It had become a simple rule in my life .Initially my mind would play game of what would they think, will they smile,will they smile not.I would discuss this with my mom and she would say its not about you, its about delivering an unexpected smile on someone's face and the best way to do that was wearing a big fat smile on yours.I cared less about what people think I just kept smiling like a big bob bumble bear. Some people would smile back and some young people seemed like they are too involved in their own thoughts or live and passed me by as if I am invisible. Some responded back with a quizzical smile and an expression "what's up with her". When I smiled at young boy who was works construction site,he gave me back 1000-watt smile. The people who work at the corporate don't have time even to look up, they would be busy engrossed with there i-phones and some didn't want to waste time on smiling. But I don't mind, I smile happily and brightly when they smile back, I realise that I had pass it on them .

All smiles
ANU