Skip to main content

Prayers in the modern age

The weather at this time of the year is unforgiving, but every evening, as I walk home, I see her walking home with a bag or two on her back, among a group of school children. But don't mistake her for an old woman going to school. It is but a burden of old age. Old age is the best time for prayers some say, but Abi Wangdi does not enjoy that kind of luxury for she has to drop her two grandchildren to school and pick them up in the evening.


Labels:

Comments

  1. PaSsuAugust 8, 2010 at 10:50 PM

    The pictures are disturbing for my soul. She may be doing it for the love of her grandchildren but the heavy load and the thick clothes in pling at this time of the year may not be her fav. She may want to sit under the shade of some tree near the Zangdopelri with other old folks praying... we often forget that our parents are not our babysitters, they have babysitted us and given us this comfortable life...now it's the time for us to grannysit them...

    PS: remove second, third and the fifth pictures...

    ReplyDelete
  2. PenstarAugust 9, 2010 at 9:50 AM

    Yeah PaSsu. I was disturbed myself and it took me sometime to ask her. Old people have had their share of work, as you have said it. But the reality is far bigger than the expectations. There is no happiness when old people have no time for prayers.

    Thanks PaSsu, I have removed those pictures you have asked me to successfully.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

So what do you think?

Popular posts from this blog

Alive and kicking

This feels like ages since I last posted anything here. That shows how inactive I have become on my blog. It is such a pain to let it go empty, day after day. And I am sure that all bloggers share the same sentiments.

I have attempted to blog about something for a long time now, only to find myself failing to do so. Maybe that is my laziness. But sometimes, there is nothing new or interesting to blog about. Topics are crucial. As far as my idea of blogging goes, a post cannot be a mere record of personal events - everyday affairs - although there can be blogs about such topics and interests. For example, the one I am writing now - has nothing about anything in particular,  besides citing some personal excuses.

Bhutan is going through yet another interesting era in that we have just had our third parliamentary elections and the new government is in place. I take this opportunity to welcome the new government and a new set of cabinet members, the speaker of the National Assembly and th…
1 comment
Read more...

When they are ready

The Ministry of Education discovered 890 'underage' children admitted in schools across the country in 2019. Thus, the ministry in May 2019 issued a notification revoking the admission for these children. Majority were in urban centres. 
Desperate, parents and the affected schools requested the government to intervene. They also requested the government to consider lowering the enrolment age to five years. Currently, in Bhutan a child can legally go to school only when s(he) is six years old. 
And that policy was strictly followed a few years ago to the extent that some schools refused to admit children even if they were short of a few weeks. So, parents, mostly in urban areas, resorted to faking their children's ages. Many parents were guilty of adding years onto their children's actual ages. However, most parents, we are told, managed to correct their 'mistakes' later. Faking a child's age was rampant both in government and private schools. But the story wa…
Post a Comment
Read more...

Our throw-it-away culture

Like all grandparents, my late grandma would call food 'tsampa rimpoche' and any fuss made about it would invite everyone's sneer and scoldings. Food is always treated with respect and is never wasted. "If you waste food in any manner," she would admonish us. "One day food will discard you and you will go hungry." 
What remained from the previous meal would be turned either into porridge or sometimes leftover rice would be dried in the sun. The dried rice would then be fried into puffed rice and consumed with cups of suja. When there was so much food left, especially during big events, leftover rice or kharang would be mixed with a small amount of yeast and brewed into ara.  
The only thing that I can vividly recollect from my primary school days is how we would be hungry most of the time. Food we were served was hardly enough to tickle our throats. We would be sent home only once a week on Saturdays and that was our opportunity to replenish our popcorn s…
8 comments
Read more...