Losar memories

At 6 A.M in the morning, I received a call from my mom which I missed because I was busy slumbering peacefully in bed. She might have wanted to wish me-Happy losar. And I don’t remember when’s the last time I ever sat around with my parents and siblings to share a meal on losar wishing all the happiness and joys. I miss those moments or else I won’t be writing about it here.

There are so many fond memories of this particular day. The world when I grew up to a young boy from an innocent kid was so much around the adults who indulged themselves to all sorts of entertaining activities during such occasions of losar. The traditional archery between the two villages or groups was most common, though. It always ended with so many merrymakings. It was the most promising event for the betterment of social web in the community. And as kids in the community, we were not so far behind our fathers. There was nothing that we left out to mark the day. From the thugpa in the morning to a dinner in the evening after a tea was so much a fun to end with Bhutanese dances (I wonder to what tunes, we faked the steps, but then it was nothing less than a losar celebration..lol).  Our mothers and sisters were so much a busy spectators. They had to come with our lunch in the archery spot. It didn’t really matter whether they have reached the lunches for our fathers or not, but we made sure our mothers get us all dishes.

The month long preparation always began with nagging mother of some money to purchase a pair of arrows. Then there is preparation of play field. Perhaps we are the only few in world who do not require well built stadiums and fields for our play. Bhutanese can do in any sort of contour. Archery play fields are perhaps the best examples to support this argument. Before the day of tournament, blame for our adults and our myths, were we suppose to hide the eggs underneath the earth so that our opponents have a bad day playing against us? We won because we hid eggs, I don’t really know how to contemplate, but it surely gives me a smile today when I think of those naïve things we did. Next day wouldn’t have been different either; I am sure, other kids (our opponents) were smart enough as well (no less superstitious than us) about eggs.

And today as I sit here faraway from home where people are anonymous to something known as losar, but Bhutanese live on such ethics and cultures, and yet these things make us no less than wonder human beings- our lives construed by such events and celebrations which are contained in such small things which make our lives bigger and happy. We will have our losar on Friday night here in hostel amongst few Bhutanese here.

 Happy losar to everyone J

Losar: New Year in lunar calendar.