Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
III. College Experience; thus the architect’s journey began
When I was asked, by
the interview panel for the selection of scholarship courses, why I am not
preferring Mathematics honor in third world, but rather the architecture course
in India, little did I know that saying being architect means being an independent
entrepreneur than depending on government job would mean that I had no idea
about what architecture is all about. Thinking that preparing drawings and
making money as architecture was my first sin. And that architecture is just
about building was another mistake. I was learning bricks, pencil thicknesses,
paper sizes, giving half cut to the paper, grinding the metal piece in
workshop, carrying a chain in the rose garden beside the college, sketching the
flower, and computer, before I even started drawing any building.
Photo courtesy; http://getawayisland.files.wordpress.com/ |
Many friends in the
class had already learnt few things about engineering drawings, read about
architecture and had coaching on architectural software. I was the dumbest in
the class because all I did during the pre-scholarship period was being excited
about going to India and do architecture. All I had was a foreign face
and big blank head. One day, a computer teacher asked why we chose
architecture, and many gave answers from having a dream to build their own name
to having sent by parents to having not qualified to IIT and therefore choosing
Architecture. I on the other hand, bluffed them that our government needs
architects as we have hardly 50 architects for the developing country and god
be great, we in fact needed architects then, but now I cannot say about that
anymore. With each passing day, I survived by copying what my friends did.
Sometimes, even though my submission was the copied one, I used to score better
grades, however, most of the times it made me think whether I chose the wrong
profession or not. I was not learning anything than copying other’s work. I was
wondering what the architecture is about? By the way about the mathematics
which availed the opportunity for me to get enrolled for the architecture
course formed a very small part of our course. And it was just a semester
course which finished by just studying about differential equation.
Hostel life was of
course more homely. With senior Bhutanese friends consoling us that they were
also clueless in the beginning and that with time, we would settle well into
the web and enjoy the course. Most of times, carrying a big parallel bar, and a
roll of A1 Sheet, like everyone, I drove on ring road in auto-rickshaw to the
college, come back to the hostel, visit a senior’s room for a friendly talk,
have dinner, then go around asking my friends about the home work and spend
half the night preparing the drawings by copying from my friends. By the way,
it wasn't the building drawings, but rather a brick bonding drawings,
arch patterns, basically all that was not about building which I dreamt(at
least I thought so then).
Monday, November 11, 2013
II. College Experience; Settling down in Delhi
Delhi
can be a small dot in the great Indian map, but, population wise, it cannot be
undone. With more than a crore population, I was like thrown into the pool to
survive and thus thrive. School of Planning and Architecture, widely known as
SPA, had a hostel campus and college buildings separated by more than 10 kilometers It was Rs.50 away from hostel in New Friend’s Colony to the college
in ITO (Income Tax Office) area in auto-rickshaw While on a train from Howrah
to Delhi, a guy with whom we shared a compartment told us that the college we
are going is deemed like an IIT for architects. It was very motivating and felt
blessed until I saw a single building attached with the oval auditorium, and
that we were told building is the architecture block, and the hostel had a big
single building complex as the student hostel. For such a reputed college, how
can an infrastructure be poor?
College Building, SPA, at IP estate, New Delhi |
Hostel Block, Taimoor Nagar, New Friend's Colony, Delhi |
We
kept on trying to report to the DAHE back in Bhutan about our situation, but
nothing happened.Finally after staying for 15 days, my friend, Jamyang
succeeded in getting us a flat in the hostel complex. He approached Director,
and that was our third try meeting director and requesting him to attend to our
problem.
Being
in Delhi itself is a big challenge but to be out there with no proper accommodation and least help, that is all together another bigger problem.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
My Autobook Entry
As I unfold my memories,
I am fascinated with the idea of a thing which we used to do in schools,
filling up the fancy books of friends with stuffs which we called our favorite.
It's so exciting to think that even when we are limited with knowledge and wisdom,
we still had things to love and idolise. Auto book writing, as it used to be
called then, was one fancy book where we would find someone's everything if we
were to stalk.
Recollecting, I
compiled my auto book entry.
Today
recollecting back these things, I wondered whether all these things were
genuine or not. I used to write most of the time to go through the photographs
of the girls and read their auto entry. I am sure, many of you sure must have
once or more entered these things in auto books of your friends.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
My football team; Bhutanese Architects team
Football
has now become a one of the most written topics here in my blog. And admittedly,
football has become just more than a part of a life. Even though, I console my friends
that football is just a part a part which comes under some part of a life and
that there’s nothing to get serious about it. But deep down I know that I am
more into it like many out there. I am happy when Real Madrid wins, more importantly
when Ronaldo scores the winning goal. I am also happy to see Barcelona lose a
match and anything couldn’t be better than Madrid beating Barcelona.
Real Madrid Team |
Letting
the best of football be, we have our own team built with ourselves. It’s been
almost a year, BIA 11 (Bhutanese Institute of Architects 11) have been most of
the time at the losing end of the game. There are many matches where we lost
heavily, but there are also few matches where we really made a statement of a
winning team. It’s bitter sweet memories and after my family, football is what I
love most. I am quite sure we would have contributed to the Changlimithang more
than 50k so far. Afterall, even when we won, we paid around Nu.150 and when we
lost, it doubled.
BIA 11 |
By
the way, we are open to challenge any team out there, so if you have your team,
we can have at least some sort of friendly match. For the record, we lost our latest match and we are in 4 match losing streak.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Cristiano Ronaldo sends a letter to Miami Attorney asking to drop charges against the pitch invader
I have
always admired Cristiano Ronaldo ever since I learnt to love football. He's
been inspirational and a idol for me. He may be the cockiest footballer, save
Ballotelli, and an arrogant footballer, but for a fan like me who's been
following his football for over six years now, he's showed his better side more
often.
Ronald hugging his superstar idol Ronaldo |
My name is Cristiano Ronaldo and I play for Real Madrid. I was
playing in Sun Life Stadium when a fan entered the field. His name is Ronald
Gjoka, a young college student. We hugged, and we spoke for a while, until
security arrived to escort him off the field. He was not aggressive or violent
in ANY way. What's more, he did not put up any resistance when the security
guards and police arrived.
As I
understand it, he has admitted his mistake and understands the importance of
security. He is a young man of twenty who grew up without a father and was
raised by a single mother. He attends Palm Beach State Community College,
Florida, with an international student grant.
I am
concerned because I understand he may face problems with immigration and with
his college if the criminal charges against him are not dropped. He was
immediately taken to the Stadium's security area and then spent a day and a
half in jail. It seems he appeared before a judge on Monday accompanied by his
attorney who asked for the charges to be dropped, but you chose to ignore his
appeal.
I
understand your position and the importance of enforcing rules and laws.
However, I respectfully request that you and your office reconsider this
decision and dismiss the two criminal charges this young man faces. I would
hate to see him face criminal charges for his mistake. By all accounts he has a
bright future ahead of him and I'd hate to see this future ruined by an error
of judgement. Thank you. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to
contact me directly at any time.
Sincerely, Cristiano Ronaldo".
Courtesy: Marca.com
And eventually, the guy was dropped of one of the charges
on Ronaldo's request.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Fifa World Cup in Bhutan
Football,
the global religion, like any other country, has taken our country completely
to another level of global excitement and celebration. Today, we have every
kids wearing jersey of famous footballers, idolizing the football gods, and
enjoying the every bit of game not just in television but also in a playing
ground. The artificial turf, which is the only above standard football ground
for us at the moment is always occupied with the football matches from morning
8 AM to 12AM midnight. And the heavy fee which ranges from Nu.2500-Nu. 5000 per
match doesn’t deter people to come all the way from Trongsa to come and play a
one and half hour match. It just shows how much Bhutanese are into the
football.
Even
with such craze, Bhutan participating in the FIFA world cup remains the most
dreaded dream of ours. Bhutan’s only international tournament is SAFF
championship, where Bhutan remains an undisputed underdog of the tournament. The
tournament of course helps our players give the exposure, however, whether
Bhutan have the capacity to host the tournament or not, we have not been
able to get the nods from the governing body to organize it in our country.
FIFA world cup trophy which will be landing here in Bhutan. Photo courtesy; www.kuenselonline.com |
The other final trophy |
Well, for the record, we are past that 2002 event where FIFA organised the football match called ''the other final", when Bhutan took on Montserrat, then the two lowest ranking countries in FIFA ranking, coinciding with the FIFA world cup final 2002. Today we are 207th out of 209 countries. However, Montserrat has moved on to 193rd.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Painting of Bhutanese building
Thimphu has seen so much changes in recent years. And much changes predominately at a glance is brought about the number of buildings our city has come up with to accommodate much growing people. The architecture has always been an indication of the change for most part of our civilization. From a cave to a glass building, the architecture has played the part of bearing the change.
The change in building design in most of the places in the world have been either politically inspired or economic showdown. However, our buildings have always been cultural symbol than just a bearer of change. The small landlocked country with a need to project a strong sense of uniqueness and identity, it was always mandatory for a building to project a sense of cultural significance. Anyways, letting the building architecture mantra be, my observation is more focused on the building painting that our new buildings proudly wear. It is needless to say that the painting of a building at a glance would project the aforementioned changes.
Our building painting like our building style has always been inspired by the religious significance and belief. Lately, with the various shades easily available in the market, our building seems have to really gone too much into the in-depth religious belief that the aesthetic sense is lost somehow down the way. People paint the building with pink, dark red, deep blue, green, brown, yellow, you name any color, our buildings have one. The coloring, as it do not deserve to be called painting, of the building has gone from crazy to lunatic. When one's kham is red, one goes all out to paint the house red, and own red car. There are some buildings with a good facade design, but the coloring has killed it. And sadly, our concerned authorities do not care to intervene also.
Forget about the private buildings, some of the school buildings lately have such a bad blue color in their front facade. Who is smoking what, God knows? As one of the my senior colleagues points out, the painting of the building in such a awful fancy style is a visual pollution. It harms the environment, and yet no one cares to talk about it than just casually pointing their address as near the red building in Changzamtog, or green building near this or that.
Written October 07, 2013 by Sogyel
8 commentsSunday, September 29, 2013
Once beaten, never shy to get beaten twice
It goes deep down in
our roots that Bhutanese are reluctant to learn from the mistakes we make. Once
beaten, we are never shy to get beaten twice.
The Tala hydropower
project colony which was built then to support the Tala Hydropower Project
Construction remained empty after the completion of the project, let alone the
ghost town, Gedu, which was built with the promising prospect of serving the
project, enduring very few wayfarers after the project was completed. Had it
not been for the Business school, God knows how the infrastructure would have
been left empty. The amount of money spent on building the colony might have
been very less compared to the cost incurred in building the hydro power, but
it still projects the unnecessary spending.
The kuensel issue, 28th September, 2013, has a story on the Bajothang town and that what will happen to the town when most of its tenants will shift to the new colony which is being constructed for the project people. Let’s not talk about how these projects have inflated the market, and also about how much the hydropower project is important for nation and its economy. The article here is solely on what will happen to the house owners who have a big invisible car parked in front of their house of whose value is decreasing daily? How will they repay the loans when, supposedly, their rich tenants move to their own colony which will have everything, right from the shopping center to the sporting facilities? Will the town on its own sustain like the small Gangthangka survived through the time? Of course Gangthangkha house owners then did not have any car parked in front of their building? Right now, I can only think of the house owners shifting their shops, if they own any, to the coming up new colony and take a rent in their shopping center that too if the project allow and repay the loan.
New PHPA colony under construction |
The kuensel issue, 28th September, 2013, has a story on the Bajothang town and that what will happen to the town when most of its tenants will shift to the new colony which is being constructed for the project people. Let’s not talk about how these projects have inflated the market, and also about how much the hydropower project is important for nation and its economy. The article here is solely on what will happen to the house owners who have a big invisible car parked in front of their house of whose value is decreasing daily? How will they repay the loans when, supposedly, their rich tenants move to their own colony which will have everything, right from the shopping center to the sporting facilities? Will the town on its own sustain like the small Gangthangka survived through the time? Of course Gangthangkha house owners then did not have any car parked in front of their building? Right now, I can only think of the house owners shifting their shops, if they own any, to the coming up new colony and take a rent in their shopping center that too if the project allow and repay the loan.
Bajothang town. Courtesy: Passudiary.com |
Perhaps none of the above situations will happen, supposing that my not-so-researched article is utterly wrong? But then, how do we know also about the governments after thoughts on the project sustainability as the information is very much private and not made public. Some Dorji and his friends know, but then they don’t care to educate the lesser minds like us. We are already in such a delicate situation that the future seems to be burdened more with the unthinkable situations. Government encouraged people to build the town but never told about the guest who will build its own house.
Written September 29, 2013 by Sogyel
4 commentsSaturday, September 7, 2013
The Jobs, youth and cost of lifestyle
These
days the job providers always claim that there are enough jobs for our unemployed
youth and yet, our youth prefer to stay unemployed. It triggered me to kind of
defend these youths who are left unemployed and kind of think why there are so
many jobs that are rejected by the youth even though most of them are
succumbing to the harsh realities of unemployment.
I
got myself employed for a job in a consultancy till I decided what to do;
whether to appear common civil service exam or start my career in private
entrepreneurship. My boss who is an architect tells me on that particular day
of my employment that these days the house rents have doubled, food expenditure
has also doubled, fuel prices have also doubled, but on the other hand,
architects fees have gone half. It struck me right up.
There
was a point, in fact a strong one. The rise in the expenditure and the raise in
salaries, never go equally. In Thimphu alone, one does not get a house for less
than 8000 nu/month. For a simple person who is working in a company that
manufactures furniture cannot afford a house of Nu.8000 with his meager salary
of Nu.6000. The quality of life to be good and healthy would mean to have a
proper space to cover one’s head, proper clothes, proper food and good
facilities. Let alone about getting his kids into a proper school, or helping
his aged parents with some money at the end of the month or during the annual
puja, simple living standard is also beyond his ability. We live in a situation
where job qualities do not match the living expenditure. House rents are like
touching sky, and even then we have shortages of houses which would mean that
the escalation in the rents would be unarguable in near future.
Let’s
talk about government jobs. Firstly, whenever we have youth unemployment
increasing so much, everyone stares at Labor Ministry, now perhaps more than
that we might stare at our government as they promised 100 % employment. Every
year thousands of graduates flock to Thimphu in search of jobs. Looking at the
number of jobs created by government and private sectors, the job intake would
mean that we are way short of the jobs which these graduates would take up
proudly and enthusiastically. There are also situations, where students are
sent outside to study some courses by RCSE and DAHE only to come back and find
that there are no jobs suited for the course which s/he was sent to. Either the
course is so hi-tech that government does not find the need of employing a
person who has mastered in such a big course or the government has not been
able to find the place where the studied education could be placed into use. Where
do we blame?
Picture Courtesy- Bhutan Observer.bt |
And
there are youths who are trained in vocational training institutes, and yet we
have foreigners working even in the construction of simple structures. At a
glance, we might blame our youth for the pride that one cannot digest, but no
one looks at the job quality like better salary, respectful environment. Today,
even the most skilled carpenters have lost their jobs, it can be attributed to
the change in the construction style, but still, for the required work, and our
contractors prefer to get Mr. Kumar from Cooch Behar as he is less costly.
We
live in an age where costs of needs are exceedingly higher than what we earn.
And it seems like we really don’t have answer for these various implications which
are the adverse affects of the development of the city. Today, government has
stopped providing loans, and banks would dry up, more problems would follow.
The ever tiring farming job which is not lucrative as working in a road side
would be forced upon. We live in a ever changing age, and the ripple effect of
the change is so strong to bear.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Bhutanese Bloggers e-conference
First
of all thank you, Rekha Monger for actually giving one fun topic to write
something in my blog after such a long time. I know I am guilty of not updating
my blog for such a long time. And there are always some of you who have served
as an inspiration to blog, who I like to thank once again.
1. Why did
you start blogging in the first place? And what’s the story behind your blog
title?
Well, I have always liked writing and penning down
my thoughts. What started as a mere interest ended myself initiating the
literary programs in school, and for that matter, during my school days in
Yebilaptsa Middle Secondary School, with the help of my literary club incharge,
I was actively involved in publishing a weekly magazine. The money that we
earned through it, we donated to the hospital. During my college days, to kill
the boredom and a loneliness, I started taking refuge in the world concealed
between the lines, and soon I discover that I can actually own an online diary
where I can write my own story and let people read it.
My friend during a casual dinner, consoles me that
there's always more to life, which would thus become title of my blog. He was
right, life in fact has more than just loneliness, sadness, etc.
2. How long have you been blogging? Where are you
based?
:It's been almost four years, and a wonderful
experience of knowing many avid bloggers on the way. I am based in Thimphu,
though i was in Delhi for three years of blogging age.
3. How do you schedule your blog post? Daily or
weekly? Or as and when inspiration strikes you?
: Initially, i was determined to write weekly on
mostly topics which concerned the everyday life, then i realised, forcing
myself to write just because i want to update weekly, it's not good for my
blog. I mostly end up coming with a simple topics and that it didnot really
involve my full zest. It was like a forced love which is a false love.
These days, i have stopped though to write as often
as i do, but with this rekindling and wake up call, i would try to write as and
when something strikes and inspires me.
4. Does your family and friends know about your
blog?
My friends and family know about my blog, and sadly,
apart from my friends, my families have proved not-so-interested in reading or
writing one. But my friends, some of them read my blog.
I leave my friends to tag themselves. Happy Blogging and Happy reading
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Kings Cup- Outdoing its Expectation
Last May, kings cup final was
played between, Real Madrid and its city rival, Atletico Madrid. And to my
utter disappointment, real Madrid lost. However, I always liked to believe that
luck denied Real Madrid. It isn’t normal that Ronaldo, Ozil and Di Maria all
hitting the wood work. It was a last match of Mourinho before he left the club
for Chelsea. And now its been almost two and half months, and we have a
different King’s Cup, a tournament born in our own turf.
Yedzin celebration after a win against 3 Star. Picture Courtesy; goalnepal.com |
Kings Cup, as hyped as it is, it
has lived up to the expectation, even to a point that it brought people
together, or rather gave a respite after a much hyped election. The national
healing was necessary, and thus, football proved it more than just a game. When
we see many people cheering for Bhutanese teams, and for that matter, even when
our people jumped off their seats when United Sikkim equalized in the dying
minutes of the semifinal match, it reminded me the Invictus, a movie on Nelson Mandela. The rugby game apparently unites
the country. (Forgive me for the comparison if our small tournament do not
merit such praise, but for the frog in the well thinks well is the world, and I
am happily letting the thought pass)
Today, we have a final match.
Yedzin has come long way from being the national league champions to beating Nepal’s3 Stars which was considered to be one of the best teams of Nepal to playing in
the final match. It will be a good match between Manang Fc and Yedzin FC, at
least, we will be cheering for the Bhutanese team. I remember myself sitting
with my small group of friends in Delhi amongst many Indian football fans,
watching Bhutan play India in SAFF. It was such a belittling moment as the
Bhutanese team was outperformed by the Indian players and we couldn’t even
cheer. Already our number was too small, that we had to endure the Bhutanese players
hardly getting the ball. However, today it’s a different scenario, we have the
crowd, we have the team performing well, and above all, its our own turf, the
variables looks good to come out with the good equation.
Yedzin FC team. Picture Courtesy- Goalnepal.com |
Good luck Yedzin, and let’s hope
today’s tournament is the beginning of so many football festivals in times to come.
It is so much an economic boost, while it is an entertainment loved by
everyone. We can expect our league to improve with every team vying for the
place in the Kings Cup tournament.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Best movies of 2012
Here are my best movies of 2012
5. Life of Pi
i read the book long time back when i was in second year (2008). My design faculty recommended the book and coincidentally i was on a ship sailing around Laskshadweep islands. And recently was watching this movie, Life of Pi. But i still don't get which one's the true story of Pi, the one with Richard Parker or the other.
4. Kahaani
Vidya Balan once said that she is the only "khan" amongst the actresses and no wonder that she's damn right about what she said. Kahaani literally leaves one dumbstruck when at the end we are caught up in an unexpected twist to the whole journey of a pregnant woman looking for her lost husband.
With Japan's invasion of China, the mercenary ( played by Christian Bale ) finds himself with a big and dangerous situation of saving the girls from the church from the Japanese soldiers. And a bunch of prostitutes interestingly add a flavor to the movie. Its a Chinese movie by the way.
02. Django unchained
This one's a hardcore action from Quentin Tarantino with Jamie Fox, Chritoph Waltz and Leonardo in a lead role. The movie uncharacteristically is a action movie running over a soft romantic story of Jamie Fox and his lost wife. This movie also proves why one should watch hollywood movies by director unlike bollywood which goes by a lead actor.
Here's the best that i still can't get over with. Was in Delhi collecting my probation certificate that movie happened to be released in theater. The excitement and the environment that it created was so awesome that i also felt like clapping when the movie ended together with other moviegoers. The trilogy of batman ended in such a epic manner. Even such a simple fiction, Christopher Nolan directed in a such a awesome manner. Of course he's other movies like Inception, Prestige, Memento, were all good but this one's the greatest of all.
So this is it, my favorite movies of 2012. What are yours?
Written February 01, 2013 by Sogyel
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