ROMANCE IN
THE GLASS
We live by the will of god.
Literally, people fall in love, for god has seen divine-glimpse in
love. On the contrary, love pictures
different color of mood since god looks upon us differently. Nevertheless, if love is to calm down the human
ego, pride, jealousy, fret, and fever, one must never love truly, because contemporary
love success behind the great secret of materialism.
Yoezer, a college student, had to battle for his college
necessities since he was so called orphan.
His angel-like mum, he imagined, never stoke his forehead for she has to
attend the call of death at very young age, after leaving her feeble and
unfortunate infant in the mundane world of suffering. His faithful father, of course, never thought
of marrying for he finds it very painful and dislikes his own child to call,
‘step mum’ in low and stick tone.
Unfortunately, the sharp claws of death strangled his dad after miserly
suffering from intestine cancer. The
every move of his life was accompanied with misery and sadness to crash him by
their terrible hoofs.
Every dog has its own day.
Yoezer, be it by luck or divine’s providence, met a girl named Yangzom
to heal his wound of emotional distress.
Yangzom, on other hand, has a story nothing different from him. She lost her mum while she was feeding on the
breast. However, she was lucky enough
than Yoezer, for she had tasted the milk and played the breast of her mum with
her short-blessed hands, which latter has never seen even in his dream. Nevertheless, their story never go
differently because like Yoezer, Yangzom lost her faithful and hard working dad
in an accident, while she was schooling in grade 12.
By providence, they met under the sheer visionary eyes of
the god. Not knowing, the fate may cheat
in the future, they promised not to betray each other. Everything they did was in each other’s name,
and nothing they did against the will of the god.
Apparently, as commonly uttered, ‘never trust 3Ws – wine, woman and weather,’ accordingly Yoezer found his heart bleeding without
cuts. He lost his heart, and everything
was in vain after losing it. Eventually,
when he evoked from the deep drowsiness of pain, he regretted for letting his
love take away the freedom of his heart.
He found his own heart crashed and left behind like an empty bottle
after it has quenched the thirst of thirsty man.
Yangzom after her graduation from grade 12 received a
scholarship in Engineering in Australia
When we miss somebody very much, and our heart was broken
into pieces, a quick and just a word, hi, from that person can put our broken pieces
of heart into shape. Sadly, it never
worked in Yoezer case. Al most two days
has passed without any sign of response.
Every time he logged on the web, message from Yangzom never appeared in
the inbox.
Eventually, one time he caught her message, and it made him
fly in the sky and his entire face was painted with smiles and glory. He clicked the bar, viewed message, with
overflowing excitement, and waited what words she has expressed for him after a
long time. At first he didn’t believe his eyes, but later he read her response
to his greeting with self-praising and self-gratifying exposition.
Hi! M doin gud
Bt m vry sory 2 say…
We hv nw academic
difference.
Ergo, lets b gud
fren…plez understand.
Hope u ll nt bother
me.
The tears brimmed in his eyes and something terrible worked
in his heart. The person he has trusted
and respected as an angel put off the garment of virtue and portrayed her true
face of scoundrel and worn the garment
of evil. Even then, he accepted the fate
with no words of rebellion and followed the path of fate.
He never thought of loving a girl anymore if god willed, but
he doubted his weak heart, that he might again love to open the gate of
weariness and despair.
It was breaking of the winter; the thick black cloud
blanketed over the snowy meadow of the province, the high way meandered like a
black stripe on the stretched white plain cloth, and the blacked necked crane
soared high in the sky, and sung the song of purity in the heavenly vale of
Gangtey.
In that silence of pale wintry eve, a boy on his feeble and
wrecked heart shivered like a last leaf on the trees, and entered the sordid
bar. He tabled a bottle of beer and his
glass filled to its brim and his mouth stained with white bubbles. He would lavishly smile at everyone who
entered the cozy room and if they will, he would share his beer and start
pouring down all his allegory of the past.
With tears in his eyes, drowsiness in his head and heaviness
in his heart, Yoezer said, “I have found romance in this glass. It never betrays me like the girl who crashed
my heart and, robbed the happiness of my life.
Indeed, it is very best friend of mine.
But sometimes, she fills this glass,” he laughed, bent his head down and
never rose again.
Galay Samdrup
III English
The Beautiful and the Ugly
A tale from Talo, Punakha
Once upon a
time there lived a Dove in a thick forest. She was considered the most
beautiful bird in that forest. Every animal admired her for her beauty and good
personality. She was one creature that was liked by all the others as they
never understood her inner quality of giving priority to physical outlook.
Every male
bird tried to woo her. Many backed off seeing no possibility of winning her
love. However, the Pheasant of the high land, Peacock of India, the wild cock
of the meadow, the cock of the village and the Dramgyenthashahop never gave up.
They had a strong competition in wooing the Dove’s love. And they were the top
five suitors.
The suitor
from the high land ate poison, had beautiful feathers and was handsome. The
Peacock with his multicoloured feathers; silky and smooth fir was not bad. The
wildcock looked gorgeous in his own ways. Meanwhile the Cock from the village
could not be denied of his smartness. His personality and the sweet voice were
admired. And lastly, the Dramgyen with a luring combination of coloured body;
hardworking; and his honey tongue gave the Dove no way to exclude him. This
suitor had the most beautiful outlook.
The admirers of the Dove worked as hard as the
politicians on their campaign to win her. The Dove had a tough time to choose
one. But, with her priority on the physical out look, she decided her life with
Dramgyen. So, she expressed her love for him one day. No sooner did Dramgyen
hear her, he was overwhelmed by feelings of happiness. He was struck dumb; not
sure if it was a dream and kept on hugging.
The happy
and proud Dramgyen requested her to be married as fast as possible. Therefore,
the marriage was decided to be done the next day. Immediately, Dramgyen set off
to prepare for their marriage. They promised to keep it secret until the next
evening. Meanwhile, the Bat, who was considered the ugliest creature, overheard
the conversation.
Then the
Bat foiled a plan to visit the Dove that night. As it became dark, the Bat set
off to execute his plan. His plan was to enjoy the virginity of the Dove.
He was soon
at the Dove’s place and knocked the door, tok...tok... The Dove expected one of
the five suitors. So she asked,” are you the Pheasant of the highland?” The Bat
disdainfully replied,” do you mean the poisoner of the highland?” The Bat
knocked the door again, tok...tok... The Dove asked,” are you the Peacock of
India?” The Bat said scornfully,” do you mean the sweeper?” The Bat continued
to knock, tok...tok...The Dove again asked,” are you the wildcock from the
glade?” “do you mean the red eyed slave” said the Bat contemptuously.
Again he
knocked the door, tok...tok... The dove again asked,” are you the sweet voiced
cock?” “do you mean the rascal of the village” replied the Bat. His sarcasm to
all the other suitors made the Dove to ask,” are you Dramgyen?” The bat replied
sarcastically,” do you mean the one who kept a secret which others knew?”
The Dove
then opened the door. As it was too dark, she couldn’t recognize her visitor.
She saw the eyes and said,” why is a birds eye like that of a cat?”. “It’s
because of too much mustard oil consumption”, said the Bat proudly. Then they
went to bed and enjoyed love making. The Dove didn’t know him, so, to check the
next day; she tied a string on his leg. The Bat didn’t know that. Soon after
love making he left. The next day, the Dove went to check following the string,
only to see her partner hung upside down in a toilet. She felt too ashamed and
committed suicide. The most beautiful bird was ruined by the ugliest.
Namgay Wanghcuk
EPB III, 2009
Reason to live and
leave
“hello, can you hear me?...hello..h…”, the line went dead.
Charley dropped his cell and moved to and fro clenching and again unclenching
his hands. He was filled with a swirling tempest of fear. The cell rang again.
With trembling fingers he gripped the cell and said, “hello doctor, s she
fine?” “she is back to her sense” , replied at the other end. He sat on his bed, breathing in relief. When
his past memories came rushing to him, he remembered his place. The uUS is an
international place where people from all parts of the world come to earn, live
and study. Lhazin from Bhutan Bhutan
In another part of the world, Lhazin was in the hospital.
She recalled Charley saying, “hey babs, I am here to take you back. I am
putting up in hotel Taj”. Her heart leapt with joy and she gasped, “I am coming
honey”. She drove her car. She noted subconsciously that the truck in her rear
view had accelerated to overtake her. She tried to overtake the truck when her
car slid sideway across the road and met with an accident. She was shaken off
from her thoughts by a nurse. The nurse gave her an injection and disappeared.
Next day, she called Charley. With utmost joy, he reached
the cell to say big “hello”. But he heard her say “I am not marrying
you….foreigner”, her voice was a strangled whisper. “wh…what? But??....”. While
he was choking over words, she ended the call. He was struck as he had never
been before. He could hardly believe his fate to have hurled such a tragedy to
him. He rushed to the hospital and found her in the park, alone. She was
wearing black goggles to hide her eyes. She looked perfectly fine. He stood
before her, fighting his unwanted tears. She didn’t seem bothered by his
presence. He felt a rush of guilt, embarrassment and anger wrapping over him
like a blanket. He wanted to question her but the words withered within his lips.
He instantly cowered till he could see her like a portrait from eight yards. He
saw a man coming and holding her. They smiled as they walked away, hand in
hand. Charley forced his lips to split in a smile and muttered, “Jesus, keep
them happy”. Then he moved away, promising to never see her again.
At far distance, Lhazin inquired, “How is the day?”.” It’s
bright and the children are playing in the park”, replied her brother. “I wish
if only that car accident had taken away any part of my body other than my
eyesight”, Lhazin whimpered with a wistful tone. Her brother sobbed silently
for she would never be able to see again in her life.
Lhamo
MP A, III
Ignorance is Bliss
Hmmmm…. With a big sigh of relief, I went to bed. After a
bottle of beer, I was relieved. Now I had to wait for a so-called sound sleep’.
I enveloped myself into a thick double Tulip coverlet. The weather was crazy
cold outside. Lights off, the room was wholly dark. Except my own breath,
everything became monotonous. Silence fell and I was put to fast asleep. Trrr…
my mobile rang upto its best possible songs that I had set a ringing tone. I
woke up to reach for the phone. The ringing stopped. A missed call! A while
later, it rang again. It was a bit longer bow, though a missed call. This
interrupted my slumber. I looked at the watch that lay hanging on the
white-washed wall of my bed room. The hour hands struck 12:30 am. “ Who the
hell could be?” I thought ot myself. The third ring came and went. “Huh! Again a missed call”, I said to myself
with a grin. The fourth came…..Such a scene was tormenting when one is in a
‘big’ trauma. Never mind, I just set the profile to silent and dozed off. Much
better, I was put to sound sleep.
The arms of the clock struck 8:00 am, I jumped out of my
bed, dashed to the wash room, stood in front of the alter and prayed for the
day’s well fare. With a steaming cup of coffee in my hand, I took out my phone
from under the pillow and looked for the number. “6 miss calls, I new number”.
Mmmm this might be a girl, I thought. I called back then. No response for the
first time. The second time I tried, still no response. I thought. I gave my
third try. Yes, there was a girl on the other end. Conversations went on “your
wife is in the hospital since last night”. This was heart throbbing. No more
words fell from my mouth; I didn’t know what I said and did. When I came back
to my senses, I was in the hospital beside her bed. There, she didn’t even look
at me. I was abandoned. I was a total stranger to her. I tried to console her,
seek her forgiveness, but to no avail. “ Time for check-up, everybody out
please”, a nurse came shouting in. Ten minutes later, the doctor came, shaking
his hand. “Are you her husband? She want you in”, with this he lift us alone. I
went in; there she was in incessant pain! “S…..Sa….Sa.. Sangay……..” she vomited
blood, her sentences incomplete. With her mumbling words finally she managed to
say, “have a happy life hereafter……..i…”
She breathed her last. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I didn’t disclose
the incident of the last night. My conscience couldn’t hold it. “Sorry friends,
it all happened due to me. I didn’t know that she is such a.” when I opened my
eyes, everybody had left. It was me and only me crying over split milk.
The fortnight, we were a good couple. The later night
everything became topsy-turvy. We had a quarrel over a silly matter. Just a
slap and she was put to silence. She didn’t utter a word then. With fury, I
left her at home and headed for a beer. I knew not what happened then. She
wasn’t at home. I didn’t bother since she wasn’t a kid anymore. The same old
home was not the same to me. Every fragment of air seemed to be new. A heap of
cloths here, 2-3 buckets full of pots and pans there, newspapers scattered
everywhere! A mass of everything everywhere! I remembered the past very
vividly. How well she would arrange the home! But it was too late! I was told
that she consumed poison. Sorry, blame it on me! What if I had thought the same
thought that thoughtful night?
Sangay Tenzin, 3III
EPB
The
Unexpected Guest at the Coffee Shop
Sangay Phuntsho, I B. Ed
Eng (Pry)
Yangchen was such an excitable woman. Even a single ring on
her phone could make her jump with joy. She was a little conceited, too. She
had a weird kind of belief that every one should admire her. But she always
missed her husband whenever he was out on duty, or at least that was how it
appeared to be.
She was just married to Rigden, a Bank officer. In his
company, like all the newly wedded couples, she didn’t realise how the time passed.
The trouble only began when he was out of her sight and had nothing much to do.
Whenever she was alone, she engaged herself with her cell phone. The phone was
a wedding gift from her husband and she liked it incredibly.
The downside with the phone was that it could store secret phone
numbers which her husband did not know, and she fully took advantage of it. She
chatted and had fun with other men. Of course, she only used this facility in
his absence. It started with fake names first, but ‘fake’ soon gave way to
‘facts’ and one thing led to other and that was how she grew close to a dozen
pals. She even arranged appointments with them in hotels.
At one time, as usual she pulled out her appealing cell phone from
beneath her cushion and dialed a number 176…. “Hello! Who is speaking,”
responded a young guy. “Can you guess?” she whispered in her sexy voice. “Your accent
seems to be familiar to me, but who are you?” he inquired. “Well, I’m Deki,”
she said. “Who is Deki now? Do I know you?” he queried in excitement. “You
don’t know me and I don’t know you either but I was just trying with my
fortune. Would you mind to introduce yourself to me?” she asked. Her voice was
sensational. “Okay than, I am Phuntsho, twenty-three years old bachelor. I do
some construction work. So now can you reveal yourself to me?” he asked quickly.
“Hmmm… I am Deki and I live with my sister. I am single too and I love making
friends,” she returned. Almost immediately they fell in love. And there was no turning back. They chatted at least for half an hour every day. One thing was quite interesting with their calls, though. It always happened during the day and neither of them asked why they didn’t call at night. Both had their own reasons which neither wanted to share. But be it day or night, they awfully missed each other.
One late afternoon, Rigden came home in a depressed mood. When Yangchen asked him for a reason, he showed a piece of paper. She scanned the page. It was an office order of a weeklong tour to the East of Bhutan. “Oh, now don’t be that upset,” she cooed. “Take this opportunity. I will pray for your successful tour.” Rigden remained silent for a while. “You think it is good idea to go away?” he asked. “Of course it is not a good idea and I will miss you. It is not even two months that we have been wedded, but your duty comes first.” Rigden regained his composure. He was glad to have such an understanding wife. He decided to follow his wife’s advice.
Yangchen had different plans. In a little while, she received a call from Phuntsho. “Why so early today, Phuntsho?” asked Yangchen with excitement in her mind. “I’m free today and I was wondering if I can come across to your house to chat, only if you don’t mind,” he responded. Of course, Yangchen did not mind. She had been waiting for this moment, waiting for such an offer.
“You are always welcome in my house,” she said falteringly. “Where did you say your house is?” he asked. “In front of the City Bank,” she answered. “Oh, my uncle lives there and somehow he still thinks I am a small boy and gives me a lecture if he sees me moving around with women. How about at the Relax Coffee Shop?” Relax Coffee Shop was secluded place and a good place to date. From her experience, mostly young men and women visited this place. Yangchen smiled. “This man very well knows where to see his woman,” she thought. “Relax Coffee Shop is fine,” she said after a pause and picked up her black leather handbag. “Be there. I’ll call you when I am at the doorstep of the coffee shop,” said she. “You have my word,” he said, smiling and hung up the phone.
Yangchen adorned herself with colourful fabrics and marched off to the Relax Coffee Shop. As she arrived at the entrance of the coffee shop she dialed Phuntsho’s number. But like a bolt from the blue, Rigden came out of the coffee shop, his mobile phone still buzzing. Stupefied and embarrassed beyond words, both of them stared at each other.
Yangchen’s fluky call pal was her own husband who was as well using a secrete number to have amusement with other women.
