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Chapter VIII: The Most Painful Departure

Did you ever experience how fast time flies when you are to depart with the person you love truly? Although our marriage has failed, we stayed together like college days. We met every day after my school hours. We would talk for hours like we were into relationship for the first time. The joy lasted until it was time for Tashi to depart for India. It was a decision made for him by his father. It was harsh for me but, like all parents do, his father thought about his son. He thought about his future. It was heart-breaking and a huge frustration for a person who fell in love with him but I had to understand. A cold wind below the valley sent a sad song all over my face. It was a song of departure! A Goodbye! It was the first time in three years that we will be staying away from each other. We will not be seeing each other. May be over phone calls and video calls. There will be no hugs and no kisses. Like attending someone’s funeral, we were standing on road in the early morning...
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[Writing's a Pi]

Photography: Patrick Tommaso {Recently realized how complex a writing is. It's like trying to figure out the definite value of Pi. We only write ~3.14 but this isn't a definite value, it's an approximation. People tried figuring the value for many years, the more people try, the more indefinite it becomes. Writing's no different. We might often hear Peter Dury say 'inch-perfect' when Lionel Messi scores a brilliant goal but writing isn't playing a soccer. We try to achieve the 'inch-perfect' in writing for 10 years, then in another 10 years, new style of writing comes, new books and new authors. It goes like this until we are dead and after we are dead. Then, I tried writing something about writing but I don't know nothing. People say, before you write, you must read. Thinking that I don't want to wake up from my graveyard with regrets, I started reading. I started with Yallamma - The Writing Company, masterpieces of footnotes, poet...

๐–๐ž ๐‹๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐–๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ!

๐–๐ž ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ  ๐–๐ž ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐š๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก ๐–๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐จ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐–๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐š ๐ ๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐–๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ž๐๐ฎ๐œ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง  ๐–๐ž ๐›๐š๐ซ๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐จ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ข๐  ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฌ  ๐–๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐›๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ  ๐–๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐œ๐œ๐ž๐ž๐ ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐–๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐š ๐ฆ๐š๐ฌ๐ค ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ข๐๐ž ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐–๐ž ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ž ๐š ๐›๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐›๐ฒ ๐œ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐–๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ...

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐„ ๐Ž๐… ๐‘๐€๐‚๐ˆ๐’๐Œ

๐˜พ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™‘: ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐˜ฟ๐™–๐™ฎ ๐˜ผ๐™ข๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™˜๐™– Nights were getting harder for a tourist like me who came to the USA to build a better life. My bedroom insinuated creepy as the days passed. I was alone and spent most of my time fiddling phones.  In the beginning, I fed myself with enough statistics and information on coronavirus. Soon, some parts of New York City were commanded by coronavirus. Many people were losing the battle with to virus.  To guard myself, I bought a sanitizer, surgical masks and few pairs of hand gloves. There were messages of warning from relatives, friends, families and husband.   Like any other days, at nine past thirty in the morning, I prepared myself to go to work. I wore a pair of grey gloves and a mask. I was heading to the subway where I ride a train. There was group of people who were waiting for the train as well. I maintained a huge distance as advised my health experts and scientist. Surprising, that g...

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐„ ๐Ž๐… ๐‘๐€๐‚๐ˆ๐’๐Œ

๐˜พ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™„๐™‘: ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™‹๐™š๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š’๐™จ ๐™†๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ Nothing impressed me more. Nothing deserved my deepest prayers and respect. To none but to my king. The fifth of Wangchuck Dynasty. His majesty the king of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck. To the world, and to me and to his people, he is known as the People’s King. Definitely, the title was not a mistake. He earned it. If I am to put world leaders into the list of elites, my king is the number one! As soon as 76-year-old tourist was tested positive for the coronavirus, his majesty went himself. Risking his own life and his country.  Bhutan is one of the most visited Travel Destinations for tourists. It is a massive industry where it contributes millions of US$ to the economy. That is why, it is one of the five jewels of the country. As soon as first case was confirmed, every Bhutanese got into the war to fight the virus. On 6th March, 2020, education institutes of Thimphu, Wangdue and Punakha were closed.  It was time...

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐„ ๐Ž๐… ๐‘๐€๐‚๐ˆ๐’๐Œ

๐˜พ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™„๐™„๐™„: ๐™๐™๐™š ๐˜ฟ๐™š๐™˜๐™ก๐™–๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™‹๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ข๐™ž๐™˜ China suffered alone in the beginning. More than 70,000 people were discovered to be infected by the virus in few months with the death toll rising to 20,000. Scientists, medical experts and doctors came together to combat the new virus. While treating the people, many doctors and nurses lost their lives. On 30th January, 2020! Italy became the second country invaded by devastating coronavirus. It was found in two of Chinese tourists. Italy added to the list in devastation of virus breaking the record of China in deaths and cases within the span 24 hours. Americans were still following their normal schedule. I was less bothered like all of them but, there was greater intensity of fear filling my heart. One evening, I went to the TV to update about the new virus again. I was agonized! Families were broken due to loss of one of their loved ones. Innocent babies, pregnan...

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐„ ๐Ž๐… ๐‘๐€๐‚๐ˆ๐’๐Œ

๐˜พ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™„๐™„: ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™Š๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™—๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™  ๐™ค๐™› ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™‘๐™ž๐™ง๐™ช๐™จ Not a common thing for Bhutanese to become a tourist in some rich countries such as USA and UK. However, I became one. The one to live temporarily in New York as a tourist. Not like tourists who visit places for recreation but a tourist to look for a work. A work which gave me dollars. I settled my ground in USA after seeking help from some of my known relatives. The saddest thing was, my husband decided to remain back in Bhutan. Our marriage became distant. I got myself a job where I earned $20 in an hour. My responsibility was to take care of elderly woman who was 97 years old. I decided to work at least 10 hours per day earning around $200! I rented an apartment for myself which is quite far from my work place. It was on 25th of December, 2019, around 6 pm, I turned on the TV and switched the Channel to BBC news [British Broadcasting Corporation]. I could not believe what I heard from the news reader. “C...

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐„ ๐Ž๐… ๐‘๐€๐‚๐ˆ๐’๐Œ

๐˜พ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™„: ๐™Š๐™›๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™”๐™ค๐™ง๐™  I was raised between mountains and hills. Listening to the singing of birds from nearby jungle and beholding the dancing leaves. Sitting on the seesaw made of rough plank and skating on the board made of old jerrycan. I grew with dust and dusty friends. We had less of possessions and more of laughter and happiness. I was born in one of the remotest districts of Bhutan called Dagana!  I was lucky. Many of my relatives live in United Kingdom and few of them in United States of America where the weight of dollar is heavier than the weight of ngultrums.  But, when I compare the weight of currencies, I am not hungry about money. People say that food, water, air and shelter are basic necessities for survival. When I think about it, yes! They were basic necessities when the human race was evolving. Now, world has changed and I feel that basic necessities are not food, water, air and shelter! I think it is money! If you have lot of money,...