The Last chronicle of “Today’s Phuntsholing Town: A long romantic affair on the line

When dust begins to settle down in evening on the pavements, streets and roads of phuntsholing, small groups of young minds, school boys and girls, come out of their houses in the latest outfits available in the market.

PIC:Lonelyplanet.com

A couple of week earlier a fellow blogger Mr. Passang Tshering(maestro among Bhutanese Bloggers)  blogged a post regarding nuisance created by a group of youngsters;

There wasn't a day I didn't see groups of youth swaying by road under the influence of some intoxicants. And today some of then crossed their limits on to my car.. My poor already-injured car was peacefully parked alongside several others when a group of boys practiced their boxing skills on our side mirrors.
My wife and another car owner shouted from their windows only to get back all sorts of slang. I was in the class when my wife called me up, she informed me that the culprits were head in my direction and that I could track them down by the side of the Doti river.
The kids were totally senseless and one boy was bleeding badly from the cut he got from punching our mirrors. To my disbelieve there were two girls in same conditions making a show out of themselves on the road where hundreds were passing by.

Source: http://www.passudiary.com/

I often find a group of youngsters be seated in circle in a small tea shop down stair Namgyel Phodrang Shopping complex where I frequently visit to enjoy the delicious momo served there. Some in their new yellowish Korean hairdo, few with tattooed arms and Super star, all star, D.C and Red Bull and other brand of shoes were warming their feet. One day on my brief sitting I overheard one of them glorifying his friend’s inability to remember what had happened the previous night. He mentioned that they were involved in a fight where his ‘friend in the question’ single handedly had knocked down two of their rivals. I just wish his otherwise heroic friend was not under any sort of intoxicants. 

Just the other day, I found myself in between some boys while walking down the street in front of Mig Cinema Hall. On my right a couple of boys were saying something to the boy who was walking on my left side. The boy said nothing but simply raised his middle finger! Good Lord, they were close friends else I just might have been sandwiched by blows and kicks. I was as embarrassed as were the onlookers.

This is what’s happening in mild cold of this winter under Phuntsholing sky. Other stories that I heard from a student of the High School touched my heart with much vigor. The student revealed to me that during their school days his female classmates ask him to tattoo on their hands. And his male mates and others would cross the Doti River in lunch breaks to the other side of the river just to get drunk. That’s one part of the story. More shocking and even more heartbreaking for me as an educationist was to comprehend that the students drag themselves back to their SCHOOL. I wonder how they pay attention to the lectures presented. And amidst the chaos I can only pray and wish more strength and patience to teachers and parents in places where youth issue is a big concern to befriend, guide and mold them to better and productive citizens.

To tackle the current issue of traffic I believe another new bridge over Doti River has been laid on papers and to solve the shortage of LPG (cooking gas) another supplier agent which would fulfill the requirement of all the commercial consumptions is also entering the market soon. The supplier might ease the problem. The poor management of waste, large number of people and the malfunctions of ATM counters could be reasoned to the arrival of large number of people on their pilgrimage. But those should not be excuses for concern authorities to step back. I believe they must be also having a tough time and must be giving their best to provide the services. Better luck for them there!   

But as of now everything, everywhere, somehow is really not working well. In past few days even B-mobile lines are not clear or gets disconnected frequently. Here, I am not being critical at all but what is happening here is a matter of concern to all of us. It matters to me, to my family and it matters to my neighbors if these things keep on happening the way it is happening! If concern authorities don’t gear up but opt to keep bragging about pass victories and successes and rely on excuses I fear more days of worry, waiting, frustration, disappointment and less peace of mind are knocking the doors of the dwellers of this part of the country where Gross National Happiness is the mother of all the ideologies preached, practiced and believed in.