Rich man in a Hospital Room and unhealthy vegetables in The GNH Nation.

Yesterday I visited my uncle who has been admitted in the JDWNRH, Thimphu for a week or two. It was a cold evening as usual. The hospital was jam-packed with attendances and visitors who came to pay visit to the sick and ill relatives during the evening visiting hours (6:00pm – 8:00pm).

Image: Thimphu Hospital (Photo:panoramio.com)

After our brief conversation on his status he started to share the worries Doctors at JDWNRH were bothered by. The concern was imperative. My brief visit to the hospital did prove something. The ward on the top most floor of the hospital, where my uncle was, had only two empty beds eagerly waiting for their occupants.

The Doctors had advice each patient personally on the previous day, to ask their attendances to have the vegetables cut and washed with hot water before it is cooked and brought to serve the sick. They believe the vegetables coming from bordering towns of falakata and Hasimara in India aren’t that healthy. Which i think the issue should be taken up seriously beyond the walls of hospitals because the vegetables and fruits that are imported from the Indian towns even reach to the village in the east where I was once a community school teacher. No wonder, the only two empty beds at the hospital might have been occupied as you read this line.

Thimphu being the capital city of Gross National Happiness country; the place where the concept took its first breath interestingly houses the largest population of most fashionable yet most frustrated citizens. Searching a place to park a car gives a sharp crick on the back of one’s neck, walking down a street at night scares many, looking for an apartment with a decent rent disappoints a score, the frequent soaring of already high rental charges and the increase in the price tag of commodity goods are few areas I believe where people instantly get frustrated.

We wear the most fashionable garments bought from the biggest shopping Malls in our country. These Shopping malls are just four storied buildings yet ironically furnished with elevators and lift. And in the name of saving time deprive us from the easiest form of exercise- walking. We drive the most expensive cars showcased in the largest glittering showrooms in our country built on our own fertile lands across the Express High Way but at the end of the day, the fruits and vegetables on our dining tables and in our plates are imported from the lands crippled and poisoned with chemicals.

Image: bhutanmajestictravel.com The Express High Way

Back in the hospital, my uncle shared me something that really moved me. Just beside his bed there lays a rich old man groaning. He keeps on worrying how he would be able to recollect his money credited to relatives and friends within country and abroad. He is often found counting his money bending his weak and wrinkled fingers. And late at night he unkindly requests his roommates at the hospital to chant Gayatri Mantra (the most sacred mantras in Hinduism which helps to remove obstacles in life) along with him.