Momo (steam dumplings) Competition

Yesterday, my house had turned to a bee colony. Everybody was assigned certain work and were diligently carrying out their own tasks. Some were sieving flour and making dough while few others were chopping cabbage, beef and onion; some were doing the dishes and some were designing different shapes, both beautiful as well as awful...yes, we were preparing steam dumplings! 

My family was joined by my uncle's family. It started at around 4 in the evening and went up to 10 into the night. It was a very long, arduous and strenuous voyage of transforming the flour and vegetables/meat into steam dumplings for around 10 heads; it surely was a very time consuming job, which many would not even dare to prepare.

But what was happening on the sidelines of the work is worth sharing. We were asking so many riddles to which some gave very silly answers and we were switching from serious talks to funny anecdotes. We laughed our lungs out and also wrecked our brains out. 

After we were done with the preparation, we assembled to the most awaited menu. Everyone was served coffee, soup and steam dumplings. We had a competition among ourselves and there was a prize earmarked.  In the quest of making it to the top, everybody tried their utmost. Some rested for some time and ate again while some didn't pause even for a while. Later, few had to puke. A true sense of competition existed. The number of steam dumplings eaten by my cousin reached the peak of 26 and he bagged the prize! 

What happened at home last night was an event that did not occur for quite a time. Above everything else, we were exhibiting the existence of a vibrant sense of community vitality which is one of the 9 domains of our country's development paradigm, Gross National Happiness. Moreover, I was into my work for so long and did not get time to spend quality time with my family. It was an opportunity to fill that gap too.

Water Shortage in Zhemgang City!

The house that I am living in has five taps. But, I see no water flowing from even one for days on stretch. Often, either of the meals (mostly breakfast) has to be forgone unless there is leftover food that I can scavenge on.

Quite often, I need to drive towards RDTC, around little more than a kilometer uphill to fetch few jerry cans of water which would not even suffice half a day!

To pay Nu. 5,500 as house rent in a place like Zhemgang and not have enough water at home is more frustrating than a sad tale to tell. The extra fuel that is consumed while fetching water from RDTC and elsewhere is but only escalating the day-to-day expenditure.

When there is an acute shortage of water in a very small settlement like Zhemgang, I regret for blaming Thimphu City Corporation for not delivering enough water while I was in Thimphu a couple of months ago. TCC has to look after more than one lakh people living in the city and I doubt if there is a populace of even 10,000 people in Zhemgang; the ratio is 1:10, even if Zhemgang has 10,000.

Zhemgang has a very abundant forest cover and logically, a problem like water shortage is the least expected. What I cannot comprehend is whether Zhemgang does not really have enough water resources or whether it is the inefficiency on the part of the people involved in delivering water services. The technical problems in the building that I live in may be culpable, perhaps. 

This problem has been persisting for quite a time. The Prime Minister commanded to solve it during his visit, last year. I feel it is recklessly daring on the part of the authorities concerned to leave the problem still unresolved.