Ja Thong

An inside joke among some members of our community is that if someone complains every year about the winter being the coldest that particular year, he is being an Agpay Zego. Apparently, old man Zego loved to complain about the winter chills being the worst every year. Alas, let him be forgiven without even a mild chastisement for the cold must have been tough on his ancient rheumatic bones!

This is to say that 2020 is making all of us, in one way or another, versions of Old Man Zego. For all that matters, it has been the shittiest year so far. Record snow in the winter, early and incessant rainfall, a summer heralded by a Category 1 cyclone that blocked roads and caused landslides, this virus, and least of all, those wild dogs getting at the cattle in the hills! It’s enough to make the most sanguine wail out in sheer frustration. For goodness’ sake, what will happen to our potato if India doesn’t lift its lock-down by August? Maybe we start eating potato for three meals a day then!

However, bad as that sounds, I think we are actually in excellent shape so far as a nation. This is because we Bhutanese are very fortunate to be under the guidance of HM The Fifth King who strives day and night, literally, to ensure that this novel virus is kept at a bay while we have enough food stock to feed everyone for up-to six months should worse comes to the worst. At the same time, our government has dished aside all contentious topics and focused on boosting infrastructural spending to stimulate national cash-flow. It has also propped up agricultural production all over the country to provide for its folks while India remains under lock-down. Thus, while we have lost 0 lives so far, we are leveraging this unprecedented pandemic as an opportunity to truly build ourselves as a nation. With no lock-down measures in place, a semblance of normalcy resides in our communities.

In the valley too, its almost business as usual. True, its now almost impossible to find some commodities in the shops because these are made made in now locked-down India. And sadly, some things are more expensive too while it seems some of our storekeepers are using this pandemic in rather unscrupulous ways to get better bargains. However, over-all, the normal thread of village life feels unbroken. New houses are still being constructed, potato fields are greening more than ever, and the woods often ring with the sounds of machine saws hewing logs.

An importance difference is that the kids, instead of being in school, are weeding the potato fields, tending to the sheep and ramming earth walls for new houses. Their productivity, especially in the face of Bhutan’s rather high youth unemployment rate, makes one wonder: Why bother going on with all these years in a laborious formal school system? After all, there is now almost no job awaiting our graduates after spending 16 arduous years inside the brick-and-mortar caves. But then again, maybe that’s such a short-term way of thinking…

So, with the schools closed, our teachers roam the valley in their orange Dessup garbs, keeping an eye out for large crowds with the utmost zeal. They are now on the frontlines of this pandemic war against the unseen enemy, preventing a possible outbreak even before it even starts – in true spirit of an age-old local adage that goes “ནད་མ་འོངམ་ལས་རིམ་གྲོ། ཆུ་མ་འོངམ་ལས་གཡུར་ཝ།།” – prevention is better than cure.

However, on a more personal note, my plans for work and school are now out of the window and in the gutter because of this corona virus pandemic. Initially, I hoped to finish taking care of all the loose ends by July and return to college to finish my degree in August. But that with the US in a pandemic show-down, India in in an undesirable lock-down and global travels in melt-down, I say, “Hakuna matata.” Really, things can be much worse.

Happily for us, people still call out, “Ja thong ga” when you pass by their farmhouses. Our tea hospitality remains quintessential and offers a greater semblance of normalcy in this rather turbulent time. So what you do? You initially pretend to refuse their offer, finally agree to be treated to tea for no reason whatsoever, and empty a pot of good tea all by yourself. Who knows, man? Maybe, this pandemic will never really end. And in that case, we could all do with a cuppa tea.

So, ja thong. Keep calm and have some tea!