biswakarma... the God of machinery

Little did I know there was a god of MACHINERY! Biswakarma.. Actually one of the pantheon of Hindu gods, but well loved in Bhutan. Most people festoon their cars with streamers in honour of him (and to ask for a blessing) - often to the point that I seriously wonder about the safety of driving these vehicles!

The construction workers who live directly below me were very excited to invite me into their altar..

road workers

One of the few really hard things to watch in Bhutan is road work.. Always done by labourers from India. Back breaking. Often with terrible living conditions - shacks that are often only about one meter high, so I can't imagine what it's like during the monsoon..

My outsider view of it is that Bhutan takes advantage of Indian labourers, who would often be in even worse conditions in India it is true, and justifies their minimal wage and living conditions by saying just that "they'd be worse off in India"... why they can't be paid a bit more, or given a couple more tin sheets so their buildings could be at least human height, I'm not too sure...

And right now there are lots of them - they're trying to widen all the roads, especially the one from the airport to the capital, by next year (the coronation of the 5th king, democracy etc..)..

Some women road workers.. All that stone... it's broken by hand..

Mother and child

chilies

We are in the middle of chili harvesting season, and a Bhutanese favourite is dishes cooked with dried red chilies (and one of my favourites as well... i'm happy to report that I too can now eat chilies like vegetables..)


Chilies hanging to dry, Paro town


Chilies drying on the roof

Yes, I know... more prayer flags.. but how can you not take pictures of them??

a rose by any other name..

I went on an impromptu walk with two of my students yesterday, and got around to asking them how they got their names. most people are named by a lama when they are born - which is why there are so many pemas, dorjis, tashis.. i think lamas often have a small list of favourite names..

but one of these boys has a name that is fairly unique - Pema Tender. Well Pema is dime a dozen, but Tender???

It turns out that he was born just before the census, so when his father went to register the family, they hadn't given him a name yet. So the father, together with the village headman, came up with the name, Pema Tender (I think Tender must mean something else in his language.. although who knows really.. it seems to suit him in the end, he's a sweet guy).. and hysterically when the father got home, he forgot what name they'd written down! So they called him something else ENTIRELY (Tshering Dorji or something like that..). So he happily went by that name until the next census, when he was 13, and he found out his "real name" and so he switched back! apparently there is still great confusion among his childhood friends as to who that Pema Tender guy is!!!

It makes me realize how funny my attachment to my name is. I have had heated conversations with some men about why women would change their name when they get married (still doesn't make sense to me) - and here women don't change their name actually - but my reaction seems a little extreme when you see how many people here change their names or the spelling of their names simply because the census official got it wrong! and no one seems to care too dramatically. apparently the paperwork involved in changing your name in the census, or on official documents, is simply not worth the hassle... better to change your name!