Impacts of speculation on young children

I have grown up sharing a huge bed with my three sisters. Now that one of the sisters is married, I still share the bed with two of my sisters. They are still in school (and I still have no plans to get married).

I know it sounds weird but I am used to it and I just like it. Of course, most often, I wake up in the middle of the night feeling uncomfortable just to find my youngest sister’s legs on my chest and sometimes even the second youngest sister’s. It is annoying at times, especially when my sleep is disturbed but a slight spank does the trick.

My sisters wake up early as they have to go to school and though they do disturb me with giggles and sometimes quarrels, I just ignore them and go back to sleep. This morning, I woke up while they were dressing up for school as I had to come to office early.

The other day, I had carried Nu 800 in my purse and surprisingly finished Nu 400 by the end of the day just splurging on junk food the whole day.

Unlike myself, my sisters, though they are very young, are very careful about spending and it’s a shame but honestly, they are my lenders when I am flat broke.
So, I was telling my second youngest sister about how I finished the money. She first grinned at me and before she could pass any comment, my youngest sister blurted out with a sigh: “I know that you can do whatever you want to.”

I retorted, just as a big sister should, by saying: “Honey, even you will be able to do what you want in future. But for that, you will have to study hard, get a good job and start earning.”

“No, sis, that day will never come in my life,” she promptly replied.
I asked: “Why not?”

You will not believe what her response was.

“The world is going to end in 2012. I will be in just class VII at that time. So, where do I have the time to finish my degree, get a job and do what I want to do?” said she.

I froze like a person who was dropped in the Antarctic without any clothes on after hearing these words from a 10-year old.

I don’t remember what I told her next but the conversation made me think deep about the vulnerability of young kids being exposed to things that are factually incorrect.
We know that children of my sister’s age would not read newspapers thoroughly nor watch news on television. Now, the question is how do they manage to hear such speculations? Who is to be blamed?

If we dive deep into our conscience and analyse by the book, we realise that irrespective of what or who the source is, in a way, it is the media that blows it up.

I remember an article that was published in my very own paper (though it was someone else who wrote it) about this particular speculation. I never realised its intensity when it came to creating fear and worry in the minds of the younger children until I heard it from my little sister.

Through it, I even pointed fingers at myself and sulked for not being a responsible journalist myself. The incident has made me realise the important role that media plays in a society. Everyone goes by what we write, irrespective of whether it is true or not.

Feeding the already full stomach!

The government recently decided to pay Nu 300,000 each as medical scholarship grant for private medical students admitted in medical colleges within the SAARC countries including Thailand and Cuba. The government said that such grants would be provided until the time the requirements of medical doctors in Bhutan are adequately met.

Wow! That was a nice gesture! However, I believe that it was not a wise decision!

“Private medical students” means a lot of money and because their parents have the required amount to make their children pursue medicine, they were sent to do such courses privately. What is the logic in giving grants to the ones who can afford it otherwise as well?

All those students who go for medicine privately are a sheer indication that they are from affluent backgrounds. Most of them are children of Dashos and Lyonpos or anyone who earns hell of an amount in the country. What is the need to provide grants to such people? I don’t see logic here. Wait a minute. Or do I see a hidden logic behind this.

Probably, most medical students this time may be sons and daughters of anyone from the ruling party. Now, who framed the idea for the scholarship grant? Of course, the government. Who is the government? Of course, the ruling party. And who benefits from the grant? Obviously, those in the ruling party as it’s their children who are pursuing medicine. (You should take into consideration the importance of ‘probably’ and ‘may be’ here)

Wake up, policy makers! Instead of feeding the already full stomachs, there are so many hungry bellies who have the ‘it’ thing in them but are dying because of the lack of support. What say about helping the ones who can not afford rather than letting the pockets of the ‘haves’ bulge more and more?

I agree that the country has inadequate number of doctors. But, what makes the government so sure that the ones whom they provide the grant to will come back and work as doctors in Bhutan when they get better package else where for the same profession?

I firmly believe that giving such grants to the needy ones will make them capture the magnitude of the government’s support that will make them ever grateful to the government. The outcome of such gesture will be a rise in loyal and dedicated doctors in the country.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION doesn't exist in Bhutan.

Okay! I may sound stupid to some and perhaps straight forward to the others. You know what? I don't care who thinks what but this is my blog and I believe I have the right to voice out my opinion freely here.

I have been working with Bhutan Today even before it launched and even though I do feel downright frustrated about many things sometimes, I have developed a special attachment with it. It's a second home to me now as I spend more than half of 24 hrs with it. To be honest, I go home just to sleep for about 8 hrs!

I do hate the fact that I don't get to spend time with my family, that I don't get to meet my nephew often, that I don't get to sit down and help my sisters with their studies, that I don't get to talk to my sister who is pregnant and about which I am really excited, that I don't get to hang out with my close friends and that I don't get to spend quality time with my parents.

Surprisingly, despite all these personal grievances, I love my JOB!
The only thing I am really disappointed about in this field is the discrimination that we, as the new media house in the country, face severely.
As a company established just recently, we already have so many complexities. With the addition of discrimination that we have to face, it has become a bit too much for us to hold on to our dreams.

We have created a history by daring to start the first daily paper in the country but if the trend (non cooperation from many government and private organizations) continues, there are possibilities that we may create another history- Bhutan Today shut down because of utter discrimination from the Bhutanese society.

Today morning, I was going through BBS and I noticed something that really made me furious. The article was dated 25 February. It was an article generated through a press release from the FOREIGN MINISTRY. Shockingly, we didn’t get it! You see, that’s what I am talking about.

BBS is a Bhutanese media and so are we!

There are so many organizations, especially government organizations and government owned corporations that doesn’t count us in their list. It seems like you always have something to hide from us.

If they come to know that we are going to do some promotional articles on them, they call us themselves. Otherwise, the spokesperson is always out of station or the relevant person is always in a whole day meeting or not in the office!

Damn you, bureaucrats!

Finally!!!

It may sound very funny but to be very honest with you all, this is the first time that I have created a blog of my own. I have never blogged before.

Well, lets see how this goes!

Welcome to my blog everyone.