10 March, 2009 - Sonam Choden wakes up at 6:00 a.m. every weekday, bathes her two-and-half-year-old son, does the house laundry, and whips up a breakfast that her son likes – egg-fried rice. While her son eats, Sonam prepares lunch in advance for him and the baby sitter, who is too young to know cooking. This done, Sonam quickly dresses for office. Usually it’s a last minute rush. Her son stays back with the baby sitter.

She was staying in a makeshift hut, guarding her maize field from wild boars in Shingkhar Lauri. The young man, then a student, came to Wangmo every night. “He had this happy story to tell about town life and promised to marry me,” said Wangmo, who is now a mother of four.

The answer lies in the hundreds of Bhutanese from all over the country crossing the gate of Bhutan – every day – to buy their stuff from the Indian town of Jaigaon.

8 August, 2008 - To the dim light of a flickering kerosene lamp in the dark night, Abi Tshoki prostrates and prays, not just to cleanse her soul but also, she said later, to ask god to keep away rampant elephants from her field.

Founding Father - Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje, the First Gyalwang Drukpa

1 August, 2008 - Over 800 years ago, when Tsangpa Gyare Yeshi Dorjee (1161-1211) reached Nam-gyi Phu near Lhasa in search of a site to build the monastery as prophesied by his Guru, Lingchen Repa (1128-1188), nine dragons, said to be manifestations of the 80 great Indian Mahasiddhas, reared up from the earth and soared into the sky with loud thunderous roars. Taking this as an auspicious sign, Tsangpa Gyare named his lineage the followers of the “Drukpa.” Tsangpa Gyare established a monastery at Nam-gyi Phu and named it Druk Sewa Jangchub Ling monastery, but it popularly became known as Nam Druk. Tsangpa Gyare also founded Ralung and Longdol monasteries. Namdruk and Ralung remained the main seats of the Drukpa lineage till the 4th Gyalwang Drukpa Pema Karpo (1527-1692) founded Druk Sangag Choling and made it its main seat.

29 July, 2008 - After working as Kuensel’s eastern Bhutan correspondent for nearly two years, I was posted recently back to head quarter in Thimphu. I soon realized that the capital had more to offer than I’d bargained for.

14, July, 2008 - To most foreigners, chilli is something of a provocative oddity in the cuisine. What kind of vegetable makes a person break into a sweat and yelp and howl and gasp for relief, all at the same time? Or worse, makes you scoot to the loo right after consuming it. There is little room in mainstream cookery for food so potently flavoured and impolite, they protest.

7 July, 2008 - The elegant young man is clad in a black gho. He is looking straight ahead with a blank expression on his face, the black gho a contrast to his flawless skin. His striking aspect predates the “Korean look” of today.

30 June, 2008 - Picture this scene: The hero fights off 10 or so bad guys and gets hit by several bullets. What wouldn’t the good guy do for his lady love? But that’s nothing. After whipping the villains into a pulp and, in the process, catching a few stray bullets mid-air with his bare hands, the hero walks away unscathed. The lovebirds, dressed in their best, then do a song and dance to celebrate. It’s either a tango in the middle of a desert or a bhangra on top of a mountain.

24 June, 2008 - Sangay, 57, didn’t have to hear the thunder - he could see a gray mass of clouds stalking the western horizon. He eyed the clouds in the way all farmers do. Too much rain would ruin his maize seedlings, too little would parch and stunt them.

Where the head is held high and the mind is without fear.

—Swami Vivekanada

20 June, 2008 - "So what was it like?”

What”? (The writer says).

Well, you know, working in Delhi as a journalist?” The writer sighs and for the hundredth time has to repeat a tale of big media companies, the heat, the glitz, cut-throat competition, politics, death, crime, corruption and excitement.

17 June, 2008 - The Candidate’s thighs hurt so bad that it was difficult to squat. His stomach ached so bad that it was growling. So he did what he could under the circumstances. He caught the base of an oak tree with both his hands and proceeded to relieve himself. But the forest’s flesh-eating bugs would not leave him in peace. Trying to swat the pests, he almost lost his balance. He found out later that, besides his luck, he had also run out of toilet paper, even his notebook was lost.

The ruins of Soe Dzong above Jomolhari base camp

16 June 2008 - One legend, that still lives in the minds and on the lips of village folks near the Jomolhari base camp, pertains to the ruins of the Soe Dzong, whose conspicuous stone walls blend with the rocky landscape it stands upon.

Lemjabs transplanting paddy saplings

13 June, 2008 - At a rented apartment in Lungtenphu, Tashi Wangmo, a civil servant is scrutinizing a long shopping list written in Dzongkha. Besides meat and doma paney, the list includes beer, maggi (fast food noodles), and raincoats.

1 May, 2008 - It's late at night and principal Pem Kinley, of Paga community school in Chapcha, is talking to himself in his office. Except for the sound of a rolling tape and his voice being recorded, the school is dead silent.