Confrontations in the Remote Geog

Way back in July 2002, I graduated from NRTI after 3 years of strenuous training in forestry. After a weeklong orientation programme at Thimphu, I was directed to head south to Chukha Dzongkhag, a place where I was destined to begin my first service life. The name of the place itself sounded to me as if of that of a city located between two other big metropolitan cities of Bhutan.

The couple hours drive from Chukha Northwards takes you to Thimphu, the capital city while to the south stands Phuentsholing, the commercial hub of Bhutan. And I thought, I would certainly love to work in such a place, a place which enjoys close proximity to two giant cities.

But ofcourse, I was aware of the illusive and kaleidoscopic weather of Chukha. The sun emerges from behind the thick clouds only when the God is happy and people almost celebrate the rare sunshine. Otherwise, the thick fog and mist are the daily metrology of Chukha. At times, the fog is so thick that the people encounter human accidents due to zero visibility and this is something that is not common in Bhutan, yet it uncontrovertibly happens in Chukha.

The winter could be long gone for people in Thimphu and Phuentsholing, and they might be having a hard time cooling themselves, fighting burgeoning temperature since this is almost the mid summer, but for Chukha, it is still cold. I am not exaggerating to mention here that people here cannot take bath without having to heat water. We sleep covered with double blankets to keep ourselves warm. And when summer comes to Chukha, when it is almost over for people in other parts of the country, it keeps pouring with unstoppable rain, not to mention about leeches, which are waiting for the first drop of the rain. Yet, I embarked on the journey to Chukha, full of complacency and optimism, looking forward for the life of urban delights. I have atleast come to learn the immense pleasure of watching Television, browsing internet and I landed up addicted to them.

But the day I reached Chukha, it was otherwise. I came to know the fact that except for the Dzongkhag, which even has no proper Dzong, running its administration from those buildings constructed by the CHPCL, many years ago as their guest house, all the geogs are located deep in the jungle, having minimal developmental touches.

Of the eleven geogs that make up Chukha Dzongkhag, five geogs are connected by the lifeline of road, and the rest lies deeply secluded in the clearings among the jungles. The people in these geogs have no freedom to enjoy even what their own Dzongkhag boasts. For instance, Chukha Dzongkhag is renowned for hydropower, being the host of mega hydropower house projects- Chukha Hydropower Corporation with even more boasting after the Tala Hydro Project commissions. Yet, people themselves have no access to such facility. The produce of their own Dzongkhag pitifully bypasses them, lighting other people in other places and leaving those at home in darkness.

And the nature of my job, in which I was trained, demanded me to penetrate deep into such unexplored and virgin geogs. The extension is but the transfer of technology in the best interests of the people. The core objective of the extension delivery is upliftment of the rural people's living standard through helping in income generation. This is possible by going nearer to the target groups and meshing up with them and more so being literally one of the people of these communities. These took me to the deepest of the geog to serve the people and government.

And as expected, after another month-long attachment in the Dzongkhag office, I was further directed to embark even deeper into the geog. I was told to join my office in Metakha Geog, which is officially a 4 days strenuous walk, confronting infinite ascents and descents. At first, the name of the place itself frightened me no end. Metakha!

The first few days, I had difficulties in correctly pronouncing the name of the place, forget about having been to the place before. Yet, I accepted it, consoling myself with the fact that I have promised the government to work in all types of favorable and unfavorable conditions and headed to the place, which literally reminded me of going into exile.

Leaving all my backpacks, which mainly composed of my rations to last for a season and as I was recently graduated I had no belongings, except for a few items of clothing. I was told that the journey back cannot be made after the onset of the summer season due to the bulging rivers and leech infested paths. So, from the last road point, I loaded onto myself my tour bag and silently followed the steps of a man who happened to be from the place I was going to, who I happened to be lucky enough to meet on the way. He had to act as a guide for me in my journey.

Crossing many rivers and negotiating skull cracking steep uphill climbs and drops till the river beds, we finally made it to the destination after three days. We halted our nights seeking the protection of caves and trees, fighting colds and looking high at the stars in the clear night sky.

With my legs filled with sores and blisters, I reached the place, a place I will have to respect as my second hometown till my transfer comes through after three or more years. With the last joule of energy that I had left, I eluded the dinner and went directly to sleep in the altar room of the Gup's House. The next day, after a heavy breakfast compensating for the absence of my night's dinner, I took my first glance of the place that I would be calling home for the first few years of my service life.

I enquired from the Gup about the number of households, number of chiwogs and other forestry related subjects in the geog. He provided me with hands-on information and a brief background about the geog. Statistics were more refined later during my familiarisation tour of the whole of the geog.

Satisfied with what Gup said, I went to check out the local RNR centre, where I would be based for the next three or more years in the geog. The centre was newly constructed and my predecessor was not there. The centre was located on a hilltop, majestically perched, overlooking the whole village, an appropriate site to keep track of the whole village. The movement of even an ant could be perfectly traced since the location provided a sweeping visibility.

I then had the responsibility of setting up the new office. That was not a problem at all. I started with the cleaning of the office and with no furniture available I managed a chair and table from the community school, which happened to be in close proximity. Then, I started setting up the files and feeding in the data about the geog.

I conducted a meeting and discussed their problems in relation to forestry. But, it did surprise me to know that none of the people were interested in establishing community and private forests. When they have forest resources in abundance in their doorstep, why take pains in establishing one? It involved intensive labour and they cannot compromise their acute labour shortage in the farm. Yet, the tasks of making them understand and motivating them with its benefits in the long run had fallen on me. But of course, I could not drag and compel them to do it under the decentralisation policy of the Royal Government of Bhutan.

Yet, we succeeded in identifying the critical water source protection work. The only water source one of the villages depended on was threatening to dry up. The vegetation in the area has all been destroyed and literally served as a grazing land for the cattle. These spoiled the cleanliness of the water resulting in the health of almost the whole community being at stake. So, together in the GYT, we worked out the strategies to do something before it is too late. I promised my full technical assistance and requested for labour contribution from the beneficiaries. We carried out the immediate fencing with any materials available in the local area and sometime later during the monsoon we did the plantation of seedling species that helps in water conservation.

Now after four years, the vegetation in the area has considerably revived; the seedlings are making promising progress and of course the water flowing through the pipes into the tanks is much more clean and hygienic and of a great deal more volume.

After a week of having reached the centre my stuff still had not arrived. Now, I cannot keep feeding in the Gup's home. Hence, I moved to the Centre to manage on my own. But the problem was in keeping myself surviving. I requested the Gup to send some porter to fetch my stuff but response was not prompt. Hence, the challenge was to keep feeding myself without any stuff at my disposal. Since, I was new to the place having joined only a week ago, I had hardly any acquaintance other than the Gup and the Geydrung whom I had managed to befriend. So, having had enough from the Gup, I made an excuse to shift my empty mouth to Geydrung. There, I continued waiting for my stuff.

Going back to the centre for a halt, I had to sleep all alone. The centre was built in a site which earlier was used by the community as a cremation ground. But thank God, I came to know about it only after some days later when my RNR friends had later joined me. All the little clothes I had were left back. All I managed to carry with me was a sleeping bag, few pants and shirts. So, I had the pillows, mattress and quilts all surrogated by a thin sleeping bag. There was no curtain on the glass windows and the solar lighting system has been there only for the show. At night, it was brighter outside with dim moonlights. But, it wasn't easy to sleep all alone in the big building. Yet, I survived the confrontations with my full determination.

Yet, after a month, my RNR mates of Agriculture and Livestock joined the centre and life became more enjoyable. I now had friends to chat with in the evening. Going in groups making round the village, we used to come back to the centre with eggs, red rice and vegetables given to us as "changjey". Life then became easier for me. I came to be acquainted with all the people in the community. We would often indulge in archery matches spiced with dances and melodies, with even an ox staked as the bet. We often had the enjoyment of attending the "chogues" (annual puja performanace), chimdrups (celebration upon completion of a new house construction) and getting intoxicated with the home brewed of Ara, Bangchang, Sinchang and Tungpa. Now, I wanted no more to move from the place I had become so much attached with. I loved mingling with the communities and am literally known to people as "Lopen Ugyen Sir" their style of meshing up English to show that they have a few taste of English.

Now a year after of my relocation to Chapcha geog, which has a road passing through the heart of the geog, the stories remain as my life story. Looking back, I realise how much I had come to love the way of living in such a raw village. The community had literally become my surrogate hometown and I miss those days.