The streets and corners of Thimphu

One fine Sunday morning my roomie and I were out for a walk at the memorial chorten. It was an early morning so we could see a lot of joggers, old people and monks. Once we entered the arena of the chorten my sometimes idiotic rommie said “Wow!!I feel like NYC with so many people passing by and the fact that no one cared what the other one was doing or wearing”. I burst out laughing for the fact that she has never been to NYC but with whatever we were exposed to from the sources available she was correct for what she claimed. Times are different now, before we used to see only old people chanting prayers, doing prostrations and having a serene time. But now, we see all ages of people, kids will be just playing around, old people to their normal activity, medieval taking their normal walks along with the chanting and then the teenagers coupled up sometimes. From what I saw it, the old memorial chorten turned into a recreational park where people seek for serenity and some time away from the hectic world around.  There are no proper jogging parks in the city and the recreational parks are of few number. People seek solace in the peaceful surrounding of the chorten with the stupas seated inside the chorten.

I stayed in this city for a long time but I had to move out and after coming back it’s a whole different thing. The streets are same but not the structures, the people are same but not the age and the surrounding is the same but not the environment. The streets are filled with all kind of people and also of those we see in the entertainment boxes. Now, we can see a wide variety in the fashion people carry out and the exposure people have. This is the trend now, to move on with the west fashion. There is no harm in doing so, people think that this will degrade the old age culture of the country but that’s not exactly true. Western outfits are common in the streets but we carry the morality to dress traditionally in the boundaries which includes going to office to all the formal gatherings. Today, we can see ladies dressed up so well and their audacity to carry out in this traditional country is awesome. The fashion ranges from the hairstyles to the shoes. The streets are filled with all kind of fashion and it’s so true that the streets do look like one of the foreign streets. There are some downs with the fashion trends but that is acceptable. One cannot generalize just because an individual is taking wrong interpretation of the trends after all.  

I want to convey good and humble thoughts to my people on the trending fashion in the country. Shorter clothing does not mean there is no more of what we call “SHAME”. Instead it is the “AUDACITY” to be what you are and do what you want.