A colleague was reported sick and bedridden for the last two or three days. Myself and a close circle of friends, decided to visit him in his house to enquire about his health and see for ourselves as to how he was recovering as a gesture of our deep concern in times of distress that is so inherent in our Bhutanese nature.
Since our sick friend’s residence was at a little distance uphill and away from the main town, it involved driving up the narrow and rough road, that is, if you could at all call it a ‘road’, because.. only a part of it was left by the monsoon rain and whatever little road was left were either deep trenches or protruding warheads of stones and mud. As we crossed the first hurdles of the bumpy ride, we passed by a sprawling bungalow with a fenced compound and complete with a gate and the security guard’s sentry box. But what caught my eyes was the sentry box that was manned by one of the youngest security guards in the world!.. a mere boy of seven or eight years old! Now, now, if the residents themselves felt safe and secured being protected by this boy, who am I to complain about? Take a look for yourself!
We soon reached our friend’s residence and after the first few rounds of basic Bhutanese formalities like ‘how are you feeling now?’ ‘are you taking the medications?’ blah.. blah... blah, very soon, we had our sick friend dashing in and around the kitchen and living room and serving us with whatever he had in his house while we, fully engrossed in gulping and devouring whatever was being served, comfortably took the liberty of forgetting why we were in his house in the first place!
After several rounds of drinks and merry making, not to forget the filling up of tummies and exchange of ‘expert’ views on places and people that we were least concerned about anyway, common sense prevailed and we finally reasoned out that it was time to leave instead of making our sick friend more sick!
And the residents of the sprawling bungalow was lost in the dream-world feeling safe and secured with the protection of the two tiny guards in the tiny sentry box-turned- tiny shop!
Since our sick friend’s residence was at a little distance uphill and away from the main town, it involved driving up the narrow and rough road, that is, if you could at all call it a ‘road’, because.. only a part of it was left by the monsoon rain and whatever little road was left were either deep trenches or protruding warheads of stones and mud. As we crossed the first hurdles of the bumpy ride, we passed by a sprawling bungalow with a fenced compound and complete with a gate and the security guard’s sentry box. But what caught my eyes was the sentry box that was manned by one of the youngest security guards in the world!.. a mere boy of seven or eight years old! Now, now, if the residents themselves felt safe and secured being protected by this boy, who am I to complain about? Take a look for yourself!
We soon reached our friend’s residence and after the first few rounds of basic Bhutanese formalities like ‘how are you feeling now?’ ‘are you taking the medications?’ blah.. blah... blah, very soon, we had our sick friend dashing in and around the kitchen and living room and serving us with whatever he had in his house while we, fully engrossed in gulping and devouring whatever was being served, comfortably took the liberty of forgetting why we were in his house in the first place!
After several rounds of drinks and merry making, not to forget the filling up of tummies and exchange of ‘expert’ views on places and people that we were least concerned about anyway, common sense prevailed and we finally reasoned out that it was time to leave instead of making our sick friend more sick!
On the way back, it was dark and we again passed by the sprawling bungalow. For curiosity’s sake, I wanted to see if the little security guard was still there in his sentry box. So, I stopped the car (being the only sober one and thus driving!). Lo and behold! There was not one, but two little security guards now! In order to calm down my curious mind, I promptly shifted the car to an appropriate place where I could get the best view and see what they were doing inside. Surprise.. surprise.. the tiny sentry box had turned into a shop, the tiniest shop in the world perhaps and the tiny guards turned shopkeepers!
While the great protectors stood by their post with wide smiles!
.. and finally, after an eventful night and the time now being 1 am past midnight, I now retire for the day with the tiny security guards' smiles embedded in my mind... while on the other hand, worry in my heart.. that our dear sick friend might rue the day that god made him sick and perhaps tell us from tomorrow that he is fit and fine even if he is not.. and forever remain in mortal fear of having 'concerned' friends coming to see him and then declaring it as a solid reason to celebrate!!
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ReplyDeleteGood keep going
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see our colleague (sick friend) hale and hearty and very soon we want him to join the world of merrymaking as well. Cheers!!!
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see our colleague (sick friend) hale and hearty and very soon we want him to join the world of merrymaking as well. Cheers!!!
ReplyDelete