I feel our life is like a train, picking up and dropping off passengers at every station as we move on. We will never know whether we will meet the same passengers again. Every time we have a farewell gathering, it means that we will be missing somebody aboard. Yesterday, Friday, 27th June 2014 was such a day. We had to formally bid goodbye to one of our colleagues who had been with us for the past two years and five months.
The vivid memories of snow-covered trees and bushes of Dolomtha, a remote community in Tashila under Wangdue Phodrang Dzongkhag still linger in my brain afresh. It was a beautiful place to live in, blest with all the beauty of nature around it.
Today is a special day for me and my wife. On this very day eight years ago, our eldest son Thukten Subba came into our family. It was on Friday, 16th June 2006 when he was born through Caesarian birth at JDW National Referral Hospital in Thimphu. It was a moment of joy and excitement for both of us. We were extremely happy to welcome him to a new home, to a new world.
I have been blind for over 24 years now and in the span of these many years, I have met several people who wondered how I walk especially when they saw me walking alone. It’s a general misconception that many sighted people believe we navigate our way by counting our footsteps. A few people have even asked me how many footsteps are there between my office and home. My flat response to such a question would be, “Do you also count your footsteps to navigate within your house at night when there is no light?”
As part of my Masters programme at Curtin University, Western Australia, I had to do six months of practical internship in 2013 to practice counselling. I was placed at a community counseling service centre called Minnawarra House, Armadale in Western Australia where I had a very experienced clinical supervisor to monitor and supervise my sessions. Today, I would like to share with you the report she had sent to my university after I completed my internship.
It has been now almost eight years since I first became a father and I have fully enjoyed being with my kids as any other parent would do. However, I have realized the benefits of observing kids while being with them. There are a lot of important lessons we can learn from them. We always believe that our responsibility as parents is to teach our kids values and good behaviours but I feel there are many things we can learn from them too.
