Actually Saying

What makes you say, "We have 'excess power' and this excess is exported to India." I see these words used every time. How do you define 'excess' in this regard and most importantly what is meant by the word 'excess'? Oxford dictionary defines 'excess' as an amount of something that is more than necessary or desirable. And is electricity more than necessary in Bhutan when half of her land is still in darkness? What if her people, in far flung villages have lived all their lives waiting for it in the darkness? Is it still a commodity of excess if Shingkhar Lauri has longed for it a century through the dark times? Here arises our question as to why are we saying this every time. We say this leisurely. We must be pricked of how this phrase 'excess power' is infuriating the people deprived of this facility. They must be thinking, 'its excess there but we haven't got.'

Another epithet we chant today is 'GNH', the mega-philosophy that descended all the way down from the golden throne. Everywhere, whether it has relevance with the situation or not, we use it. We try to drag in and relate somehow to the topic we are talking of. And at times when somebody becomes answerless to some critical questions, he or she giggles incessantly and says 'GNH.' We have taken the concept to the world's table and put it as a stand-alone goal. We have achieved so much with it and His Majesty has done Bhutan proud. But did we ever become conscious that one day, a man like Mr Khaw Boon Wan would say 'Bhutan is not the shangri-la on earth and unhappy people are toiling the fields'? Thousands of questions arise here as to why didn't we look at ourselves, whether we are happy or not, before going abroad. As said by the opposition leader, Tshering Tobgay, we have become used to lapping up international praises and forgot even to pause for a moment whether we deserved that praise.

So before we become used to saying something, we must become used to learning many things through introspection.