There was no phone. It was just a phone, and it will be in a rich man's house or some offices in Bhutan. There was no TV to watch. Only a rich man would watch all day. If we have to watch, then we either have to gather where the TV is or we have to pay and watch. I still remember walking a long way even at 1 am and 2 am with my family just to watch movies. We rarely have time to watch TV or get lost on the phone. There was no telephone, no television, and the world was not so digitized at that time. Somehow those days were good and lovely.
It's not time to eat yet. People are so busy watching TV or playing mobile phones. They have become so fashionable that they forget what they should wear and what country they are from. If I am not mistaken, we also forgot how to pray. Have you ever attended any occasions and events? Did you see them sing the national anthem? There would be a pre-recorded prayer in the background where the audience would not have to sing. Are we not forgetting what we were taught? Nobody sings. There would be very few of them.
We were actually supposed to learn and sing. If not, why did we carry prayer books to school and get up at 3 am and run to the Multi Purpose Hall just to attend the morning prayer? Haven't we learned that we should do it ourselves? Even back then, we would play music in the background. Everything has become so easy for us now, but it won't be a mistake for us later because we don't know anything. Everything is recorded. We even play background music for the national anthem. We hardly know the sentences.
Be it a boedra or zhungdra (traditional song of Bhutan) competition. When we were young, we sang loudly on the school stage and danced, but now there is background music and all we have to do is move our lips up and down. Just because the world is digitized doesn't mean we can forget what we've learned, what we should display for future endeavors. I feel that somehow somewhere we forget to be ourselves and hold on to what we have, what our ancestors preserved.
I have seen this at most Bhutanese occasions and events held in the country. Whether it's a virtual competition on TV (singing, dancing, whatever), a face-to-face program, a celebration, an occasion, an event, an award day, or whatever, I've found that national anthems and prayers are recorded. I recommend that they sing in their own voice. It would be more prestigious to our own culture and what we have been doing for so long. I really want to see this change. That would make a huge difference.
Let's not forget that we go to class to learn. If we could be someone with what exists, we would just listen to it and become who we want to be. Some people use the internet to learn how to cook, while others use it to order food online because they are bored. I believe these options should be selected when needed.
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