36th Birth Anniversary of His Majesty

“Throughout my reign I will never rule you as a King. I will protect you as a parent, care for you as a brother and serve you as a son. I shall give you everything and keep nothing; I shall live such a life as a good human being that you may find it worthy to serve as an example for your children; I have no personal goals other than to fulfill your hopes and aspirations. I shall always serve you, day and night, in the spirit of kindness, justice and equality.”

-HM Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk

Changlimithang, Thimphu

7^th November 2008

February 21 is not an ordinary day for any Bhutanese irrespective of where they live or what we do. It was the day in 1980 where the Bhutanese were gifted with the birth of the People’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk. So here is our celebration of the 36^th Birth Anniversary of His Majesty.

We, all the Bhutanese Hamdardians have been bit busy preparing cultural items for the past few days as we were to join the celebrations held at the Royal Bhutanese Embassy in New Delhi. And finally the great day came and as always we dressed in our national dress of gho and kira. As we travelled in the auto and metro towards the Embassy, we attracted all of those alien looks from the Indians here. Some might have known the dress but there must have been a lot of them who had so much of curious feeling to know from which part of the world our species came…haha. We managed to reach the embassy just a few seconds before the chief guest, His Excellency Major General V Namgyal who is the Bhutanese Ambassador to India, made his appearance as we were bit late. After hoisting the national flag followed by the salutation and cheering for our country (Palden Drukpa Gyalo) near the embassy office, we moved towards the ground with tents where the main celebrations were to kick off. We had a light tea and desi provided.

Hamdardians with the ambassador 

We were really upset to see the program list as our dance had to go first but I was okay because I wanted to get rid of the pressure as soon as possible and enjoy the celebrations. We lead the celebration and set up the mood for the day with the song Gyalsay- a song dedicated for the royal birth of our prince. Few more cultural items came from other colleges after that.

showing the best

There was the musical chair game organized and the ladies were invited to participate. Beena and I from our University joined the game along with 14/15 other female candidates for fun but it turned out to be a lucky day as I won that game and it was more surprising that Beena was my opponent in the finale…hehe. Both of us received a cash prize of INR 1000 and INR 1500 respectively. It was game all about fastness and I guess I was pretty fast…lol

Few more cultural items were presented at the gathering and then there was the Tashi Labey song. Another tempting reason for us to join every celebration at the embassy is the delicious lunch. And today also there were the varieties of dishes served. As usual there was the basketball and volleyball tournament organized but we came back to hostel because we were not participating.

Yummy lunch

Bhutanese are the happiest people in the world and it’s all because of our great king and we shall never be able to repay him. And just few weeks ago, the birth of our Gyalsay have been another source of joy and pride as drukpa. We wish Your Majesty a very Happy Birthday and pray for a long life.

We can hardly express how blessed we all are to have his Majesty to look over us as the most compassionate King on earth. Palden Drukpa Gyalo!!!