I have heard it said that Life is a big jigsaw puzzle and the trouble and stress one goes through in order to put the different pieces together are temporary and ways to toughen up one mentally. Right now though troubles and problems seem to overrule our lives and there seems to be no light at the other end of the tunnel!

It all started right after our return to Tsimalakha, the breathtaking but sleepy town in Chhukha. I came to know one day about my father-in-law’s watering eyes from my better half, Jaya. There was water coming out of his eyes and streaming down even during my visit to his apartment, but I did not really bother much about it. On hearing the news, I knew something had to be done about it and the sooner the better. He is one person taking the onus of running the family affairs for close to the last four years since my mother-in-law fell down the step leading up to the Kamaksha Temple in Guahati, Assam. Her right hand was broken. One complication led to another and four major operations within a span of three years later, she found herself confined to the shackles of her bed!

My father-in-law was left with no other option than to devote himself to looking after her with single-minded determination. He has got to do it as his only daughter, by choice, has to look after our family in Tsimalakha. Besides, maids in Kolkata are very expensive these days and hard to come by. I even suggested leaving behind my wife for a few months, of which he did not approve.

He is a good man and I would love to write about him some other time. I like him as I have never seen him trying to domineer over others, someone who has always believed in the principle and value of doing things by self. Let me share an incident in this connection. Once, on a visit to meet my ailing mother-in-law in the house my father-in-law had rented in Haldia, the harbour some 45-50 km away from Kolkata, I was sitting near her bed. My father-in-law was sitting on the chair opposite chatting with me. All on a sudden, I found him trying to get up inorder to get the hand fan hanging from the wall behind my chair. He could have easily asked me to hand it to him and I could have handed over the fan without so much as rising from the chair!

Anyways, the last few years have taken their tolls on him. He is no more the strikingly handsome, young man in his late seventies, who has led a very active and productive life. The lines on his face are prominent now, as are the dark patches under his eyes. Gone is the healthy, vibrant man for good. He must have lost some 10 kgs in the last 1 year or so. Last time I met him at his residence, I was struck by his deteriorating physical appearance. So much so, that I remarked to my wife about it.

Naturally, when I heard about his impending cataract operation, I personally insisted on her going down and being there beside him at the time. I even thought of going there myself, but relented to her request of doing so later on, finding that my stay down there would not really serve his purpose.

We had some holidasy due to the Bhutanese Losar (New Year) followed by the birth anniversary of His Majesty Jigme Kesar Namgyel Wangchuk, the 5^th hereditary monarch of Bhutan. So we decided hurriedly to go down to Alipurduar, the prosperous and peaceful district in the north of Bengal, bought the yet-to-be confirmed ticket and off she went down to Kolkata the very next morning in a flash.

Things have not been going smoothly for my family since then. I have been scared like hell of dogs since I fractured my left hand in 2003, while coming home from the Evening Study at Jakar Higher Secondary School in Bumthang. The latest arrival in Tsimalakha town, a white dog along with hundred others, has made me feel like I was a THIEF in my previous birth! The other day, the bitch (it has to be a female dog) nearly shredded us to pieces, when it pounced on my wife inside the shop from nowhere and I seriously thought that she was a goner! After her departure for Kolkata, I thought that it rested on me to fetch milk from the booth in the market at around a quarter to eight in the morning (school starts at 8), despite the menace! The first day I found the booth locked. So was it the second day. The Third day I could not go any further than FCB (Food Corporation of Bhutan) when I found my nemesis coldly looking up at me from a distance and snarling. I stood near FCB for five long minutes and thought it best to go back to my quarter as not a soul was to be seen near the vicinity!

As I reached near the THP buildings on my way back, I found an elderly man coming from the opposite direction, carrying the milk bottles in his bags slung over his shoulders. I requested him to take my empty bottle and pass it on to Mrs. Ugyen, one of our former students, working in the booth for the time being. I did master up enough courage in the breather to head along to the booth, but the dogs near FCB were in a playful mood and raising hell. I made a hasty retreat to school. I met Mr. Nado, a colleague, and sheepishly asked him if he was going to the market. He was not. He brought his car from some place near the gate and went down town, making me retreat for the third time!

I had the milk handed to me when I went to the market for shopping with my eldest daughter, after school (talk about fathers being fearless and keeping their children from harm’s way!).

My problems were yet to be over as next came the water scarcity! Something that is so much a quintessential part of my native place and so alien to Tsimalakha! At first we noticed the slow flow of water from the taps. Next, they stopped flowing at all. And these days, we are barely surviving on the water trickling from the kitchen tap. Things have come to such a pass that this afternoon, my spouse and I had to fetch water from the taps behind the MPH of our school.

By the way, the trouble we have had regarding the cots being out of condition, has been addressed somewhat when Mr.Janyang, the new Asst. Warden, asked me to collect the one dumped near Madame Thuji’s quarter. The ribs, as my luck would have it, were broken though. Mrs. Thuji extended a friendly suggestion by asking me to nail to ribs into shape with a hammer!

I have not lost faith yet and somewhere deep down, do believe that the troublesome days will be over soon. The Almighty cannot go on turning His face from us eternally, leaving us all shattered and broken in the process. So no complaints, no grievances, no despairing. The eternal optimist in me tells me that things will brighten up again and are toughening us up for our own good.