A day at Sangaygang

The last day of Thimphu Tsechu took us to Sangaygang. The road was empty apart from a few of those tourist ferrying vehicles. We chose to sit under a tree on the side of foot trail. It was an anticipatory day for our plot was coming to an end. It meant a skeleton of a movie script would be formed. Flesh and blood awaited the next.

The leaves rustled. We were not concerned. We concentrated on the flipping sound of the chart papers.

And yet the leaves rustled. There was the reason to be concerned this time because I heard a murmur behind the bush. My old ears did not play the trick when Ngawang (Penstar) also heard the same.

I craned my neck and peeked through the colorful fallen prayer flags hanging across the branches of trees. Indeed it was colorful, I sighted a red robe. My hand signalled for him to have the glimpse. We retreated almost together. He had the company, a lady in tsechu dress.

"A monk and a lady?" I whispered.
"No no boss, they can't be," he whispered back.
"Why not?" I said.
"If they are, they would have shifted the place. They heard us coming," he replied.

There was logic in his words. They knew about our presence and they did not stir. But what the heck they were doing like a couple when the whole population of Thimphu was either at Tendrelthang or watching from their living rooms. I had my own logic.

"They did not panic to subdue our suspicion," I said after we settled back to our work. My friend doubtfully looked at me. "Let's finish our skeleton."

The excitement built up when we were almost through our work. "Flesh and blood will be next," he said triumphantly.

"Indeed," I could not agree more.

A cell phone rang. It was loud and clear, a melodic sound of Zhungdra. Her "Hellow" was louder than the ringtone.

I cupped my hands over my ears and concentrated towards the direction of sound. The strategy that I had learnt from a book on war by soldiers to grasp the sound waves helped overhear what she conversed.

"Yes, brother," she spoke. "I am fine, yes, I went, no, ok, baby is fine...." So far I was clueless. The next few moments she listened with utterances of only 'yeses' and 'nos'. I only waited if the person at the other end asked her where she was. The soldier in me got it right. "Brother, I am not at home," she said. "I am at Olakha, at a friend's house." My logic came to the conclusion.

The leaves rustled further more. They got up and walked away, deeper into the jungle. I threw the marker pen on the ground and sprinted to their place.

"Where are you going?" Penstar shouted.
"Well, you guessed it right, to see the trace of flesh and blood," I replied back.

This time too, the luck was not on my side. But my enthusiasm to put flesh and blood to the skeletal plot with renewed energy was only a consolation.