Chapter Five- The Letter of Promise
“In spring we will enjoy the flowers, in summer we will wet ourselves in the rain, in autumn we will catch the falling leaves together and in winter we will make a snowman”
Today is the last day of Mongar festival and everyone is rushing up and down between the town and the Dzong unlike other days. There is a sacred blessing from the Eight Manifestation of Guru Padmasambava on the District ground. All the people are in beautiful queue to receive this holy blessing and go away only to be seen next year. As soon as they finish receiving blessing, they move down to the town especially into the Public ground so that they can have the last glances on the wonderfully beautiful stuffs for sales. Probably, many of them would buy since there is special discount on the last day.
Cheychey goes with her friends after the sacred blessing. Bubu jumps out of the crowd into the line after much struggle where his friends are steadily walking in the line. Ledra and Selzang are still sitting on the ground just beside the wall of the Dzong, watching the dances in the middle of the ground.
After they receive blessing, Selzang insists Ledra to go for shopping in the Ground. Driving down the old town, they pass the Petrol station. Parking the car near the gate, they start walking between the huts. The huts are full of eye catching stuffs and the banners informing the discount percent for the things if people like to buy.
Catching hold of one red shirt, Ledra nods his head with smile on his face. “Selzang, do you remember this kind of shirt?” Vivid image of her high school shirt comes to her mind when she sees it. The shirt that she had in her photo once given to him when they were students in Gyelposhing. She remembers how see had to take back that photo from him to save herself from the couple case. “Yes, Of Course. I would never forget that indeed”, Selzang agrees him with a wide grin.
The ground is too crowded to walk freely. Ledra squeezes himself from one shop to the other while he keeps his eyes on Selzang. She already has a huge number of goods in her hand. She loves to buy things like a teenage girl. Her eyes are always on the colorful jeans, shirts, bracelets, Kira and the thick long coats for the winter. Ledra helps her carry some kitchen utensils which are offered in very low prices. They already has done enough shopping for their children the days before. Cheychey has a beautiful sweater, a black slim jeans, a pair of Nike sports shoes with stockings, a red spectacles and a set of swimming suits now. Bubu has a new election guitar and a set of football suits including two pairs of Nike football boots. They are happy with what they have now. “Anything?”, Ledra asks them as he approaches Cheychey and Bubu in the midst of the shop. “Dad, I am happy this year. Let’s buy next year”, Cheychey says as she walks in hurry to catch up with her friends. “I will tell you next time if I have forgotten anything, dad”, Bubu ensures Ledra with a broad smile.
By dusk, the ground is beautiful. Music and noises everywhere. Getting out of the last shop, Ledra decides to enter one nice hotel at the corner of the ground. He dials both Cheychey and Bubu. “Dinner time! Come here in NATSHO HOTEL”. Selzang is looking at him with all her emotions. Her double eyelids, rosy cheeks with a bit wrinkled forehead, dark shiny hair, her dimples and her sexy lips are making him nervous in the crowd. Quickly, hiding his uneasiness he utters, “Our dinner is here in NATSHO HOTEL, Welcome Selzang. My dear”.
“Let’s welcome Mr. Tobgay in Bank of Bhutan Limited, Thimphu”, the President of the Bank concluded his welcome speech. Two week passed after reaching Thimphu. Ledra joined his parents in Taj Hotel for the dinner. It’s an event to welcome his dad to work with them. Ledra was too excited to hide his happiness. Ledra accompanied his father in every corner as he walked around to greet and thank his fellow mates for the wonderful welcome.
Ledra joined Changzamtok Lower Secondary school as it was the nearest to the house. His parents were in search of apartments for the whole first week around Thimphu City. Finally they managed to get one attic floor near Deki School. It was really easy for him as it’s just a few minutes walk to the school. Admission processes were completed, the birth anniversary of fifth king was magnificent. Ledra had seen Live broadcasts of many events in Thimphu but he didn’t anticipate that he could be sitting and watching the program in the Changlimithang Stadium. It was a great moment for him until he had to sit for the normal classes. Sitting in the middle row, Ledra could not think of anything but the face of his little angel back in Gyelposhing. “She must have Danced well in the recent nationwide celebration”, Ledra imagined Selzang dancing a Boedra song. Thimphu was not the place of his choice if he got a chance to choose one. His heart was tired of walking between Gyelposhing and Thimphu. Innocent Ledra could not even get her contact information too. He rarely used Facebook because he wasn’t accessible to it. His dad was really strict when it comes to his study so he had to study everyday by any means. He had a good grade from class eight with 81% aggregate and he qualified for IT(information technology) subject. Always thinking of her without contact had been one the most difficult thing he had to tolerate. He searched her in Facebook sometimes but he was informed by other friends in Gyelposhing that she didn’t have Facebook account.
In Gyelposhing, Selzang was laying on the bed with the only prove about Ledra’s feeling for her. Ledra sent a letter to her before his departure with his photo attached. She read it once a day so much so that she could tell everything in the letter without looking at it now. She could give a nice speech on love too. Holding the letter, she closed her eyes. Then she uttered softly
“Dear Selzang,
I hope you are doing fine in your vacation. I am enjoying the snow here in Sengor. I am writing my heart into words here. It’s really sad that we could not meet and talk as a lover. I was glad to hear that you told me to be your hero. From the day I saw you for the first time, I had to believe in love which I thought was not meant for me. You might not have seen me looking at you, however, I didn’t miss you even a single day. Everyday, be it in the assembly ground, class, interval or the meal time, I never missed to look for you. I made sure I see you at least once a day. I was dreaming often in the class. My soul was walking in your class, then sitting beside you and talking to you. You know I love you, please, don’t forget this. Distance is going to separate us even before we can meet in person. It doesn’t matter as long as we love each other.
I promise I would not stop loving you. In spring we will enjoy the flowers, in summer we will wet ourselves in the rain, in autumn we will catch the falling leaves together and in winter we will make a snowman. I would not get a chance to stay by your side but I am obvious that we would meet somewhere in future. My love for you is true until eternity. I will always dream of you. When I see the moon, I will remember you because the moon shines everyday and rarely misses the beautiful night. Just study smart to be great in future and I will be back for you.
Your Love Ledra
P.S- My only Photo attached. Please take care of it. I love you. 😘”
Selzang took a long deep breath and the tear of joy rolled her face.
Holding Ledra’s hand, Selzang pushes the door. They choose a huge table and Ledra comes back to the counter to the get menu lists. Soon, Bubu and Cheychey appear themselves in the Hotel and take their seats beside Selzang. The fresh strawberry smoothies are waiting for them to finish their final meal of the day. “Thank You, our Hero”, they all shout for themselves when everyone around them stare unblinkingly. They smile after which a foreigner snaps their photos for them. Outside, the people are unusually shouting. Help! Help! Help! Help! Everyone can hear that.
