Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Si beh blurrrr.....

Bhutanese name usually consists of two words. E.g. Tashi Namgay, Karma Wangchuk, Nima Tshering, and so on. But none of it represents the family name like what Chinese or other nationalities named their descendants. And in the beginning, I didn't know that many people were having the same name as their names were gotten mostly from perhaps the same Lhakang (temple) when they were just born as babies. Mostly were having religious meaning, e.g. Gyeltshen means victory, Lhamo means queen or Goddess, etc. The name could also be given based on the day you were born. E.g. if you were born on Sunday, you'll be given a name - Dawa.  On Monday - Migmar. On Tuesday - Lhakpa. On Wednesday - Phurba, and so on.

Bhutanese names (Source: Wikipedia.org)

So when I knew someone, I thought their siblings would share at least the same name with them in the beginning or later word, but it wasn't the case at all. Sometimes you may not even know from the name whether it was man's or woman's name. So I was a little confused in the beginning and not accustomed with it. However, over time, my concept has changed and I began to understand.

Well, that's just the introduction. What I want to share here was not really confused about their names, but, let's just read on...

I have a female Bhutanese friend called Tashi Yangzom (name has been altered for personal reason). She has just graduated from New Delhi. While waiting for the civil servant exam, she helps her sister taking care of her few months old baby on the day to day basis. She posted the baby photos sometimes in her Facebook, also in We Chat. 

One day, I was surprised to see her posting more photos of her sister's baby on the Google+. Sometimes, it was comment. For example: "Parenting is about making your baby feel comfortable even it means your discomfort."

Comment screenshot

When I read that, I was like 'Woahhh.... so deep! She was really into parenthood although it wasn't her baby.' So I wrote a comment there,"You'll be a good Mom. Just like your Mom wished, find a good guy soon." (She mentioned to me once in the letter that her Mom couldn't wait for her to get married soon).

Then I saw her posting a photo of the baby with the mother, but the head was posted only half. So my hands were automatically posting another comment, "So cute, but why you cut the mom's head la? :) :) :)" This time she replied, "Thank you Rima. I cut the mom's head cos it's spoiling the beautiful pic :D" which then I replied again, "LOL!! Sad mom :P" - which I referred to her sister since she was the one took the photo.

Comment screenshot

There was another post of baby photo lying sleepy and looked like sucking the finger comfortably almost fell asleep. Oh, the baby was very cute and chubby there! My hands again typed a comment, "So chubby!!! Want to pinch him." There was no reply given. Well, I thought maybe she was busy and didn't look at my message.

Comment screenshot

Then the night before the Preliminary Exam, I saw her posting photo at around 2am Bhutan time and comment as per follow, "Staying up because my baby girl still not ready to go to sleep. I guess reality of being with her loving mother is better than her dreamland... lol." Wait! Baby girl? I thought Tashi's sister's baby was a boy? Ah, maybe typo error! Or did I remember wrongly?? Anyway, what the heck she did at that hour not sleeping but taking care of the baby? Weren't she worried with her upcoming exam?

So the next day after exam over, I managed to chat with her asking about her exam and what she had done after that. And recalling the late night post, I asked her why she posted the photo so late that night. She confused and asked, "Which photo?" I said, "Google Plus. You said baby couldn't sleep." She tried to recall and said, "Oh yeah but I posted that photo long time ago." I was wondering. "Ina?" which means "Really?" asked me. She said, "Yeah so fast, when did you see?" I said, "This morning. Hahaha.. Maybe didn't notice the timing." It became me confused now. How come she so fast forgot what she had just done a night before???

"I didn't post. Which photo? Can you send me?" asked her.

Final post

I browsed the photo back in Google Plus, screenshot the photo and sent it to her. "21h ago," I typed to ensure she took note on the timing she posted that photo.

After a while, Tashi replied me,"Hahaha.. It's not me. Mine is a baby boy. And this is baby girl, as it's written."

My expression (Picture source: Google.com)

Yalama!!!! No wonder!!! All this confusion!!! Especially when I remembered her was baby boy but the photo kept saying baby girl. Lol!!! I immediately browsed all the photos back with comments that I'd put in. Huahahaha.... ^^" I even laughed at my stupidity.

I felt an immediate sorry to the person I posted the comment to. She must have wondered who was this crazy woman, commented her photo with so much confusion! "Wanted to pinch my baby boy???" Mine was baby girl!! "Sad mom?" Did she referred me of being sad??? And "Find a good guy soon???" Who did she think she was to comment as such??? :P That's my imagination though!! No wonder she didn't reply more on such confusing comments!!!

Tashi was laughing so much too upon hearing this!! :D I immediately deleted the inappropriate comments from the photo and even wrote an apologize comment to her ^^" Hahaha... I couldn't stop myself from sharing this incident here with you guys! Si beh blurrrr lor!!! :P

Blur like sotong :P (Photo source: Google.com)

(In Singlish: Si beh blur - In English: extremely confused, clueless, ignorant) :P

4 comments:

Tashi Chenzom said...

Hahaha...so sorry for the confusion caused by the same names we Bhutanese share. It's very common to find huge numbers of people with same name especially the common names in Bhutanese society.

Anyhow I enjoyed this post a lot and smiled on many occasions while going through. Goodnight and take care la!

Overcome Life said...

Hahaha.. Imbay la! For a moment I forgot that many Bhutanese share the same name. The resemblance of baby's age made me thinking that they were the same person too! :P

You must have laughed and smiled while reading this - of my stupidity :D You too take care and have a wonderful time out there!!! :)

Karma Thinley said...

Haha interesting story, it happens.
That is why Shopkeepers in Jaigaon, India, call to any Bhutanese passerby by the most common name and somehow somebody's name gets picked and land up visiting his shop.

Overcome Life said...

Hahaha... Yes Karma! I was really blurred lah!!! Nice lesson to learn though! :Do Hope you are doing great there!!! :)

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