![\"rope_bridge_by_lucieg_stock-d55m8cg\"](\"https:\/\/mugwortborn.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/rope_bridge_by_lucieg_stock-d55m8cg.jpg\")
Ella se<\/em> cay\u00f3<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Una se\u00f1ora cuyo nombre era Ngawang Drolma se encarg\u00f3 de entregar a los hu\u00e9rfanos, uno de ellos mi bisabuela, Sonam Drolma, al primer rey de But\u00e1n. En But\u00e1n existe esta costumbre de ofrecer hu\u00e9rfanos a las instituciones, incluso hoy en d\u00eda. Muchos terminan en los monasterios, pero este grupo termin\u00f3 trabajando en la casa del rey.<\/p>\n Ngawang Drolma era como un personaje de novela inglesa cl\u00e1sica, una gran dama, una dama de thromde[2]<\/sup><\/a>, muy poderosa. Alguien deber\u00eda realmente escribir una novela sobre las din\u00e1micas familiares en But\u00e1n. Convenientemente para ella, tambi\u00e9n exist\u00eda la tradici\u00f3n en But\u00e1n de que cuando ya no quedaban m\u00e1s adultos para cuidar de una casa, la tierra era ocupada por otra familia.<\/p>\n Kurtoed es una zona rara vez visitada del distrito de Lhuntse, pero por aquel entonces, era un centro de poder pol\u00edtico y econ\u00f3mico debido a su proximidad con la frontera del T\u00edbet en el extremo noreste del pa\u00eds. Era una de las provincias originales de But\u00e1n. Muchos de nuestros antiguos l\u00edderes \u200b\u200beran de all\u00ed. En mis documentos dice que yo nac\u00ed en Kurtoed porque no mucha gente sab\u00eda mi verdadero lugar de nacimiento, el valle escondido de la Artemisa, Khenpajong.<\/p>\n Ser de Kurtoed por aquel entonces era como ser de una rica ciudad portuaria como Hamburgo o de un centro cosmopolita como Londres debido a su acceso al T\u00edbet. Por otra parte, ten\u00eda su propio idioma kurtoepa[3]<\/sup><\/a> que, para mis o\u00eddos, y tal vez estoy marcado por los recuerdos de mi infancia, es el m\u00e1s r\u00edtmico y mel\u00f3dico de los idiomas. Las chicas kurtoepas eran consideradas hermosas y un buen partido, pero me da la sensaci\u00f3n de que tiene algo que ver con este idioma. Una cosa que recuerdo sobre los kurtoepas son los platos cl\u00e1sicos de But\u00e1n como ezay<\/em>[4]<\/sup><\/a> y hogay<\/em>[5]<\/sup><\/a>. Cuando son preparados por las manos de un kurtoepa, especialmente hombres y mujeres de mediana edad, estos platos son extraordinarios. En mis visitas ocasionales a But\u00e1n, siempre hago un esfuerzo por visitar a mi t\u00eda Dorji Yangki, que es una buena cocinera kurtoepa.<\/p>\n Yo no crec\u00ed en Kurtoed, pero el kurtoepa que acompa\u00f1aba a mi familia hablaba sin cesar de la gloria de Kurtoed, as\u00ed que de esa manera me resultaba familiar. Siempre se hablaba de dos grandes familias kurtoepas: los Rooling y los Thunpe. Viv\u00edan en un naksthang<\/em>, una especie de castillo o mansi\u00f3n butanesa, de los que la gente hablaba como si fueran los grandes castillos de Europa. Hab\u00eda una casa llamada Dungkar Chhoejey, que era el hogar ancestral de la familia real actual. Cada casa ten\u00eda sirvientes que eran b\u00e1sicamente propiedad de los due\u00f1os de la casa, personas como mi abuela. La secuela de esta cultura de servidumbre todav\u00eda est\u00e1 viva en But\u00e1n hoy en d\u00eda, lo cual es muy triste porque parece que no pueden deshacerse del h\u00e1bito.<\/p>\n Cuando Ngawang Drolma intervino con los hu\u00e9rfanos, fue en el apogeo de la historia de Kurtoed. Mi bisabuela era la mayor de los cinco hu\u00e9rfanos y, como era muy inteligente y pod\u00eda hacer muchas cosas en el palacio, se convirti\u00f3 en parte del c\u00edrculo \u00edntimo de la familia real. Y as\u00ed fue como termin\u00f3 embarazada de un beb\u00e9 de sangre real; nunca hemos podido decir con certeza qui\u00e9n era el padre. Ese ni\u00f1o era mi abuelo, Lama Sonam Zangpo.<\/p>\n El Se\u00f1or Ugyen Wangchuk con su familia, 1905<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Los tibetanos y butaneses no tienen la costumbre de guardar registros familiares. Por lo tanto, la mayor\u00eda de las fechas hist\u00f3ricas se basan en muchos rumores y los hechos est\u00e1n borrosos. Cuando le preguntas a la gente cu\u00e1ndo nacieron, lo m\u00e1s probable es que digan \u00abel a\u00f1o del mono\u00bb o alg\u00fan otro animal astrol\u00f3gico del calendario lunar, y luego la persona que pregunta tiene que adivinar la edad en funci\u00f3n de lo que esta persona aparenta: si la persona tiene unos cuarenta a\u00f1os, suponen que hace cuatro ciclos de a\u00f1os del mono [12 a\u00f1os cada ciclo]. Otras personas pueden usar temporadas o eventos especiales para responder la pregunta de la fecha de nacimiento. Pueden decir: \u00abNac\u00ed hace diez primaveras\u00bb o \u00abnac\u00ed el a\u00f1o antes de que el bosque se incendiara\u201d.<\/p>\n Hasta hace poco, con la llegada de la globalizaci\u00f3n, nunca celebr\u00e1bamos los cumplea\u00f1os en But\u00e1n. Pero ahora escucho que hay fiestas en las que la \u00e9lite incluso llevan esmoquin y encargan tartas de Bangkok. No se cansan de las fiestas de cumplea\u00f1os.<\/p>\n Un g\u00e9minis listo para viajar<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Yo mismo solo me enter\u00e9 de mi fecha real de nacimiento cuando ten\u00eda unos 20 a\u00f1os y necesitaba un pasaporte. Bas\u00e1ndonos en los recuerdos de mis t\u00edas y los disc\u00edpulos de mi abuelo y otros asistentes, averiguamos que era en junio. Hasta entonces, siempre hab\u00eda pensado que quiz\u00e1s hab\u00eda nacido en julio, por algo que me hab\u00eda dicho mi madre. Incluso me hice una carta astral completa como si fuera un c\u00e1ncer, y me pareci\u00f3 perfectamente precisa. Eso es lo que pasa con la astrolog\u00eda. Pero creo que fue una falta de comunicaci\u00f3n debido al uso de dos tipos de calendarios con un n\u00famero diferente de meses.<\/p>\n Entonces, cuando nos dijeron que mi abuelo naci\u00f3 en Kurtoed, en el a\u00f1o de la serpiente de agua, y que su madre, Sonam Drolma, lo mantuvo en secreto durante tres a\u00f1os, y luego, a los 8 a\u00f1os, el monasterio Talu le orden\u00f3 que se convirtiera en monje, o que a los 16 a\u00f1os camin\u00f3 hasta el T\u00edbet, bueno, hay que tomar estos n\u00fameros con cautela.<\/p>\n Uno podr\u00eda llegar a pensar que Sonam Drolma mantuvo a su hijo escondido durante esos a\u00f1os porque era un bastardo nacido fuera del matrimonio. Pero esto no era tan importante en But\u00e1n. Exist\u00eda un riesgo mucho m\u00e1s grande que una reputaci\u00f3n da\u00f1ada. Cuando era peque\u00f1o, me advirtieron una y otra vez, casi todos los d\u00edas, que no comiera alimentos de ciertas familias o que no me acercara a ciertos personajes. Los asistentes de mi abuelo susurraban y se escond\u00edan cuando ciertas personas se acercaban. Mucho despu\u00e9s me dijeron el motivo. Hab\u00eda muchos casos de envenenamiento en ese momento en But\u00e1n, especialmente en el este, porque la gente cre\u00eda que si envenenabas a alguien hasta la muerte, podr\u00edas recibir sus cualidades. As\u00ed que es m\u00e1s probable que Sonam Drolma temiera que el ni\u00f1o fuera envenenado si se revelaba la verdad de su parentesco real.<\/p>\n Hab\u00eda, y todav\u00eda hay, personas que deliberadamente envenenan a gente de alta alcurnia, y especialmente a beb\u00e9s indefensos. Estos beb\u00e9s tienen el poder, pero no pueden defenderse. Algunos de estos hechiceros pod\u00edan arrebatar el poder con solo una mirada, y algunos ten\u00edan un toque venenoso especial. Algunas de esas familias todav\u00eda viven en el este de But\u00e1n y sufren exclusi\u00f3n social. El fen\u00f3meno de estas brujas y hechiceros se desvanece a medida que el mundo se vuelve tan materialista.<\/p>\n Kurtoed tambi\u00e9n se ha desvanecido. La mayor\u00eda de las \u00e9lites kurtoepas se han trasladado a lugares como Thimphu; pocos quedan, si es que hay, de los se\u00f1ores y las damas de los palacios. Fui a Kurtoed cuando ten\u00eda unos 30 a\u00f1os para visitar la aldea de mi abuelo. Ten\u00eda muchas ganas de ver por fin el gran naktshang de los Roolings y los Thunpes. Durante a\u00f1os, me hab\u00eda imaginado algo comparable a las propiedades hist\u00f3ricas de las novelas, no muy diferente al Netherfield de los Bingley y al Longbourn de los Bennet en Orgullo y Prejuicio<\/em>.<\/p>\n Casa se\u00f1orial inglesa<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Para mi gran decepci\u00f3n, los naktshang resultaron ser solo dos casas, situadas una al lado de la otra. No hab\u00eda ninguna evidencia de gloria. Me da que pensar sobre todas esas conversaciones que sol\u00eda escuchar sobre Kurtoed.<\/p>\n Tal y como dijo Buda, lo que se amontona caer\u00e1, lo que se junta se fragmentar\u00e1, lo que nace morir\u00e1. Yo dir\u00eda que Kurtoed refleja estas verdades. Pero eso no impide que la gente se aferre a sus recuerdos.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a>\u00a0Se pronuncia \u00abker-toe\u00bb y se escribe de muchas formas diferentes en los mapas.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a>\u00a0Un thromde es una ciudad o centro urbano, una divisi\u00f3n administrativa de tercer nivel en But\u00e1n.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Kurtoep en dzongkha o kurtoepa en sharchhop [idiomas de But\u00e1n].<\/p>\n [4]<\/a>\u00a0Una salsa de chile.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a>\u00a0Ensalada de pepino con chiles, queso y pimiento de Sichuan.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section fb_built=\u00bb1″ _builder_version=\u00bb3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=\u00bb4.4.8″ background_size=\u00bbinitial\u00bb background_position=\u00bbtop_left\u00bb background_repeat=\u00bbrepeat\u00bb hover_enabled=\u00bb0″ width=\u00bb100%\u00bb][et_pb_column type=\u00bb4_4″ _builder_version=\u00bb3.25″ custom_padding=\u00bb|||\u00bb custom_padding__hover=\u00bb|||\u00bb][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00bb4.4.8″ background_size=\u00bbinitial\u00bb background_position=\u00bbtop_left\u00bb background_repeat=\u00bbrepeat\u00bb hover_enabled=\u00bb0″] Como seres sams\u00e1ricos, comemos tantas cosas, olfateamos otras tantas, tenemos relaciones sexuales con diferentes tipos de personas y, m\u00e1s adelante, nunca sabemos realmente qu\u00e9 tipo de semillas hemos plantado con todas nuestras acciones. Sabi\u00e9ndolo o no, estamos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"As samsaric beings, we eat so many things, we sniff so many things, we have sex with different kinds of people, and we never really know down the line what kind of seeds we have planted with all of our actions. Knowingly or not, we are constantly creating legacies, changing worlds, and leaving our mark.\n\nLong ago, in a place called Kurtoed[1]<\/a>, a woman was walking home from visiting a family in mourning. As she crossed a high bamboo bridge, it collapsed beneath her. She fell into the river and was washed away, never to be seen again. Soon after that tragedy, her husband was picking avocados in a tree and tumbled from the branches to his death, leaving five children as orphans. This man who climbed the tree had never sipped a cup of coffee in his life, he had never read Murakami<\/a>, and his wife had never seen\u00a0Don Giovanni<\/em><\/a>. Little did they know that they were the creators of a great-great-grandson who enjoys coffee so much, reads Murakami, and has seen Don Giovanni<\/em> many times. The two were my grandfather's grandparents.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_195\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"900\"]![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/mugwortborn.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Sir_Ugyen_Wangchuk_and_his_family_1905.jpg\")
![\"Gemini](\"https:\/\/mugwortborn.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/025.jpg\")
![\"English](\"https:\/\/mugwortborn.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/395de7b918c6a3afaac07d18006d6bb3.jpg\")
![\"yeewong-magazine-25-1024x683\"](\"http:\/\/mugwortborn.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/yeewong-magazine-25-1024x683-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"75a4321\"](\"http:\/\/mugwortborn.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/75a4321-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n She fell<\/em>[\/caption]\n\nA lady whose name was Ngawang Drolma took it upon herself to give the orphaned children\u2014one of them my great-grandmother, Sonam Drolma\u2014to the first king of Bhutan. There is this custom in Bhutan of offering orphans to institutions, even today. Many end up at monasteries but this bunch ended up working in the king's household.\n\nNgawang Drolma was like a character from a classic English novel, a grande dame, a thromde's lady[2]<\/a>, very powerful. Someone should really write a novel about Bhutanese family dynamics. Conveniently for her, there was also a tradition in Bhutan that when there were no more adults to care for a home, the land was taken over by another family.\n\nKurtoed is a rarely-seen part of the Lhuntse district, but back then, it was a political and economic powerbase because of its proximity to the border of Tibet in the far northeast of the country. It was one of the original provinces of Bhutan. Many of our past leaders came from there. On my documents, it says I was born in Kurtoed because not many people knew of my true birthplace, the hidden valley of Artemisia, Khenpajong.\n\nBeing from Kurtoed back then was like being from a rich harbor city like Hamburg or a cosmopolitan center like London because of its access to Tibet. But it had its own Kurtoepa[3]<\/a> language which to my ears\u2014and maybe I'm tainted by my childhood memories\u2014is the most singsong and melodic of languages. Kurtoepa girls were considered beautiful and a good catch, but I have a feeling it had something to do with this language. One thing I remember about the Kurtapas is the classic Bhutanese dishes like ezay<\/em>[4]<\/a> and hogay<\/em>[5]<\/a>. When prepared by the hands of a Kurtoepa especially middle aged men and women, these dishes are extraordinary. On my occasional visits to Bhutan, I always make an effort to visit my Auntie Dorji Yangki who is such a Kurtoepa good cook.\n\nI didn't grow up in Kurtoed, but the Kurtoepa who accompanied my family talked endlessly of the glory of Kurtoed, so in that way it was familiar to me. There was always talk of two grand Kurtoepa families: the Roolings and the Thunpes. They lived in naksthang<\/em>, a kind of Bhutanese chateau or manor, that people spoke about as if they were the grand castles of Europe. There was one house called Dungkar Chhoejey, which was the ancestral home of the current royal family. Each house was staffed with servants who were basically owned by the householders, people like my grandmother. The residue of this servant culture is still alive in Bhutan today, which is so sad because they just can't seem to shake the habit.\n\nWhen Ngawang Drolma intervened with the orphans, it was at the height of Kurtoed's history. My great-grandmother was the eldest of the five orphans, and because she was very clever and could do many things around the palace, she became part of the inner circle of the royal family. And that's how she ended up pregnant with a royal-blooded baby; we can never quite say which one was the father. That child was my grandfather, Lama Sonam Zangpo.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_188\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1442\"] Sir Ugyen Wangchuk and his family, 1905<\/em>[\/caption]\n\nThe Tibetans and Bhutanese are not in the habit of keeping family records. Therefore, most historical dates are based on a lot of hearsay and the facts are blurry. When people were asked when they were born, they would most likely say \"the year of the monkey\" or some other astrological animal from the lunar calendar, and then the person asking would have to guess their age based on how old this person seems\u2014if this person is fortyish, they assume four monkey years ago. Other people might use seasons or special events to answer the birth date question. They might say, \"I was born ten springs ago,\" or, \"I was born the year before the forest caught on fire.\"\n\nUntil recently, with the arrival of globalization, we never celebrated birthdays in Bhutan. But now I hear that there are parties where the elites even wear tuxedos and they order cakes from Bangkok. They can't get enough birthday parties.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_193\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"3460\"] Gemini ready to travel<\/em>[\/caption]\n\nI myself only came to know my actual date of birth when I was around 20 and needed to get a passport. Relying on the memories of my aunties and the disciples of my grandfather and other attendants, we figured out it was in June. Until then, I had always thought maybe I was born in July, because of something my mother had said. I even had a whole astrological chart done as if I were a Cancer, and it seemed perfectly accurate. That's the way it goes with astrology. But I think that was a miscommunication due to using two kinds of calendars with a different number of months.\n\nSo when we are told that my grandfather was born in Kurtoed, the year of the water snake, and that his mother, Sonam Drolma, kept him secret for three years, and then at age 8 Talu monastery ordered him to become a monk, or that at age 16 he walked to Tibet, well, you have to take these numbers with a grain of salt.\n\nOne might think that Sonam Drolma kept her child hidden for those years because he was a bastard born out of wedlock. But this was not such a big deal in Bhutan. There was a much bigger risk than a damaged reputation. When I was growing up, I was warned again and again, almost every day, not to eat food from certain families or to be close to certain characters. My grandfather's attendants would whisper and hide when particular people came near. Much later, they told me the reason. There were many cases of poisoning at that time in Bhutan, especially in the east, because people believed that if you poisoned someone to death, you could receive their qualities. So it's more likely that Sonam Drolma was afraid the boy would be poisoned if the truth of his royal parentage was revealed.\n\nThere were, and still are, people who deliberately give poison to higher born people, and especially to helpless babies. These babies have the power but cannot defend themselves. Some of these sorcerers could snatch power with just a glance, and some had a special poisonous touch. Some of those families are still around in east Bhutan suffering social exclusion. The phenomenon of all these witches and sorcerers is fading as the world becomes so materialistic.\n\nKurtoed also has faded. Most of the Kurtapa elites have now moved to places like Thimphu; few if any lords and ladies of the chateaus remain. I went to Kurtoed in my early 30s to visit my grandfather's village. I was looking forward to finally seeing the grand naktshang of the Roolings and the Thunpes. For years, I had imagined something comparable to the storied estates in a novel, not unlike the Bingleys' Netherfield and the Bennets' Longbourn in Pride and Prejudice<\/em>.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_192\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"564\"] English Manor House<\/em>[\/caption]\n\nTo my great disappointment, the naktshang turned out to be just two houses, situated right next door to each other. There was no evidence of glory. It makes me wonder about all those conversations I used to hear about Kurtoed.\n\nJust as the Buddha said, what is stacked will fall, what comes together will become fragmented, what is born will die. I would say that Kurtoed reflects these truths. But that doesn't stop people from clinging to their memories.\n\n
\n\n[1]<\/a>\u00a0Kurtoed, pronounced \"ker-toe\", is\u00a0sometimes spelled Kurtoe and many various other ways on maps.\n\n[2]<\/a>\u00a0Spelled\u00a0Kurtoep in Dzongkha or Kurtoepa Sharchhop.\n\n[3]<\/a> A thromde is a third-level administrative division in Bhutan.\n\n[4]<\/a>\u00a0Ezay is a common chili sauce\n\n![\"yeewong-magazine-25-1024x683\"](\"https:\/\/mugwortborn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/yeewong-magazine-25-1024x683-300x200.jpg\")
\n\n[5]<\/a>\u00a0Hogay is a cucumber salad with chilies, cheese, and Szechuan pepper\n\n![\"75a4321\"](\"https:\/\/mugwortborn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/75a4321-1-300x200.jpg\")
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