The Process of Getting Oriented

The piece I contributed to BHUTAN YOUTH newspaper for its 25th August, 2012, issue.

The 2,263 graduates who had gathered at the Nazhoen Pelri multipurpose hall on the morning of 9^th August, 2012, for the briefing session on the National Graduate Orientation Program, 2012, themed “Inspiring Young Leaders of Happiness”, had no idea how the day was going to go.

A majority had received an SMS from the Ministry of Labour & Human Resources as to which house they had been placed in; house names this time were from the names of Guru Rinpoche’s eight manifestations and his heavenly palaces.

As graduates filed into the hall and sought their houses and respective places to sit, some discovered that they were being seated in the Taekwondo Hall in the Swimming Pool Complex and promptly left.

What everyone thought was an hour-long briefing at the most was to be a day-long event.

While graduates were still adjusting to the heat wave inside the hall, the delegation from Election Commission of Bhutan was ushered in led by the Chief Election Commissioner himself. The team, after giving a presentation about their agency, informed the gathering that a voting exercise for the NGOP Councillers would be conducted by them on Electronic Voting Machines.

Nominations were called for the post of House and Chief Councillers and the nominees pleaded for votes.

Then began the exercise of voting; for some it was their first time voting on an EVM, having missed voting in the last election since they were away in college. A worthwhile exercise no matter how long and tedious it was; but then so is the process of every “real” election.

By afternoon the graduates had had a taste of things to come in the coming week – the hall, seating arrangement, the heat, the snacks, the lunch, the sessions in the hall etc.

From the inaugural session the following Monday with Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba and Lyonpo Dorji Wangdi in the upper and lower halls respectively, till the audience with His Majesty the King and awarding of certificates, graduates sat in their respective places, next to the same people all week long, and stood in the same line in the same tent for snacks and lunch.

Everyone made new friends and rediscovered old ones; some even came face-to-face with those who were much junior to them in college, instantly acquiring the tags of “Acho/Azhim/Aue” from them.

All Ministries and relevant agencies of the government (ACC, RAA, RCSC etc.) came and oriented the graduates on policy matters. Each session was one-and-half hours long, with four such sessions in a day. The best past of each session was when the speakers gave priceless advice regarding life after college.

Even the corporate and private sector were represented by DHI and BCCI respectively. A particularly lively session took place with young entrepreneurs who had dared to setup innovative businesses.

Graduates had a chance to clear their doubts regarding government policies and some of them got the speakers thinking hard about their responses.

There were some who felt that a session with parliamentarians, both from the upper and lower houses, including the Opposition, should have been organized.

Except for a few glitches, organizational and technical, everything took place with clockwork precision. From uncooked rice to substandard vegetarian curries, the heat inside the hall to absence of fans, and graduates being herded around like little children, these were some of the inconveniences the graduates were all too willing to forgive the organizers about.

The grand finale was the audience with His Majesty the King himself. No where in the world does the head of state of a country come personally to welcome college graduates and tell them he has great hope and expectations from them, and tell them he’s proud of them.

The 2,263 graduates who had registered for the NGOP, 2012, had no idea how the one-week orientation program was going to go, but they must now look back with fond memories, for they were the highlight of the entire country for that one week,  never mind the absence of fans to keep them cool during the entire time.