“I was 27 years old at that time and she was 23. I was working as a peon in her village called Purano Basti in Sarbang, Bhutan. I was from Toribari which was 15 kilometers from her village. But I used to live in her village for my job. Actually, I had worked as a peon for five years and seven months in Bhutan. Initially I was paid Rupees130 per month. I was assigned to many villages like Bhur, Norbuling, Naya Basti, Lalai, among others. The roads were rough and not easy to travel. I used to pedal a bicycle for 2-3 hours to reach those villages and deliver mail. Although I was living in her village we didn’t know each other. It happened like this: a guy called Kabiraj Pradhan was also staying in the same house where I lived. One evening he said, “Hey let’s go”. I said “where?” “Take a walk in the village”. “Nope. I am not going”. But he kept on insisting and I had to go. Somebody had died in the village and people had gathered in that house. Some were playing cards. I too started playing cards, but my eyes were all around the room. I saw her there and thought this girl seemed good. After courting at least a year, on a Sunday I took her to my village Toribari. We didn’t face any hurdles since the inter marriage between Ghalley and Magar is accepted. We had a small ceremony to validate our relationship. Let me say that our marriage was performed in a shortcut. We invited a few people from my village, slaughtered a sheep, drank a locally brewed alcoholic beverage and had a party. After a few days we came to her home and her family gave us their blessings.”
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LB Ghalley, 73, is originally from Sarbang, Bhutan, and based in Grand Forks, North Dakota at the time when this story was compiled.
Stories and photo compilation by Pabi Rai for BNS.
