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Guru Gomo, who is also known as Genyen Chenpo is the local deity of Gasa and the descendants of Lama Norbu Palden. He has his abode at Gomo Terkhung, the hot springs that is believed to cure many diseases. Many years ago, the spring was a haunted place where the dud Gomo had established himself. He spread fear among the locals and other unsuspecting people. Lama Norbu Palden, who was the son of Geshe Ta Thangpa and disciple of Tsangpa Gyare took to subduing the dud. In order to tame the dud, he meditated day and night for a week on the bank of the haunted spring. On the last night, the dud started creating storms, boiled the spring water and tried to incite fear in the mind of the Lama. However, the act did not even move a single hair of the lama. The dud transformed himself into a big black giant with fierce eyes and hungry mouth. He carried bow and arrow on the right hand and started hurling the snares with the left. The dud did everything to frighten the lama but he failed to d...

I have known Nisho and her family for pretty long time now. Nisho’s grandparents had moved from Dharamsala in India and settled down in Ladakh for generations. They visited Bhutan at least once in a year. While they were here, they always made a point to visit Taktsang and Chime Lhakhang. Nisho’s mother, who was very kind to me passed away very recently. Her last wishes were that her three daughters do some moenlam for her at Taktsang and Chime Lhakhang after she passed away. Because of these wishes, Nisho and her elder siblings’ visit this time was more of a mission than a pilgrimage. Given the purpose, Nisho and her sisters got busy making arrangement for the prayer session. I was only able to spend some moment of my off-hours with them in the evenings. On the last day of the prayer session which happened in Chime Lhakhang, I was able to take my son with me there. On the way back, we were able to hang long stretches of prayer flags from one end of the road to another. Just as we co...