BT's Peky Samal digs into the things boys in Trashigang do to while away their vacation, and finds out perhaps a little more recreational facilities will do a dime a dozen good

It's time for holidays for the students. There's so much time to kill and so little options.  Are the youth using the vacation in a worthwhile manner or is it just another season to go ashtray?

Karma Yoezer, a class VIII student plans to spend his winter break playing games and learning computers. The 13 year old listens to Eminem and reads film magazines.

Thukten Zangpo, a 17-year-old class IX student who is here for the break after school in Wamrong spends around four hours a day playing snooker in the town’s only snooker joint. He admits that the regular visitors who are mostly young guys smoke, drink alcohol and do drugs.

Winter is here and so are the holidays. After a grueling session in school, the students are only too happy to have time to pursue their interests other than academics. But the question is what are they interested in and do they have alternatives?

The youth are naturally inclined to pursue activities which give them a good time but their idea of fun apart from the usual harmless games and spending time with friends seem to be bordering on dangerous grounds.

A teacher from Trashigang Middle Secondary School said that during winter it is a common scene here to see students from various places in groups usually doing drugs and trying to be “cool.”

She said that the various reasons drug abusers in school gave were peer pressure, curiosity, domestic problems and “heart-ache” adding that most of them usually came from uneducated or broken homes or affluent families who were too busy to spend enough time with their kids.

“Most of the children of well educated parents who give them proper upbringing do very well academically and they are less prone to pick up harmful habits.”

But she said that in winter students tend to cross their limits because they have more time in hand and more freedom. She said that proper channels are required to divert the students’ energy.

“Especially in Trashigang we could seriously do with some recreational facilities,” she said.

The town has no public sports ground or facilities. There is an archery field but it is mostly the older men who use it. The only basket ball court and football field in town became ready for use just this year and these also are school property so the public cannot access them freely.

The Trashigang school authorities said that all these years the problem of substance abuse had been increasing in the school but this year surprisingly the figures dwindled. A possible reason could be the establishment of sports facilities in the school, they said.

The snooker bar, the only apparent entertainment centre here which started two years ago is steadily gaining popularity and holidays see youth frequenting it.

Though gender is not a bar, males are the more regular visitors. But it would not have been a concern if the bar just concentrated on the game aspect, said an observer Tenzin.

The fact that unhealthy practices like substance abuse is going on inside its dingy corridors does call for enforcement of some strict regulations which are missing by far. The snooker bar is also a breeding ground for new cases because of the influence.

Such was the case of Dorji Wangchuck( name changed), a 19-year- old student studying in Punakha who is spending the break with his parents here. He started abusing drugs at the age of 11 and he blamed it on bad company and extra pocket money.

But he has stayed “clean” for one year now. He attributed it to his growing maturity which made him think about his parents.

“Now I am going to avoid drugs and bad company,” he said. He said he is going to spend his break helping his parents run their shop and enrolling in a computer course in Phuentsholing.

“I like partying though,” he admits.

Observers agree that Trashigang with its high youth population who are already into harmful, “fun” pastimes or those in danger of starting, especially during the holidays should come up with some alternatives like a few attractive recreational facilities, stricter vigilance from the law enforcers and maybe constructive courses to offer them a chance to learn new skills.

Not to say the situation is hopeless.

Choki Lhamo, a class X student said that her holiday plans apart from helping her parents in their shop, going shopping to Phuentsholing and chatting with friends would be “playing with small kids.”

Maybe, innocence after all is not lost beyond all hope. Meanwhile, the youth around town may have to weigh the best options at hand and make their holidays worth it.