Yesterday as Marie and I were cycling up to BBS Tower, a man walking down the other way waved at Marie. As he passed, I nodded and said ‘kuzu zangpo’, the usual greeting.
Marie stopped and looked a little flustered. ‘That was the prime minister.’ I looked back at the ordinary man. He was walking casually down the hill. ‘I hope you said la.’
‘La’ is the Bhutanese equivalent of ‘sir’ or ‘madam.’ I hadn’t said it. But he didn’t look annoyed. From what Marie had told me of him, he seems pretty down to earth and probably appreciates people who don’t grovel to him.
The Bhutanese Ministers each take a turn at being PM for a year and this year it’s the Minister for Agriculture’s turn, hence Marie’s passing aquaintance with him. He put the pressure on her bosses to process the renewal of her contract quickly last year. Unfortunately, he didn’t talk to the HR or foreign ministries.