Offering to Destroy

The pandemic has brought tourism across the world to an abrupt stop. No country could risk the nation’s health with tourism. Bhutan, like any other nation, isn’t immune to the pandemic. 
The country’s second-highest revenue earner, tourism, came to a standstill with no predicted time to come back. The pandemic provided the most-wanted boost for local tourism to grow. Local tourism has also helped heal the ailing economy. With people wanting to be away from others, the frequently visited religious sites are seeing not many visitors. On the other hand, far flung religious sites and, more so, the lakes (Tsho) are welcoming an ever increasing visitors, some genuine while others for the sake to refresh. 
While it may be religiously and culturally encouraging to make offerings in the lakes, the long-term impact can be questioned. With many people throwing coins and paper money into the lake as offerings, we are doing more harm than to please the mermaid. 
The people offering money in the lake look environmentally unfriendly. There may come a time, not many years from now, that the lakes will be polluted by the rust from the coins thrown into the lakes, while the decay of paper money will just add salt to the wound. If this money is circulated in the market, the economic will be boasted which is the primary mandate of money. People also offer khaddar (white silk scarf) into the lakes. The khaddars can be found in and around the lakes, swirled around by the wind and the waves. Aren’t we just polluting the sacred lakes? People can make offering of sang (incense) to please the mermaid and the deities and seek their blessings, and I am sure they will understand our genuine prayers. Another offering people make in the lakes is milk. 
The milk is poured into the lake as an offering to seek blessings, but doesn’t it impact the lake? Firstly, the ecosystem in the lake is disturbed. The organisms in the lake become dependent on the offering, thus breaking the food chain. The milk poured into the lake pollutes the lake. Imagine a person offers 200ml of milk. If there are 10 pilgrims making the offering, the lake will have to consume 2 liters of the white offering. With most of the lakes having no outlets, the lake may become a huge bowl of milk. 
I do not have literatures or documents to authenticate my thoughts, but I strongly feel that these offerings are destroying our pristine and virgin lakes. The country has laws to protect the running streams and rivers from being polluted, but aren’t we forgetting the source? It’s high time that we change the way we make offerings. People should come up with an innovative or modern way of pleasing these unseen forces. I do not ask for the offering to be stopped; it must not happen. All I think is, there should be a better option to protect our lakes. 

PC: The Bhutanese, 7th December, 2020.

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