Eve, The New Year!

I had half a mind to write before this year draws to another end but the restless scribe(?) in me, that i often fondly nurture, forced me to this spontaneity. I reached to Paro, along with my aging dear mother and father, charting out routes to visit holy places here. A tiring drive it was! We halted at my sister's place since it is Ngyenpa Gu Zom today and visiting a lhakhang today is not a good thing. I wished one of my close friends a very happy Ngyenpa and sent this SMS: May all the species of your type flourish like Harrappan civilisation!
He might have overlooked the subtlety in it since he called back and thanked profusely for the warm wishes!:)
Well, i missed the jingoism about X-mas this year. Not that i celebrate but when more than half the worlds population indulge into festivi...ties, i took it unfairly for being so mute. I tuned on my radio, since TV and Internet is out of bound in my place(Norbuling it is!) and listened to some of the best christmas carols. I reminded Choden about how people in USA must have celebrated!
On a second thought, i prided myself for being able to survive freely in non-digital community. I was mostly involved in doing chores like operating a simple rice huller that the Nepalis there called Dhan-ko-meecine! When it got struck or hardened due to lack of grease at its crease, they would look up for me as if their life came to a standstill. That gave me great energy to think that i can often be useful despite being discarded In MoE! :)
Nevertheless, life is so cool in there. Free from any worldly trauma, they eat three solid square meals, made in Chula-Chaai, take Tongba regularly to boost their energy and listen to old hindi songs played so loudly in their older radios! They tend to their cattles after their works are done,,hmm i liked it much.
Post Christmas was again another sad news about the demise of one of the greatest Rinpoches of our times, HE Dungse Rinpoche. Mother was nearly into tears as i was but life has to move on. It gives us a lesson to think that all is true about the Theory of Impermanence in Buddhism. We are seeing more depletion in great and good Rinpoche, all we can do is pray for their early rebirths to guide lesser mortals like us, isnt it?
And today, as i said, it is meeting of Nine Evils, in Buddhist calender, i took it more as a festive feat than defeat. Today also is the eve, the new year is all onto us now, according to christian calender. I am more older and wiser(he he) than few years back and it always imbue me with uncanny feeling to begin new years. how i wish not to grow old!
And hello there, we are more closer to some Dooms Day, according to Mayan Calender!!You sure must hit to a new Disco theque and shake all your bones. Infact if you need any extra bones in your system, do let me know!! He he.

But before that, let me complete visiting Taksang one more time!! LOL.
Happy New Years, dear Teachers. May good health and KenchoSum be always by your side and especially, to my dear readers, may we survive on this futility for long time to come. Cheers!!!

National Day

Today, i woke up earlier than usual since it is our National Day, 104th year. I wanted to furl our national flag by the side of my bedroom window but we didnt have a flag. I asked my son if he had a Scout scarf. He has, but he had misplaced it since school is over! To hoist a flagless pole would be more catastrophic than showing off my curious patriotism. Blessed i am, to have my glorous birth, here in this country. There wasnt even a sign when i was borned but that doesnt matter! :). I am a proud Drukpa, as rustic and as poor as most of you are, but still a proud Drup. Pelden Drukpa, Gyelo!!
 I am afraid this could be the last of my post for 2011. I have vainly tried to boast things around me, sometimes even at the sake of hurting people's sentiments. But those were all comparatives, not absolutes.
Well, this winter, i tell you, it is a blessing in disguise! No works for me but heck, i aint No-Work-Jack! I am planning to embark my lifelong desire: Pilgrimage!! I am going Neykor, teachers! NEYKOR!!
Dorjidhen? No. Tsho Pema? No. Tibet? Hmm, chinese might throw me into some old dungeons! Nepal? Not really! I have my refugee brothers in there, they might want me to lead a new democratic party. oh crap.:)
 "Mashey gatey joney inna ya!", i remember myself whispering to my wife when she asked me about my destination! LorD Gautama, didnt know his location too!:)
I suggested an old female friend about Phuntsholing for Ngagyur Kama Wang being precided over by HE Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche. "I got a tent that could easily accomodate two Sumo wrestlers", i chipped in. "You take some cash!".She would not listen to the suggestion.

Oh, folks, i gotta get going but not here! Good day, friends! Cheers.

No Workshop!

!POHSKROW ON.....This is not even a mantra. If you read it right to left, or sould i say, in my own plain language, it means, no workshop! Well that is quite dull. Boring indeed. There are more than 50 different kinds of workshops excluding the regular Evaluation Camps at Punakha and i dont find niche in any one of them! Not that i didnt try, the last of my call was yesterday, to some Surjay Sir (of DRCD fame). "Sir, any vacancy?". "I am afraid you are late," comes the reply. I was never taught sugar talks, and i dont regret it. I hung up the phone but not without better than best explanation from my side! My side,huh? That sounds vain and dumb. Tactful subordinates would not do that but i am not even near those ethereal sycophants!
 "Sir, how come i wasnt included in that writer's workshop?!", i try to put up my argument with him. Science Writers Workshop, i was talking about. Devil's Workshop indeed! He replies me back, "We can not include all the teachers despite, we need competitive participants". That hits the chord in me and disrupts the geometric harmony that i often boast in my self and woe betide, i thus rant these, almost shout at him: Sir i completed my MSc in 2009, i teach Bio/Che and i have taught science for class 5 and 6 for the last 7years and i can write competitive english!!! Now you think i cant fit in your workshop, huh? Seriously, i have lots of feed backs regarding the textbooks for class 5 and 6!
I finish it in a breath. I would have screamed if he was my father, but well i would still respect strangers, even at the heights of my desolation. I was sweating, literally so. We hung up our cell after another around of good talks. Finally, i had to thank him for the explanation. He said he would try and integrate my profile if there were workshops, in FUTURE! That is cool. I am a typical sheep. A rejection there and a simple assurance here would move my Lacrimal glands to tears!
Well folks, honestly, i complete my 7th year in teaching and not a single workshop! I do thank the ministry for the further studies that i completed in some Indian slums, but that was due to my own subject. And BBE for giving me opportunity to evaluate those chemistry papers.  Those were the service of my subjects, not favours, mind you!
Hmm..here i am, writing in a forum that wont even reach half the people i intend to read. :)
I suggested my old room-mate who works in Education, to join this forum(He works in PPD). "Ah, Teachers Forum ya?". Ong, i told him. "Complain Forum imwong!", he said!.
Sometimes, i seldom regret having taken up this profession. 'Sigh'. 
Given a chance, i would like to take up farming and be far, far away from all those Madding Crowds! But for now, i must teach. That wont put off my flame to teach my dear students, i promise that!

That is all, good day teachers!

Admission for PP

Yesterday, it was PP admission in my school for the next academic session. My daughter, clinically 5 years old was, as nervous as her mother. While we walked to the school,I could hear mommy dear giving last-minute tips. What is you name? She answers it. What is your mother's name? What is your father's name? What should you say when you enter the room?And so on. "They wont ask all these questions!", i uttered to pull her out of her nervousness. Some 25 years ago, i had similar bouts when i first went to the school at Sarbhang.I believe i was overaged since both i and my younger sister sat for the same interview: PP admission! I vaguely remember that there were lots of crowds in that hall.While i tightly clung to my father's hand, i had to ask him numerous questions about all the things under the sun. It is never too easy to get admitted in a school. We must be able to touch the left ear lobe with the right hand across the head. That was too easy but i still do not know why we had to do that. Some rounds of questions were asked.I cant recall all of them except one, which i would elaborate later. The final round was a Lucky-dip session. I had to pick from a container, a small folded paper. I picked one up and they read out loudly: 0.
Zero, meant not lucky enough for admission! My sister followed me and she got "S". S meant school! I was shattered but more than that, i was worried about my father's spanking for getting zero! I dont know how i could get the admission but according to my mother's oral records, they halted my sister for another year and requested the admission committee to enroll me instead.
The only question that i remember being asked during that interview was if my father was educated. I nodded affirmatively. "How much?", he asked. That caught me off guard. But, i could deal with surprise crisis rather easily. As i write this, my face lengthens with smile and pride for being able to ward off queries coolly. I was intelligent while i was young, you know! (doubt?). Huh? HOw much? I said "15" and bowed with peaceful bliss. At the far corner, i saw my father smiling at me. I thought it was correct.
Only after decade or so, i could find out that he never crossed 6th grade but that was long, long time ago. He went on to serve the government service till his superannuation. I tell you, he can still beat me in Dzongkha and English handwriting.That is a different story.
So i turn to my daughter and assure her,"Ma dro marey. Appa yoed ba tey!"
Hmm..that is all for today. Good day!

2011: what was there?!

As 2011 draws to and end, i was tempted to look back at things that affected me the most. Firstly, without doubt, it was the global economy struggles. Honestly, i do not really understand the general trends in markets and its influence to the common people but when things are becoming difficult, i blame it, like any other being, to the disturbing global economy.
Personally, as prices soared and a kilo of onion became more of a burden than basic ingredient in our kitchens, i had to convince my dear wife about the dangers of excessive consumption of onions. Simply, onions increases sexual libido which is far more dangerous in the long run!
As oil prices shot up for the record 7th time(?) this year, i had to painfully restrict family outings, much to the woes of my kids. Everytime i drove my car, i wondered if water-propelled cars could be manufactured for consumers like you and i, it would be fun! How cheap! And ditto to LPG prices. My wife usually opts out of gas stoves during evenings and early mornings since we use our multi-skilled Bukhari - it warms us and heats our oven too! I had to genuinely understand her thriftiness at this time of our generations, so i called quits to gambling to sustain ourselves more blissfully than ever.
Infact there were more tragic deaths all around the world, some of it we wrongfully called victories. We have seen the fall of Osama and Gadhafi. We also saw the tragic deaths of Steve Jobbs(of Apple fame) and M.F. Husain. Just a night before, we heard about Dev Anand, the icon of Indian cinema...is no more. Closer back at home, my Angayla succumed to her cancer. 2011 was not a kind year, for most of us.
Personally, for me there was more failures to count on this year than achievements. Additional wrinkles on my chubby face, depletion of hair on my head, more creaking bones at my joints,aggravating ulcer in my stomach, and lesser nutritional intakes in my diet than before! Sounds grimly suicidal, huh? lol.
 Come next year, i would boomerang with increased devotion to survive. I intend to avail more loans, just before the supposed Doomsday(2012) and mind you, i might just speed by your side in my new car!
  Ha ha..

From Teacher's forum

Yesterday,it was a healthy attempt in our culture to discuss about HIV/AIDS. The boldness of those five citizens were exemplary and deserves our respect for having taken that step and talking about it in an open forum. While most of us are aware about the dreadful disease, we have been more or less, too narrow in our thoughts about it. Ours is a country ruled by the higest number of the most educ...ated parlimentarians in the world, it is only natural mandates that we take extra steps ahead and show our neighbours small lessons. Elsewhere, AIDS patients are shunned from most of the public aspects but here in our small country, we have tried to put forward our theory of peaceful co-existance with whatever forms of life that intimately sorround us. The talks that were organised yesterday by the BBS would go a long way in trying to educate our Bhutanese audience. Listening to them, it looks as if some of us have been blindly traumatising "them" and discarding "them" due to social stigma associated with the AIDS.
Well, by now, some of us are regretting for turning our blind eyes to "them". They are as humane as you and i are, the least we can do is, try and help them lead normal lives. Infact, AIDS, according to the studies, can remain undiagnosed for almost 20 years, while most of the lucky patients can still survive a decade even after the diagnosis! Supposing i get infected with it at 40(touchwood!), i might still grow white hairs and survive side by side with my contemporaries to live upto 60 years. BY then, most of you might be dead! The point i am trying to state is, one can still lead normal lives with AIDS. You and i should know this and respect our patients and treat them as our neighbours, not as an outcast! Thank you,Mr.Dawa, for taking those bold efforts in your seat as a reporter.
And hello teachers, did you hear about class six board exam today? I could only get the information about the change in timetable yesterday afternoon. By then students have gone to their homes. The managers in my school tried to contact each student and notify them about the change(Social studies, students were preparing for maths!). As i reached school early, i had to ward off number of tearful queries they asked me. "Sir, we didnt get the time to study", the told me in an accusing chorus. One of the girls, who also is very good in the studies havent even heard the change in timetable till she reached the school this morning. They informed me that she was crying. I went to her and these small kids followed me as if i could lift off her tension into thin air. "So, you didnt hear the change", i asked her trying to be as peaceful as a holy Lama. "No sir", she sobbed."Nga lu dhi ga ge ya ma labb". Her friends rolled their eyes onto me. I wud melt i thought! "Dont you worry, Sumitra. I would teach you", i whispered to her. Honestly so!

This is what happens in MoE, no wonder about it!

Good night friends.

Exams for my students..

Today board exams started. I was on an invigilation duty for class six students in my school. Before entering the hall, i had sternly warned them not to get involved in any foul practices and had frisked them for the sake of formality. At 9 am, they nervously started writing their answers despite the cold weather.Curiosity got over the better half of me as usual and went through their english paper.
As i flipped over the pages, i saw an essay on Mountain Goat/Goral, taken from Kuzoo Society(special edition, it read). The author(no name), had beautifully written it and after few paragraphs i became aware that the essay was an attempt to describe his favorite animal. I thought of my own favorite animal. The yak? Nope, it makes me too nomadic to patronise yaks. Cattles, huh? Hmm..i like thei...r meat but not them! The dog? Grrr..i never had any good diplomacy with dogs. Despicably dirty they are. The cat? Aww..not cats even. The closest favour i can generously render to cats is call their names-Tengye Zandrey!
How about pig? The pig?? Gotcha! WOw..i like them. I bet it. With due respect to pigs, most of my survival habits resemble with them. Look at them, silky and obese. This is indicative of their owner's bountiful harvest. On a closer look, their eyes resemble much like ours, i mean mine, glowing with steely determination and suspect! Their ears, a pair of sensitive organ, dangles so restlessly and their pulpy snout matches perfectly with the length of their ears. And the pork. Now you are salivating, right? No Bhutanese dish could be complete with out pork, i bet. And mind you, a pig's orgasm lasts just 30 seconds, almost similar to mine. Ha ha ha.
Well, i have another striking favorite- my colour. Blue it is. Not that i watch blue films. Lol. But yes, without doubt, i really fall for blue colours. And if you are more into chemistry, you would get more fascinated by this colour. Sky-blu precipitate, azure blue complexes, deep blue needle like crystals, faint blue tinge, neon blue, royal blue..blah blah. Perhaps, my closet is influenced due to these reasons that most of my jackets/pants/shirts are blue in colour. Blue is indicative of my nature self: dreamy and romantic(? eh). And what is more,(but dont tell others!!) i have got blue balls :) :) :)

(As usual, i have tried to mix bizzare humour. Hope my readers will not accuse me for dirty humour. Please do bear with me..good day teachers.)

God in Me?!

I do not go to the Lhakhangs generally but i believe in religion. I do not pray but i do believe i represent the best of any Buddha nature. You see, that is the audacity in me! The last time i partook religious adventure was some two years ago when i and bunch of my friends went to Bay-langdra. I nearly left my foot impression on a rock that i rested there....lol.
I know it is sensitive issue for ...me and my readers to write on religion in a place where God is everywhere. However, i do not mean in any way to mock at or belittle my own supreme beliefs in religion. My religion and my god is in everything that i do and more so, especially when i go to my quarter during late nights-i get so closely bonded with my supernatural god. Bumthang, as most of you are aware, is one of the global hot spots of unholy creatures whom we call Ghosts. Well, i never met one as of now, thanks to my good luck, i guess. Even if i accidently met so, the least i can do is to request 'them' for a round of Taekwondo, a feat that i can boast of as my only means of self-defense! Nevertheless, i am quite aware this time around, "they" must be hibernating to do away with the extreme cold in Bumthang.....
(...to be continued...)

I am back again to my laptop. It was almost two weeks since i last typed a word in here and that was good bodily and mentally too. For a change, i was vacationing in Gelephu as i mentioned earlier. Wow! That is rather flamboyant, right? For a teacher, it looks like an yearly outing. Opportunities are hard to come by but there is no surprise in it.
I tell you, Gelephu is just warm these days. For an alpine dwellers like i and my two other friends who were there for the same reason, it was a treat to walk around the streets of Gelephu town in T-shirts! In Bumthang, you wont dare to bare your fingers. Here we wrap all our skin in best possible wools that are available. If you are seeking for an authentic look at the girls for the curves/bumps/delicate skins/thighs or whatever sexy in them, Bumthang is not a right time at this hour. They got everything in them safely tucked in double layers of jackets! Nothing to see..hehe. Go down south, you are there for wonders.  But,I believe,as an elderly citizen, it is sinful to stare at girls who are almost half my age, dressed as skimpily as possible and swaying their body as rhythmic as waves. Honestly. Nevertheless yes, i consider myself only genuine human species since i exhibit natural temptations to anything that is usual. Do you blame me still?..lol
I saw a petite girl in a bar that we went into to douse our off hours in the town. Dressed in a light jeans and a shirt and probably a sport-bra(!), she was cut out for all that is superlatively beautiful. My eyes would pop out whenever she knelt down to pick something up but i kept reminding myself of the sensible teaching of Lord Buddha--See No Evil! I looked at my friends to see if they saw my nasty look and no way! They got their docile pairs of eyes browsing for similar gold. "There is nothing wai", i shrug them off their fantasy. We laughed out looking at and accusing each other.
Biologically, i hail from Gelephu, not from the town but from Norbuling, an hour walk from that infamous Maukhola. So most of the off hours i was busy ferrying to my old parents and the Gelephu H School. The fury of Maukhola hasnt leaned and the old boat that ferried people is still working,almost precariously. Often, i had to request the boat men to ferry me across the river since i went that way at odd hours, most of the time. I regretted at not having taken my camera but i did force my unwilling friends to experience the boat-trip. And what is more, to cheer them up, i drove them around to India! Now two of them can boast of atleast landing their feet little short of Jagar-Phagpai-Yul. DaadGari isnt that far, try your luck too! He he he.
Gosh, it is 8 and almost time to declare results for the students...byebye. Will come back with more substance next time..Good weekend,teachers!

Ter Chham In Bumthang

The famed Naked Dance of Jambay Lhakhang Tshechu, typically called as
"Ter Chham" by the Bumthaps started two days ago. My friends and i started as soon as the dusk fell since we didnt want to miss the Mey-wang. Ironically, i believe strongly in Mey-wangs and have always tried to make my presence in most of the mey-wangs in Bumthang. Despite, the least i can do is purge my bodily sins by receivin...g Mey-wangs as frequently as possible. Truth be told, i never had opportunity to witness the Naked dance during my decade old reign in Bumthang! I balme it to the odd timing(Ter cham starts not earlier than 12 midnight!) and extremely cold temperature. Personally, i thought if it wasnt this year that i see it, then it is never going to happen in my life. So, I equipped myself with a enough warm clothes to brave the cold. Just as you might like to read what i wore: My made-in-Dhaka trouser topped with my Nike trackpant. On it, i wore my nearly faded Wrangler-jeanpant so that i dont let my silverbones go icy cold! On my pectoral girdle, i had two shirts with my old sweat-shirt and over it, my red North-face jacket. That aint enough: i had my muffler(i borrowed it from my son..hehe) around my neck, a pair of gloves to take care of my bony fingers and a good woolen pull-overs to warm my head! As i walked with my friends, i could see my shadow being cast on the ground and seriously i never thought i was fat enough. I thought the shadow remarkably looked like an astronuat walking on the moon!
So we waited for the time to pass by. With such a dress up over my body, i have discarded any thoughts of trying to wink at girls. We hopped into bars and had our share of drinks to boost our warmth and also our morale. After much waiting, it was
announced that the cham would be shortly started. I had to leave behind my half filled glass of beer get myself seated at about 7th row from the front. There it came! Some 18-19 dancers, all at their au naturel except for their face! Interestingly, there were four or five small children in the group too. They had nothing much to boast! But the excited audiences did shout,"Lichi juice" at them, hinting at their peaceful sizes.:). I was straining all the muscles placed around my eyes trying to keep a good focus on what i was watching so that i wont regret later. Few rows in front were, groups of Sharchop Aums and girls intensely involved like me. One of an elderly woman whispered as loud to her friends,"Tshe bang ga ta la na , halam thur!". They burried their faces into their palms and burst into peels of laughter. Yeah not bad, i thought to myself! Ha ha.
By the time i reached back home, it was 3.45 am in the morning. There was no regret but a sense of satisfaction. Naked dance it is...

Good weekends, friends.

Cold holidays!

· · · 5 hours ago

I am slothfully at half the activity that i framed for myself to overcome these cold holidays here. Were it not for the incessant visitors who barged during my intense work hours, i could have finished all that i had planned to achieve. At one time, just as i was trying to type my questions for class v, an aquaintance dropped by to see how i was doing during the breaks. I let him know that i didnt... have anything really interesting to do than just type questions for the students but i wanted him to include me if he thought of any outdoor adventure. He hadnt thought of it either. I said i have two pair of boxing gloves hung in my bedroom and kidded him that i use those old gloves to entertain my guests! He took it seriously! Few minutes laters, he left me alone to feel rather guilty! Ha ha.
Choden complained of my indolence. She ridiculed that i was the laziest of all the species available. "The last time i heard of same accusation was a decade back", i told her as a matter of factly."You know what happened to that old class mate of mine who called me lazy pig?", i blurted out at her. She didnt want to know it. "He had to scurry to the nearby BHU to nurse his bleeding nose!! ", i delcared filmsily. She barged into kitchen to cook. Seriously, i thought i should catch up with some neighbours who are active diurnals. I can see mr.X chopping firewoods or mr.Y washing his car or that old mr.Zaffar taking a walk to maintain his blood-glucose level! I look at my own state. Why me?, I had chooped my firewoods long time back and that would last us two winters without doubt! My car, it is as glittery as the original kohinoor diamond! My health? Hmm..this is the last worry that would occupy me as a potentail threat. Every cell in me is as healthy as natural! Despite, i include lot of leafy vegetables and protien to sustain my health..so basically no worries for me:). Well, i tell you if you go on worrying about things that are half likely to happen even in your dreams, you are in for all the illness that are available in the world. Sometimes i wonder i have incorrigible ulcer but i aint easy to be bugged down by a mere problem of indigestion! Migraine? Oh yes, i get throbbing pains at one side of head regularly. Schizophrenia? Hmm.. may be, but i do get difficult times when i cant distinguish what is real and not real. How about Down's Syndrome? Gee, i was always slow in anything to learn. It could be due to this chromosomal abberation! Arthritis? Well, my bones have always been my achilles' heel. Delicate as a china shop, i cant risk using tension to my bones. I love them much! Scabies?! Darn! Honestly, i had survived numerous bouts of scabies but each time i recovered from it, my skin glowed with doubled luminiosity! Well well well..thou must be suffering from all the ailments listed in Clinical texts! lol. Only thing is not to worry and let life come by or go by till you breathe your last...adios adios!!

That is all i can write this morning,,,good sunday dear teachers!See More

• Sonam Dorjit and Keema C Wangmo like this.

Long week end...from Teacher's forum

· · · Yesterday at 8:07am

We inagurated one of the most cherished maneuveres of our school yesterday:consecration of Jambayyang Lhakhang. The venerable Tang Rinpoche and his Trulku son did all the ceremony befitting of our year-long struggle. Towards the afternoon, there was Jambayyang Wang for the students and people who religiously gathered in our school. Infact, just as lazy as i am, i have lost the track of day and da...te but it is holiday for us. Series of holidays: Jakar Tshechu,Trakar Tshechu,11 NOvember,Jambay Lhakhang Mewang. So i have timed my activities in such a way that i get enough measures of work and fun.
I would have to prepare question paper for class V,science. I have hinted them in no uncertain terms that questions would be "very tough" to which most of them shrieked repraochfully.
Number 2: Take bath!!:). I fail in this department too. Not that i like being dirty. I am clean-freak! But because it is cold, i often let go my bath routine with excuses. Before that, i gotta fix my window in the bathroom. It has been half broken since the beginning of the year and honestly i have never given a thought to fix it till an elderly neighbour hinted that he could see half of my family's "au naturel" through it! Sensing potential threat, i temporarily used an old shirt to shut down further views that i thought was not censored!
At number 3: Washing. I have always been a lazy family man. I am going to break that record straight this time. I have suggested Choden to pile up all the heavy clothings so that i can handle it and leave her free for the timebeing. I even recommended her for a healthy vacation from kitchen but she wont still trust my cookery skills.
At number 4, comes the arrangement for the Tshechu. I would have to first go the bank and zero my balance there before trying to embark on a Tshechu and that would leave me in hazardous situation since i have another duty to reach Gelephu HSS for the practical examinations. So as of now, i might have to convince my kids about the nuisances of Tshechu but i am aware they wont listen to it:))
Oh hold on, i forgot the list...i tell you i have enough work to do than enjoy during this break...but i would often update my fellow friends if only you will...:)

good day teachers..!See More

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  Kensa Del, San Gay, Keema C Wangmo and 2 others like this.
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    Sonam Dorjit but i hope you will elaborate number2 and number3 in you next article
    

    19 hours ago ·
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    Sonam Dorjit i would love to know regarding it.. because i can foresee in accordance to my calculation that you will fail
    

    19 hours ago · · 1Loading...
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The Busy Week..notes from Teachers' Forum

The past week was a busy week. I wanted to update with pictures in my blog but my pea-sized brain never could handle the instructions that popped up regularly when i tried to update the photos. So here i am like a cliche'd bride trying to impress beyond my vanity!
I was in one of the groups that braved the dropping thermometer and went around each Nepali house playing "Deushi-ray".Having had my ...childhood in Sarpang(It was called Sarbhang-Tar that time), Gaylegphug(old names) and Norbuling, the nostalgia in me was overwhelming. Often we would be shooed away when we played Dueshiray in some unknown households that were palgued by deaths before or some elders who delibrately closed their doors that dispelled our passions during such festivals. Gone are those days. So in Chumey, after a gap of more than two decades, i was back in the troupe shouting Deushiray more louder than ever. If it was a game of tennis, i could have gotten standing ovation from the crowds for my long gap and my stunning comeback! Well,there are only countable numbers of Nepali here,so we didnt leave a single house and if we mistakenly did, that would have cost our pride the next day.In a small community like ours, we are knitted as closely as our handwoven sweaters. By 11.30 pm we were richer by few thousands, a plastic full of "cell-roti" and ourselves half as much drunk.
The past week also saw the end of Trial exams for class ten. As an assistant to Exam Secretary, a post that i hold most proudly(hehe), it was a relief when i and mam Sonam Choden(of Gangtey fame) could outstand the various complaints that cropped out. But that is natural. In any school food chain, you can never make all the teachers equally blissful. Not even close! Make school timetable or a invigilation roster, you are in an inferno more destructive than imagineable limits. You have to be sensibly diplomatic not to overburden your Principals and thronging VPs. You have to be understandably compassionate to expecting Madams or madams who breast-feed their babies and frame thier timings in such a way that they get off hours to mind their own business. You have to understand as a male the predicament of bachelor friends who seldom get overnight shifts and might not be able to make during first periods! Or old lopens who might not want afternoon classes since it induces his students to sleep more blissfully than the hypnotic Diazepam. You have to be competent enough to integrate all your circle of friends, foes, superiors, subordinates and so on in such a way that it doesnt compromise your working environment. It is a complex situation that might need constructive feedbacks from reknowned psychologists but i can tenaciously triumph from those situations. I pride my resilience during such traumatic periods. Guess, what i do? ..it is easy friends..go cross-legged, your tongue touching the upper palate, your palm on your knees..sounds familar, huh? :). As a friendly advise, dont try your pathetic meditation in violent crowds because some explosive colleague might release despicable punch on your calm balmy head! They expect explanation, not your GNH answers! lol.
Well..it is going to be quite a break here. Good that i could complete my syllabus. We have Trakar Tshechu this week, Jambay Lhakhang Mewang again, Jakar Tshechu is next, 11 november soon, School picnic, Farewell for class ten, award day, blah blah...And finally annual exams on 14 November..friends, it is so hectic here!:)

Good day teachers!

Early call

It snowed yesterday not in Chumey but one could see fluffy snow on the mountain tops not far from here. Feeling too cold and old, i suggested Choden to brew Suja instead, only to discover that we have run out of butter! I thought that wasnt a nice way to welcome snowfalls. Last year when the snow first furiously fell, there were ample stocks behind my store: Maa, Datsi, shakam, Sikam, Changkey, and a pair of rusty dumb bell to warm my muscles against hypothermia! Not this time, and what is more, things are more expensive each month. Now, i have taken a personal pledge not to exceed my monthly expenditure to half of what i could afford last year without much fuss. Aye, things are expensive. Choden has recently come up with a solution for my tea yearnings. She wanted me to substitute Suja to Nga Ja which i didnt like. "It is much cheaper", she told me! Grrr..i was truly shattered. There she is, trying to minimise and cut off my regular supply of NgaJa which is my first passion since childhood and now she tells me that. I consider it as a threat to my self-esteem! "Oh, holycow", i retorted her,"we could drink all the tea in the world and still survive without any trouble. Dont you worry about trifle things!".

She narrated incidents in the town where people have cautiously substituted their Ngaja with suja and some of them even go for black-tea! Well, i would rather cleanse foul smelly feet with black tea than drink it..that is too boastful, huh? I tell you, dear boys, one of the easiest methods to overcome your smelly feet is to dip into a bowl of back tea(Use Tsheringmo tea) and chant Medicinal Buddha mantra! Gone are those days when i used to feel so embarrassed about my smelly feet but not now!:). I would be the first one to proudly untie my lace and hop into a Lhakhang for a round of prostrations. Earlier, i would wait all my friends to finish off their turns and try at the last to aviod their accusing eyes! I promise you, this time my feet would even beat "all the perfumes of Arabia"...! Ha Ha...good day teachers!

One Week Old!

Hmm..i am one week old in this blog and finally got one profile picture for myself :). It was a tiring job i tell you. Were it not for the constant reminders from my friends who told me that creating a blog is as easy as ABC, i could have succumbed to my computer-illiteracy. Seriously, computer is one thing that i can never learn. Tell you honestly, i use a laptop whose screen cant be closed and if i closed it,the screen goes blank when i open it next time. The moment i open it, i get a warning stating that i am using a counterfeit windows! I close it without worry. As i browse or open my FB, something pops up and says "Your PC at risk"! I close it too. Few months back, i had dumped this old Toshiba at a neighbours place and had it operated by him. He had agreed to help me tackle this sickly laptop if it gave me another problem! Few days later, it crashed down again!
Well, i remember my professor(Dr.Vittal) who taught us Cplus and BASIC while i was in first year pursuing chemistry but there was nothing i could learn in that University. I still marvel at his speed when he could complete the entire semester course in one month without ever taking us in the computer lab! But that is acceptable since it was in India i was slogging. "Now my work is complete and it is your turn to learn", he had told us before he left to some Korean University as a Visiting Professor. I had to mug up the entire program that would calculate rate constants as temperature and activation energy go on changing(Using Arrhenius equation). That was some three years back. Ever since, i have thought that i was not meant to learn anything in computer.
                             

Good Bye Gadhafi!

The leaders around and especially our Big Brother Obama sighed out relief yesterday as Gaddafi  met his brutal end. They fittingly called it an end to the "era of despotism" and "tyranny" and i remained glued in front of my TV listening to all the updates. Choden wanted to know who was Gaddafi."It is a very long story", i answered her to evade more queries from her.The only difference that both of us cant resolve is our TV hours. I wud go for news and sports while she would incessantly want Hindi soap operas. Neither of us can tolerate the differences in here. So i log into my laptop as she watches her Serials,while she does household chores while i watch my favorite club play against Manchester United(It is Liverpool!). If it is about daughter and Son about the Chota Bheem show,both of us indulge into diplomatic talks as how to save more bucks next month or what all to do during winter breaks!
Well, the brutality of Gaddafi's death is forgiveable. In all our history lessons, dictators have met with similar ends. Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Mugabe, Arafat, and even our cousin Binladen(sorry for that fond closeness!lol) had similar stories to tell. Now what is more challenging post Gaddifi's death is Rebuilding Libya. The tragedy in Afganistan or Iraq is still at home than to reinvest world's interests in Libya. May be the Civil Revolution as the Arabs vehemently call it, havent yet ended. Infact,it has opened doors to more of its kind. And again, we have neighbourly Pakistan! The surprise visit by Hillary recently,gave her with more goosebumps than she could have thought. She had the same ultimatum to Pakistan: Deny havens to terrorists or face the consequences. Pakistani thought she is crazy to to rely on her whimsical thoery!...heck..it is almost time to School..good day!

Trongsa Experience

As I talked earlier, the trip to Trongsa was truly fulfilling. As we queued up, i whispered to Choden about the hand-lens that i brought from the Biology lab,to look at those relics. She glared at me surprised, almost scornfully as if i had committed some grave disciplinary offence. "Those relics are too tiny for unaided eyes, you know", i reasoned with her. "Dont be silly. And now dont you take... those freaking lens out in this crowd!", she warned me and almost shouted over! An hour later, we were out of the other end of the Trongsa dzong. Out of the three sacred relics, the largest(Budhha's) was double the size of an ordinary rice grain! I nearly laughed at the old man just before me who had walked two days to get a glimpse of those relics that were too tricky for his aging eyes to locate it. Any sensible anthropologist could have marvelled at the stupidity of such fanatical response to a mere grain-sized bone, but not me. I took another chance to look at those sacred "Ringsels" and thought i might collapse with awe and respect if i watched it longer! :)

 Later, i thought if Navy SEALs could spare a tooth of Osama on the fourth table as a contemporary relic!After that, Choden wanted to buy vegetables from the Sabji -Bazaar since it is hard to get fresh vegetables in Chumey. Despite being crowded, Trongsa is comparatively hot to an alpine dweller like me. Moreover,i am rather allergic to dust so i offer myself to wait for her to complete her shopping. As i waited for her impatiently, i saw a man walk by. His feet were unable to withstand his body since he used two handmade sticks to support himself and was dragging his feet.He wore a faded Sertha Gho and looked quite young except for his dishevelled hair and the way he dressed up. I thought he must have met with an accident earlier that left him handicapped. Well he came towards me and just as i tried to look away at his struggle, he told me,"Uncle,Nga lu Tiru Ngaa(Nu.5) nang mey". He smelled like AWP factory has been attached to his mouth! "Uncle lo?!".That is cocky, i thought! There are times when i can be too compassionate but those are rare occasions. I told him that i wont be standing there if had the money but i offered him a gauva that i bought from one of the roadside stalls. He didnt want that. I left him alone and walked away....See More

A Page from My Diary

Hmm..it is the 12th of March. I walked to my school rather puposely holding my underage daughter to her usual class. It is pretty tricky and agonising to feel the chilling cold in Chumey even on a spring morning. Disputable seasons we have in chumey but i tried to be bold and took out my other hand tucked lifeless in my "hemchu" and played paino in the air to excite my bony fingers.
The other day ...we have had a conference in our staff room with the Principal sir. He had informed us about the incumbent Teachers' Needs Assement from the Royal Council of Education. He had briefed us about various sets of papers that we might have to write exams on and wished us all goodluck as if we were to bring down minerals from moon! I cudnt but help myself with a tiny laugh, "exams again?" i said to none in particular.
i sat for one paper in the morning without understanding a thing to write. HOwever it was striking and commendable of REC to have come up with such questionnaire. There were questions on maths that i feared most, series to be broken down although not like Reimann's hypothesis(it hardly sweated one!), questions on politics, Nobel prizes, blah blah blah.. If anyone had asked me how it went when i came outta my exam room i wud have just blurted out," Nothing much,mate.." like a kid who comes outta a game of hitless archery match!.....
...Awooo folks,,wat to write??:))) just felt bored...hope u guys wont mind me..hahaSee More

Being a Teacher...

It created a vulcanic furore nine years ago when i first announced to my loving family that i wanted to be a teacher.My mother made coy claims that i was more fit than any other finest humanbeings, as an army officer which made me rather sick, while my father as always thought his son was cut out for more lucrative job than being a tedious teacher. Only my younger sister who sti...ll slogged in a school thought i wud best make a good teacher. "Come to my School as a teacher",she suggested as if i wud be all fun for her!

A fine evening, few months later i had my beddings spread on my new bed in Samtse like a nervous student in his first school day. i called my fussy mom that night and i said i was glad to be there safely and added that i meet old frends just as to console so that she might not get the feeling that it was only i who went for teacher training centre! Oh,she went on how to take care and all, asked me not to go out too much, cause samtse cud easily land u with bouts of malaria and so on. That evening,i had my first shots of RockBee from a nearby bar and crept noisily into my bed. "Ah, this is life. I am a teacher now!" i solemnly thought .
Nine months later,i passed outta institute with a broken relationship with my chripy girlfrend and a weebit flirts with locals so abundant in Samtse,i thought i cud move mountains with my passion in teaching. Off i was bound to my present school with a small bedding , a pair of pots, few postcards that my sister sent me lovingly when i was in NIE, and a small chair that i surprisingly looted from my old institute!
16 years of schooling and nine months rigours at NIE, i am here...standing like a rock to teach my students..! oh fie!.....:))
sorry poeple...m drunk tonight!...cheers everybody!See More

Childhood Memories

I reflect with pride and nostalgia for my childhood memories like any one of us. I had one friend who would always visit my home and take me out for a game of football or criket although i never made any significant contributions in any of the matches. The moment he saw or i saw (any one of us),we would exchange blows till our body ached but that was how we greeted eachother. MOments later we woul...d be in the playground or in the bushes playing games and calling names. Gone are those days when it was so beautiful to call it a day and the universe was my "box of joys" , gone too are those days when duty and work was not my business but my parents' and elders', and now it is different.

Sometimes i get so confused with the petty goals that i have set to myself. Seldom i wish i had turned older than i can imagine, and have a view of my kids as 'grown ups'. I would like to recite prayers and read stories to my grandchildren, go out for a long vacation, and may be drive a Posche or so. Oh! that would be exceedingly long from now.
Dawa is just 11 and opening up is eyes to various realities of life while Cera is still stupid with four years of her existance. Dawa, i thought would make up a fine gentleman couple of decades later though her mom thinks he is too naughty for anything smooth. That is excusable of his age. Cera,i doubt. She has a nasty sense of education! The way she tries her mechanism to bully her mom,it looks like she wud be terribly hard to tame.
 Phew, looks like this is too lousy a piece to elaborate..Well, i would try to write about the Tshechu that i am planning to go and watch today..till then good day teachers!
(the writer wishes to apologise for this piece..it aint worth anything..just tried to scribble..:((.....Blush..blush..!!)See More

Realization that I didn't Realize

I was listening to a religious commentary of the morning session from the BBS. The Lam was explaining a text from his desk and i could understand it was about the debate between Budhha and his doubting Thomasses,the Drangtsongs. It imbued me with wonder to listen to the fundamental truths that he preached more than some 2000 yrs ago.
"i am just 30,"i bubbled with childish life, infact a year older... than when Buddha first renounced his worldly life. Although it is pity that i havent much realised my life more than a mere biological existance, there are times when i get unceremoniously religious. I would go for long prayers in my room that i lovingly call my Chhoesam. I had often kidded with my wife about the shortage of statues in my chhoesam but well who cares...it is all about emptiness ultimately! The first sets of small statues that are there,were bought many years ago when i first got my salary in bulk. That time around,half of my income had to be sent to my aging parents since they wanted to strike out on a pilgrimage which i thought was good intention.
well i guess, being good, helping others and not harming lives is integral part of harmonious co-existance and a balancing act of food chain. I hardly put these as any religion.I wish i cud muster enough courage for a round of debate with Bhutanese or Tibetan lams, about wat is religion or wat is not. Not that i do not imbibe buddhism, not because i teach chemistry or Evolutionary history for that matter but because i do not understand wat is religion at large. The more i grow, the lesser i understand wat is religion. The deeper i think, the lesser i find truth....i wish i had opened up my eyes to buddhism when i was a kid. Not now.Because now, i am endowed with much greater burden of likes and dislikes, true and false,good and bad, self and non-self. The ability to make these judgement is so interred in my bones that i cant truly consider all these as One. So how do i practise religion?..aww is it religion? I wish i do not give names to simple chores like being good as religion. These are human activities sans religion ,sans god, sans any names. I do not buy the fact that one has to follow religion in life to be happy. There are more people in the world who do not have any dogmatic religion but they surely have fared well in happiness,aint it enough for us to show that we are all but same?.

(...Laso...this was written not just to polarise any views nor as to claim anything but outta desire to kill my time here in the net!!...lol)

Daily Chores..

I woke up late today as it is a local Tshechu. Darling daughter and mommy dear were talking in a hushed voice. I pressed myself nearer to them and heard they were talking about thier respective dreams. "Ah,not again! Light the bukhari instead," i chided my wife. "Apa, nga dhi neylam na Dhree ghi zaw mey ba!",Cera said with added concern. Aww..Just then, i remembered the old monk wh...o came around our school selling different types of Sungki yesterday. I had bought one of them for my daughter that would ward off evil spirit. Afterall, Chumey is never free of disembodied spirits that roam freely without any license! Despite, in a culture such as ours, there are dozen many possibilities to fall sick - Dhree, Sondhree,Meeykha,Mamo,Shindey,Zandey..blah blah. A colleaque adjacent to my house had availed casual leave yesterday because their new born baby got terribly sick according to him. "What sickness?", i asked as if it never happened to my kids. "Mashey, diarrhoea immey. But he cried all night." "Sounds serious", i blurted out and my face crumpled like a old bedsheet on an imported dunlop! Later that evening,the only Ap Tsampa in chumey was doing his magic with his

cymbal-tangti- drilbu formula.
Cera and Dawa wanted to go to the Tshechu today while i and wife postponed it for tomorrow. I had already thought that today's visit would hamper tomorrow's spendings, that wud mean lesser nutritional inputs to both the kids,minus few bucks for my beer,minus two litres of fuel in my old car! This is a compromise that i wud hate to make in a crowd such as in our bhutanese tshechus where people indirectly flaunt their wealth. Teachers like i, have to be brutally thrifty,at times even like a Bihari miser, so as to make my spendings economically enjoyable.
I polished my shoes and kept it outside for the sun to do all the wonders of reflections, washed my sleeve-shirt that bore "Van Hussen"(it is my prized possesion that my tourist-guide inlaw gave me!), and checked which special Gho to wear tomorrow. "All is set," i thought and took pride at my own calculations!............folks, i got fire wood to chop! BRB....he he he.

Fractions and Decimals of my Life

I regretted only yesterday having taken mathematics for class six this year. Earlier i thought teaching younger children would be more fun than older students. Honestly, it isnt. The first chapter in class six maths is "Fractions and Decimals" which turns out to be menacingly maths!

My class is still struggling in half the chapter, discovering all the hidden senses from the sample calculations wi...ttingly given in the text books. Aww..these students get confused with three-fourths and two-thirds, one-halves and two-fifths.
I explain to them umpteenth time about how to add simple fractions and i solve it on the board. "Ha go yee?", i ask them, my heart three-fourths, sunk in desperation! "Yes sir", they would shout boastfully. I give them a pair of fraction to add to check their understanding. All of them goes into business. Tulsi would show his answer first,be it right or wrong. Others would marvel at his speed of maths and wait in an eerie silence whether or not he got right from me. I put a long tick mark on his note and purposely announce "wrong!" in a much higher decibel. "What are u all waiting for?", i ask them non-chalantly. They would all at once busy themselves for their own answers.
Oh these small kids! They would just wait to copy answers!
There is Jigme at one corner, taller than most of his classmates, who would always pretend that he is solving his maths but he never does! The moment i look at him,he goes muttering something hastily. I cant be fooled easily. I go nearer at him and listen to wat he is muttering frantically...hell with him! He is back with his old tricks! The most plausible excuse that u wud give to ur maths teacher if u didnt know ur answer was, act u are doing something! He does that...he just goes 2 one za 2, 2 two za 4..blah blah at an enormous speed that any maths teacher would think it is some mighty calculations! But not me.
I box his ears this time too, he twists his face painfully. I get relieved. He he he.
Diagonally opposite to jigme are three girls, darn too naive to know any maths! I wonder at thier ability to act pittingly innocent with their eyes hunting down for thier frends' answer. I look at them with my face almost red with rage,they would go counting something on their hands and fingers...some numbers anyway! It is maths afterall.
Well i would be unfair if i tell that i dont beat my students. I do. Sometimes i try to measure my strenghts so thriftily that i try synchronising all my muscles available and hit them on their hands so that it wud just make their chubby fingers red. I honestly cant think that i can teach mathematics without instilling a wee bit fear in students. I am aware without a morsel of doubt that these students wont take maths seriously till i dont be strict with them. Copying aint any better,always getting help aint any good whcih is wat my students in class six do. Therefore, beat them, i must!
..(..tis getting longer than expected..sorry people..good night!)

Diary 2010

hello folks..tonight i just went through my old diary and found this one out...

19/02/2010....."Today we were involved in a workshop as usual, a tiring one indeed. I cudnt contain my old stomach disorder that i had since my college days. I let go my discomfort with a silent, a decent one truly i thought, and i raised slightly as if to pull my my socks and gave out a fart! Nobody heard... it. Bravo! Out of curiosity, i wispered to the nearest colleague, "Say Nima, do you smell some curry?" He raised his head,pushed his cheek slightly upward and breathed in. "Gosh, aint it a smell of faint ripe papaya?", he wispered. "Aye,Aye," i responded gleaming with pride and with a sigh of relief let another one out!...."

20/02/2010....there was a meeting. Principal sir was talking about the GNH and all the senses he got outta workshop that he attended during that winter vacation probably in Paro?..This was the entry on that day in my diary..

" Being happy is a tough thing. I wish if i can be ever optimally happy and still survive. One can be aestically happy by deriving satisfaction with wat one has, with wat others around us have and with a mindful and a generous philosophy that all happiness stems outta a want for harmonious co-existance.
However at the basic levels of all existance, we must all acquire survival tools and that includes a majestic variety. At the least we generally need 3-square meals, we might need a car these days, well we need a shelter to protect ourselves. we do need monthly income to meet our ends. In such a process as this we might have to compete, we might also need to grab somebody's share if one is fairly intelligent! one might need to distort truth, one might need to call a spade a shovel so as to please people around us..what is GNH?? I would terribly like to be happy but the road to that elusive happiness is all burdened with unfair means. Does it make my thinking anti-GNH??"...

That was the last of the entry. Infact i do rember that i read this piece to the floor later when Principal asked if we had any doubts on his teachings...lol. Good night colleagues!

Remembering Angayla

Hmmm..my Angay who lived for 82 years passed away yesterday night. I fondly rember the rare moments i had with her whenever i visited her while she put up with my Aunt in Thimphu. I called up my father who was nurturing her in Thimphu hospital during her last breath. He cudnt say much as he was overwhelmed by the grief and i on my part as a doting granson cudnt utter much either. There was more s...ilence than a retreat centre wud have, i hung up my the phone and wiped my tears away.

Angayla, as i used to fondly call her, outlived most of peers from Bomdelling,Trashiyangtse. Some 25 yrs ago when i first visited them in the village, i had seen her as a sturdy hardworking woman who always woke up early and had hot butterly suja and breakfast ready when we woke up. She always cooked special dishes during our stay then. I vividly rember when one fine evening she called me to a window(our house overlooked the river which flew past Bomdelling) and asked me to watch the ThrungThrungs. I cudnt much understand her Yangtsepa but i cud guess that she informed me those backnecked cranes wud dance. Much to my excitement i did see dozens of cranes making peculiar pattern and moving in a synchronised way...surely it was a dance! I still do rember those cherished moments. I never had opportunity to re-visist my paternal village despite my yearnings.
After my graduation i showed up myself again since both Agay and Angay were staying in Thimphu with Aunt. They didnt recognise me by then. Aunt did all the introduction that time since i cudnt still learn Yangtsepa after all these years. After that there were more frequent associations because whenever i went to thimphu i made it a point to visit her and spend some time with her. She wud always offer me beer even though i didnt drink that time but it was a tradition i guess she still carried close in her hearts. I regret a lot that i cudnt understand all that she said during our meetings but truly,she never lacked those wide smiles that let all my fears melt in her warmth. I wud always tuck few new 100 notes into her hemchu when i parted with her while she wud say.."Noower key shog ney.."(do come next time too??)
The last of my meetings with her was last winter before i came to my school after the vacation. Some uncanny feelings that one often get, i took my wife along and introduced to her.She said my wife looked beautiful and healthy to which i nodded boastfully! By that time the doctors have diagonised her ailment as bone cancer(she was referred to Calcatta few years ago ) but how pity that she still looked stronger with her health though her sight and hearing failed a bit. She cud cook even that time and go for her usual "Kora" at Memorial Chorten.
When i parted that time i cudnt say much .."Leshom bay dooed Angayla..dato dhi dho ri ri ra dhu..Ma shi maray nga ma cheey tshuntshun.."

Rainbow

I have seen rainbows but never like this! It was about morning interval in my school that i saw a magnificient circular rainbow around the sun with luminous clarity! I quickly remembered my colleagues and dialled them to inform about it. "Yes Saar..i am in the class". "Oh i am sorry mam' Reshmi," i blurted out. "There is a rainbow in the sky madam!". Her typical South Indian respond thawed all my... excitations at once. "Saar rianbows are formed due to scattering of lights nah!". I hung up the cell thanking for her science. I tried again, this time more cautiously to an elderly citizen and a good Dzongkha teacher, Lopen Sonam. Later, he told me that circular rainbows are good signs to which i cudnt but agree with all my heart. The next day too just as i was taking my students to the School Agriculture garden(Gardening and Farming...class v Science), we saw the same type of rainbow..more clearer than the last day. A circular rainbow around the sun at about the same time. I called my superstitious mom at Gelephu and asked if she one. She said it was more of cloud than sun in her location. I asked my sister at Paro. She said she was busy inside and didnt bother to see above.

The Science teacher in me comply with wat mam' Reshmi told me but the buddhist nature(??) in me says it is more than just meet the eyes. Sometimes i wonder if we had reasons for everything, we wont have anything like religion. Because it is only during the times when medicines cant work we think abt religion, only during the times when we cant explain black holes we think of some superior forces playing at it, only at times when all reasons are exhausted for a plausible explanation, we leave that matter for God! One would need absolute clarity to differentiate between hypothetical conditions and physical phenomena, while i wud still lean to good conscience more than physical laws to look for answers. But yes, signs do occur and i am a firm believer in signs. Not that rainbows were formed during my birth or meto-ghi-Charp!! Ha ha.
The first time i qualified for college, i saw ample signs around me. While being bed ridden with a fever in my Junior High School days i saw signs too. It was typhiod anyways!!lol. More recently, just as i was untying my Gho in my home i accidently hit the potted plant that my wife kept in the living room to protect it from cold and frost of Chumey, it fell on the floor. I quickly picked it up lest she complained about my regular clumsiness but behold! The plant lay in exactly two pieces. Half the main branch was still intact while the upper portion where the bud had just tried to pop out had been detached right from its main stem! There i had just the pot and the broken stem of a length of my thumb. I silently took that pot outside so that my wife wudnt know about it.
The next morning i got a call from my father saying that my beloved Angayla who had been nurturing bone cancer had passed away in JDWNR hospital.
Signs do occur and like dreams, it foretell things that only science consider it a chance of probability!
(Awww...my network sucks! sorry ppl i cudnt edit it properly since i cud see only one line at a time...happy weekend!)

On Busy Day in School

The Annual School Rimdro, presided by the noted Tang Rinpoche concluded yesterday much to our own relief. It was especially satisfying for me as i was nursing personal bereavement too. I called my Pa and informed him that i was hoisting prayer flags around the school campus. He said i was doing great job.
Later in the evening it was annouced by the Principal that the following day wud be no-scool ...day since most of the teachers and students were busy with the chores for the rimdro.
I woke up early today and warmed up tea for myself and Dawa. I know Dawa can do away with breakfast but not with his regular tea. HIs mother had gone outta station leaving him under my direct supervision. At the back of his mind he must be awaiting her arrival although it is barely two days since she left for some business trip. Well i think these things repeat in a cyclic fashion. When i was younger, seldom mother wud go to her village for her annual Chhoku or for some urgent work which we cudnt comprehend. To be honest it was more of agony than any fun to be with father while mother was away! My father wud be cent per cent humiliated if he read this article...he he. Truly it was fun to be with mother. One cud nag, sometimes even deny anything to the mother at a point-blank range but not to the father! Father though loving as he is, it is fearsome to nag or to ask favours from him. For him i guess, kids are meant to be be taught with discipline. His commands wud be kids service. No "Ifs" and "Buts". I learnt that hard way from my father. There were times when i failed to obey his orders with childish forgetfulness, he wud box my unusually long ears one full 360 degrees! Often i wud writhe with nauseating pain and wondering my bulky ears wud shed bloody trickle of red juices after those sessions. Not with mother! It is a free world with mother. Literally so! If one made mistakes, one cud afford to cheque in for rush of adrenaline for a flight of sonic speed.Only my physics teacher wud catch me for that but not my mother! There were times when she wud shout at me while i wud scream at her with a doubled decibel. I wud only give up whenever she relied with her final answer " Doessh chhoe, Apa lu labgey maray!" But i knew darling mother wont tell a thing abt all those mess to my strict father. Gone were those days..
After breakfast i saw Dawa doing some trifle chores likes sweeping the floor and even tried his hands at dishwashing. I let out a tiny smile within..."Good boy, now go and try arranging ur clothes in ur closet", i suggested him. He obliged it with a saintly obedience

Doma

I dont really remember about my first stunt with Doma but i guess i was barely 13. Nay much younger! I dont blame anyone more than myself for having taken up this habit at an age when kids around other parts of world wud have been slurping on their vanilla icecream. I take egoistic pride indeed for having started early. Awww..

At the back of my mind i believe that my aggravating stomach disorder ...cud have been well due to it. But chew i must! i can forego my breakfast without fuss but not my regular Doma khamto.
I am soundly aware of the health hazards that i am luxuriously indulging by doing this. I am aware too about the pungent breaths that must be emanating while i talk with non-chewers. My girlfriend once complained about it but i guess she forgot heck lot of my doma habits while i sealed her lips with mine without any resistance.That was some 10 yrs back when i had that handsome look(??) and muscular biceps with stomach packs better than an oxen! But i envy my sturdy pair of gums and whole set of my loving teeth for doing all the hardwork of grinding Doma so ceaselessly!
A good thing about my doma habits is i dont take out anything..i mean i dont spit out those bloody red juices. Those juices do more good in my body warming me up better than 10-km jog that aristocratic town folks afford to take to shed their layers of adipose tissues around their shaggy hips! Honestly, i must have smeared my lime in lots of places but of late i have become more conscious of it, thanks due to the media people who brought this careless attitude of the Bhutanese doma-chewers so vehemently in the newspapers. But who cares! I pay my taxes on time. I pray as often. I teach my students. I make donations sometimes. ha ha.
On a serious thought, i have wondered about some sublime research into
Doma-Paani but i dont think that wud help much of my younger generations, assuming i went on to report whole lot of things about risks involved in Doma chewing. DPT might move a step up the ladder by barring people to chew it any longer much like the Tobacco acts of the kingdom! This is a time for clean acts, green acts,, GNH acts...so long the laws are set cleaner than himalayan air, Bhutan wont go forward. How saintly!!?
The other day i had to bribe Choki sir with a doma khamto to have me substitute my eighth period since i had some emergency. He obliged more gracefully than buddha Sakyamuni.
I wud be profusely thankful to Guru Rinpoche who supposedly introduced doma habits in our country. Back then this coutry of no-religion chewed on human flesh i guess and who wont fear our Monpa ancestors! The Precious Master substituted that habit by Doma-paani and tricked the old Monpas by saying chewing
doma-paani is equivalent to flesh-chewing since both produced bloody red juices! How naive were YOUR ancestors,,, see??LOL.

(I wish to come back again with the same topic next time too..till then good day dear frends )See More

Post Teachers' Day celebration in my school, i felt too lethargic as if whole of my corpuscles have aged beyond repair! The Osama's corpse did just fitting conclusion yesterday. Around the world, leaders have finally sighed with relief while most of Osama's pupils must have had hard time swallowing up their daily bread after his parinirvana(??)..Wow..
I liked the fact that he is no longer and also... the fact that he was around Pakistan. It was India's turn after the news to make up more news...11 years for the No.1
most-wanted person in FBI ! Oh that mushy Musharraf surely had some hints abt that but no wonder that happens in Pakistan! The moment Benizir Bhutto was hit with a fatal bullet..it was the General Musharraf shedding crocodile tears. He must have sighed 100 many reliefs after her death too!!
well, Osama wud fetch the most prized-death of the century if there ever was one. I tell you teachers, he got a princely after-death,, Americans claim that he got genuine sea-burial after proper Islamic funeral rites but that aint too important now. His head wud have fetched millions of $s if u took it with you at The White House Table! Obama wud have treated you with most subtle Cavier over a glass of champagne with whole of his cross-breds singing along with you.

Hmm..friends this is nosey ol'e me all over again the common forum.(wishes for a personal blog!).See More

· · · May 2 at 8:17pm

I actually wished to come out with Doma-Paani once again this week too but i have more pressing topics than that. I cudnt just let go away momentous celebrations that i had in my school.
I marched to my school more dignified and cheerful than the newly-wed Prince Williams. Moreover,I had cut my scanty hair yesterday to put up a tidier look though it exposed more of my receeding hairlines than any...thing else.
The students have put up lots of banners and posters around the School campus-all of them wishing Happy Teachers' Day! During morning assembly, there was Khatta session(Khadar?) whereby each one of the teachers was awarded ceremonial white scarf by the students. How beautiful it is! I got one, wrapped baostfully around my neck till the whole program in the school was over. After that, we were announced that there were more activities that students have painstakingly come out. They said "simple lunch" wud be also served during the course of the day. Simple is ok! Dawa and me havent had much of the luck in the culinary specialities this time over since her mother hadnt still come back. Yum iyum!
In the MP hall, students have decorated with balloons and posters too. One side of the wall had all the articles about teachers..teachers are our light, teachers are our second parents,teachers are the greatest assest, blah blah...though i managed to put up warm full scale smile, reading all those articles over and again. And again! Ha ha. I admire myself that i can put to shame most of the Indian politicians at pretension if i ever got an opportunity! Each of the class had a dance each to stage up while in between few solo singers screaming more menacingly than ever. At item number 14, there was a teachers dance to which i joined wholeheartedly. It had been quite a time since i gave my last clumsy steps dancing to dzongkha songs but this time i was more lucky that i cud atleast pretend(again??) making all unrestricted movements with my lip that it looked i knew the song almost. Who says science teachers cant sing old folk songs?!
Luch was served at around 2pm only. I thankd myself for having survived longer without cereals in my stomach.(It is easier with Dawa, i bribe him with few bucks whenever i cant help prepare myself rice and curry). After lunch it continued again..
Well at this time, they are having jam-session in the same hall. I excused myself for orthopedic reasons! Cud be because age is catching up more really than i have thought over. Often i have felt whole of my bones creaking up whilst i tried to go Hip-hop at the parties. Otherwise i cud give a lengthy lap dance after few gulps of beers! But not with students..he he he.
Sssshh..did u hear that? Osama is killed??..be right back fellas..! cheerios.See More