Yet another hike?

"I do not become poor because the petrol price increased," i boastfully theorised to the friends."Similarly, never did i become rich because there was an increase in my monthly salary". I wouldn't budge an inch to follow my friends to refuel on the eve of the petrol hike. Thus, i charted out a rough draft to advertise my old car in B-bay. I have long yearned to participate actively in B-bay but there was nothing in my entire storage cabinet to advertise. As usual, i discussed with Choden about my plan only to be rejected at point-blank range.
So i facetiously consoled myself with the thought that all things are temporary even if it was a hike in petrol.It would be unfair if i didnt employ my Buddhist reasons to confront to a cause. Just the other day, Khenpo Phuntsho Tashi had us lectured on "Compassion and Mindfulness" as a part of his official visit to our school. Since then, there was no looking back! I surely have to advance my life with wholesome reasons. I remember what he preached us: Happiness comes from making others happy. Nothing new in it. Well, all religion talks about same thing: Be good, help others, dont kill, give donations!
 By and by, it was good being his audience. Lamas and Khenpos make us realise how futile our life is while most of us live being blinded by our desires, atleast temporarily. For a day, we listen to their talks, get their blessings and take vows. The next day we are back to square one.
Hmm..what next? As you are aware the mid-term exams for our students is nearing, i have been bit busy rummaging old files and looking for past question papers and at the same time trying to cover the syllabus.
In one of the chemistry classes, i took them to the lab. I showed them few bases, acids and salts. At the end of the class, i asked the formula of sodium hydroxide(a base) to one of the students. He said, "SoOH". Cool. HOnestly, learning chemistry is no fun. A boring subject it is. Usually, when i get bored, i enter into the lab and heat ironsulfide with dilute sulphuric acid. Few minutes later, the whole school campus is filled with a foul smell of rotten egg. I get cheered up at the sight of teachers and students passing by my lab with thier noses tucked in their curved palms. "Phaaaa, gachi ghi drim inna?".
But the lab has run out of stock now. It has been a year since we put up our last requisition for chemicals but the office of DEO could never furnish it despite our repeated reminders. So most of the times, i take my students in the lab and make them sniff things. Chloroform, Ammonia, Xylene, H2S, yeast etc.:)

Sports Day

So i was the Starter yesterday in our Annual Sports Day. "On your mark!", pause. "Get set", pause.  Then i clamped the wooden plank with all my might to produce a loud bang! I let out a sigh of relief.
 "A good take-off", i told to myself. No complaints. It is no small job to start Sprints especially.
"Next, Senior girls!", i called out loudly. I line them in such a way that not a single athlete crosses the
Start-line. Not even their shadows. I haven't let the Senior boys, so i won't with the girls too. Afterall, i believe in being transparent with my rules.
"If you mis-start, you get Yellow card!", i warned them."You mis-fire twice, you are disqualified". This is the only authority that i can solemnly exercise as a Starter. So i yell again,"On you mark,....". I could feel my throat going dry, so i ask for another Litchi juice. Next: Junior Boys. I shouted again: On your mark...
Another juice.
 Next. I was getting bored by then. Yelling the same mantra, making the loud sound with the wooden starter was no fun except that i could ask for the free Litchi juices for every start i made. I felt i could execute higher levels of my infinite skills to cheer myself than repeat those same lines. I called out the participants for 200m race. I was a working official on the ground and i needed to be healthy. Another juice, please? A boy runs and gets it to me.:)
Well, at 33, i tell you i am sporty, atleast in the bedroom. Seriously, i bagged the last of my medals while i was pursuing my MSc in some Indian slums. No offence though. I and my good friend, Rinchen, paired up to beat some hyderbadi blackies in Table Tennis! Infact we never knew the University's Sports Meet except when the Chemistry Department played cricket. A year later, when the Anuual magazine was distributed, we were amused to find out that our department had bagged "winners' in cricket match. They had printed our names too which sounded only more humorous to both of us. Choden doesn't still believe it was my name in that magazine.
Hmm...i would like to tell some stories we had while we studied in that huge government university but for now, i must wind up. Good day ahead, dear readers!:) 

Sunday Ramblings..

Yesterday, we had a friendly match of soccer Vs team from neighbouring community. Everyone was friendly except i was not. For i have never had amiable relation with football. Infact i seldom played games in the bygone days of my robust youth. And now, at this age, playing sports is too tough. So, there i was playing soccer as a left winger! Fully armed. Football is one game where you need to be terribly guarded against injuries. I borrowed a pair of Nike boots from one of the students(i wouldnt buy a new pair of boots for a single match). One of my team-mates had extra shin-guard to spare, i borrowed that too. Socks? Hmm..i wore my old wornout half socks since boots are always alarmingly stinky. Likewise, i wore the old yellow jersey that Choden had from one of her early days.(She played for RSTA, Thimphu, 2004). You could have laughed at me for the sense of my soccer dress but that doesnt matter now. As a matter of fact, we scored 3 goals. Not bad huh?:)  And we conceded four goals. We paid our bets and i returned all the equipments that i borrowed before the match.
"Who won?", choden had asked me when i reached home almost dragging my injured feet. So i put up my 70 mm smile and replied her, "Who do you guess?". "But only one goal from me", i lied to her!
 Well, the other day as i watched the TV, i was drawn to a new row over some NCERT textbooks in India. The touchy MPs had booed Mr.Kapil Sibal(HRD minister?) while he made his apology. In the news later on, one of the cartoon enthusiasts defended that there was nothing alarming in that cartoon(Ambedkar-Nehru cartoon ). I remember how he finally blasted his anger: You sould first learn to laugh at yourself than at those cartoons!(The MPs).
We are talking about Freedom of Expression? I guess we have lots of fundamental freedom entitlements in this free world. Closer at hand, i have seen media personnel meeting over time and again to ensure that they use all available ethics in journalism while reporting a news. Honestly, one can hardly find reporters without pre-conceived prejudices. I tell you, the more passionately the reporter follows a certain news, the more prejudiced he becomes. There is no such thing like crystal-clear reporter, atleast in our place. One can not simply treat a news/events like it was a guinea pig. There is always the "other side" of a news. A fine reporter treads the middle-path. That aint news anyways. The moment he tries to delve into details, he uses his prejudices, consciously or subconsciously. And that we call one-sided news?! It is a tough thing to be a journalist.

Hectic Week..

The past week so hectic that i couldn't update my blog, much to my own regret. We did celebrate the teachers day with style. The students have put up lots of activities to mark the celebration along with numerous speeches that nearly brought tears in us. As a matter of fact, one interesting game that they have come up was : Character Picking. I picked up my lucky character from the can and it was an Ant! Aww. Act like ant ant?? That would be the last relation that i could ever imagine to equate myself! Seriously, i would love to represent legends. But ants? Holy shit!!:) What characters are exhibited by ants? Nothing, i tell you. Except that it might bite you at your butt or make some tunnels in your dirty kitchens! A striking antithesis. I can't bite. No doubt. Moreover, i am a clean-freak!! I follow disciplined life of regular patterns unlike those foul creeping creatures making their lives out of their barbaric colonies or whatever they call it.:)
 So,I really wanted to flee from the crowd than to act like an ant. And surprisingly, i was the first one to act according to "Lucky Dip". Not a good day for me. I failed miserably in that game but truth be told, whenever did i ever shine?! Well there are times when i would carry out myself with exotic aura but those are exceedingly rare occasions.
Soon after teachers day, we had another local tshechu(Domkhar Tshechu) and school remained closed for another 2 days. We met again by Thursday only to be hit by another important visit by Ashi Tshering Pem and her entourage. The Youth Association in my school had done wonderful jobs for the last few months under her patron. They had even adopted a near by village and passionately named it as GNH village. I havent been there but it seems like a new village now with beautiful girls weaving Yathra in huts built by the Youth. I might leave my GNH bastard if i chance to wrongly make my visit there! Seriously, some 40 plus youth rendered voluntary services on a weekly basis for months. And no wonder, you call your work GNH, it hits national headlines!
Well, Youth Association in Bhutan does very commendable job atleast in my school. I have seen Scouts much into hyperactivity once. It has become dormant now. After that, Tarayana club once bloomed into prosperity,it is undergoing a natural death these days. While, Nature clubs patronised by RSPN, has taken back stage after financial crises vis a vis UNESCO clubs, still nursing some budget crisis in the headquater  in Thimphu. Any activity, be it small or big, takes centre stage if it is being flushed with big budgets which is what is happening with the Youth Association these days.
After that visit, it was School rimdro yesterday. The Tang Rinpoche as usual graced the occasions with a "TsheWang" at the end of the day. The principal declared holiday today since we had been busy yesterday. A few minutes later, i and choden would be in our vegetable garden mending our fences and praying hard for our vegetables to grow up smartly before the government bans vegetable import!