Good Bye 2011

Time seems to be fleeting so fast. I feel like I have embraced 2011 just a day ago but it's on the verge of its end and 2012 will be dawning soon(within hours). Though the year happened to be as transient as the morning dew and the cloud during the clear sky of autumn season many things irrespective of good or bad has taken place. Following are some of the few I encountered. 

The change in the mode of transportation from taxi to 
rickshaw as an alternative

As planned on the evening of January 16, twelve of us gathered at Zangdopelri  in Phuntsholing, a night ahead of our departure to the University. We were worried as we were to board the train at 11:00 from New Alipur junction Railway Station the following day whereas the strikes organised by the people of West Bengal for days kept the travellers stranded at Phuntsholing and Samdrup Jongkhar. To over come our worries we booked two Indian cabs for early departure at 4:00 AM so that we were safely driven to the railway station i.e., well ahead of the resumption of strike, the following day. Later in the night we were informed that strikes will be called off and the border gate will be opened from the following day which relieved us. Hence we postponed our journey from Phuntsholing to 08:00 AM only. Though the major strikes were called off, some people were blocking the roadway with bonfires. Hardly, half a kilometer's distance was left to reach the railway station when we were nearly pelted with stones by a dozen of strikers.  Thank God, they spared us. They only directed the taxis to return. As an alternative we had to hire rickshaw to carry our luggage through an alternative route.

Punch Session

On Blessed Rainy Day i.e., on September 23, three of us ( Paljor, Tshewang and myself)  didn't bother to join the rest of the countrymen for the celebration. We  celebrated on our own. We emptied a bucket which was half filled with punch that evening. No wonder we even forgot whether we really had our dinner. We had so much fun being individual and I bet that we would have missed the fun had we joined the rest. In a way we made right decision. 

In November, along with Tshewang I started to attend the swimming session in the evening hours on alternative days. For a first timer, learning to float on the water was challenging, yet with unwavering zeal and enthusiasm I succeeded. However, we couldn't continue our swimming for whole December month. Nevertheless, as a New Year Resolution I promise that I will resume from January till the end of April, i.e., till I am done with my studies.

After end semester examination in the first and second week of November, University remained unofficially closed for more than two weeks. This was because most of the local mates left home. The long breaks without anything to do bored me.  Sleeping wasn't the best choice and Facebook didn't help me  either. To keep myself engaged and save from boredom, I began to scribble my blog in the fourth week of November. However, I owe to a friend of mine, for the ice-breaking post in my blog titled "LESSON". Had he not beguiled me, I wouldn't have learnt the lesson. Hence, Mr Tenzing takes some credit as well. Besides this,  I began to read  others's blog to enhance my knowledge spheres.  Having found out that blogging is one activity to keep myself engaged during free and leisure time, I continued blogging although most of the posts happened to be based on my personal experiences. 

Finally, as I sadly bid good bye to 2011, I wish Happy New Year 2012 to all the bloggers as well as the readers. May New Year bring loads of peace; prosperity and success to one and all. May the world become a better place to live.

Silly or great? but its an error

How can we expect our young school going children to be perfect when someone occupying the important chair in the society can afford to make such a silly but a grave mistake?  The scanned image below is one among the thousand plus certificates awarded to the graduates who attended the National Graduate Orientation Programme (NGOP) 2008. 

I am sure the mistake was unintentional but a mere carelessness on the part of the person who designed it. Yet, does it mean that bosses can make mistakes and even if they are wrong they have to be considered right as always? Ironically, the certificate though with an error was mandatory for one to sit  for the highest examination i.e., Bhutan Civil Service Examination (BCSE) in order to join civil service. Whatever may be, many of the graduates who received the certificates may not have even noticed the same. I for one doubt that if the bosses are made to compete in the BCSE they wouldn't even manage to get through let alone topping the exam with such carelessness on their part. But I am certain for one thing that if  any graduate who attended NGOP 2008 happen to read this post, they will flip their files and have a glance whether their certificates also bear the same error. 

Did I do the justice?

From 16^th till 21^st December I attended the class all alone for at-least two modules of the six. Professors for these four modules told me they will continue from January once the University commences after the recess. Somehow I could convince one the professor teaching GIS module by reasoning that other thirty four class mates would be at lost. They would have tough time grasping the paper being so technical in nature when they read on their own later. Professor somehow challenged me to conduct the classes for the rest of them later while she will continue teaching me till the University closes for holidays to which I disagreed. I disagreed not because I am scared of doing the presentation but because I am afraid that I may not be able to convince majority of the local classmates who are from Telugu background and the whole presentation will simply become a mockery. She finally consented to discontinue the classes for last two periods. 

Deserted Classroom. Desks and chairs accompanying
the lone student in the class

Yet, the professor teaching the Urbanization and Regional Planning Module continued conducting the class till the end for the lone student. Two more units were covered accounting to 60% of the total syllabus coverage. This makes me to start questioning myself whether I have done the justice by attending the classes all alone. Of course Professor himself asked me to attend the classes till the end of the academic calender. What will rest of the class mates think later? Won't they blame me? No, they would not dare to. Nevertheless, none of them have the right to blame even if they want to since they are not supposed to leave for vacation days ahead of the commencement of the holidays. Or the final question that arises in my mind is, did the professor do the justice on his part by conducting the class for a lone student? Will he be repeating the same thing to the rest of the students after vacation? The answer as far as I am concerned is, yes he too did the justice. When will he be in the position to cover up the syllabus if he has to conduct classes only when students' attendance is 100% as there is not a single period that 100% students attendance is there with an exceptional case during examination times.  

A failed Plan

Golden Temple, Mysore

 I and Mr. Tshewang, my roommate didn't bother to book the train ticket to go home for winter vacation. This is because we had a plan to visit the renowned Buddhist as well as a tourist site at Byllakuppe, Mysore during  Christmas and  Pongal Holidays. But, the plan will remain a mere plan. It became a mere fiasco since we had to cancel the trip since we couldn't avail train tickets. We tried to avail connecting train tickets to various stations to reach the destination yet we failed.   We tried with bus services as well via Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad but to our dismay return tickets were not available which contributed the most for the cancellation. If we have to visit this site it will be possible towards the end of February 2012 only as per available tickets. 

Mysore Palace
Image courtesy: Google

Mr. Tshewang started regretting  for our failure to book the tickets well in advance. For him he says it shall remain the dream unfulfilled. I am no exception with the regrets though I visited the place in February this year. I regret for I didn't visit Tipu Sultan's (Mysore) Palace which I longed to visit since P.U days. I could have visited the Palace had the friend who accompanied my trip consented.  To over come the regrets we console ourselves with few other plans, i.e to visit nearby places within twenty days break. We are optimistic that the plans again won't turn out to be a mere fiasco. 

A fish lesson

In the olden days there was a boarding school, which took in the little boys and girls, whose families couldn't support them, and where there was much misery. Misery is in a manner of speaking...want, starvation or whatever name that can be given to hunger, but which can't muffle suffering or fill the stomach. 

The meals, in the huge freezing dining hall, were a penance and a game of make believe. Only the head of the school- the Principal-at the head of the table, ate his fill.

He said that he did it because he was big, strong and serious that the little ones because they were little, didn't need to eat as much. Lies. Excuses.

Once, at lunch, they put on the boarders' plate a tiny little fish in the company of a single ladle of rice.

Instead of planting his hungry fork into the food, one of the orphans drew his mouth close to the plate and began a low conversation, as if he was praying. The other children found that odd and, from the head of the table, the principal wanted to know the reason for that extravagance.

"I'm talking to the fish, sir", explained the little boy. "As my father, who was fisherman, died at at sea, I am asking him if he ever met him."

"And what was his answer?" asked the Principal, amused, between two forkfuls. "He replied that he doesn't remember because he is very little, but may be the big fish, which is on the Principal's plate, can tell me something about him". 

They say that, from that moment, on the children of the boarding school received better rations. Just see what a little fish can do.

A. Torrado

Story  Courtesy: sg@storiesforeveryone.com

A lone student in the class

The University is yet to close for Christmas and Pongal Holidays but most of the classmates have left for holidays, days ahead of the commencement of the real holidays. My Bhutanese mates who attend the classes regularly left for vacation by the second week of the month. Angeline, another regular mate left on 12^th. Local friends followed them. Some of them never attended even a single class after the last semester exam. Though some are within the university campus, they hardly make their presence in the class. To me they appear like a visiting professor visiting just once or twice in a month’s time to give lectures. Narasimha Swamy, the lone local class mate who attends the class regularly and gives me company in the class in the absence of my Bhutanese friends and the other one from Jharkhand left two days back. He left because he has National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on 18^th December.

With Swamy's departure I am the lone student attending the class and will be continuing till 23^rd December. This is because Professors wanted to conduct the classes as per the academic calendar. Today Prof Anuja asked me whether to continue the class with me all alone attending the class in which I replied I am comfortable with her decision. She mentioned that smaller the size of the class, more attention can be given to the students by Professors. She further added that it's more or less like a tuition class where the teacher and the student can sit face to face and discuss unlike in the other class where the strengths are more. She indirectly conveyed me that classes will continue till the vacation starts officially. Nevertheless, I would love to attend the classes as long as Professors conduct since my sole purpose of coming to the University is to learn and broaden my knowledge sphere regarding the discipline. Otherwise I would be failing in my responsibility as a citizen. Above all I have nothing to do back in my room than facebooking. So I guess it’s all the better to attend the class and learn something at least and take advantage of not going home for holidays.

Teaching Allowance

Teaching profession isn't the choice for many of the youths in Bhutan despite the fact that most of the schools are in dire need of teachers. The teaching allowances introduced for the teaching professionals by the government has least served as an encouragement to most of the graduates to opt this profession as their career. This is because there is disparity in the allowances paid to the teachers. There is discrimination right at the entrance to the teaching profession. It's actually not the teaching allowances rather it's the seniority allowance. The teachers who are in the higher rungs already have higher pay scale based on their seniority and on top of that the allowances paid is also higher. On the other hand, the fresh teachers (between0-5years of service) are paid the lowest allowance.

The irony is that the fresh teachers are given the maximum responsibilities in schools like house masters/mistresses, club coordinators and so on. And while coming to the work load the senior teachers never take extra teaching work loads because they are paid higher allowance. In any case the senior teachers are not to be blamed as they weren't the one who decided the allowance. It would be better if the so called teaching allowance is paid in equal percentage to all the teachers irrespective of their years of service. Still then, those senior teachers would be earning higher allowance as their basic pay itself is higher. Or if not it has to be termed as the seniority allowance for teachers instead of simply Teaching Allowance. 

Birth Anniversary of my Niece

My younger brother's daughter turns six years old 

Dear Tashi Choden,

Six years down the memory your arrival into our family not only brought smiles and happiness to your loving parents but to all your grandparents, uncles and rest of the relatives. I remember you were just three days old when I visited your mom's place for your baby shower and welcomed you to our family. You were charming princess and still  your  legacy of being the one in the family continues.

I love watching you come off age and proving yourself as grown-up. I still remember you crying and wishing me via phone to have safest journey and successful study prior to my departure for studies in July 2010. This made me to wonder if I were really of age to even clean my nose let alone doing great things like you at a very tender age of barely four plus years. Its extraordinary. The other thing is you have the curiosity to learn and experiment the environment although you sometimes appear to be naughty too. You insisted on joining your schooling though you were not of age as per the government's enrollment policy and at six you are already done with pre-primary education.I see a bright future in you as you have the zeal and the enthusiasm to learn which is the essence of being successful. With this note,I wish you many many happy returns of the day. may you come of age be a successful lady and make all of us proud of your success. May you live many many more years. So sorry dear for I couldn't make up to your birthday. Kindly forgive me for my failure. 

Exam fever

Students life is one that I will miss when I am done with my studies on one hand and on the other I will be relieved from the stress and the tensions during examination time. Despite the fact that I have written examinations umpteen times in my entire educational period, like any other appearing exams I too get stressed just days prior to examination time. During examination time I worry whether I will be in the position to keep up the expectations of my peers and teachers. These worries motivates me to put in extra effort in studies but at the eleventh hour every topic seems equally important and anxiety distracts the concentration. Rather than concentrating on what they are studying, most students land up flipping the pages one after the other. In reality nothing gets inside their head. (Remember I am not an exception to this). I am also one kind who prepares only at an eleventh hour. During my recent examination within an hour's time I flipped through all the five units but the outcome was, nothing was retained in my head. It was simply blank.  

Because of stress and pressure exerted by exams students spend several sleepless nights till their exams are over. They even tend to lose their appetite thereby affecting their health conditions. I know last minute is not the best way to study and good and enough sleep is required yet because of stress I can neither study nor sleep properly. I must say its difficult to get rid of it as it has become my habit. Lastly, I would like to urge fellow writing exams not to panic like me rather take enough rest during exams as you will definitely reach your destination if you have the will. Stress simply wastes your precious time. 

My embracement of Boarding School life

From pre-primary till primary education I studied as day-scholar student. The school from where I did my primary schooling is within ten minutes walk from my home.  After passing out from Thrimshing Community Primary 

Thrimshing Com.Pry School ( Estd 1993)

School as its first batch of students we were placed to then Wamrong Lower Secondary School in 1999 which was upgraded to MSS, the following year in 2000 (Wamrong MSS is currently upgraded to Tashitse HSS). It was in March 1999 that I embraced the boarding students life for the first time. Initially, boarding life was not that easy.I started missing my parents and my brothers back at home and I even missed the meals my mom prepared. That was when I learnt how much my parents and brothers meant to me as I was so much so attached to my dear parents and my two lovely brothers who are more or less my best friends. But then  I was not alone who started missing parents and faced difficulty, others from my village were also experiencing the same.Even parents back at home were concerned about their children and they used to visit the school during weekends on a rotational basis in order not to let their children feel homesick.

Tashitse HSS ( Wamrong)
courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhutancanada/5707146181/

To add to the already difficult situation to adjust, there was acute shortage of water. We used to go on Saturdays to a place called Kharphu which is more than an hours' journey for washing. Occasionally we used  to lick our plates thoroughly after meals simply because as I mentioned there was dearth of water. I remember once we were served breakfast cum lunch prepared from the harvested rain water and salt, vegetables, rice and other ingredients were all added together and then cooked. I owe Wamrong a lot as from there I learnt how precious water is. I also remember bunking home on one weekend from school only to get punishment to fetch a square meter pile of firewood along with other friends. The punishment was however not for bunking from hostel since warden didn't notice but I was absent during evening study hour on Sunday.

Nevertheless, the boarding life was so much so fun as we got to interact with friends from different hometowns.  From Wamrong, there was no turning back. I was into boarding schools through PU till I did my graduation. One memory that is still afresh in my mind is how nineteen of us (classmates 9&10) used to live together in a single room though it was packed. We used to share whatever edibles we had. If it was too minute to be divided among us, the one who possessed used to ask who all wants to have without disclosing it and it used to be equally divided and then shared among those who wanted to have be it food items or whatever may be. At one time in absence of Mr. Lhatu, our class mate, we (18 of us) had half of his pounded maize (tengma) and on his box we kept whatever things we had along with a tag that this and this item is from so and so. After a week he noticed and inquired who had stolen his tengma, where all of us said all of us know the culprit but we will not disclose him.  I guess he doesn't know even today that all 18 of us were involved. 


Though it was difficult to adjust life in the beginning I was accustomed to the boarding student's lifestyle. Today I miss it so much so that given one wish in life I would love to be back to my boarding school life. But its just a weird thought of mine.  

Secrecy Hurts more in Life

Lhun-grub is the second of the three sons born to his parents and hails from a humble yet happy family in one of the villages in the east which remained cut off from modern amenities until recently. Being the only son enrolled in school amongst the children after his younger brother dropped school to become lay-monk, he worked hard and made his parents and brothers proud of him by excelling in studies. He got employed in autonomous agencies before prior to his attainment of silver jubilee. Yet, even after employment he wasn’t prepared to lead a family life unlike most of his countrymen which made his dad, with whom he spends his time like close friends to start asking him about his future. He kept on responding his curious dad’s query that day will come but it’s too early to lead a family of his own.

Having served his agency for a year and half he availed scholarship to upgrade his qualification and left home for studies in foreign soil.  Away from home in the midst of crowded street, burning urban heat island  and against all odds he put his best to keep up the expectations. The initial days in foreign land wasn't easy as he expected. Though, there were other Bhutanese friends,   Lhun-grub started missing everything back in Bhutan. He kept in touch through phone calls with his parents and brothers to save himself from homesickness. 

His parents and brothers too kept in touch with him though expensive to make ISD calls. He hardly completed his first semester course when one fine day he got call from his mom. Unlike the prior calls she made, this call was a unique, a unique one because   Lhun-grub couldn't believe his ears when his mom told that he should be marrying a lady of her choice. He reasoned  that it was too early for him to marry as he is yet to complete his course which has indeed just begun. On the other hand, his mom was adamant with her choice. 

Soon   Lhun-grub  was back home for short winter break. He was in cloud nine to be with parents and relatives having missed them so much. The same time Wangmo, the choice of his parents along with her parents also arrived.  This was indeed the very first time they met in person despite the fact that they had conversation through phone calls. The parents of both of them had discussion well in advance and they had a plan to get   Lhun-grub  and Wangmo engaged. They were relatives too and were of the opinion that blood is thicker than the water. Wangmo was however younger to him by almost a decade and obviously junior in terms of educational qualification.

Lhun-grub and Wangmo tried their best to explain the differences they had to the parents but parents were never convinced. They were adamant with their decision. Since both of them couldn't hurt their parents they were finally engaged to each other before  Lhun-grub   left back to his University. 


The irony is Wangmo was already into relationship with a guy named Yoeser but she failed to confess the truth. May be she was scared that parents may get hurt if she told the truth.  She even didn't share with him. After few months she somehow jokingly told  to her to-be that she has boy friend  which he failed to understand. Surprisingly, Yoeser happened to be the mutual friend to both of them in the social network 'Facebook'. During one leisure time   Lhun-grub   and Yoeser happen to chat. Yoeser assumed  Lhun-grub  was her cousin brother instead and disclosed his love affair with Wangmo since months back. He requested him not to share with her parents and siblings of course as both of them love each other and are committed to lead their lives together. It appeared to   Lhun-grub   like a blow out of the blue. He could not believe at all yet he didn't tell the truth to Yoeser either. 


After the heart piercing news from Yoeser,   Lhun-grub   called Wangmo and inquired her if what he heard from Yoeser was true. Initially, she denied but she told him that they were into relations. She asked him his forgiveness as she couldn't muster the courage to speak the truth earlier as truths sometimes are bitter sweet. Lhun-grub  was hurt but he not only forgave her but he even asked her to go with Yoeser as she is head over heels in love with him. He reasoned that he cannot let her lead life with him if she is not happy. He would be rather glad to see her leading a happy life ahead with Yoeser.  On the other hand, she has not even shared the facts with Yoeser about her engagement with Lhun-grub 


She is also in dilemma whether to follow the decision made by parents which she accepted earlier or to go with her choice. She is glad that  Lhun-grub   at-least understands her but she is worried too that if Yoeser knew the fact he would be more hurt and it remains secret to him even today. She is also sure that both their parents would get hurt as well if she chooses her own choice. The only thing she can do now is simply regret that it would have been all the better had she confessed the truth prior to her engagement as so many getting hurt in the process would have been saved. 

(Note: The story is a fictional one. Resemblance to any one is regretted)

Is the quality of education in Bhutan deteriorating?

The deterioration of quality of education is the much discussed topic in Bhutan, in online forums or in open areas in the recent times. But the question that arises in my mind is, is the quality really deteriorating? If so what are the parameters that are taken into account for quality evaluation and what are the measures that are in place to address the problem? Today, every walk of life attacks the people who are in teaching. Teaching profession is down-looked and some even claim that teachers joined into teaching because of dire need of employment.  If the so called deterioration is taking place it’s not simply the teachers to be blamed. Every one of us, be it the bureaucrats, policy makers, curriculum developers, teachers, parents and even the students (another main component) must be the stakeholders and work hand in hand to uplift the quality. I feel there is an error in the system itself.  How frequently is the curriculum in the Bhutanese education updated? And when curriculum is updated or developed, is the consideration taken care of  players in the real field? Moreover, there is a mismatch in the educational background of the teachers and the subjects they handle. Teachers are not the all-rounders.  Irrespective of the educational background the teacher has, he/she has to handle the subjects when there is shortages of their counterparts in schools. The subjects cannot be kept untaught simply because there is no teacher with the required educational qualification. For an instance after my graduation I served as temporary teacher in Trashiyangtse LSS in 2008 and although I have my degree in Geography, I had to handle  subjects such as science, history and social studies and sometime later even E.V.S ( in Dzongkha) for class III and not the geography subject (actually MoE recruited two of us as Temporary Teachers in Geography). The other fellow landed up teaching English along with geography.  It was simply because there was damn shortage of teachers in these subjects.  I wonder whether I did justice as I lacked enthusiasm and the zeal to learn sciences in my schooling days and although I studied history in my PU, the subject was in Dzongkha. 

Like wise after an year long PGDE course some teachers are placed in the primary schools and lower secondary schools as rural posting and more so because there is no requirement of PG teachers while in some schools there is acute shortage of qualified teachers to teach the higher classes. Another question arises here in my mind. Will the PGDE teachers be in the position to do justice in  terms of pedagogical skills and will they be able to implement what they learnt in their degree?  I feel if the placements are done according to the type of training the teacher has undergone, the quality can be assured as ones knowledge and skills can be utilized in the optimum level and so will be the ripple effect. 

Finally, our society as a whole need to change our mindset towards teachers and those who have the zeal and inclination towards teaching profession must be encouraged by creating conducive environment. Teachers' services have to be acknowledged rather than point fingers to the whole set of teachers when even a minuscule mistakes occur in the teaching system. Sometimes mistakes are bound to happen as teachers are not perfects, they are imperfects like any one of us. Like wise, measures must be in place to retain the seasoned teachers. Then only the dire shortage of teachers will be solved. Moreover, I feel those who want to switch to other profession must be given the tickets to do as I don't feel they would do the justice when their enthusiasm for teaching is exhausted. 

Odd as well as prime

Blessed Rainy Day is considered to be a day in which all the waters on the earth's surface are considered to be blessed and purified and hence taking bath during this day is believed to cleanse the sins of all body, speech and mind which are accumulated over ones lifetime. Friday, September 23, 2011 was yet another BLESSED RAINY DAY in my life  which was celebrated home away from home country. Yet when it comes to celebration of such events and occasions it matters the least whether one is in ones home country or away in foreign land. Despite the fact that we had packed classes during day time as usual three of us ( Tshewang, Peljor and myself) celebrated and cheered the occasion in our own way. We didn't join the other twenty seven fellow countrymen who are our seniors in service as well as in terms of age not because we didn't want to mingle with them but simply we had our own plans. We never bothered them terming us black sheep among the whites since we thought our plans would be a mere fiasco and more so individualism has to be respected as its neither a dictatorial nor an authoritarian reign and I must say I don't regret for not joining the group.

Kicking off the punch session

The kick off session started with a cup full of punch (the cup's capacity was just 475ml) until the bucket, half filled with the punch which was kept covered tightly  the other night so as to get fermented was emptied.The punch gave us real kicks, no wonder my eyes which remains almost all the time red was full of blood-shot. I don't exactly remember how we had our next much awaited item- the dinner session was we were flat drunk. Thank God dinner was kept ready prior to our drinking session. The next day we had packed classes again which we could not afford to miss it albeit the punch had an unforgettable hang over on us. The saddest part is, in next Blessed Rainy Day myself and Peljor won't be here to celebrate with Tshewang. We console him by assuring that we will have our punch at Kanglung on Saturday 23, September 2012, the BLESSED RAINY DAY eve in his name without worrying about the hangover the following day as it coincides with weekend.

Dream

(The dream remained unfulfilled yet he doesn't regret as no one  can escape what fate has in-stored for him)

Like any other school going children Padma too had a dream during his earlier schooling days, a dream to be a good human being who would serve the society, a dream to pursue law as his subject. But he must confess that he wasn't a hard working guy unlike his contemporaries. Even to these days he is unable to get rid of the old habits, the laziness. Yet he was blessed to have good circles of intelligent, sharp and hardworking friends in his MSS schooling days who excelled in their studies. Their excellence and fabulous performances had added advantage as they used to discuss what ever they knew irrespective of the discipline. Nevertheless Padma lacked interest and enthusiasm to learn sciences and mathematics and as such even when they were voluntarily ready to help him solve the problems, he used to tell them that he doesn't have problems with these subjects. Along with all all  his group friends (the group consisted as many as ten+) he too successfully sailed through the labyrinth of the Bhutan Certificate for Secondary Education (BCSE) in December 2002. But no wonder his marks weren't that consistent as my sciences and mathematics marks were as low as D and E grades whereas Arts subjects' grades were fairly good. 

                                 

They got admission in HSS in different schools as they opted different streams based on our interests in the subjects and the availability of slots. Few of them got admission in Jigsher HSS, Khaling which was one of the most opted schools in their time owing to its study culture and reputation in the country. Padam's MSS group friends were then in Science Stream. As such English and Dzongkha were the only subjects common to them. He was in cloud nine having secured admission in the school he wished for. It was in eleventh standard (Arts Stream) that he started to have strong urge to fulfill his dream given the fact that there were a very good set of teachers and the conducive environment to learning. 

Jigsher HSS, Khaling

Padma didn't know how fast year 2003 passed away. No sooner did he realize the year came to an end and the next academic session has begun , the year he had fallen for one of his juniors, a ninth class girl named Choden. He doesn't know if it was love at first sight or simply an infatuation. Whatever may be he was lost in her thoughts despite the fact that she never reciprocated his confession after mustering hell lots of courage with difficulties. There after Padma  failed in his duty to study thinking of her least realizing that he had big dream to fulfil, the dream which demanded lots of sacrifices which is the crucial point in determining the fulfillment of his dream. But by the time he realised December was knocking his door and ISC examination had already stepped in. He however struggled at the eleventh hour with the revisions and managed to pass with good score.Yet, the dream of  pursuing degree in law was shattered and it remained  just the unfulfilled dream until today as available slots which were limited were already opted by those who excelled out of which five were his own class mates.  What strikes his mind today is may be law was not his piece of cake and may be was destined to be in some other field that he is in. He feels its of no use pondering over the past as life must go on and believes its the contentment in life which matters a lot.

Fooled

-but blessing in disguise 

Sunday, November 6, 2011 wasn't April fool's day yet I along with my room mates were fooled. I had done with five theory papers and I was relaxing since the practical papers were only on November 8 and November 9. But my room mates had theory papers to be revised. One of my room mates who stays late night revising for the exams was still in bed when I received a call from Mrs. Sangay Zangmo and Mrs. Tshering Yuden who are my mates at around 11:30 AM.

Mrs. Sangay asked me if they had done with their examinations, when I responded they still have two papers each she asked me to prepare lunch for four of them who are in the Central CMR, a shopping mall since they were hungry. I didn't believe at first. To confirm I made a call and they insisted that they would be arriving by around 12:00 noon for the lunch. After giving second thought we assumed that they meant it albeit never did they come for meals in our place. This made all three of us to engage our hands in cooking. They once again called us asking our room # which made us to believe they were not lying. The meals for seven people were finally ready and they never turned up.

When the clock ticked 01:00 PM I asked them where they have reached only to get disappointed to learn that they fooled us. We were worried of the food getting spoilt in a hot places like here in Visakhapatnam. They told us that they were just kidding and even if we had prepared the meals they asked us to have it on our own. Can any one imagine that the meal prepared for seven people can be consumed by three of us? To our dismay the refrigerator was also dis-functional. I remembered my elder brother ( a lay man) back at home who always cautions that when we throw away food it will simply rot while when it avoids us we will starve to death. We landed up inviting one other friend of ours for the lunch only to hear his dialogue in the half way through the meal in which he said he was invited out of no choice yet enjoyed the meal. Four of us tried to bottom up the meals considering that it will get spoilt but couldn't. The meal was enough even for breakfast for three of us. We didn't throw away the food because we know resources are scarce and in the third world countries many people die due to starvation.

Nevertheless, three of us had a sumptuous delicious meal after a week's time or so since three of us were into noodles as examinations kept us engaged with books which was blessing in disguise on one hand and on the other a wastage of the precious time of my room mates, a time wasted in cooking meals as one was busy practicing his theorems while the other had to wake up and lend his hand despite the fact that he slept just at dawn.I say wastage of time resources as time wasted cannot be retrieved back and hence wastage of all the resources.

Lesson

a lesson learnt through the betrayal of trusted friend
(written as a personal retrospection after being betrayed by the friend to whom a complete trust was bestowed)

Lord Buddha has rightly said " An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind". Pema had trusted Mr Tenzing, a friend of him who had been known for more than a decade's time (to be precise since his seventh standard in 1999 through undergraduate days in college till 2010). But to his utter dismay Pema has never known him in reality. He was blind in believing him to be a sincere, honest and trust worthy person which in reality is not. Dzongkha saying བློ་གཏད་པའི་མིའི་ཧིང་བརྐུ།། ཧིང་བརྐུ་བའི་མིའི་ཨརཝ་བརྐུ།།  has a deep meaning in it.  It was on 11.08.2010, a night prior to     his departure for studies that he handed over two envelopes to Mr Tenzin in which Nu. 1500/- and Nu. 1000/- respectively were put in along with the letters scribbled, which were to be handed to Mr. Dorji who was leaving  for Kanglung. Pema would have handed over the same himself but since he couldn't meet Mr. Dorji personally due to time constraints it was handed over to Mr. Tenzing who promised that he would do the honour. But in reality he never did what he promised. He instead took advantage of the trust and confidence Pema had in him. The letters addressed to Pema's cousin(who is a student) and one of his college was never delivered. Breaching the trust placed upon him Mr Tenzing torn off the envelopes and used the amount for his own good. If he has the courtesy of an honest and a good human being, he should have sought the permission or the least he could have done is at-least informed him. Its makes Pema to wonder what kind of leaders would he be if he were one, if he is that greedy after such a small amount. Pema is sure Mr Tenzing would sell of the whole nation to quench his greedy thirst given the chance. The worst is that Mr Tenzing never told Pema that he used the amount until his enquiry upon getting emails from his cousin and colleague in September and October 2010 respectively saying they didn't receive his letters and the amount.

The shocking reply Mr Tenzing gave was that he used the amount because of urgency as he was flat broke owing to the fact that he bought a plot in Phuntsholing worth Nu. 3 Lakhs. What kind of right  he had to tear off the envelopes and use the money when he bought the plot? Won't he considered thief since the parcel was never delivered? Nevertheless, he never said that he would not pay the amount back. He promised umpteen times to Pema that he would pay it at the earliest which is not paid even today. At one time last year, in October Mr Tenzing even asked him the contact numbers of his cousin and his colleague stating that he has sent the amount to them through his to-be wife's account (in her ATM) and later lied again that ATM in Kanglung was defunct. Then he said he used the amount again since he visited his village. Thereafter, he kept on pouring out his fake promises that he would pay at the earliest which was never done. The latest of the very many lies he lied was on 16.11.2011 in which he said that he would deposit the amount in Pema's account on 21.11.2011 but it was yet another lip service. On that day, he mentioned that he was out of station while some of their other friends met him in Thimphu on 20.11. Now Pema has learnt that for Mr Tenzing, tomorrows will be there as always and he can never confide him anymore now as there is a saying in Dzongkha  as follows: 

ཤིང་ལ་ལན་ཅིག་སྦྲུལ་་གནས་དེར།།                 

ཕྱི་ཀྱང་མཐོང་ཚེ་འཇིགས་པ་ལྟར།།              

བརྐུ་དང་རྫུན་ལ་ཅིག་ལ་བཞུགས་པའི།།                   

མི་དེར་བརྟགས་ཏུ་དོགས་པ་བསྐྱེད།།

Whatever may be, Pema doesn't have ill feelings towards him rather regrets for his own idiocy to have complete trust on him. Yet he is grateful that he learnt a lesson not to trust a friend like Mr Tenzing who is like a bee with honey on its wings and a sting on its tail. Pema's only wish is may he be reformed so that like him other friends of Tenzing are not betrayed through his flatters and deceitful friendliness.


To Mr Tenzing and few others the amount may seem too trivial. But the question is  Mr Tenzing has used the amount through unfair means by shattering the trust. Moreover, to a student how trivial the amount may be, it matters a lot. Like wise, the value of the money never remains the same. It's value gets depreciated due to the escalation of the prices of the commodities as the production cost arises. Hence, a bucks in hand is worth two in the far far unseen future.