No entry

It happened to me when I was at Samdrup Jongkhar. I shared the compound with the Drangpon and we had policemen on duty (they usually took turn) assigned to the Drangpon who kept a vigilant eye on the gate. I had shifted there for a while but I didn’t know many residents there. I only knew my colleagues, who were reluctant to visit my place because they weren’t usually allowed inside the gate by the police on duty.

Fire round

A boy came to his teacher and asked, “Sir, Mi zhuma ga English gai hangten yekpey ya ?”

The teacher being humorous in nature said “what is Mi in English?

The innocent boy replied “Fire sir”

“And Zhuma?” the teacher asked again

“round Sir” responded the boy again.

The year that was

Less than a week for the year to end and I cannot help reflecting on the year that had been.

2012 greeted me with the news of my husband’s transfer to the wilderness. It was just two years since we shifted to the place and we had not expected it too soon but it happened. We could not cancel the transfer, so I too had applied for transfer on marital ground which was accepted without much delay.

The last gathering

Of more than thirty people only eight of us are female. Due to our different subject and grade levels that we teach, we hardly have time to sit together and talk during our working days. Thus, we decided that we would gather for dinner before we break for our long winter holidays.

@ Vegetable market…

The vegetable market day on Saturday started some months ago after we shifted here. We were invited during the inauguration and after that I and Mrs. KT had been a regular visitor. Sometimes we saw many vendors with varieties of local products while most of the time, there were few female vendors with some snacks and fruits. The vendors  usually remained in the vegetable market shed for about an hour to sell their products.

The End

“All is well that ends well” … True! we have successfully ended the academic session for the year 2012 today. We had huddles with transfer of principals in the middle of the session when we felt like an abandoned orphan without any one to guide us but we managed to stay afloat.

Quitting

My parents’ have emphasized on the value of hard work and dedication from my childhood days. The first thing I remember about my father when I started working was his words “Zhung lu cha leyzhum bey zhu go” (Serve your country well!). He said that if we serve the country well the rest will automatically follow the trend and all will turn out well in life.  He repeats the same even today whenever I call him or see him.

An extract

Sorting out things and packing to move to the new destination was not an easy job yet one cannot escape from it when time came. I was doing the same  (in the month of February 2012) when I came across a cartoon full of books that belonged to my late brother-in-law.  At first I thought I would just pack it and send it home but my younger sister who was helping me pack thought better of it and we started sorting out his books.

We started taking his books one by one and came across a notebook. I didn’t pay much attention to it by my sister kept on reading the note and passed it to me and asked me to read through it. The following lines are some of the extract from my late brother-in-law’s note.

I salute you!

http://www.kuenselonline.com/2011/?p=39718  

The hardship that you are facing to bring changes in the lives of the remote highland children is indeed commendable. You are an inspiration that many of us need. We grumble about the competence about our administrators and the behavior of our students but you have accepted the challenge and stood firm with your decision to serve those students despite the harsh conditions and misfortune.

I salute you Madam Chimi and Keep up the good work. 

My Son's favourite character

One of favourite book that my son always talks about is “The chronicles of Narnia” written by C.S.Lewis. I initially bought the book for my daughter when she started reading fiction some years ago but later on when my son started reading, he asked me to read some pages for him whenever he saw the movie “The lion, the witch and the wardrobe”. One reading lead to another and before long I found myself reading all the 7 books in the series and my son soon read them all on his own.

Thoughts

I have never been much of a writer but I used to be a voracious reader during my younger days which certainly have deteriorated as the years passed and I found myself swept in the whirlpool of my domestic and professional life which left me with a limited time to pursue my one time favourite hobby (reading).

My Nephew

It has been a while since I had baby-sat. My youngest child turns 11 this September and I have almost forgotten how to handle a small child but I am learning it all over again since my 3 year old nephew came to stay with me. Staying late night…crawling with the child and holding the tiny hands every walking hours seems to be the only thing I seem to do these days.

Rural life ...

I cannot exactly say that I reside in rural community since the place does not have a close resemblance of urban vicinity. When we look at the facilities available in the area, it would certainly fall under rural description yet the ministry of Education rates it as semi urban. The reality is, this place (Jomotsangkha) boarders Assam in the extreme east and remains cutoff from the rest of the country during the strikes in the neighbouring state since we do not have road access from within the country.

My summer vacation of two weeks started on 29^th June and I boarded a taxi plying to S/Jongkhar with my son. I was not very keen to journey through the flooded Assam state but I had promised my daughter and I didn’t have a heart to break my promise. It had rained continuously for weeks and we had heard the news that the Brahmaputra River had swollen flooding many district of Assam and many vehicles were stranded the day prior to my planned journey. But as luck would have it, it suddenly stopped raining and I found myself boarding a taxi with my son. We travelled through the flooded district of Udalguri and Darang and were very disheartened to see so many homeless people taking shelter by the roadside. Most of the houses were submerged in the water.

Catalyst

I remember my chemistry teacher explaining the term “catalyst” as a substance that causes or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected, something that cause activity or friction between two or more persons or forces without itself being affected.  I remember very few lessons from that chemistry class that I attended about two decades ago but the term “Catalyst” still remain very clear in my memory even after all these years. It may be because I came to relate it with some people I come across or with some incidents that happened around me.

The Rebel in me...

This morning, I walked to my school in anticipation as my students would sit for their exams soon. I wanted to check into the rooms assigned for my students before they commence their writing and what did I find? There wasn’t any arrangement for class PP to III students. The teachers teaching those primary classes were supposed to make their own arrangements. I as a teacher teaching one of those classes wasn’t aware of it and it was unheard of in my entire teaching career. I couldn’t help the rebel in me emerge and speak out.

MY FORGOTTEN BIRTHDAY :)

Unlike my previous years, my birthday went unnoticed. L No one remembered my birthday at home until after breakfast when my son suddenly asked the date. He apologized and wished me and wanted to inform his dad about it but I prevented him. I wanted to know how much my husband remembered about the special days though I knew that he would never remember until I tell him. And True to my assumption, he did not wish me even in the evening. He asked for his usual cup of tea in the evening when I accused him of being so absent minded. He looked at me baffled wondering what he might have forgotten. But when he came to know about my outburst he apologized profoundly. All I could say was “Its ok…no big deal”.

2nd June

I had planned a plantation program with the scouts and a fellow scout master to celebrate the Social Forestry day in collaboration with the Drungkhag administration and the scouts were very eager and looking forward for the day. After some wait, the day arrived and we put forward our proposal to the principal for approval. He consented to our proposal and we saw ourselves moving away from the school campus towards the temple near our school carrying the saplings that the scouts had carried from home on the day.

No more toffees and gums!!!

I was listening to the discussion about the rupee crunch and how it had affected the people in our locality with some colleagues when the topic diverted into getting toffees and gums in place of loose change from our Bhutanese shopkeepers. I thought I was the only one facing that problem and didn’t join the discussion earlier but as I listened to more people sharing their frustrations I could help wondering how complacent I had been in that matter earlier.

The noise

When I first shifted to this place, people warned me of the frogs. Some warned me that the frogs that plagued the area are unusually big compared to the normal frogs and are hunted and eaten by some local people. I was wondering about the appearance because different people described it differently. But nothing matched the description when I heard them croak one night in unison, I felt like I was in the middle of the highway with lots of vehicle plying in every direction. There was so much noise like a millions bees in migration. I hardly slept a wink that night. The noise did not stop till the sunrise and I was relieved to feel the peace once again after a noisy night.

I cannot write :(

I open my laptop and try to punch some keys to type something but I find that after spending about half an hour, the words doesn’t make any sense. So I punch the delete button and erase it all. My precious thirty minutes wasted… Similar incident had been prevailing ever since I have shifted to this new place over two months ago. I haven’t been able to pen a single page. At first I consoled myself saying that I haven’t had any time and I would continue my scribbling when I had time as I get accustomed to the new environment. I believed that I would really continue my scribbling but now I am beginning to think otherwise.

All for nothing

A friend called me and informed me about the Trongsa Penlop scholarship at RCSC website. She felt that I should give it a try though I had already talked to her about taking a break for a year from studies. I had been pursuing bachelors degree  for the last three years and a three year diploma course before that. When I told her about my decision, she asked me to give it a second thought.

All packed

Boxes piled everywhere

I try to move about,

But get bumped anyway

on things laying around

A week at Mongar

When most of my friends reported to the school on 10^th February, I was out of station attending a curriculum workshop. Unlike the workshops and seminars I had attended earlier, this workshop was different. We had the session after 5.00 pm and it went on till 9.30. My friends found this change in timing quite amusing but then we had no other alternatives since the whole eastern region had power blackout during the day for about a week.

Nangi Norbu

My younger brother (who takes care of my aging parents in our native village) is quick tempered which leads to exchange of some words with his wife quite often but he is also very witty and always find a humour out of every serious situation.

Purple cabbage

On my usual vegetable shopping, I came across a very unique cabbage. THE PURPLE CABBAGE! I wanted to try it out and bought one. I didn’t show it when I reached home because I wanted to surprise my family the next day. I carefully wrapped it in a newspaper and put it inside my refrigerator.

The next day, my kids were outside playing under the winter sun and my small nephew was nagging me about going to the shop. It was almost time for me to prepare lunch so I handed over my nephew to the baby sitter and headed inside the house and got ready to prepare the meal. 

Sorting and packing

I am packing my things whenever I get time. I make a list of things that I plan to put in different bags and container. As I sort out things, I come across things that I hadn’t laid my eyes for ages. “Oh! God! Why did I buy that?” I groan and curse myself for wasting money on such useless things.

The Year that was

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…¨˜“გª¤.¸::¸.¤ª☆“˜¨¨New Year.
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The first day of the year 2011, I was away from home. It felt awful. Then the days changed into weeks and a couple of weeks later I was back home to my family. The academic session started on a smooth note and my kids did very well in the school academically.