Glimpses of Cluster meet 2013

Boys receiving Trophy from Drangrab

Teachers Day Celebration 2013

A banner prepared by the students to celebrate the day.

In solitude…

As the sun disappear beyond the horizon,

The surrounding hills look sorrowful,

Illustrating my very mood,

Of loneliness and forlornness 

The decision

Once Transparency, Accountability and Professionalism sat together to grade the three individuals. They were going through the profile of a teacher, an engineer and an administrator.

In the wilderness

Out in the wilderness

Looking forlorn and dejected

Between the two hills

I try to reach the people I had left

Residing beyond those hills

Far away down the horizon

Where the hills merges into plains.

Here I go again!

With much hopes and anticipation;

With renewed dedication and energy;

The duty with oodles of responsibilities resumed.

Exhilarated with the success of my outcome;

Little had I known about the winds of destiny,

The conspiracy to drift me away from my very soul.

Trying a Different Genre

As the days draw closer for me to move to my new destination I am gripped with the feeling of uneasiness. The first question that has been pestering me for the last several days has been “Will I be able to shoulder the responsibility that has been bestowed upon me?” I haven’t been very confident in convincing myself on appropriate response either which had led me to open some books which are usually referred by my husband. (I did not even bother to give those books a second glance earlier)

The storm

Unpredictable weather is one thing that I have to get used to here in the southern belt. The morning was bring and sunny with lots of dust around and the temperature was on ever increasing pace. I could smell the sweat that perspired from the children’s forehead in absence of the electricity that is supplied from across the border which is almost non-existence.

Time to move again…

My orders to the new place of posting had been out for more than a week now. It was out on the 1^st of March 2013 and it said that we had to report to the new place of posting without fail before the 10^th of March.  I had requested the ministry to reconsider my placement since there is acute shortage of teachers in my present Dzongkhag and the nearby schools are in dire need of some additional teachers. I had been informed that my case would be discussed in the HR Committee meeting and informed within a week time. Thus I wait for confirmation…

Fall In! Fall In!

I hadn’t thought of writing this before but constant remainder from some friends made me pen this down. A few days ago I was travelling towards Phuentsholing when my phone buzzed (it was in vibration mode). On responding to the buzz, the caller at the other end shouted “Fall in! Fall in!” and I couldn’t help bursting out into a huge laughter getting a quizzical look from my friend who was travelling with me. And later on I had to explain to her in details what it meant and it was then that I thought I would write something about those many fall ins that we had during our two weeks training at Tencholing.

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.