Life’s Uncertainty

“When youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies

Where but to think to be full of sorrow

And leaden-eyed despairs”

 (an extract from the poem Ode to a nightingale) 

Grasshopper and money…?

These days we can find lots of grasshoppers around our resident especially in the evening. Grasshoppers vary in size and colours and sometimes they even find their way into my kitchen which is very annoying.

My association with Tom and Jerry

Every time I enter my kitchen, I am greeted by a huge faded sticker of Jerry with his tongue sticking out and his hands on his ears like he is jeering at me just like he does to Tom in the cartoon series.  I cannot really recollect how it found its place on my refrigerator’s door but it always brings smile on my lips whenever I open and close the kitchen door. The sticker looks faded now but it never fails to bring smile on my lips even today. Sometimes I name my children Tom and Jerry because of the nuisance they make out of nothing just to gain my attention.

Random truth

My nine year old son reads and collects twinkle comics and ever since we had been transferred here, he had been buying a copy each from the only shop that sells comics every time we go for an evening stroll to the shop. I too flip through some copies sometimes when I don’t have any task at hand. While flipping through a copy, I came across a story about a Pundit (Hindu scholar) who found a bird’s feather stuck on his teeth while eating a meal. Now the Pundits are supposed to be a vegetarian and he didn’t tell about the incident to anyone at first. Later he disclosed it to his wife who in turn told her friends about the incident and the story passed through many mouths with various additions. The feather became wings, the wings became a bird and the bird became a flock of birds that flew out of the pundit’s mouth. Imagine the plight of the Pundit when he found his neighbours banging his front door demanding to see the nest of the birds in his mouth.

MY HEART REJOICES

The cell buzzed as I was coming out of the class. I looked at the number and found that the caller was a friend. She doesn’t usually call me without any reason so I picked up the phone and asked her the reason. She shouted excitedly “Our King is getting married”. “Hey, hey, cool down and tell me the whole story” I asked and she went into details about the announcement made by His Majesty at the end of the inaugural address at the seventh session of Parliament in the morning of 20^th May (yesterday) in Thimphu.

Time to buckle up!

The first half of the academic session is almost drawing an end and we are urging our students to keep revising their lesson because no matter what talents they have, at the end it is their academic marks that counts. The rescheduling of LG elections had even brought the exams closer. Now the timetable is out and it’s time to get to the books. As my students get serious with their books I too try to refer some notes because I too have my share of exams.

The wrong number

The cell phone ringing near my bed woke me from the deep slumber. I put on the light to see the time. The clock on the wall read 11.15pm. Picking up the phone, I responded and came to know that the caller was a woman. She didn't wait to know who was receiving her call and went on with her babble for a few minutes. Hearing her babble in Sharchop, I could make out that she was from some rural area in the east. I couldn't cut off the phone and could speak since she didn't give me a chance to do so. She called me "nimin" (sister) and went on with her sad tale. After sometime, I asked her where she was calling from and she responded saying that she was calling from home. I had to interrupt her by saying that she was talking to the wrong person but she said that the number belonged to her sister. I politely asked her to check the number again and switched off the cell . I didn't want to get anymore midnight calls from some unknown number.

Her ever-changing hobbies

My children are growing and their interests seem to change every few months like the change of seasons. “What is the mother supposed to do?” is the question that I almost always ask myself. For instant, at this time last year, my twelve year daughter seemed like a voracious reader when she finished the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer in a month. Even I took a little longer time to finish the books. After that she was keen into music and every time I allowed her access to the net, she was busy downloading the songs and learning lyrics.

Celebrating Teacher’s day!

With abating breath we had waited for the day, the day dedicated to the teacher’s of Bhutan. Many text messages and calls were exchanged and I felt elated since it was our day, the day to reflect on our achievements and failures and to rededicate ourselves to serve our students better.

Being a teacher

As the teacher’s day draw close, my cell rings continuously with my friends and students calling me to wish for the day. Some text messages and some send mails.

Getting rid of my addiction

There was a time when I could not stay an hour without a cigarette. When I think back to those time, I still wonder how I over came that urge and came out clean. I picked up the habit during my initial year in the service. Placed away in the wilderness where I didn’t know even a single soul during my first few weeks lead me to a shop which sold cigarettes (cigarette was freely available in every shop those days) and I tried my first piece a few days after my arrival in the place. A piece of drag led to another and before long I was consuming about 3 packets of wills in a day! Without a female companion, I had nothing to do then to listen to my small portable radio and smoke after the work hours.

Restlessness…

I had been home for some months but I am restless. Something is amiss. I know what it is …a root to belong to… I am surrounded by my friends and families yet I feel so alone. My craving for something unknown creates emptiness in my heart that drains me of any will to acknowledge the beauty of the surrounding. I try to seek help for people near and far but nothing fills the void in my heart. I sit quietly trying to harness my thought that travels back to the time I was in university not so far in the past.

Do we really have freedom?

A friend called last Saturday evening and asked whether we had a woman’s association. I was bewildered by her question and asked her the reason for the query.  Her response was, they had formed a Women’s association in the Dungkhag where she worked and by default every working women became the member whether they liked it or not. Hearing her blurt out information, I couldn’t help chuckling because she said that she had to attend a meeting the following Sunday and by her sound she definitely wasn’t for it. 

When strangers becomes friends

A friend request on face book is all it takes to make a friend out of a stranger in this digital world. A few years ago such thing was unheard of but now everything is possible.

Greeting the first Rainfall

The gusty wind had been speeding up for the past several days bringing relief to the mounting temperature but the roads looked dusty and the pavement were very dry yearning for a little freshness that comes only with the rain. I silently prayed for the rain since the little flowers blooming in my garden gave dull withered look. 

 

Glimpses of Scout camp 2011

The mock Drill

The school announced that we would be having a mock drill on disaster management today in the morning assembly. We eagerly listened as the coordinator  outlined procedures for the drill. We went back to the class and instructed the students on the same so that things would go smoothly during the drill which was scheduled after lunch.

Multitasking

Every day I try to battle my day with a smile on my face. Multitasking is something that needs thorough planning but I never learned to plan things in my life. I took the things as it came- one at a time, I am still doing that and I think I am good at what I do. I am a mother, wife, a teacher and a driver and I assume many role as and when needed :P

The camp experience

My principal handed me an office order stating that I was to attend a scout camp for four days away in the wilderness… I say wilderness because the camp was away from town where I had never been before though it was just about 20 kms from my place. Reading the order I realized that I had just about a few days to mentally prepare myself for the camp. I called the other colleagues mentioned in the letter and found out that we had to report to the Dzongkhag office in about three days time ( two days prior to the camp for planning). What the heck! My first reaction was to shout “to the hell with the camp in the middle of the academic session” and cancel my name from the list with a few calls but my friends suggested against it and I found myself sitting in the Dzongkhag office on the set date with the other participants cracking my brains out with the planning given the short period of time. Two days into the planning and preparation and on the third day I was driving through the dusty bumpy road into the wilderness. 

Frustrations!

Frustrations! Frustrations! You cannot help it when you are sand-witched between two bosses.

After rushing through the busy morning hours, I finally drop my children at school and proceed to my work place. I take a look on my watch as I park my car. Yes! I was on time, just as always. The very important value that my parents taught. My father used to say “time is like a river, ever flowing. One need to keep a pace with it in order to make things happen”.