My first sight of Education

I was admitted to Shingkhar Primary School in 1997. The school is quite far. It would take atleast three hours to reach from my village. The way is very rugged through thick forests and fast flowing rivers. It becomes more dangerous for school children during monsoons. Therefore, I was admitted as one of boarding students.

Actually my parents intended to send me Phumethang Dratshang to study religious scriptures and become a monk.  The intention was aborted by my brother, who was a monk in it that time. He didn’t want me, thinking of the nuisance involved in taking care of me. 

The reporting dates for Shingkhar School students and monks of Phumethang Dratshang coincided.  My parents arranged everything for both of us: my brother and me. My parents wanted me to go with my brother but he wanted me to go school. There was long argument and my brother hurriedly went out of the house carrying his baggage.

I was confused. Yet little did I know before that school mean full of plays and Dratshang full of spanks and thrashings. I uttered to go Shingkhar School. Therefore, along with other parents and friends, I was escorted by my father to be admitted in the school.

During those days, it was one of the mandates of parents to report the school authority to get their children registered or get registered through Tshogpas with the details ten days before opening of the school. But my parents have done neither of them. Everybody in the group has done their mandates. So the biggest doubt ahead was whether there would be a seat or not.

I have never gone out of my village before. Walking with my friends in group interested me.  On arrival to school, I saw students playing ball. This interested me more making me wish to do many things if I were given the admission. My father holding my hand ushered me in a small room where there was a man sitting in front of the table. The man was the school Headmaster, which I knew only much later.

My father and the headmaster greeted each other and talked for few minutes. The headmaster was fluent in our dialect making me get contents of their dialogues.  After few moments “luckily,” the headmaster said flipping pages of a file, “there is one seat left, and so he can be admitted.” 

These words fell like a bang on the table bringing all my senses together! My joy knew no bound. I could not imagine of my joy of always playing on the big ground. My father was also very happy, I sensed through his smiling sigh. I joined the mass of tumultuous students with delight immediately.

                                         I came school just to play ball at beginning (picture source:Google)

My father stayed watching me play from the corner of the ground among other parents. I could read his smile when I kicked and rolled the ball among my friends. In evening, my father went back home with parents of my friends. I didn’t feel the pain of departing with my dad as I enjoyed playing among my new friends, like few of my friends who cried invariably.

I opened my eyes to the fantasy of school in this way. Therefore, initially I went school out of my interest to play balls which cohesively held me until I know the true purpose of being in the school. It was only after third standard that I could realize that school is not just a place where I can only play.

I still remember the words and gestures of the school headmaster.  This moment is my most cherished instinctual possession. It is carved in my brain. Now I thank gods for reserving one seat for me and the Headmaster Mr. Ugyen Pemba who compassionately offered that one seat for me. I still thank my brother for his refusal which actually turned benchmark in the journey of my education.

Since then my perceptions of school have changed-the fondness to play more slowly faded away and lust to learn more encroached in my mind. In the process I have enjoyed many success, glories, accolades and fortunes but nothing of these things would bid higher than the moment of ‘receiving that seat’!

Unconditional Love-Short Story

I have a habit of picking a paper on my way if I am optimistic that it would contain some writings. Sometimes they really do contain interesting things but not most of the time. Last evening as usual I picked up a paper that was darkened by steps. It contained the given story. The story is interesting. Hope it will inspire you as much as it inspired me.Enjoy reading it!

“Mom and Dad, I am coming home, but I have a favour to ask. I have a friend I would like to bring home with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “We would love to meet him.”

“There is something you should know,” the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come and live with us”.

“I am sorry to hear that, son. May be we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father, “we don’t know what you are asking. Someone with handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He will find a way to live on his own.”

At this point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.

A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide.

The grief stricken parents immediately flew to San Francisco and was taken to city morgue to identify the body of their son.

They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

My opinion

The duality in our thinking has ruled us. We discriminate things into good & bad, people as beautiful & ugly. We accept a person only if he is handsome, rich and intelligent. Therefore, our love among friends, families and parents are most of the time very conditional.

It would be worthwhile to think how our society would be if we love every person around us unconditionally.

NB: The story was actually one of the pages of Nima High School's Students' Handbook. I want to thank the owner of the handbook (whoever may be) and Nima School for including such good story in it.

Are we Buddhists?

Our country had been a Buddhist country from the time we have its history being recorded. Though there had been many ideologies, Buddhism has become very firm and set where almost all Bhutanese consider themselves fortunate to be born in Bhutan. They also consider themselves as Buddhists without realizing what it takes to be a Buddhist.

It was last time when I talked casually with my nephew. I asked him whether he is a Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or Christian. It did not take him even a second to say a Buddhist. Then I said, “why?’. “Because both of my parents are Buddhists”, he said.

He having said that, I thought is it that being born in the Buddhist country or both parents being Buddhists; he can actually claim himself as a Buddhist? Is a child deemed to be Buddhist if his both parents are Buddhists like former deemed to be natural citizen if latter is citizenship holders of the country?

“OK, then,” I said to my nephew, “what do you know about Buddhism?” He was silent with dire shortage of words to speak on this matter. So then, he must be natural Buddhist, I thought. Is it? Is the ideology of Buddhism genetically transferred?

Though my nephew is a small kid, he provided cognitive lens to zoom out one of the phenomena in us. Many of the people who claim themselves as Buddhists will be like my nephew who has no knowledge on essence of Buddhism yet boast as Buddhist. You can bet. I am also one of such Buddhists.

Therefore, to justify our status as Buddhists in this ideologies swirling world, we need to know background history and essence of Buddhism at least. Otherwise it will be shame on our part if somebody asks us about it and we don’t have answer for that question. 

Respected Principal, Teachers and my dear brothers & sisters.
Today I am going to speak on the youths of Bhutan.
We all know that His Majesty the 5th Druk Gyalpo is sacrificing his kingly comforts in walking miles and miles to remote schools of the country, only to personally look after the welfare of the youths and bestow his trust upon us.
I also feel that Bhutanese youths are the luckiest in the world, because, we have parents who always have time to take care and guide us.
We have also good government system led by the farsighted kings and leaders, providing us free education and conducive environment for learning.
We are also lucky to have our teachers, who are also compassionate, resourceful and energetic in guiding us towards our growth and development.
Looking into all these endowments, we the youth of Bhutan have every opportunity to grow and become the responsible future citizens and good human beings.
But our growth will really depend upon how we grasp these opportunities now.
Can we compare ourselves with the trees around our school campus? We see some trees are weak, because they have weak roots. Some trees stand strong, because they have developed very strong roots and can survive against sun, storm, rain or snow.
Therefore, like that of strong trees around us, let us try to develop strong roots of characters now, so that each one of us can stand strong in future and become responsible citizens and good human beings.
Our character development will also really depend on what kind of attitude we develop now.
Therefore, let us all try to develop a positive attitude towards learning, for knowledge is the fountain of wisdom.
Let us all try to develop a positive attitude towards the preservation and promotion of our cultural traditions, for they represent us in the global community.
Let us all try to develop a positive attitude towards the protection of our environment, so that we can handover the same environment to our future generations and avoid their blame.
Let us all try to develop a positive attitude in picking up a paper from the ground and put it into the dustbin OR be mindful to close a running water tape. Let us try to learn how to smile with people around, because Gross National Happiness is the sum total of many such simple acts.
Lastly, but not the least, let us all try to develop a positive attitude to divert our energy towards learning and sports and say big NO to the drugs and other anti-social acts.
Finally, let us all try to develop a positive attitude towards what we would be in the future. I am sure we all can't be dashos, but some of us have to be subordinates. And, we all cannot be office goers, but some of us have to be educated farmers.
But, in the end, what ever we would be, we all will have something to do and contribute to the nation building.
Therefore, let us all try to be the best in whatever we would be doing in the future.

Thank you.....

NB-This is the speech delivered by my nephew when he was in class-vii in Dr. Tobgyel Primary School. Now he is in Changangkha Middle Secondary School.

My World

 

I thought to write a poem

Explaining this world

But I have found no words

To describe it exactly

I cannot describe it

Everything is same

There are no more patterns

And every person is same as I once met

If there is no intricate

What will be the use of my poem?

Words would be too much then

To describe this tiny world

Can you describe my world?

I cannot see anything

I hear only tread of my foot

And swings of my hands

I am swirled by bog of grey

Which I do not want it either

Yet always follows me around

Like my own shadow

This world is filled with wonders

Which do not make sense for me

Am I blind or deaf? Never

Yet cries of rich and laughs of poor are here

Can you take me away from it?

To feel the warmth of sun

And cushion of nature

I want to feel the differences

Because everything around me is same

Letter to my father on World Fathers' Day

My dear dad,

I never wrote you ever since I was born as your son. This is my first epistle for you. I have been very innocent to know how you have been important for me until I heard a sad story of fatherless boy from my grandmother. I am very sorry for that and hope you won’t mind for the late maturity of my brain.

Tomorrow is world fathers’ day. It is a day kept aside to thank our fathers for they play great roles in shaping our lives and clearing the paths to our destinies. Actually, I think there is no need of such particular day to thank our fathers. Our fathers cannot be thanked within a single day.

I had been thinking to write you my feelings on this day. So I came up with this letter. I am afraid that it may not be able to represent my entire feelings. Words are so limited to express my feelings for your unlimited shower of elevating love & care.

It was last time I read a story about the caring father and his son. But the son in the story was impish and cheeky. I felt very sorry for him. It must have been very sentimental on the part of his father. This berating son also made me sad. I would be bewailed if in any case I have also made you sad like in the story.

I am very fortunate to have father like you. You never let me down. However, I failed to read your faces of love and care. I still remember once my friends used to judge you as dire and perhaps pernickety father. I also felt myself pampered. We were wrong and I have failed to prove them wrong.

I am very sorry. Now I know you had been very right. Even Guru Rinpoche came in this world in different forms: some furious with burning flames yet some with simplicity to effectively subdue all the bad demons. But the essence of his heart remained compassionately same. I realized that you had been strict so that you could usher me easily and mould in one of the respected social statues out of futile mud. I naively treated your faces differently. Actually, I had been suppose to treat all your faces same.

I also thought you as a scrooge once. I think you also remember how I used to cry whenever you refuse to give money as I demanded.  Had you not been scrimp, I would have become scrounging spendthrift.  I would have taken everything for granted and life as it comes. Now I can claim I have learnt to care for what I have and do not long for what I don’t have.

 I am very sorry for my slow growth. I could not prove that I can do up to your expectation. Now you can be happy for your son is growing well. I am sorry for failing to defeat my friends using capability & aspiration given by you which would in fact be more than enough to surpass them.

You had been more than a father. You are also one of my teachers. I am very thankful for giving me a niche in this world. You have bridged my innocence and fantasy. You also gave me cognitive lens to filter rights & wrongs. It is only with your guidance that I have tasted sweetness of success and experience of failures. My heart is full of darns and warts of your impressing advices.

I pray this world to be filled with fathers like you. I wish you and every father of the world a happy fathers’ day. I also promise to be scrupulously at your voices. Thank you very much and I love you.

                                  Yours loving son

                                                                  

lonely Rose....

In the midst of vast pond

Lived a beautiful lonely lotus

All alone under rage of wind

With its petal open for thing unknown

Yet yearns for it always

When sun reached its lower locus

The bee thought and went to escort her

The lonely lotus was very happy

And hugged him until the daybreak….