AWOL

I was absent without leave (AWOL) from my blog post for almost two months. I feel guilty for not asking for any leave from my blog. I was busy, busier than a giant sleeping crocodile. I wanted to rest after tiring teaching and works. I was doing nothing as such for these months. Life; you can pass anyway you like; you do the most and you have the life, and you do the least, and you have the life. I tried to do none and it went its own way!

Anyways, it was a perfect time to be together with family. Most of the time, we sat and talked, we dined and slept together. Otherwise, where was the time; it was timetabled; breakfast: 7am, school: 8am, Classes: 8:30am---4pm, staff meeting: 4-5:30pm, household chores: 6-7pm, dinner preparation: 7-8pm, goodnight sleep: 9pm. There was nothing to do in-between, and I don’t like this timetable. I wished to have no timetable in life if I could; lead a carefree; no fella says anything, nothing to conform- nothing. People fear becoming undisciplined and immoral if such freedom is there to be celebrated. And it is true to those conformers and the society.

Now, back to these two months AWOL from writing; first, we stayed at home; not a kind of our home, but rented-our-home. We dont have a home of our own. We went to collect firewood for Bhukhari to fight the biting winter. Then, most of the time, we/I had warm ara in the evening. Watching TV and movies were some of our past things and now because we had watched enough to last for three winters. Literally, we are fed up now.

Then I have to come for BCSE class X evaluation at CST in Phuntsholing. Let me write something about this, I thought of writing pages about it, but most of it won’t be good, I consciously thought it would blemish myself to the authority. I learned positive things are rarely taken in; WE must be diplomatic and suave to win, if not one is a loser. I was to evaluate English one, and I did so. Actually, who did not? Everyone did at least. BUT there was a teacher who came drunk on the first day, and his day ended on that first day. He had to go back all the way to eastern Bhutan. This drunken man did not do. His drinks were more important than exam paper, money, and his family. On the first day, we were familiarized with the paper; in fact, we were thoroughly done with the paper, and paper did us too. Then, the next day we were divided into different groups; essay group, letter writing, language, and grammar group. I was in the letter-writing group. Every day we had to correct almost 1200 papers. I feel the number of days were too short to correct many numbers of papers. If correction is to be done fairly, the number of papers must be reduced or the number of days must be increased, or the number of evaluators must be increased. Otherwise, one needs to hasten and there is a chance of error; especially error in awarding marks. This tedious evaluation went in for twelve days- without break. Though tedious, we still tenaciously work to our final day. In the end, all teachers had to go more bankrupt than ever before. I heard many teachers had spent their cash to the lees in Phuntsholing thinking of TADA. But, however, our benefits like TA and DA were not given or deposited even after a week from the work. Most teachers, despite buying their much-awaited shopping lists from Phuntsholing, had no money even to top up their cars. Contorted, they went back. I don’t know what BCSE has been doing the whole year; they only gave after a week. Anyways, good or bad, things happened. We; single-handedly cannot blame anyone. So that was that. Then we came to Gelephug, where we are stationed here now.