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.

Reading Religious Books(NRY)

(To commemorate the National Reading Year (NRY)

I have read books, a great many books, and most of the books I have read were English literature. The books of stories, novels, and verses. But these days I have been reading philosophical books; books of religion. As my age is drawing closer to death, and old age is nicking in. It’s time now to prepare and practice some good things before DreyNagchung summons me in his court. As a matter of fact, we don’t know when we kicking our bucket but kick the bucket we must. And the fact we all die is known to all.

To understand more about life and  death, I have read books beginning from (some) Thich Nhat Hanh’s books, Wentz’s ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead,’ Sogyal Rinpoche’s  ‘The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying,’ the Dalai Lama’s book series, Dzongsar Jamyang khyentse’s two books, and other books of Buddhism. All these books are philosophies, theories, and stories. All these books teach us to be good, helpful, and be altruistic. And these come through lots of practice. Because of laxity, these theories have been remaining as theories; I am so weak to practice every day and thereby comprehend better.

Today I am almost done with ‘The Way to a Meaningful Life’ by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Like his other books, this book teaches the meaning of ‘I’ and the realization of the meaning of the mind. I am a layman to understand all these, but as a human, a dying human, I feel it is very important to understand it. I would like to write some extracts from the above-mentioned book: “When Buddha taught the four noble truths, first he identified true suffering, sources, cessations, and paths, and then said: Sufferings are to be recognized, but there is nothing to be recognized. The sources of suffering are to be abandoned, but there is nothing to be abandoned. Cessation is to be actualized, but there is nothing to be actualized. The path is to be meditated, but there is nothing to be meditated.”(pg 156-157)

His Holiness also talks in ‘The Way to a Meaningful Life’ about ‘form and emptiness.’ He takes out from the ‘Heart Sutra:’ “Form is emptiness, emptiness is formed; form is not other than emptiness; emptiness is not other than form.” (pg 164) It has a very deep meanings. And another profound statement about the nature of mind that Buddha made is: “In the mind, the mind is not to be found; the nature of the mind is clear light.”(pg 171) The explanation for this statement was made by the Dalai Lama.

And there is a concise-15minutes read book called ‘The Path to Dharma’ published by Commission for Religious Organizations, 2012, Bhutan.  It’s both in English and Dzongkha. The short book discusses about Karmic Cause and Effect, Different lives, Virtuous and non-virtuous, and different acts, and nemesis of each act. It’s worth knowing where we are going before our death.

We Are the Family of RASTA

We are the Family of Bad Group

“We Are the Family of RASTA,” wrote class VIII A of Darla MSS on their classroom’s wall. It is right in front of teachers eyes. Instead of writing good proverbs and sayings, they wrote this graffiti on the wall. I am seeing this today, as I had an invigilation duty for the class VI common exam there. How careless and ignorant have we been in the school? Had I seen it before, I would have discussed it with the class teacher or the school administration. But I will talk about this for sure.

Rasta was everywhere in the class. See, even the cello taping are of a Rasta symbol

Class VIII A students knew the meaning of Rasta, and I guess they have been following this. The term Rasta refers to marijuana and cannabis. It also refers to the street dealing in drugs. Rasta began in Jamaica and it’s a kind of religion where they believe drugs could raise them and it is the way of life which is called Rastafarianism. They consider that cannabis is spiritual to use and it cleans the body and mind, heals the soul, exalts the consciousness, facilitates peacefulness, brings pleasure, and brings them closer to God. They have a leaf of the marijuana plant as a symbol. It basically is the deadliest drug group.

Our parents and teachers must be so mindful of what children write and do at times. We must go through each letter and each word.

And this year, many drug-related problems were from class VIII A. Blame it on this RASTA.

And there was a pamphlet saying 'Say No to Drugs.' on that same wall. Did they listen?

Winter Days

Wintery view from my House

This is a time; the time for ending; the flowers are withering up, the brown leaves of trees are felling one by one. There have been times of glory; growing, sprouting, and blooming. There were times when birds were singing to feed on fresh foods. There have been times of rain and sunshine. There have been times…  And this is the time when everything is coming to an end. The year is drawing to an end; new curtains are folding inside out. What brings a new?

Our exams are almost done. The product of a year’s learning is almost to its end’s result. Children are happy, parents are happy about their smooth sailing throughout this year. Wish them so much luck ahead.

The Winter season in most parts of Bhutan is not a time for celebration, though, everybody is in a restive mood. Because the chilly northern winds bundled people with so many layers of clothes and it makes them difficult to move. Many would remain inside their homes; sitting around Bhukhuris, room heaters, and most of them drinking warm Ara or Bangchang. And this is the time; time to gather and talk a whole lot about year’s works and plans ahead. I wish them so much luck ahead.

Bhukhari

Here at Darla, it’s no better than any other place. The temperature reaches minus at this time of the year. On top, it has been drizzling for so many days now. Winds are cutting through clothes and skins making bodies into icy iron. The good news is that we will soon migrate to a lower southern warmer part of Phuntsholing and Gelephu.