Monday, May 6, 2013

Here Again


Here again
Born again
To chisel over again
To carve
To shape, to groom
And to fit in the room.

Born again
To write and live
To write the un-written muses
To embark an anew novice voyage
To slice and dice the life
A new beginning!

 Here I am
No matter what
Finding my voice
And affirming my identity
I’m trying
I may be the ugliest
I may be bad
But I’m here.

Here again
And to hear again
To be with you
And forever
If not, in the lines
Preserved.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Rains Washed Away My Happiness


Torn clothes and shabby tresses
Unpleasant dry dirt of mud stinks over the room
Oh, his bed and dear dust under it.
He sleeps on a thin torn carpet
And his pillow a rag of clothes
His Baago hut hurts him
Is he that poor?
Shedding tear has become part of his life
Tears have furrowed his cheeks.

Each day to meet maize corn and radish
Radishes have made his life
Now, can anybody compare him to…?
Has anyone dwelled like him?
With many black dots in life.

Cumulus appeared over orchard
Leaves rustled and blew along the ground
Heavy storm-
soon huge rain rained and fruits fell
The door opened and closed of its own
The rain-hit for two days
The earth vomited out on the third day
The lamp went off,
 and now is the only memory
The thoughts revolve, without stop;
That was a year passed from now,
When the family was about to have food
Gone were the affections from the wife and children
Gone were the riches
Gone were the wonderful times
All buried to death; in a jiffy;
Families, things, animals, homely home
Swept and thrown away by the landslide.
The man cried and still cries…
Hollow
Sometimes rain can be bad, he says.
This lonely desolation, this distorted assimilation
Is hard to feel and he breaks down.
Is he now living life in the dark?
Waiting for the death?

Things gone and gone forever
So he went near his small field
The field left by that misfortune
His hands gripped to a sped
He began to work in the rain,
And often sleeps in the potato field
Covering with another sack
Such a dreadful life overtook him.

Now birds sing in the sky
He feels sort of sad but glad as well
The sun had gone down already
Will it rise tomorrow?
He is living in the midst;
To survive or not to see the sun
Or strive more
To swim and swing against the nature
The hopes of brilliant tomorrow
Takes him through another rough day
He believes in his age-old faith
And that’s where he lays his life.



 
Man creates and builds, nature destroys everything. The poem says that the ultimate of everything is nature; wealth, health, and happiness. Nature provides and also robs everything that you have.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Teachers’ Day: From a Teacher’s Perspective


Coinciding with the Teachers’ Day today, I would like to write something about teaching and what it means to me. The best way I have learned to be a teacher is by looking at the way in which others teach me. Teachers are lifelong learners who relish the chance to grow and evolve. Moreover, the innocent enthusiasm of young students keep teachers young as they remind you to smile through.

In many ways, learning and teaching are ties to each other. Teaching means helping people to learn something. Teaching is learning, enriching and growing. Teaching is caring, motivating and inspiring. Teaching is collaborating/ equalizing, energizing and exhilarating. Teaching is dividing, equalizing and loving.

I gain fondness by seeing a person who learns and changes and gain understanding about the meanings of life and the world they live in and having the ability to be unselfish and worthy contributors to society. I help them to grow into what they want to be.

I have encountered many best students in my life who have in turn shaped my life better. They are Monu Tamang, Mahindra, Yangchen, Sonam3s, Susan, Karma to name a few.

A novice child comes into class not able to read. When he leaves in December, he will have become independent and understand the way of things and potential and creative solver.  I have to say, seeing the progression of a child and making a difference in a child's life from February to December is invigorating. That's what will make teaching mean the most to me.

Teaching to me means caring, nurturing, and developing minds and talents. It is about passion as it is about the reason. It's about not only motivating students to learn, but teaching them how to learn, and doing so in a manner that is relevant, meaningful, and memorable. It is about listening, questioning, being responsive, and pushing students to excel; at the same time, it's about being human, respecting others, and being professional at all times.

Teaching is more than just a job. It's a calling. It's an ever-surprising mix of grueling hard work and ecstatic successes, both big and small. To constantly improve teaching capabilities and to be there for the student, and to help with any problems they have, in or out of the class, to teach and delight are my motto of being in teaching.

There are many different learning styles as there are many ways to solve the problems. The ability to look at life in a different way and to explain a topic in a different way is one way.  Not everyone gets a subject as taught by every teacher. Images, pictures, trips, etc are some ways.

 

As a teacher I think, we need to have the ability to change, but it is also important to be able to keep hold of the good things. Some teachers may fear change, as change is uncertain, but it is not necessary for teachers to change everything they currently do in the classroom, but to change some things to make improvements. Change is a slow and difficult process, so should be taken step by step.


As teachers we should always remember the ‘Wise Old Owl:’

The wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he heard
Why can’t we all be like that bird?

The work of the teacher will not end. Its a continuous ripple effects on are always there somehow somewhere. We teachers must remember that if a student fails then: the teacher has failed; the examination system has failed; the evaluation system has failed and by and large the education system as a whole has failed.