Words Fail Me

There are a lot of speculative things that come to our mind - both for and against the life. This is my short attempt at absolution about the future, and why I contemplate that such a pain in the neck is extremely likely.

 

I am looking at the voidness of the blue sky,
Wondering what our lives will be;

The clouded day high
was a space;
What future I might see.

Today will be Someday

But that someday will be shoddier

And worse than today’s abandoner;
I don’t think it will be caring

I don’t think it will be loving.

Greed blind the truth

Wisdom blinded by the willfulness of self
Prayers for easy money
Respect bleeds dry
Love wary without money.


Our best will be valued only by the Yama

I hope these answers are affirmative
For then I know that we will see
A future, filled with affliction
Like it's should not be.

Now, I hate how I took so long to see
That life's joy is a closed book to me,

And it is filled with hatred and spite
All I've got to say is, "spit!"

Bhutanese dance ....Boedra 2016...pema Tashi

Je Khenpo and the Blessing

Gedu Moelam Choemo

"To be blessed" means 'to be favored by God'. Blessings, therefore, are directly associated with God and come from God.

A blessing is very important to get rid off negative things from our souls and bodies. We are immersed in a culture filled with negative attitudes, offensive language, violence, and insolence. The very air we breathe can lead us to feel cursed or that something will wrong us, just because of the environment we are exposed to and the judgments others make against us. False judgments against us are like curses and can affect our health and break down our immune system. The potentially negative physical results of people who live under false judgments are extraordinary. We are not only under the curse of judgments placed on us by others, but we may also tend to judge ourselves harshly. When these self-criticisms are excessive, we need to recognize them as being like curses and break them with the authority of God. So when you consider how much people are bound up by judgments and curses, it's easy to see how desperately we all need blessing. This is what every lama would say in any kind of wang or blessing.

The Moelam Choemo in Gedu is a yearly religious congregation for a week, and the fact it happens once a year shows how important Moelam Choemo is. There is a kind of culture from different schools to sponsor something during this gathering. Like last year, Darla school gave a Tokha(lunch) to the public and the worshippers on 18/10/2016. But this year, I was taken by surprise, as the school was not given a day off for receiving blessings. I heard our Je Khenpo will conduct the last kind of ‘Tshewang’ blessing to the people here. Distant schools like Arikha, Pashikha and others called off their classes for the day, but it was SAD that Darla school (so near to Gedu) had a normal class. To tell the truth, there were grumbles especially from our faithful students and teachers' devotees. That normal class didn’t deter many from going to receive a blessing. The head of the school called an informal meeting saying that any teacher willing to go can go for the ‘wang’. And that was a real headache; almost all teachers went leaving few students behind in the classes. And that didn’t daunt students too; almost all students went saying that their parents were waiting for them. And a result, the school went haywire with few teachers and students. It was a pandemonium!! I really wonder why our school was not called off when other schools have. I also really wonder if we can promote religion (tradition and culture) when important functions like this take place and we are not allowed to attend it. I really wonder if this is the reason why Darla community has a large number of Christians. REASON!

Rigsar dance pema tashi 2016

A Dance practice for annual concert 27-9-2016

Global Hand washing Day

Reading Week 2016

Every year Darla school observes Reading Week, and this year too, the reading week commenced from 12th to 17th September. The school organized a-week long series of activities to enhance reading and to understand the importance of reading and the infinite benefits it facilitates in their growth in academics as a student and as a better human in their individual and social life. The theme of this year’s reading was “Dream Big, Read More.” During the week some special reading activities like readers’ theatre, selected reading, random reading, mass reading, etc were initiated so as to facilitate opportunity for more students to take part in the reading activities and thereby develop and inculcate the interest in reading within them. Some activities carried out as a part of reading activities are described below: 

Readers’ Theatre

Readers’ theatre was conducted as a competition item between the sections of grade PP-III.  It was interesting to see the tiny tots of our school presenting themselves as little narrators and various fanciful characters in their creative costumes and attire as kings, queens, butterflies, birds, etc. Their babbling speeches and sing-song narrations did create an effective ambiance and were appreciated by everyone.  The presentations were evaluated based on creativity and coordination and prizes were awarded accordingly. 

Random Reading

This reading activity was conducted for students of classes VII – X to check their ability to read Dzongkha and English fluently and their preparedness and confidence to speak before an audience.  They were instructed beforehand to be ready with two passages, in English and Dzongkha, and read it out as the coordinator of the day randomly called out their roll numbers in the assembly.  The activity went well as we planned and had the desired result.

Selected Reading

This activity was for the students from classes IV-VI.  Some of the students who were identified by the teachers were concerned readout either pieces of news or interesting information they wanted to share with their fellow students in the assembly. This activity was also successful though many of the students who came forward couldn’t be permitted to present their reading due to time constraints in the assembly. 

Quiz

A mini-quiz of two questions related to books and reading was also initiated to evaluate the students’ awareness of popular books, writers, and some common literary terms.  And prizes were awarded instantly to the winners.

Book Talk

As on every Friday, two students presented reviews of an English and a Dzongkha book.  The reviews are helping the students to get acquainted with the interesting books in the library and rouse their curiosity to read them.

Mass Reading

To facilitate more time for general reading, an hour was created, on Thursday, by deducting five minutes from each period.  So, after the instructional hours all the students and teachers came out to the open, settled in conducive places and read books of their choice for an hour.

We are very happy to note here that all the activities we had envisaged went well, leading this year’s Reading Week into a grand success.  It is hoped that our plans for such activities in the future will also meet with the same grandeur and success. Some stills of the reading week: