The Rain Treat

The light showers in the afternoon today and yesterday were much awaited treat to everyone after more than fortnights of dry and torrid days. After wreaking havoc in most parts of our country especially in the southern regions, the rain refused to show its face for more than 17 days. Although hot and dry the days had been, the nation got enough time to recover the aftermaths of one of the worst monsoons ever. The things are now almost fallen into shape. But the plants and trees seemed in dire need of water. I have seen the flowers around wilting and earth wrinkling with cracks due to continuous sun shine. The heat had been intense everyday that sweats streamed even when we are not working especially during electricity blackouts. For the wilting privets around our national flag in front of the administrative building, I had to water every evening. Since yesterday I don't have to with the come back of the rain. Moreover the children won't have to struggle to break hard bouldered earth in the school agriculture garden for their up coming gardening works. And the farmers' corn will germinate better with a touch of rain. Perhaps plants and trees would have been watered free of cost.

The Best Story of My Weekend

I tried to write a couple of stories for children yesterday. I referred some children books to draw some ideas and insights to get started with a story. 
      Of four stories I could write with some difficulties, the following story came out as best I could write:
    
     We are all back home in an evening as usual.
     Dad is back home from his office.
     Ama is back home from her stall.
     Brother is back home from his college.
     I am back home from my school.
     From a supermarket, dad brings some packed milk.
     From her stall, mum brings some burgers and other junks.
     And brother brings some canned juice and packed tea.
     May be, this evening too, no whiff of of family cooking at home, I mumble.
     After our normal few minutes  private times of showers and changes, we are back in our living room.
     Father opens his computer and glues his eyes on the monitor. Mum watches TV toying her smartphone alongside. Brother muffles his ears with the earphones and busy at the PlayStation. I resign to my room to do my homework. I am struck some where with my mathematics problem.
     "Dad help me with my homework please." Dad comes in, hands me his smartphone, turn on home WiFi and suggest me to browse through. He leaves and I google my problem.
     In few minutes, mum shows up in the room with a burger and a glass of milk.
     "Are we not eating together today too? Mum."
     "Dad is busy and so is your brother. I am busy too and so you are."
     I munch the burger and drink the milk yearning for home cooked food from my father or mother's hands.
     Then I tiptoe towards my brother.
     "Acho let's play a while."
     He hands me his joystick and let me play a game at his PlayStation while he fiddles his smartphone.
     Then I am tried of the screen glaring at me. I pop into the living room where mum is still watching her serial.
      "Mum, come and tell me a bedtime story please."
      She comes and handover her iPad to me putting on a Disney's animated movie.
     "Apa did you really help me with my homework???"
      "Acho, did you really play with me"
     "Ama, did you really tell me a story???"
     "Parents, did you really cook that dinner???"
     I muttered and turn off the light.

The story is realistic, isn't it???
    

In the Name of Physical Beautification and Development

Sometimes, it is very difficult to work in a small school with small children when it comes to physical beautification and physical works. With most children little taller than the length of spde, shovl and pick axe handles, it is very challenging to materialize most of the physical works as planned. To have an ambience of a child friendly school, physical beautification is must to make a learning environment inviting and congenial. But beautification doesn’t come up naturally without investing our physical works. Although natural beauty is a true beauty that cannot be surpassed by any human-made beauty, wilderness is not a treat to most of the modern eyes. And as a result we have to scratch and butcher, chisel and shape, cut and crop, every natural thing around us to suit our eyes. In the name of physical beautification, most trees and plants are denied of their wilderness. Weeds and grass which falls in the vicinity of any human settlement are not lucky. Weeds are either cut or weeded out on regular basis and grass are mowed timely not excluding fates of privets that are pruned or trimmed as and when they penetrates the shape a gardener shaped. 
     Our school too has to commit all the above mentioned sins to suit the moods of all of us. If left in wilderness, outsiders take bad imprints of the school. And for the insiders, we feel that the environment is not safe and pleasant for learning and living if left in wildness. The task of transforming every natural things around us takes tremendous hard physical works in a small school like ours. It is hard to garner support of the community's people with the priority of their scheduled work at home. And the people are not that prosperous enough to sponsor some important projects in the school. Worse still, our school is surviving on shoestring budget that we are helpless to channel some of budget towards physical development. And government's planned developmental project doesn't cover everything that we dream to have an ambience of child friendly school. As a result, all beautification works and petty developmental works falls in our hands. Inch by inch, we have to share our physical energies to fall everything in the shape that is presentable to others and inviting to us.
     The last weekend saw us developing a badminton court suitable for our children to develop basic skill of playing the game.  It is our aim to make all the games facilities available to our children. But in the small playground already in place we cannot divide the ground to play all the games. Yes we can make the ground to play multi games and let the children play the game in turn but most of the children especially the smaller ones land up not getting opportunity to play at least a game in a week. So with every game having its place to play, most children are immersed in a game or two in a day. Those who are not allowed to play football can move to other games. 
     In a torrid heat of August, in our attempt to develop the badminton court, countless drops of sweats dropped off from us and countable blisters appeared on our hands. The children were willing to help us but they were helpless as always in terms of major manual works. It was really pitiful to observe our children seeming exhausted in few minutes not being able to dig with comfort with tools' handles almost their height. As a result they were given lighter work to haul the dug earth taking their own time. I was really proud of my colleagues working hard to shape the bushy garden into a playground. After toiling for more than hour, we were satisfied with the ground falling in a place to develop a badminton court. In a shade we had pineapple juice prepared by our lady colleagues who toiled equally with those children assigned to weed flower gardens and cut grass around. We decided to continue the work inch by inch without taxing our bodies much. The coolness of the shade by the generous trees around dried our sweats and refreshingly cooled us. No matter how much tried we were in the middle in the day, something taking shape out of our own physical contribution, earned us at least a good nights sleep.
 

In the Name of Physical Beautification and Development

Sometimes, it is very difficult to work in a small school with small children when it comes to physical beautification and physical works. With most children little taller than the length of spde, shovl and pick axe handles, it is very challenging to materialize most of the physical works as planned. To have an ambience of a child friendly school, physical beautification is must to make a learning environment inviting and congenial. But beautification doesn’t come up naturally without investing our physical works. Although natural beauty is a true beauty that cannot be surpassed by any human-made beauty, wilderness is not a treat to most of the modern eyes. And as result we have to scratch and butcher, chisel and shape, cut and crop, every natural thing around us to suit our eyes. In the name of physical beautification, most trees and plants are denied of their wilderness. Weeds and grass which falls in the vicinity of any human settlement are not lucky. Weeds are either cut or weeded out on regular basis and grass are mowed timely not excluding fates of privets that are pruned or trimmed as and when they penetrates the shape a gardener shaped. 
     Our school too has to commit all the above mentioned sins to suit the moods of all of us. The task of transforming every natural things around us takes tremendous hard physical works in a small school like ours. It is hard to garner support of the community's people with their priority of their scheduled work at home. And the people are not that prosperous enough to sponser some important project in the school. Worse still, our school is surviving on shoestring budget. And government's planned developmental project doesn't cover everything that we dream to have an ambience of child friendly school. As a result, all beautification works and petty developmental works falls in our hands. Inch by inch, we have to share our physical energies to fall everything in the shape that is presentable to others and inviting to us.
     This weekend saw us developing a badminton court suitable for our children to develop basic skill of playing the game.  It is our aim to make all the games facilities available to our children. But in the small playground already in place we cannot divide the ground to play all the games. Yes we can make the ground to play multi games and let the children play the game in turn but most of the children especially the smaller ones land up not getting opportunity to play at least a game in a week. So with every game having its place to play, most children are immersed in a game or two in a day. Those who are not allowed to play football can move to other games. 
     In a torrid heat of August, in our attempt to develop the badminton court, countless drops of sweats dropped off from us and countable blisters appeared on our hands. The children were willing to help us but they were helpless as always in terms of major manual works. It was really pitiful to observe our children seeming exhausted in few minutes not being able to dig with comfort with tools' handles almost their height. As a result they were given lighter work to haul the dug earth taking their own time. I was really proud of my colleagues working hard to shape the bushy garden into a playground. After toiling for more than hour, we were satisfied with the ground falling in a place to develop a badminton court. In a shade we had pineapple juice prepared by our lady colleagues who toiled equally with those children assigned to weed flower gardens and cut grass around. We decided to continue the work inch by inch without taxing our bodies much. The coolness of the shade by the generous trees around dried our sweats and refreshingly cooled us. No matter how much tried we were in the middle in the day, something taking shape out of our own physical contribution, earned us at least a good nights sleep.
 

The Bard is Back

As much as other English Literature scholars and students are happy with the news of the comeback of Shakespeare in our English Curriculum, I am deligithed too. Happiness might have crossed borders for those Shakespeare fanatics with the news. I am fortunate to know  a few yet devoted Shakespeare fans in our country. My Lecturer and friend Sir Karma Wangchuk, my inspiration in the world of arts, nature and literature, of Paro College of Education is a bona fide son of Shakespeare as far as I know, heard and seen about him. In his nerves flows Shakespearean wisdom, pure and clear, as oozed out of the bard’s pen. He would often comment that no English Literature is complete without Shakespeare. With Shakespeare in his DNA, he would make the plays lively for us and in the process we would earn lots of values especially critical thinking skills.  I was one of the fortunate students to taste the creams of Shakespearean literature from him. He would serve us best of the best Shakespeare’s universal cuisines unadulterated by incompetency and shallowness of Shakespearean knowledge. With Shakespeare in him, inspiration and love for the literature streamed naturally in me. During his one of visits to England, the opportunity to visit the bard's birth place, Stratford upon Avon, had been greatest moment that he felt like visiting the bard in real.
      Then Mr K C Jose who had been an English Lecturer in both the colleges of education in our country is one for the Shakespeare. I don’t know him personally nor did I study literature from him. I have realized his love of Shakespeare through reading of his articles in newspapers and academic journals. Mr Jose opined in one of his papers, My Reflection Note on the New English Curriculum VIII-XII, Proceedings of Ringpung Experiment XVI, June 2009, ‘The Bard-upon-Avon, to me, just irreplaceable. No other authors-be it poet, a novelist or a dramatist- of any clime or time has the range, the beauty and the universality that Shakespeare has.’ And through such views and comments he voiced in a couple of his articles I read, I consider him as one of the fans of the bard. And then Mr Lobsang Nima, through reading of his blog post(Lobsang Nima’s Soulsearching Diary)  on the bard a couple of times, is one who loves Shakespeare in our nation. Further our former education minister T S Podgyel who is considered king of English Literature in our country may be for the bard. I have heard some elites sharing how they would enjoy learning Shakespearean plays from the minister as a lecturer. At times I have heard that most elites consider him as our nation's Shakespeare for the ocean of wisdom he holds and  the ripples he had been in the nation and beyond. However many people including my lecturer Karma didn't know why Mr Thakhur couldn't retain Shakespearean plays during curriculum shift as the chair. Many may not have been in favor of the bard, they used to conclude.
     There may be many who love the bard through his works which appeals even in this digital world.
    Personally for the opportunity to learn two plays, The Taming of the Shrew and The Tempest, in high schools, Indepth study of the play, The Tempest, in Paro College of Education and finally AsYou Like It and few of his timeless sonnets in my PGDE course in Sherubtse, supported by reading of some of his simplified plays by the modern publishers, supplemented by watching movie version of most of the plays and topped with inspiration from my leturer Karma, I claim myself as one of the lovers of Shakespeare's  works.   But I am not claiming myself an expert in Shakespeare nor am I establishing myself as one of the all known English literature man. I am just expressing little that I am blessed with the bard’s work through experience and inspiration.
     For the greatness and vastness of shakespearn wisdom, some people try to boost their status of literature through Shakespeare and his works. During our school and college days how some of us would walk tall displaying the covers of Shakespeare’s works. And still today some people feel proud having made reference to Shakespeare in their writings, social media posts, speeches and daily conversations. All these behaviours whether we are shallowly or deeply immersed in Shakespearean works, are actually the expression our the bard’s greatness and vastness. The true greatness rest in his true greatness of all his works.
     Now that the bard is back and if I get posted in high schools, I would be blessed to share some of the creams of Shakespeare with others too. May be that time I will be thrown into the ocean of Shakespeare and can fathom the depth of Shakespeare in our life. As of now I am only delighted that he is back in our curriculum in his 400 th  death anniversary which is commemorated worldwide, grand in his country, England, drawing in thousands of visitors. May the bard live long in our curriculum enthralling and broadening our children till eternity.

Time Without Dullness and Inactivity

As a teacher, there isn’t any time for me to tick by with dullness and inactivity. I am always pushed into one or two of course many activities, planned and unplanned, going by the nature of my job no matter how much laziness and dullness engulf me at times. With many pairs of innocent eyes expecting something from me, I am obliged to present them something to let their times tick productively. At times when I finish my planned tasks  before time, i worry how to fill the remaining time with productive ticks. It is very challenging for me to fill the times of the small children. They are restless and my failure to engage them is a total disaster in the classroom. Within 50 minutes in each class, I  have to confluence all my means and methods—recall, remember, reflect, invent, innovate, improvise, etc—to  to maintain smooth flow of the class.
     And for the time and energy I release to make my children's time meaningful, I am rewarded with times without dullness and inactivity in my life.