The last Mid-semester Break

The hostels are all empty and silent, except the dogs that lives in and around the college campus and eleven of us, the Bhutanese MNNITians and few of others. The dogs here don’t bark or cry frightfully at night like in Bhutan. I still remember those sleepless nights at boarder hostels when the dogs howled and cried the whole night in the bright moonlight. Since last Friday, the students have left for their families on mid-Semester break (10 days) and for Holi, the colour festival, which is celebrated irrespective of the age or gender in India.

The past mid-Semester breaks have been very productive and memorable. In the first semester, just after we reached here, our seniors took us on trip to Agra, where one of the seven wonders of the world- Taj Mahal exists. It was one of the most wonderful trip and the memories are still fresh. We visited the nearby historical sites of Fatiapur City too, which is the resident of Akbar, the great Mughal Emperor.

One time, we visited Tsho-Pema (Rewalsar) via Delhi and that was the longest and most exciting trip of all. Tsho- Pema is located in Himachal Pradesh, we went from Delhi by bus to Shimla, spent two days there visiting the places, which is just like Bhutan on a hilly area and then travelled to Mande from where it’s four hours by bus to Rewalsar. We had a monk, who assisted and explained all the important stories behind those magnificent Nyes. The great and wonderful statue of Guru Rinpoche welcomes all the visitors once we face the holy land of Rewalsar. There is Bhutanese Monastery and lodge, specifically for Bhutanese pilgrim which is a good initiative by the government of Bhutan that offers rooms in reasonable rates. If you visit the place, you should go for that…J

In another, we visited Lumbini in Nepal-the birth place of Lord Buddha and returned via Kushi Nagar in India where Lord Buddha had his last sermon and parinirvana. And last semester, we visited Bodh-Gaya;  another trip which I can never forget.  We were again fortunate enough to be accompanied by a monk, Lopen Rinchen Khandu, who is Umze in Bhutanese Monastery in Bodhgaya throughout our stay to visiting all the nearby places.

But this time, the last mid-semester break of my college life, I chose to stay back at college itself for so many reasons. Just after the break we have second Unit test which before used to be about ten days after the break. The college management has changed starting this semester and I thought I could make good use of these break to prepare, yet the funny thing is that even after half the duration of break now, I haven’t started. As too much cooks spoil broth, so are we by  the vacation (leisure time) I think, freedom is never free; it makes us indolent and complacent. It disturbs all the normal schedules and the continuity of everyday routines. We tend to sleep more and have meals on inappropriate time and the result of this is even worse!

I am never convinced with the nature of human as to why do we (I) feel so different during the break, when we are free from the normal schedules and sameness of our life even if it is of short duration; the movies seems to be source of boredom, the books seem to strain our eyes for the first time, our brain is occupied with some thing we don't know and if it is the gossip with friends, the topics are endless. This is the bitter irony of human being. "What do we  (I) want and what is wrong?" I keep asking.