Back to School

 Once again I am back to school days I mean back to teaching-learning season only difference that it is a different one. Waking up at 6AM, preparing pack lunch for the day, readying for an interesting day and riding on the bike for twenty minutes to the institute, I love it. I have always liked going to school as a kid, no matter how much beatings I got for doing naughty or for not doing well in studies, it never occurred to me that I will leave going to school.

As a matter of fact I still remember when I was six years old and my mom took me for admission to a nearby school (lauri primary school, year 1995) which was an hour walk from my house. The principal was Mr. Dawa Tshering (I don’t know where he is now) who rejected my admission after knowing that I was too young to walk in the morning and evening to and from the school as a day scholar. I remember crying like little baby, nagging my mom and resisting to go back home while my mother was dragging me out of embarrassment herself. It wasn’t just me, there was yet another, a friend and my cousin who was two years older than me. He was rejected too and he too was taken to by his loquacious mother. The problem with him was although aged for preprimary admission, he was short, and couldn’t touch his left ear over the head by his right hand and so he failed the usual testimony and hence rejection. We cried in unison till the gate of school which convinced our parents to once again request the principal to reconsider. In the meantime I also had another elder cousin brother who was in class six then.  I guess because of him, the notion that he might take care of us both, the principal was convinced and we both got admitted to school. I don’t remember how since then the time flew, but I have never in my life regretted and hated going to school. Going to school was so much better in many ways. As a day scholar, we were served lunch from the school and guess what, it was rice and dhal and Japanese tinned fish which was rather new for us and a kind of picnic ..:P

Going to school escaped so many things, from cattle and scary jungles, field works under the blazing sun and stormy rain and the worst ever- flour (Bokpi as we call in sharchop, I hated so much as a child, remember we were served with lunch at school?) I don’t know how that first year passed but I managed to get pass. Then when I reached class II my parents enrolled me as a boarder student since I had to walk more than hour to school. It was tiring for me and my parents after all it was better staying in hostel and frankly I liked the boarder life although the worst I can remember now out of all the odd is about the starvation. The food served from school mess was just never enough. Most of the time we (I) would go to bed with half-filled belly. Sometimes when rushing for second share, friends could get into that big mess pot! What a memory? And quite frankly who cares about education or passion as young kids? It was out of mere fear or something else that would drive us into studying harder. Who would have known all the rubbish about passion or ambition or logics behind the theories anyway? We just needed to get pass, that’s all.  But somehow it feels so right to have experienced it all because it is the starting point, the basic foundation.

Now when I go to the institute every day it is different, every day I go to the institute with the aim to learn something new, to with the aim to be able to do well so that when time comes I don’t have to think back and regret about all the bygone days. This is my passion, my love and profession after all, a trade that demands dedication, hard work, consistency, experience and exposure. Flying in the air is not a Joke and so is preparing to be able to do so. Every day I wake up with the wish that I take most out of this ten months duration of going to this marvelous school. Three months is already gone and it has been pretty fine so far, hope it will be the same for the remaining months as well.

Happy weekends…J

Evening's Rambling Thoughts

I was wondering how a little things in life give us so much joy and happiness, how a broken pieces of simple toys can have great impact in us and how even one step ahead or behind in life can make huge difference. Even being able to understand so clearly the basic concepts in class rooms can ignite and make you feel so contended and satisfied; it is like why didn't I realize it before? If only i knew it before?

Engineering wasn't really my thing, but somehow I ended taking that up by chance and consequently landed into a completely different industry-Aviation, an industry that works on trust, integrity and honesty and I tell you it isn't that simple. What is so simple without challenge anyway? Three months into doing basic course and i am already thinking like what have i learnt in one and half years as a trainee engineer? What have i learn doing B-tech for four years? Every day is a new stage, an unfold of new world and every week an exam day to assess.
The beauty that adds to this is the faulty we are taught by. We only know how much we could have done had there been a teacher in school life who really loved and cared about his or her profession. But sadly in Bhutan we have just too little teacher who are genuinely interested in their profession and who struggles to make go classroom out of genuine interest. I hate to say but there are just few.

I wish if only our teachers are bit more honest and mindful. When a student throws question, either the teachera take it as a challenge, get their ego hurt or the students are discouraged and embarrass in front hurting their self esteem. This results student confining to themself, feared and full of doubts. But this is just a generalization which I have noticed, I still salute to all the teachers whom I have been taught by. Fortunately I have met some of the best ones and I thank them.

Just some rambling thoughts, have a good weekend folks.
Cheers...!

posted from Bloggeroid

More than Education

In life it is not just the education that is very important than anything. It may be the engine that drives everything but without things like basics exposure and experience, there is hole and we end up getting tangled into the world of embarrassment and shame. It is not just the education that will take us through all the thorny road and the ladder of success and blessings but others like the simple social and modern norm, the culture and customs of a particular place equally supplement if not more and without these, life becomes rather awkward and one ends up hurting ourself.
There are certain things one ought to be aware of and know about, something like how one orders at KFC in a dignified manner, how an unintentional approach or a conversation in a circle can hurt someone near you; how a simple ignorance can blow up into flares of confusions nd disorientation. Ultimately it is about information, experience and exposure. Some way or the other, these are what our life is made up of.

The accent is one thing I am yet to get used to, I mean if you are some common people just like me (the mediocre) understanding even the language you learned as main medium and spoken can sometimes be very annoying. You just don't understand what the other people is trying to convince and at worst you just make the other more confused and lost. Although the instructors out here are most of them English origin, I am yet to catch the style of their speaking.

Anyway just remember that the widest gap ever imaginable would be between one's expectation and reality. There is nothing as free lunch, be prepared to face anything that comes for it comes with costs.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Battling Question

Life is but a battling journey

Every new day is a fresh battle for each one of us.

We fight for pride, for fame, out of jealousy

Out of need and desperation,

We fight for our own survival!

Be it a kingly luxurious one

Or that fearful hell for less fortunate ones

We fight and there is just never end

We create our own battle out of mercy

Out of frustration, temper and fallacy

We fight for internal peace, solace and redemption.

We fight for love, for care, for attention

How often do we realize this is something we ought to live with?

That this is just the part of life?

What matters at the end of day?

Age of Adaline

I watch lot of movies, in fact a lot of movies and television series because it is the only thing that drains my leisure time besides reading which unfortunately has left me doesn’t interest me for a while. Some movies no matter how much critics say is a waste of time, you never enjoy, I often watch movies after recommendations from friends or after reading reviews. A friend from Mauritius recommended me to watch this movie: “Age of Adaline” which I watched and it was just worth spending my leisure time.

It is a movie about a girl staring Black Lively who meets with a kind of miracle where she never gets aged after 29 years. It portrays the realities of life that we might have to face and how it is to live a big secret, the struggles, the fear, and the lies. It is a beautiful story with romance, suspense and surprises in between that totally glues you with the screen.

After watching the movie it was like really? What if that happens to us in reality? Sometimes we silently wish if only we could outlive, if only the good moments lasts long but imagine that wish is granted just for us miraculously.  Do you think it will be worth praying and wishing? Watch the movie how it might seem. I would rather wish living to the fullest knowing that life is uncertain.

Cheers…

Of Examination

Have you ever wondered as to why people tend to make mistakes even after thorough revision, even after one is fully convinced and aware that one is confident enough to get through and especially in teaching-learning process, this is a damn thing you know, because it is either a matter of pass or fail, a matter of division in the sense that once you are unable to reach a certain level, so-called pass, everything seem to look different, everyone seems to look differently. I wonder how an hour or two of an assessment or examination can really sum up or determine the very knowledge or the skills learned after a whole load of syllabus and subject? And I think learning is but a continuous process.

Well, failure may be the pillar of success, but if we take otherwise in other sense, I doubt if it is not the first step towards degeneration, towards timidity and cowardice and weakness, because it weakens the confidence level you have had, the zeal and even the attitude towards that particular subject. Failing just because you haven't learned enough or you were bit careless  is a different story but anyway after about 12 hours duration, we ended our first ever practical examination of the course, the tools and Equipment and equipment subject. we have practiced a lot for about a month and had made a bucking-bar, Rivet gauge, a soft face hammer and practiced methods involved in all these. As the assessment we were to make a 'false-jaw' out of a block of steel which involves all the basic processes engineering- filing, drilling, reaming and tapping screw,stamping and finish and frankly speaking my project did not go as wished. The last day screwed me up towards the end and it was like really? If you haven't failed even once in your life (in examination or anything) especially in your school days, you really don't know what it means to be that tensed victim trying hard to catch the hands of the clock even though your instructors may not be that strict about time frame, of what it means to be behind the mass; be cautioned that it is a nightmare! But the good thing is you learn a lot, you come out a lot more wiser at the end of the day and that is the beauty! we got to accept the fact that on the larger note  learning is more about how you approach and apply and little about finishing first, that is a justice in itself

At the end of the assessment, we had bit of fun arranging the sets of classroom, cleaning and with some photo sessions. we are the last batch to have studied in this old institute which has produced lot of aircraft engineers. Bhutan has a special link with Air New Zealand, some instructors who have been teaching  for more than two decades still reminds us of Bhutanese individuals who studied,  excelled and went back. From next week, we are shifting to a new institute which seems to be a lot more fun. Till then next time. Have a good weekend...:)

Story from New Zealand Part II

It is exactly two months today dwelling and studying in foreign land and despite very lovely place at here, I feel homesick, I miss my parents, my colleague, my work and my country; perhaps this shows how attached we are to our country and what we do no matter how bad, how harsh or how terrible it might look.

We have recently shifted our house after staying  in Chinese landlord's home for about a month. There was another Chinese flat mate who was full of complain. No matter how much we tried our best to keep the house clean or keep our noises low in the house, he used to complain and give us lectures. The internet was another thing he blamed about saying that it has become slow after we guys reach from the class in the evening although we were equally paying. Therefore since then we have been searching new apartment which we finally got one. She (our present landlord) is a nice one, as most New Zealanders are generally; the rent and the distance from the institute also a reasonable one although the rent did not include internet connection. we had to arrange our own internet connection which took us about three long weeks and certainly that was a night mare, to lead a life without so-called internet.

Well, the past three week without internet connection has made me realized something about the present generations of ours. It seems we have become too dependent own fast hand technology which are at click's disposal and it seems that without internet, we just can't do anything! I mean we feel like something is missing. Perhaps this is nothing more than an addiction which is sad. Anyway I have tried my best to do something productive and reading was one. And Khaled Hosseini's A thousand spledid suns have been a very good companion and pass time the past few days other than Paulo Coelho's Adultery. With just practical classes during the day at the institute and nothing like homework, it has been yet another plus point to stick into reading.

Just two months at here and I have learned so many things, things which will live with me forever. Apart from the normal classroom teachings, the good news is that I have learned to bicycle although have learned during college days in India, that was just the beginning..:)  W friends even bought each to travel to the institute.  It is an awkward and embarrassing moment when you don't know such simple things of life and especially coming from community where we have rather wooden trucks as toys, even knowing at this age is but a joy. Swimming is another that I have been practicing and trying to refine and for now it is doing well.

Apart from these, I have also met many new people, good new people perhaps the finest ones- teachers, companions and through them it has made me realize that there is so more to life than just eat, shit and live. Yet despite all these, something still seems to miss, there is this invisible, an unbound longing for someone out there. Is this just the homesick or more?