Summary of Chapter - 1.

We were done with Hellen Koller’s Nature is Not Alwawys Kind and Language. So it was time to start with the novel stated above. We took off with the usual presentation and the comments. I then introduced the term 'Novel' by trying to define it as a book-length story about imaginary or historical characters (Oxford Advanced Dictionary). I also tried to get them talking about the similarities and differences between the novel and the short story.

Then I took out the novel and pointed to the cover page asking them to talk about the pictures (there are three pictures of a dog, a majestic dzong and the landscape in the background). I asked them to guess the content of the story from the cover page. Most of them were right in saying that the story is most probably about the life- story of a dog.

Then I asked one of the students to read out the title of the novel. This done, I asked the class to talk about the same process again. I wanted to know why the word ‘stray’ was written like the way is is in the title. It was Karma Zangno who told us that probably it is the story about a stray dog. As stray dogs are normally unwanted , the word has been written above to express the unwantedness of the dog.

I also had a student reading out the blurb and the dedication as I am supposed to as per the teacher’s manual. It was time then to talk about the authoress, Ashi Kunzang Choden:

I introduced her by telling the class that Ashi Kunzang Choden is one of the few Bhutanese writers to have tried their hands at writing a full-length novel. There are other writers like Dasho Karma Ura or Dr. C.T. Dorji, but they mostly write about history or historical events. Mrs. Kunzang Choden was born in Bumrhang. After her early education in Bhutan, she studied in Darjeeling, West Bengal.

I informed the class that during my stay of over 14 years in The Switzerland of Bhutan, I had the good fortune of meeting her on three occasions. Once she was invited for a Book Talk in Jakar Higher Secondary School, once I was given a lift on my way back to school from the market. We spent some 15 minutes talking about her. She had her house somewhere near the dzong. I found her to be an exceptionally friendly lady with a very good command over the language.

The first book I read of hers was a book I really enjoyed going through called The Tale of the Yetis (if I am not mistaken). When I joined CHSS, other than all sections of standard XI, I was also asked to teach one section of IX. That was when I read Dawa for the first time.

I had to keep all the following in mind while going through the novel:

ü  How Dawa got his name.

ü  The concept of rebirth/ karma.

ü  His experience as an orphan, etc.

On looking around, when I thought the class was ready, I tried to read out the first paragraph of the first chapter. Once it was read out, I started explaining and then the thought of writing the summary of the novel erupted in my head. So here I am trying to summarize Dawa, the story of a stray Dog:

Dawa was yellow and brown. His had a scruffy and patchy coat. His head was quite big, which he held up proudly. Years ago, he was the leader of the howling pack in Thimphu. His howling companions made life difficult for the residents along with that of the expatriates and the tourists.

Now he has settled down near Changangkha lhakhang mainly for three reasons. Firstly, he is no more young. Secondly, he likes the tranquil atmosphere of the place and finally, from above the hillock, he can view the city he loves, that is, Thimphu.

It was his voice that shaped his future. His howling began with a low-pitched bark, rose to a high-pitched crescendo and lingered on before falling back on the way it started. It was not by luck that he became the leader of the howling pack. He dreamt about it, worked hard at it and practised it ritualistically. Naturally, many in the dog population knew that he was destined to be something great.

He was born on a cold, wintry night in a basket with a sticky bag attached to it in Paro. He was the smallest of a litter of six. His mother, a skinny, black one had a tough time feeding the puppies. She was old and finding food for survival and sustenance was always a problem. In order to supplement the breast-feeding, she started looking for food here and there. Soon the puppies were following her around, feeding on the scraps with her approval.

It was on one such occasion that she led her litter to a garbage dump just behind a restaurant. The sight of the chunk of pork lying atop the heap made them wild and Dawa got pushed around without getting anywhere near the meat, being the youngest member of the litter. Soon they all started frothing in the mouth, twitching and jerking before dropping down dead in front of Dawa. The chunk was poisoned by a human. Dawa came to have an utter distrust of humans from then on.

To be continued .....