SUMMARY OF CHAPTER - 6.

Dawa had a tough time climbing to the top of Pelela. Dawa couldn’t have made it up to the top, had it not been for the meal he made of the radish cooked with cheese, left unattended in a camp of sheepherders. He shot out the moment he heard noises in the distance, remembering his first sneak at Dampa. Hiding behind a tree, he could see a woman coming back to the tent, leading a dog by a rope, being followed by a child. The dog barked furiously when it sensed Dawa’s presence. The woman reprimanded it as a result. She was a beautiful dog with a shapely figure and an equally impressive tail. Dawa found the woman’s shock at finding the pan with the curry empty, embarrassing.

Guilty, Dawa resumed his journey, stealing a last look at the beautiful dog he nearly fell for! His single bark while passing through the prayer flags on the mountain top, drew the attention of the onlookers.

As he began his descent, people waited along the road. He could see the herds of yaks and sheep grazing on the mountain slopes. The sun bore down on him and he felt hot and tired. The faint smell of the stolen food around his mouth was a constant reminder of his shameful act.

As he neared the compound of the beautiful chorten located on the bank of a river, he could see the group of dogs moving from one group of picnickers to another for scraps of food. He could see some foreigners getting of a bus, walking down to the chorten ground, sitting around a table laden with food and being served by an equal number of guides and cooks. Dawa could not but hear their talk. They used terms (‘awesome’, ‘amazing’, ‘Shangri-La’ 'pristine', etc.) incomprehensible to him, despite his linguistic skills of the previous life.

Suddenly, he heard a woman pointing to him; exclaim that he was the strangest-looking dog that she had ever seen in her life. Subsequently, Dawa kept being photographed by them from various angles and because of him; a member of the group, John, was being teased by others when he informed them that the dog had smiled at his request!

Soon Dawa was being treated to some choicest and varied food. But for the temporary attention he received from them, the other dogs did not mind his presence there.

It took him long to get to the Trongsa dzong. He noticed a tiny dog tied to the leg of a bench with his fur cropped and the fir over ears, hanging quite low. A bell tinkled from its neck. Dawa wondered that if it was from this house that the oldie at Changangkha was stolen.

A walk around the town made him realize that there were many cute, boisterous dogs tied in a similar fashion. Dawa asked them to be quiet, but they continued to bark and whine. Dawa felt that the Trongsa dogs were the least friendly of all. He immediately left for the ultimate destination, Bumthang.
Please turn to page 2/-

HALF WAY THROUGH

The last few weeks have been quite hectic. Anyways once we were done with the sixth chapter of Dawa, I thought it was time to unwind and recharge out batteries. So I decided to check their understanding by asking the students to answer some questions. In the last class, I asked them to answer a couple of questions as per the teacher’s manual. The questions were:

1.      How did Dawa contact mange? How did he feel about it? What lesson/s do you learn from his one, single unguarded encounter?

2.      Who was Gelong Ma Pelmo? Write what you have learnt about her.

Naturally, we began with a discussion of the previous questions. Then I wrote the next two questions on the board with the instructions to write the answers within 20 minutes. This time they were to write the answers to the questions:

1.      What was Dawa’s mother’s advice to him? Write about some advice that your parents give you from time to time.

2.      Briefly write about Dampa’s physical appearance and two lessons Dawa learnt from him.

I also told them that in the last 20 minutes they would have to work in pairs and make two short questions – questions that can be answered in one or at the most two sentences. I was pleasantly surprised therefore, when I found some of the students could finish their answers to the above questions within practically no time.

The answer to Q.1. was: “Always watch your tail. As long as you can see your tail behind you, you are safe.” His mother would tell him. She also whispered to him that in unexpected situations of great danger, it is wise to put the tail between the hind legs. Precious pearls of wisdom that helped Dawa survive through some of the worst times of his life.
While answering the second part of the question, they wrote: My parents always have my best interests at the back of their minds. They want me to be a responsible, contributing citizen of my country. So they keep on advising me time and again about the importance of being  (1) a good human being, (2) respectful to my teachers and the elders, and (3) being hard-working and honest. 

The answer to Q.2. read something like: Dampa was the most unusual-looking dog that Dawa had seen still then. He was called Dampa due to the muddy color of his skin and had a white neck. He had a strange, heart-shaped face. His eyes were too large for his face. His body was small and legs, spindly. Inspite of his apparent small size, Dampa moved with swiftness that few dogs could match.

The two important lessons that Dawa learnt from Dampa were – firstly, he was to learn from humans but not to imitate them. And secondly, to keep his eyes and ears open and keep his mouth shut unless he had to speak.

Almost all the students had answered the questions in a similar manner. Without any further ado, I then asked them to start making their own questions in pairs. Once they got the hang of it, they seemed to be enjoying themselves making their own questions. I kept moving around the class, providing help where necessary. Let me reproduce some of those questions here:

        I.            How did Dawa get his name?

Ans:   Dawa got his name from the moon.

      II.            Who was Gelong Ma Pelmo? What disease was she suffering from?

Ans:   Gelong Ma Pelmo was a Tibetan princess. She was suffering from the dreaded disease of leprosy.

    III.            Who were the three most important leaders of the dog community in Thimphu?

Ans:    The three most important leaders of the dog community in Thimphu were –

1.      The Leader of Territories,

2.      The Leader of Warnings and Signals, and

3.      The Leader of Howling.

    IV.            Name the chorten he used to visit during times of trouble.

Ans:    The chorten that Dawa used to visit was the Memorial Chorten in Thimphu.

      V.            Why was the cute, little dog in Trongsa tied to a bench?

Ans:    The cute, little dog in Trongsa was tied to a bench to stop him from running away or stealing.

    VI.            How did Dawa feel about the dogs in Trongsa?

Ans:   Dawa felt that the dogs in Trongsa were the least friendly of all.

  VII.            What kind of language did the second group of monks, that Dawa followed, use?

Ans:   The second group of monks that Dawa followed used some sort of Esperanto or a mixture of Dzongkha, Tibetan, English and Hindi.

VIII.            Who was Dawa’s first admired dog? ( I would have preferred to have rephrased the question to – Who was the dog that admired first?)

Ans:   Dawa’s first admired dog was Moley.

    IX.            Why did Dawa leave Thimphu?

Ans:   Dawa left Thimphu due to dirty dog politics and to cure himself from mange.

      X.            How did Dawa learn the honorific terms?

Ans:   Dawa learnt the honorific terms from school going children.

    XI.            Why did Dawa hesitate to scratch in public?

Ans:   Dawa hesitated to scratch in public as he had his dignity.

  XII.            Why was Dawa afraid on reaching Dochula?

Ans:   Dawa was afraid on reaching Dochula because the dog pound was there and he thought of being caught and impounded.

XIII.            What lesson did Dawa learn after the loss of his family?

Ans:   After the loss of his family, Dawa learnt that human beings are never to be trusted.

XIV.            What was Dawa’s best quality?

Ans:  Out of the many good qualities Dawa had, his best quality was the gift of his voice.

Continued on page 2/-

HALF WAY THROUGH (2)

I am sorry for being reluctant to arrange the questions along with their answers sequentially as that would have helped the viewer-students more. Perhaps some other time at some other place, god willing. Now let me conclude today’s blog with another question which I believe the students enjoyed answering. It was my question which read like:

“Write an imaginary dialogue of 10 lines ( 5 for each character) between Dawa and the skinny dog in Wangdiphodrang.”

The first student to finish writing the dialogue was Damcho Tshering  and here I have great pride and pleasure in presenting it to you, reader.


An imaginary Dialogue between Dawa and the Skinny Dog:

Skinny Dog:  Do you know that Wangdiphodrang is the cleanest town in Bhutan?

Dawa:            Who cares? I am not from this place.

Skinny Dog   I thought you were new to this place and going to settle down here. I just wanted to help and meant no offence.

Dawa:           No way! My destination is Bumthang.

Skinny Dog: By the way, what’s the name? Looks like you are a mange-victim, mo?   

Dawa:           My name is Dawa. Goes without saying I’m very proud of the name. Scared of the disease though.

Skinny Dog: Come on, Barker. There’s nothing to be scared of. It’s a very common disease among us dogs, Mate.

Dawa:           Everybody’s been telling me the same, but am I not afraid?

Skinny Dog: Why are you headed to Bumthang?

Dawa:           I’m going to Bumthang because of the disease. Besides, I’ve heard of someone called Gelong Ma Pelmo, the Tibetan princess, who cured herself of leprosy by praying and meditating in a cave there.

Skinny Dog: GOOD BYE AND SAFE JOURNEY.

Dawa:           Bye and take care.