In the next
class, I asked them to answer some questions. Unfortunately, I could not spend
as much time on discussing Dawa as I wished. I had some great ideas like I wanted
them to draw some pictures of their favourite characters, or their favourite
scenes from the novel, but the time factor was weighing heavily on my mind. I
still have to teach them a story entitled “I’ve got Gloria” by K.M.Kerr and
another poem to boot! There are some holidays coming up due to the Chhukha
Tshechu.
I decided to
spend the last period on “Dawa, the story of a stray dog” by continuing with
the question left unanswered in the previous class due to lack of time. The students
were to verbally talk about their impressions of Dawa and they came out some
7/8 characteristics of Dawa. The question was:
1. What are some of your impressions of
Dawa at the end of the novel?
Ans: Dawa is a friendly
dog. He went back to Paro towards the end of the novel to meet Moley. This
simply proves his friendly nature. He was educated and intelligent. He, unhesitatingly,
without going into any open confrontation with the dogs on the way to Thimphu,
put his tail between his hind legs and showed them that he meant no harm.
Similarly, he behaved in the same manner in the village below the Jakar Dzong,
when the menacing-looking dogs came charging at him. These are acts of sheer
intelligence on his part.
We get to see the romantic streak of Dawa in his infatuation
with the beauty, Singyemo, who ditched him for Katu. He also fell momentarily
for the beautiful, black yak-herder dog on the top of Pelela. The religious side of Dawa comes to the fore as we find him spending a lot of time at the cave
of Gelong Ma Pelma, though he was long cured of his deadly disease, mange. But
what cuts out Dawa from the rest is his patriotism, his love for Thimphu or
Bhutan for the matter. The last line of the speaks volumes of his love for
and pride in his motherland.
After we were done with the discussion on Dawa, Rajesh Rai,
who has been keeping quiet for the last couple of weeks, surprised me by
standing up and asking me the question:
2. Sir, can you share some of your
feelings about the writer of this novel based on your reading and understanding
of it?
Ans: I thanked him for the question and then told him that
during my stay of over 14 years in Bumthang, I could meet Ashi Kunzang Choden
only thrice. Once we invited her to read out to the students in the jam-packed MPH
during the Reading Week. Another time when I was coming back to school from BoB some half hour's distance away, I was
given a lift by her. We talked about a lot of things and she really impressed
me with her knowledge of contemporary issues. As we reached near her house, she
even asked me to come in for a cup of coffee or something. So it goes without
saying that she is very knowledgeable, friendly and hospitable.
Apart from my feelings of her based on those personal encounters,
I felt while going through the part of the novel where we find Dawa shifting to
his new shelter at Thowadrak and spending most of his time looking at the vast
empty space in front that most probably she spent some time there. Reason
enough for her writing so vividly and poignantly! Only a religious minded person would do that.
She is the first Bhutanese woman to have written a novel in
English and has a great command over the language. Despite my fault-finding
nature, I could only marvel at her mastery of the language from the very first
page of the novel to the last.
Ashi Kunzang has to be a fiercely patriotic lady as is
evident throughout the novel. Through the portrayal of Dawa sitting near the
temple overlooking the Thimphu town with loving emotion, she bares a part of
herself or her love for her motherland. ( Bhutan is growing and coming up. I purposefully talked about
the football match between Bhutan and the Maldives on the previous night at
Changlimitang Stadium. Nearly everyone had given up on Bhutan coming back in
the match. But against all odds, Bhutan scored 3 goals in the last 15 minutes
and created history!) She knows it from the bottom of her heart that Bhutan
cannot remain the same as change is inevitable and welcome. But there is no doubt about the
fact that she is a very proud Bhutanese.
I concluded the answer by asking them to be always proud of
this glorious country as Peace and Tranquillity seems to have found a nest in
this majestic, mountainous country like nowhere else.
Rajesh kept standing still throughout but the moment I
finished answering his first question, he came out with the second which went
like:
3. Why do you think this novel was
included in the curriculum, out of the hundreds and thousands of novels available
in the market?
Ans: Dawa was chosen, from among hundreds of novels, due to
various reasons. Firstly, earlier students in class-IX had to study a play
called The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, the greatest playwright
ever. But many students found Shakespeare very difficult to understand because
of the language. As a result, students
performed miserably in the exams. Consequently, Shakespeare was removed from
the curriculum and Dawa was introduced.
I also told them about the huge loss the government incurs
every time a high school student flunks in the exam. The government spends
nearly 70-75 thousands per HS student per year. I asked them to work out how
much money the government has to pay if 5 students fail in one school and then
multiply the amount by the number of HSs in the country. How much would that be?
Another reason might be when a book is written by a foreign
author, it is difficult for the students to identify and relate to the places and
people, but as this book is written by a Bhutanese author, students find it
easier to do so.
Finally, I informed them that as the language used in 'Dawa,
the story of a stray dog', is exceptionally good that might have influenced the
teacher-educators to go for it, having obviously thought about the long term
benefits the novel would have for the students in due course of time, so far as
their English is concerned.
GOOD BYE DAWA, STAY GOLD.
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