Taking stock of the students’ Progress with Dawa (till Chapter-5) through the Weekly Test on 15h May, 2016.

Last Monday, the students of standard-IX had their Weekly Test in English. I set the paper. As Mr.Tshering Dorji is dealing with all sections of standard-IX but one, I tried to make it as easy for him as I could. Correcting some 130 papers within a limited period of time is never easy. I told him that we would ask them 4 questions from the first 5 chapters of the novel each carrying 5 marks. The questions were:-

1.      How did Dawa lose his family?

Ans:- One day his mother took them to the garbage dump behind the restaurant. To their good fortune, there was a chunk of port lying there. As they were hungry, they started devouring the meat without much consideration for the youngest and weakest member of the family. Dawa was too weak to get on to the top of the heap and compete with his other siblings for the port. He waited restlessly down. He was very surprised therefore, to find his siblings along with his mother dropping down the heap like a rock falling of the cliff, with their mouths foaming and frothing. Then they lay still. Dawa waited for long for them to be awake. Then he realized that they were not going to wake up. Some wretched human had lacerated the port with poison. That is how Dawa lost his family.

2.      Briefly write what you know about Dampa or Moley.

Ans:- Dawa met Dampa, a small dog, for the first time when he was resting outside a tent during a party in Thimphu. This unusual looking dog with its muddy-coloured body and white neck caught Dawa’s notice with the swiftness with which he moved around and darted in and out of the tent meant for the VIPs with a mouthful. He had a heart shaped face with large eyes. Dampa also had spindly legs. Later on Dawa and Dampa became good friends. It was Dampa who asked to take his Dzongkha seriously as he had leadership aspirations. He also asked Dawa to learn the honorific terms from humans.

OR

Moley was one of the most ancient and wise dogs in Paro. Despite her age, she with her rheumy eyes, was beautiful as her name suggests – Beautiful Female. More than half of the dog population in Paro was claimed to have originated from her. It was Moley who directed Dawa to Thimphu. She liked Dawa a lot compared to the other dogs in town, as Dawa asked intelligent questions. Moley also requested Dawa to enlighten her with the stories of his travels beyond Paro, on his return.

3.      What story did Dawa invent about his lineage?

Ans:- Dawa began to wonder about his lineage after his rejection by Singyemo, the coquettish bitch, who left Dawa for Katu. After sometime, he made up the story that his great grandfather was a damchi from an aristocratic family in Lhasa. The day he was born, he was stolen by a vulture who took him up to his nest on a rock face. Bred as his great grandpa was on bird food, he did not grow in size. A sheepherder found him later on and presented him to the lady of the aristocratic family. The lady was so charmed with the small dog that the sheepherder was immediately made the chamberlain of the household as a reward. She would keep Dawa’s great grandpa in her sleeve for the warmth and fed him with a daily dose of barley flour mixed with a little amount of butter tea. Initially, Dawa did not like to tell this story about his lineage, but with the passage of time, the more he narrated this story, the more he began to believe it himself.

4.      Who is an underdog? What happened when someone became an underdog?

Ans:- A fallen, disgraced leader became an underdog. The former Leader of Warnings and Signals was one such underdog.

Once a leader became an underdog, life was miserable for him. The underdog had no dog rights and completely defenceless. Every dog in that area could abuse and attack him either verbally or physically. They could taunt or tease him and the poor underdog could not even fight back in self-defence. Even puppies and females could attack him in any way they liked. It was really pathetic to see the underdog, the former Leader of Warnings and Signals moving around, keeping a safe distance from the other dogs with fear and terror writ large on his face.

Despite my best attempts, the students of IX E have disappointed me in the Test. We discussed all these questions earlier in the class. I even wrote some of the points on the green board for them. I rebuked them today by saying that if they do not practise answering questions seriously; most of them are not going to do well in the Mid-Year Examination. After the distribution of the test papers, we spent sometime discussing the answers again. Thakur Singh, the class captain, was a bit upset as despite having written some eight points about Dampa (Q.NO. 2), he did not get more than 4 out of 5. I pacified him by telling that in standard-IX, they are supposed to write their answers in paragraphs rather than writing them point wise. As he is good, I asked him not to worry about the marks he secured in the Test.

Finally, I asked the class to try to write down the answer of any 1 of the 4 questions. They were given some 10 minutes for that. I also asked them to try to write the answers to the other questions at home/hostel. The last 10 minutes were spent in listening to their answers and providing feedback.

Chapter-6 (One, Two,Three Passes), 2016

Today, we had the last class on Dawa before the Mid-Term Examination. I told them that a week before the exam, I will try to revise the novel once more, time permitting. But for that they have to wait for a couple of weeks more. Then as they were informed yesterday, the questions from Chapter-6 were written on the green board for them to copy and answer in 30 minutes.

1.      What helped Dawa climb to the top of Pelela?

Answer:- A camp of yak herders helped Dawa to climb to the top of Pelela.

2.      What did Dawa do that he would not have done under ordinary circumstances?

Answer:- Dawa removed the lid of a pan and gobbled up the food made of radish and cheese. Something he would have never done under ordinary circumstances.

3.      What, in Dawa’s opinion, is the most important part of a dog?

Answer:- The tail, in Dawa’s  opinion, is the most important part of a dog.

4.      Write two things you have learnt about the yak herder dog.

Answer:- She was a beautiful dog with long, lustrous fur that covered her well-shaped body. She had an incredible tail, thick and proud.

5.      How did Dawa feel when he heard the yak herder woman’s exclamations of shock and surprise in the camp?

Answer:- Dawa felt ashamed and guilty to his whole being when he heard the yak herder woman’s exclamations of shock and surprise.

6.      What saved Dawa from the white-spotted dog in the compound of the Chorten?

Answer:-A busload of tourists saved Dawa from the white-spotted dog>

7.      What were some of the words that the tourists used? What do you think they were talking about?

Answer:- ‘Amazing’, ‘Awesome’, ‘Pristine’, and ‘hotspot bio-diversity’ were some of the words that the tourists used. They were either talking about our country or the environment of the place.

8.      What did the woman among them say about Dawa?

Answer:- The woman among the tourists said that Dawa was the ‘strangest-looking dog’ she had ever seen. She also felt that Dawa had the largest dog brain.

9.      What were some of the foods offered by the tourists to Dawa?

Answer:- Some of the foods offered to Dawa by the tourists were – spicy pork, bland chicken, local rice, bread, boiled eggs and chocolate.

10.   What did Dawa see when he arrived in Trongsa?

Answer:- When Dawa arrived in Trongsa, he saw a tiny dog tied to the leg of a bench in front of a shop.

11.   How do you know that the dog was loved and cared?

Answer:- The tiny dog was loved and cared as its fur was cut to keep it cool and it was tied so that it could not run away or get stolen.

12.   How did Dawa feel about the dog?

Answer;- Dawa felt sorry for the dog and pitied it. He thought he was lucky not to have an owner.

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

Answer:- Dawa felt that the dogs in Trongsa had great opinions about themselves  ( were very proud) and  they would start yelping every time a person tried to enter a shop or a dog came into their view.

14.   Where was Dawa headed?

Answer:- Dawa was headed to Bumthang

Chapter-6 (One, Two, Three Passes), 2016.

Continued from the Summary, 2015.

These days, teaching has been fun like never before. In standard XI, the very idea of the students imagining themselves to be in the Hall, watching the movie entitled “The Ballad of Gelong Sumdar Tashi” was a hit and the way we concluded it in one section, was quite interesting. I told them that as the movie comes to an end, we find Sumdar Tashi dressed in a monk’s robe, retracing his steps towards Punakha. The very handsome, inexperienced teenager at the start of the show, is not the same person any more, especially after his mother’s demise and is grown worldly-wise. Gone is his passion for his wife and child as he has made up his mind to go back to the monastic body in Punakha to spend the rest of his life as a monk. That is where his true calling lies.

Anyway, we are not concerned with the Ballad of Gelong Sumdar Tashi here. So let me get back to Chapter-6 of Dawa, entitled ‘One, Two, Three Passes’. As per my plans, I decided to finish it in two periods. Today’s class was as enjoyable as yesterday’s. As per my plan, we started off with the speech. Then I asked a student to talk about the previous lesson (Recapitulation). I was pleasantly surprised when the students started talking about the picnickers and the tourists in the compound of the chorten. I then read out the rest of the unfinished paragraph, not forgetting to sum up the main points once more.

While talking about John, the photographer, who tried to take Dawa’s photographs and asked Dawa to ‘say cheese’, I told them that ' say cheese’ is an expression used by many while taking others’ photographs. Most probably, they try to get the ones about to be photographed, come out a winner with a pleasing smile. I even posed for them with a winning smile on my face, just to make the idea clear to them. I had a feeling that the class enjoyed it a lot.

While talking about the various foods being offered to Dawa, like spicy pork, chicken, bread and boiled eggs and chocolate, I could not help imparting some values about the last item. I asked them if they liked chocolates and sweets. The whole class answered in unison.. I asked them not to take too many as they are bad for the teeth. I lost half of my teeth by the time I was in my early forties because of the sweets I used to take even then! That’s why, I informed them, you won’t find me smiling ever!

I also kept on asking questions throughout. Something I must have picked up from my Canadian colleague, Mrs. Heather Robertson, when I observed her class. Once we were done with the chapter, I summarized the chapter once more with the help of the students. Next, I asked them to copy the questions from the green board and write their answers at home/hostel. The questions were:

1.      What did Dawa do on entering inside the camp of the yak herder? How did he feel about it afterwards? How would you have done or felt if you were in Dawa’s place?

Ans: (Expected answer) As the climb up on Pelela was a difficult and tiring one, Dawa was hungry when he entered the tent. He went up and sniffed around. Then he pushed the lid of a pot among some other pots and pans and gobbled the food, made of radish and cheese. Dawa, being an intelligent and street-smart dog, kept his eyes and ears open while eating. Hardly had he finished eating when he heard some voices coming from behind and dashed out of the tent.

Later, when he heard the woman exclaiming in shock about the empty pot or his misdeed, Dawa felt extremely ashamed of himself and guilty to the core.

Being a clever dog, I would have done the same thing to satisfy my hunger. After all, who would try to remember good manners and behavior, when he is hungry like Dawa was. I needed to survive and the only way to do so was by gobbling up the unguarded, god-sent food. Just like Dawa did, I would have felt ashamed of myself afterwards. OR.

Though Dawa is one of my favourite characters, I would not have touched the food. I would not have touched the food as it was meant for someone else. Touching the food meant for someone else is considered to be a great sin in our religion. I would never do anything that is against my religion. I would have controlled myself and gone out to look for food on the way. (Open-ended)

2.      Describe the dog Dawa  found in Trongsa and the other dogs.

Ans: The tiny dog was tied to the leg of a bench in front of a shop as Dawa entered the town. The fur of its body had been cropped .But the fur over its ears surprisingly, was not. As a result, it had grown very long, almost touching the ground. The dog also had a bell tinkling around its neck. It was a very strange-looking dog. From the way it was tied and treated, it was obvious that the dog was loved and well taken care of. Dawa wondered if the damche had been stolen from the same house.

Later on, Dawa also found some other tiny dogs tied in a similar fashion. They were very proud of themselves and yelped boisterously at Dawa non-stop. They were the least friendly dogs Dawa had seen anywhere. So Dawa proceeded towards Bumthang without any further delay. Before he left for Bumthang, he could calm one of those dogs down to obtain the information about the way to Bumthang.

As I was coming out of the class, I reminded them that in the next class tomorrow, I would ask them to answer questions from chapter-6. I also told them that this is all we are going to do from Dawa before the Mid-Term Exam. If I continue to teach them after the exam, we will start with chapter-7. It was then that Takur Sing, the class captain was heard saying: Sir, we’d like you to teach us English after the exam …”

“I would love to teach you even after the exam, despite my heavy workload”, I answered back, feeling extremely happy with the way the day had rolled on.