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.