I’D LIKE to
begin the second half of the academic session, 2016, by thanking you
whole-heartedly, dear reader. When I looked at the readership figure last time,
it was nearly 5000, but I was in for a pleasant surprise when I found it
leapfrogging to 7500+ last night. No matter what, you have persisted with me,
you have shown your abiding faith in ‘Yours truly’, and that is the appetizer I
needed desperately. Thank you once more and let me see if I am able to help
sustain your interest in the novel that most of the Bhutanese of this
generation, have grown up with.
Mid-Term
English Paper-II was set by Mr. Tshering
Dorji, who really proved himself to be a godsend when we were faced with an
acute shortage of English teachers in CCS at the beginning of the year. I have
dared to discuss his paper, for the benefit of you, learners, without his
consent. I sincerely hope that Sir would not bring a case of plagiarism, defamation, or something related to copyrights or whatever, against me and take me to a court of law for this unpardonable act on my part!
Let’s
discuss Section-D, that is, the Novel and take off with the MCQs under Set-I.
There were 5 questions altogether and all the questions were interesting, a
product of Tshering Dorji Sir’s diligence.
1. Dawa had many qualities and the
quality that shaped his life was his –
a. perseverance.
b. language.
c. voice.
d. ancestral background.
· The answer to the above question is
obviously his ‘voice’, option C.
2. Singyemo rejected Dawa’s marriage
proposal because –
a. his legs were crooked.
b. he was infected with mange.
c. he was not romantic.
d. he had no proper lineage.
· The answer, it goes without saying,
is Option D.
3. ‘Dawa’s growth curve plateaued prematurely
and he was destined to be a non-descript stray dog’. What do you assume the
meaning of ‘plateaued prematurely’ to be in the statement?
a. lacking physical stature.
b. stopped growing before proper time.
c. state of rapid growth.
d. deformity due to malnutrition.
4. The thing most dreaded by dogs is –
a. being put in a pound.
b. becoming a leader.
c. becoming an underdog.
d. being infected with mange.
· Here Option C is the most appropriate
answer.
5. Dampa decided to live at Changanglha
Temple because –
a. It was his ancestral home.
b. It gave him peace and tranquillity that
an aged dog needed.
c. It was a beautiful place.
d. there was plenty of food everywhere.
· The correct answer is …….. Yes, you
have guessed it correctly. It is Option A.
Questions 1b
had 3 short questions altogether:
1) How would you show your understanding
of how Dawa changed his name from Koto to Dawa?
2) What roles did Dampa and Molay play
in Dawa’s life?
3) What imaginary lineage does he create
to win his beloved? What characteristic does it reveal?
As we have
already discussed the first two questions somewhere in the earlier blogs, there
is no point trying to discuss them again. The first part of Q.3 has also been
discussed, but let’s try to answer the question again, mainly for the later
part of the question. I have referred to the answer scripts of Phuntso Wangmo and Sonam Zangmo as both of them came out with top-notch performances in
IX E.
Answer to
Q.3: Dawa invented the story that his great grandfather was a pure damchi from
Lhasa. He was stolen on the day he was born by a vulture. He was said to be
raised on bird food, kept as he was in the nest of the vulture on a sheer rock
face, not in a dirty corner by any means. A sheepherder, having found him,
presented him to the lady of an aristocratic family. He was rewarded with the
post of the Chamberlain of the house as a result. There he was offered a
handful of barley flour along with butter tea as the lady did not want her to
grow any bigger, for her own comfort.
The invented
story reveals Dawa’s intelligence, defence against his stunted growth and, to
some extent, boastful nature. He wanted to impress upon Singyemo that he had a
great lineage and was not really responsible for his small size!
THAT IS ALL
FOR NOW. WE WILL TRY TO DISCUSS THE SET-II questions in the next. Till then,
HAPPY WEEKENDER! STAY BLESSED.
