We were
supposed to have the Mock Drill in connection with the Preparedness for Disaster Management today.
Bhutan, like most of the countries in the Himalayan region, is an
earthquake-prone country and therefore, preparation has been mandatorily underway for some
time to be ready for all natural calamities. When it comes to the security and safety of her citizens, there is no room for compromise in the GNH country.
Last night
while preparing for standard-IX, I had to keep a few things in mind. Now we are
done with the second chapter of Dawa, the story of a stray dog, it was time to
find out how much the students could make out of it. I also wanted to
know if they have been studying seriously or not, considering that the Mid-Year
Examination is not very far away. I decided finally to ask them to answer some Knowledge and Recollection.questions. I opted for the easiest type
as classes were expected to be disrupted due to the Mock Drill session.
Right after
a very refreshing presentation on Phrasal Verbs by Rajesh Rai, it was clear to me that the class was waiting for me to
write the questions on the board. And I did as expected.
1. Write
briefly in your own words, what you have learnt about Dawa’s
journey to Thimphu. (10)
Ans:
As per Am Moley’s instructions, Dawa set off for Thimphu without bidding
‘farewell’ to anyone. He followed the river down the valley till it was joined
by the other river and after crossing the bridge, he turned left. While he
was walking past the check post at Chuzom, the policeman, who was busy writing
down the number of a vehicle, gave him a hard kick quite unnecessarily. Though
hurt, Dawa displayed tremendous restraint and moved on, taking it as an
auspicious sign. Soon he found himself surrounded by a host of mean-looking
dogs. Fortunately for him, they let him go, having mistaken his intelligence
for cowardice.
Once he had regained his composure, Dawa reacted quickly by
following the furry dog with the bushy tail. They trotted across the Bridge of
Prophecy, past the vegetable market till he reached the main road. He had his
heart in his mouth while crossing the road and narrowly escaped being run over
by the heavy traffic. Once on the other side, with his heart racing, Dawa realized that he had finally made it to Thimphu,
the capital.
P.N: It did not take me long to write the answers. So I started
moving around the class. Bhim Maya was
the first to finish, as there were still some 8-10 minutes left of the
stipulated time, I asked for her notebook and went through the answers. The
last two sentences of her answer to the first question kept me wondering:
Night fell as Dawa
neared the city. He thought Thimphu was a city in the sky amidst all those twinkling
stars, which he found out were the blinking lights of the cars parked outside.
While going through her answer, I was not sure if the above
sentence should be included in the answer or not. I realized afterwards, while
discussing the answer with the class that the above lines, though not
indispensible, could also be included in the answer at the writer’s
discretion.
Karma Zangmo is one of the brightest students of standard-IX.
When she wanted to read out the answer next, I readily agreed. But during her
reading, I realized that Karma had misunderstood the question and that is why
she wrote about the lessons she had learnt from Dawa’s journey to
Thimphu. I asked the class if anyone would like to comment on her answer. Raising
his hand Rajesh pointed out her mistake. So I reminded the class why I had
asked them to read the questions carefully at the start of the class and to make
sure that they understood the questions. There is a difference between ‘what
you have learnt about Dawa’s journey to Thimphu’ and ‘what you have learnt from Dawa’s journey to Thimphu’. This is
why they have to read the questions in the exams very carefully. Otherwise,
even after writing some one and a half page answer, they may secure 4 out of 10,
just 40% !
2.
What story did Dawa cook up about his lineage?
Why? (8+2)
Ans: When Dawa was rejected by the pretty but flirtatious
Singyemo. who walked off
with Katu, the adamant, on account of Dawa’s lineage, Dawa realized that life
in a thriving city like Thimphu would be difficult without an impressive
lineage. So he collected bits and pieces of his family history from scratches
and cooked up the story.
As per the story, his great grandpa was a damchi born in a noble family of Lhasa
and therefore, no ordinary dog. The day he was born, he was stolen by a
vulture, which took him up on a stiff rock face. Bred on the bird food, his
grandpa had a stunted growth. Later a sheepherder found and presented him to
the lady of an aristocratic family. She was so charmed by the tiny damchi that
his daily diet consisted of a handful of barley flour mixed with suja, so that he would not grow out of
his small size and she could keep her in the sleeve always for warmth.
That is the reason why generations of descendants inherited
the family trait of being small. Initially Dawa preferred not to share this
story of his lineage with the sceptics like Nadola, but he grew more confident of
it and started believing in this story as time fled by.
Dawa had to cook up this story to forget the hurt and pain
that Singyemo had inflicted on him by rejecting his proposal to marry him for
the season. He also had to do it for his survival in a big city like Thimphu.
To be continued ......
To be continued ......
No comments:
Post a Comment