SUMMARY OF CHAPTER - 6.

Dawa had a tough time climbing to the top of Pelela. Dawa couldn’t have made it up to the top, had it not been for the meal he made of the radish cooked with cheese, left unattended in a camp of sheepherders. He shot out the moment he heard noises in the distance, remembering his first sneak at Dampa. Hiding behind a tree, he could see a woman coming back to the tent, leading a dog by a rope, being followed by a child. The dog barked furiously when it sensed Dawa’s presence. The woman reprimanded it as a result. She was a beautiful dog with a shapely figure and an equally impressive tail. Dawa found the woman’s shock at finding the pan with the curry empty, embarrassing.

Guilty, Dawa resumed his journey, stealing a last look at the beautiful dog he nearly fell for! His single bark while passing through the prayer flags on the mountain top, drew the attention of the onlookers.

As he began his descent, people waited along the road. He could see the herds of yaks and sheep grazing on the mountain slopes. The sun bore down on him and he felt hot and tired. The faint smell of the stolen food around his mouth was a constant reminder of his shameful act.

As he neared the compound of the beautiful chorten located on the bank of a river, he could see the group of dogs moving from one group of picnickers to another for scraps of food. He could see some foreigners getting of a bus, walking down to the chorten ground, sitting around a table laden with food and being served by an equal number of guides and cooks. Dawa could not but hear their talk. They used terms (‘awesome’, ‘amazing’, ‘Shangri-La’ 'pristine', etc.) incomprehensible to him, despite his linguistic skills of the previous life.

Suddenly, he heard a woman pointing to him; exclaim that he was the strangest-looking dog that she had ever seen in her life. Subsequently, Dawa kept being photographed by them from various angles and because of him; a member of the group, John, was being teased by others when he informed them that the dog had smiled at his request!

Soon Dawa was being treated to some choicest and varied food. But for the temporary attention he received from them, the other dogs did not mind his presence there.

It took him long to get to the Trongsa dzong. He noticed a tiny dog tied to the leg of a bench with his fur cropped and the fir over ears, hanging quite low. A bell tinkled from its neck. Dawa wondered that if it was from this house that the oldie at Changangkha was stolen.

A walk around the town made him realize that there were many cute, boisterous dogs tied in a similar fashion. Dawa asked them to be quiet, but they continued to bark and whine. Dawa felt that the Trongsa dogs were the least friendly of all. He immediately left for the ultimate destination, Bumthang.
Please turn to page 2/-

HALF WAY THROUGH

The last few weeks have been quite hectic. Anyways once we were done with the sixth chapter of Dawa, I thought it was time to unwind and recharge out batteries. So I decided to check their understanding by asking the students to answer some questions. In the last class, I asked them to answer a couple of questions as per the teacher’s manual. The questions were:

1.      How did Dawa contact mange? How did he feel about it? What lesson/s do you learn from his one, single unguarded encounter?

2.      Who was Gelong Ma Pelmo? Write what you have learnt about her.

Naturally, we began with a discussion of the previous questions. Then I wrote the next two questions on the board with the instructions to write the answers within 20 minutes. This time they were to write the answers to the questions:

1.      What was Dawa’s mother’s advice to him? Write about some advice that your parents give you from time to time.

2.      Briefly write about Dampa’s physical appearance and two lessons Dawa learnt from him.

I also told them that in the last 20 minutes they would have to work in pairs and make two short questions – questions that can be answered in one or at the most two sentences. I was pleasantly surprised therefore, when I found some of the students could finish their answers to the above questions within practically no time.

The answer to Q.1. was: “Always watch your tail. As long as you can see your tail behind you, you are safe.” His mother would tell him. She also whispered to him that in unexpected situations of great danger, it is wise to put the tail between the hind legs. Precious pearls of wisdom that helped Dawa survive through some of the worst times of his life.
While answering the second part of the question, they wrote: My parents always have my best interests at the back of their minds. They want me to be a responsible, contributing citizen of my country. So they keep on advising me time and again about the importance of being  (1) a good human being, (2) respectful to my teachers and the elders, and (3) being hard-working and honest. 

The answer to Q.2. read something like: Dampa was the most unusual-looking dog that Dawa had seen still then. He was called Dampa due to the muddy color of his skin and had a white neck. He had a strange, heart-shaped face. His eyes were too large for his face. His body was small and legs, spindly. Inspite of his apparent small size, Dampa moved with swiftness that few dogs could match.

The two important lessons that Dawa learnt from Dampa were – firstly, he was to learn from humans but not to imitate them. And secondly, to keep his eyes and ears open and keep his mouth shut unless he had to speak.

Almost all the students had answered the questions in a similar manner. Without any further ado, I then asked them to start making their own questions in pairs. Once they got the hang of it, they seemed to be enjoying themselves making their own questions. I kept moving around the class, providing help where necessary. Let me reproduce some of those questions here:

        I.            How did Dawa get his name?

Ans:   Dawa got his name from the moon.

      II.            Who was Gelong Ma Pelmo? What disease was she suffering from?

Ans:   Gelong Ma Pelmo was a Tibetan princess. She was suffering from the dreaded disease of leprosy.

    III.            Who were the three most important leaders of the dog community in Thimphu?

Ans:    The three most important leaders of the dog community in Thimphu were –

1.      The Leader of Territories,

2.      The Leader of Warnings and Signals, and

3.      The Leader of Howling.

    IV.            Name the chorten he used to visit during times of trouble.

Ans:    The chorten that Dawa used to visit was the Memorial Chorten in Thimphu.

      V.            Why was the cute, little dog in Trongsa tied to a bench?

Ans:    The cute, little dog in Trongsa was tied to a bench to stop him from running away or stealing.

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

Ans:   Dawa felt that the dogs in Trongsa were the least friendly of all.

  VII.            What kind of language did the second group of monks, that Dawa followed, use?

Ans:   The second group of monks that Dawa followed used some sort of Esperanto or a mixture of Dzongkha, Tibetan, English and Hindi.

VIII.            Who was Dawa’s first admired dog? ( I would have preferred to have rephrased the question to – Who was the dog that admired first?)

Ans:   Dawa’s first admired dog was Moley.

    IX.            Why did Dawa leave Thimphu?

Ans:   Dawa left Thimphu due to dirty dog politics and to cure himself from mange.

      X.            How did Dawa learn the honorific terms?

Ans:   Dawa learnt the honorific terms from school going children.

    XI.            Why did Dawa hesitate to scratch in public?

Ans:   Dawa hesitated to scratch in public as he had his dignity.

  XII.            Why was Dawa afraid on reaching Dochula?

Ans:   Dawa was afraid on reaching Dochula because the dog pound was there and he thought of being caught and impounded.

XIII.            What lesson did Dawa learn after the loss of his family?

Ans:   After the loss of his family, Dawa learnt that human beings are never to be trusted.

XIV.            What was Dawa’s best quality?

Ans:  Out of the many good qualities Dawa had, his best quality was the gift of his voice.

Continued on page 2/-

HALF WAY THROUGH (2)

I am sorry for being reluctant to arrange the questions along with their answers sequentially as that would have helped the viewer-students more. Perhaps some other time at some other place, god willing. Now let me conclude today’s blog with another question which I believe the students enjoyed answering. It was my question which read like:

“Write an imaginary dialogue of 10 lines ( 5 for each character) between Dawa and the skinny dog in Wangdiphodrang.”

The first student to finish writing the dialogue was Damcho Tshering  and here I have great pride and pleasure in presenting it to you, reader.


An imaginary Dialogue between Dawa and the Skinny Dog:

Skinny Dog:  Do you know that Wangdiphodrang is the cleanest town in Bhutan?

Dawa:            Who cares? I am not from this place.

Skinny Dog   I thought you were new to this place and going to settle down here. I just wanted to help and meant no offence.

Dawa:           No way! My destination is Bumthang.

Skinny Dog: By the way, what’s the name? Looks like you are a mange-victim, mo?   

Dawa:           My name is Dawa. Goes without saying I’m very proud of the name. Scared of the disease though.

Skinny Dog: Come on, Barker. There’s nothing to be scared of. It’s a very common disease among us dogs, Mate.

Dawa:           Everybody’s been telling me the same, but am I not afraid?

Skinny Dog: Why are you headed to Bumthang?

Dawa:           I’m going to Bumthang because of the disease. Besides, I’ve heard of someone called Gelong Ma Pelmo, the Tibetan princess, who cured herself of leprosy by praying and meditating in a cave there.

Skinny Dog: GOOD BYE AND SAFE JOURNEY.

Dawa:           Bye and take care.

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER - 5.

Dawa’s panic initially had more to do with his mental state than the itching all over his body. There was a kind of persistent, irritable itching that could be lessened only by the pain from scratching and biting. As he was a dignified dog, he preferred not to scratch in public.

The day he found bits of fur in his claw, he retired to the solace of the Memorial Chorten. Despite the presence of humans and dogs, the place was tranquil. Sitting all aloof, Dawa hoped for some soothing effect of the tranquil place on his mind and itchy body.

He made some interesting observations about how humans and dogs interacted and clashed with each other, why some humans were phobic about dogs, the negative attitude of humans when it comes to harmonious coexistence with dogs and how repulsive were some humans about the dogs with mange. Sitting hidden under a bush, Dawa felt tension ebbing and that he could also think in a cool way. Soon his symptoms will be apparent to other dogs. He knew that he had got it with his careless, unguarded encounter with the fluffy dog. She charmed her way into his heart and he spent many hours in her company sitting close to her, feeling good about it. Of course her symptoms were not visible as her owner had already taken her to a vet. Thinking about the owner, Dawa regretted not having an owner who would stroke and scratch him and a tear fell down from his right eye.

So lost in thoughts, Dawa was completely unaware of the onset of the evening and the couple sitting close to him, talking about a friend who was sick, how she could be cured through the healing power of prayers and meditation. They also talked about one Gelong Ma Pelmo, who also got enlightenment in a cave, which now happens to be a place of pilgrimage. Dawa got up all excited on hearing this. The old couple then noticed him and started hurling abuses at him for giving them the fleas while he stretched himself after a long rest. Dawa’s sense of shame took him farther away from the couple than was really necessary. As a result, he failed to hear about the location of the cave.

His anxiety made Dawa decide to discuss his thoughts, plans with Dampa and seek his advice e. As he did not want to inflict Dampa with mange, he wandered around the temple in the hope of meeting Dampa. Once he even called out to him (Dampa) from a distance, but Dampa greeted back and went inside. Finally he could send word to Dampa through a teenage dog.

Soon afterwards, Dampa came down, took a hard look at Dawa. Dawa talked about his problems – his disease, bewilderment and all. His pure Dzongkha with all the right honorific terms, in a modulated voice convinced Dampa of Dawa’s great language prowess. Dawa also informed Dampa of his desire to go away. Dampa tried his best to make Dawa aware of the dangers of the dogs in his area and in the other areas as well. They would tear him into pieces if they found him shying away from his responsibilities or intruding in their areas. But Dawa was prepared to take the risk. He then asked Dampa about the cave. Dampa replied that he had heard of the cave being somewhere in Tang, east of Thimphu. He also went on to add that there were four or five passes in between.

Dampa could not provide any more information, not even the names of the passes. But his eyes lit up when he saw the black-brown damchi sunning himself in front of the house across the street. As the dog was brought up in Tronsa, Dampa asked him about the passes. The damchi had difficulty in recollecting the names due to old age. He simply asked Dawa to go east. Dawa could not control his excitement and probed him further for the names of the passes, how high they were. The oldie could call up to mind Pelela and Dochula and a place called Bumthang nearby Trongsa. He then went back to sleep and was soon snoring sonorously. Dawa and Dampa stood there for a while watching with gratitude and tenderness the body heaving rhythmically.

Dawa felt like leaving immediately. He wanted to get away from the precarious situation and to cure himself. Dampa was not convinced and tried his best to stop Dawa from undertaking this futile adventure. So Dawa told him the truth that besides finding the cure, he wanted to be free from the dirty politics of the dog community. Dampa argued by saying that politics was there in every community and mange was a common disease among dogs.

Dawa decided to leave early morning the next day, when most of the dogs would be sound asleep, tired from the prolonged nightly howling. His departure was easier than expected. As he neared Dochula, where the dog pound was, he was suddenly paralyzed by the fear of being caught and impounded. His fear proved baseless as most of the early-risers were airport-bound or prayer-sayers, who had no intention of paying any attention to him.

The chilly morning air did nothing to soothe his mange-ravaged body, but the downhill climb was easy. He ate some cold food from the wayside. Dawa also met a group of aggressive dogs at Lungtenphu, at the outskirts of Thimphu. But he was a smart survivor and used his surviving tactics by walking with his head bent low along the edge of the road and keeping out of harm’s way. As he entered the parking lot in Wangduephodrang, he was greeted by a young dog, who remarked that it was the cleanest town in Bhutan. Then pointing to the billowing smoke rising up in the air, he said furthermore that the food was going up ("dogs paying the price for human cleanliness") into the pristine air, leaving the dogs hungry. Dawa moved on. He had no intention of staying in a place where there was no food for the dogs.

P.N. I am really busy these days. So I am not sure whether I could do a good job or not. Naturally, i'll keep on making some additions and alterations.

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER-3

Dawa’s appointment as the leader of the howling pack was predestined and not accidental. He knew every nook and corner of the city within a few hours of his arrival. Dogs in Thimphu, unlike their counterparts in Paro, who mainly depend on their sense of smell for finding food, have to keep their eyes and ears open for food and there is always plenty of food.

Once during a party, Dawa noticed a muddy-colored dog (physical features of Dampa – small, with a heart-shaped face, large eyes, and spindly legs) moving around the tent with an electrifying swiftness, grabbing a mouthful from a particular tent and disappearing. Dawa later followed the dog and was surprised when the dog spoke to him in Dzongkha. He told Dawa of his fondness for food from the special people. Till his encounter with the dog, Dawa always thought that his ability to understand human language and speak in Dzongkha was quite unique.

He was Dampa (his history – born near Changankha Lhakhang. His ancestry dates back to the time, hundreds of years ago, when the lhakhang was built). He told Dawa that he preferred to keep himself aloof from the other dogs and of his fondness for only Dzongkha. He also advised Dawa to work on his Dzongkha as he had leadership aspirations.

Dawa never forgot Dampa’s advice and followed various groups of monks to learn the best Dzongkha. The first group spoke in Dzongkha laced with curse words. The second group of monks spoke in a language similar to Esperanto – a mixture of Dzongkha, Tibetan, English and Hindi. Although they spoke in a fused language, Dawa followed them around from a distance and heard bits and pieces of their conversation. He was greatly intrigued by their incomprehensible expressions and realized only later on that their topic centred on chilli paste!

Disillusioned, Dawa went back to Dampa in Changangka. Dampa agreed with him, on having been informed of the difficulty of finding the right teacher, that monks today, under the influence of the cultures of other countries through TV, do not speak the best Dzongkha any more. Then pointing to a monk, he asked Dawa to follow him as he had the best Dzongkha.

The kind and gentle monk befriended Dawa with his amicable nature and Dawa found the best teacher he was looking for. He learned the best Dzongkha by following the monk around. With his flair for language, Dawa became proficient in Dzongkha within a very short time. When he went back to Dampa, he was impressed. He then asked Dawa to try to learn the honorific terms from a human school for children. At nightfall Dawa finally left Dampa for the joy of howling.

Dawa then followed a group of children, closely observed two teachers teaching two different classes and selected the class that looked more involved and animated for the sheer joy of learning.

To be continued ………

Together We'll Walk The Extra Mile. (2)

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 ......

Together We'll Walk The Extra Mile. (1)

I thought about maintaining a running blog for all the questions and answers that we are going to discuss on every chapter from now on. The idea came to my head when yesterday, at the end of the second period, Rajesh Rai of IX A asked me two interesting questions. Today I had two periods with IX B. In the first period before lunch, I had to do a lot of reading, explaining and questioning. At the end of the period I informed them that in the fifth period after lunch they would have to answer some questions in writing. Just to prepare them for the activity, I summarized the whole of Chapter-2 of the novel once more.

Right after the Presentation in the fifth period, I asked them what we were going to do in the class. When the class answered my question in unison, I started writing the two questions on the board. I also informed them that for answering the questions, they would be given 25 minutes. I also made it known to them that the last 15 minutes would be spent in discussing their answers and writing the main points on the board. While they were answering the questions, I went round the class and finding them all meaningfully engaged, decided to answer the questions by myself.

1.      Why did Singyemo, the pretty dog, reject Dawa’s proposal? How did he react to such rejection?                                              (2+3)

Ans: Singyemo  , the pretty and flirtatious bitch, rejected Dawa’s proposal because he did not have an impressive, impeccable lineage like the other dogs in Paro. So when asking him about his lineage, she realized that Dawa was a dog without any pedigree and such dogs might not make the best of husbands.

If I was Dawa, I would be very upset and sad. I liked her very much and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. The rejection will have a positive impact on me as well and leave me wanting to find out more of my lineage. And just like Dawa, I may even cook up a story about my lineage, if need be.

Ø  She rejected Dawa as she had already fallen for Kitu, the arrogant. (Con. by - Lhazin)

P.N:  While discussing the answers I told them that for getting the full marks, they have to add a couple of sentences more besides stating the main point, which is in this case, Dawa’s lineage or poor background. I also told them that for the second part of the question, they may have to state either three or two points, depending on the marks or instructions given.

Ø  I’d never ever give up and wait patiently for the next season.      (Con. by - Tshewang)

I was very impressed with the answers of the students and have taken the liberty of adding them to the answer above as points Contributed by (Con. by).

2.      What happened while Dawa was walking past the Check post at Chuzom? What conclusions can you make from the incident? (2+3)

 Ans:  While Dawa was walking past the check post at Chuzom as instructed by Am Moley, he was given a hard kick without any reason by the policeman, who was jotting down the number of vehicle in the palm of his hand. .

The conclusions that I can make from the above incident are - Firstly, human beings, especially policemen, are by nature cruel. They have no heart or love for other animals. Secondly, some animals are more understanding and considerate than us, human beings. Dawa could have especially retaliated by biting the policeman, but he knew best to move on. Finally, I have also concluded that a positive attitude will always help us inch closer to our destination faster. Dawa took the hard kick as a good omen and plodded on and became the leader of the howling pack in Thimphu on the same night.

Ø  Human beings have no empathy or compassion. Positive lessons are not always learnt in a positive way.                        (Con. by – Jigme Wangchuk).

To be continued .......