Lotus's Perspective- Journey through my teaching career.

Like rest of the world, the 'New Year' fever has caught the border town of Phuntsholing and at 11: 50 PM the musics are only roaring louder from every part of the town. Checking out from the Gol-Building, I can see people of all age levels rushing to the party halls and some simply roaming around the town, mostly in pair- couple I mean. Bhutanese, Nepali, Hindi and English pop and rock songs fill the night in roaring fashion. Unlike them who took this New Year Celebration to the street, I chose to remain inside, simply because I am too tired to go out and mark the end of the year 2013 partying and dancing. But being in the Gol-Building in the heart of the town isn't really away from partying and merry making. I feel like I am already in the clubs and party hall with all those deafening sounds buzzing around. The only difference is I am alone in the room, in front of the TV-with the Chelsea-Liverpool epic premiere league match rebroadcast, and side by side penning this tho

I'm two semesters old in my teaching career, and it has been a wonderful experience living the life of a teacher. The journey wasn't that easy with occasional bumpy rides on the way. But thanks to the blessings of the loving parents, wisdom of the caring seniors and the prayers of the trusting well wishers, things turned out quite good so far. Despite the frequent emotional break downs, the show went on and now it's already in the final days of the Fall Semester 2013. The university college is a pool of people with differing dreams, differing ideas, differing ways of approach and above all differing personalities. The way in which you cater to this huge pool of diverse people shows the kind of person you are. Instead of playing the sole role of a knowledge transmitter, the teachers got to spend enough time knowing each student and catering to their needs. This is easier said than done, but it is worth trying. I am not saying or hinting in any way that I have succeeded in

If I remember correctly, the wishes for the friendship day have started coming in since July 31st. A bit curious, as always, I looked up in the Google! A prominent person on the Twitter presumably clueless about the day twitted:   Yiwang Pindarica   ‏ @ yiwangpindarica 1 Aug Is today friendship, day?? Ive been getting a lot of messages from my friends :) which only heightened my curiosity. Of thousands of related posts (info) that Google displayed, I looked two and both said that the International Friendship Day in fact for the year 2013 is on 4th of August 2013, that is today.  I quickly twitted her back. And she replied: " thank u :) # whatwouldwedowithoutgoogle haha". Being the fervent believer of the Google and having 'confirmed' of the date, I didn't reply or wish anyone until today. But with usual Sunday chores, I had nearly forgotten about the day. If it wasn't for a friend who teaches in Lhuntse that sent me the message, I would have

About a dozen or so teaching members of the college came voluntarily for Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) training resourced by a senior Computer Science faculty Mr. Sangay Thinley. Although VLE has been made available to all the colleges under Royal University of Bhutan for quite a sometime  now, it remains fairly unknown to most of the faculty. One thing is because not many are trained to make use it and also due to heavy academic workload that keeps them away from using it. I have come to know about it and even used it at Samtse College of Education. But that was as a student. Now as a teacher, I have to know how to create a course, post assignments, manage attendance and many more which VLE handily provides. In an attempt to popularize it, Sir Sangay has taken personal initiative to forgo his weekends and teach those who are new and genuinely interested to use. It was a hands-on training and we were trained on using various features that VLE has, which if made to a full use can

To the residents of Kanglung and in particular the shopkeepers whose livelihood depends majorly on the students and staffs of this premiere institute-Sherubtse, the summer and winter vacations are their worst period of the year for the obvious reason. As the semester gears to an end, they clear their stocks and get ready to close their business. In a way, they also prepare for a forced-vacation. No sooner than the students depart for various parts of the country for vacation, the shopkeepers lock their business up and leave the town with a deserted look. This poses some inconveniences for the remaining few who chooses to spend their vacation on the campus itself.  "We can't even get the basic necessities, such as vegetables, as shops remained totally closed," says a lecturer who prefers to remain on campus. The otherwise lively Kanglung town with tens of hundreds of students and lecturers comes to an abrupt  halt by the end of the semester. With the closing of

Today is a very special day for me. I’m all so thankful for this day for I was given this wonderful experience to be this world. I did not have a luxury of celebrating a cake ceremony with candlelight. I did not have a pleasure of hosting a sumptuous dinner and I did not have an honor of receiving a special call or wishes from the loved ones, either. But I did have a chance to smile real big with my 1 st grader niece. I happen to share about my birthday to my sister over a lunch along a casual conversation. It wasn’t that difficult to recollect my 25 th birthday, (1 st July2012), when I do so, though, it brings me tears and fears. The last thing anybody would want for the birthday is a sickness/illness! I was seriously ill and bedridden with sudden body pain and muscle fatigue. My parents panicked but all for their desperate effort in conducting sudden ritual, I recovered by the next day! That’s how I remembered my 25 th birthday. This year’s birthday, at least I am thank

I am still taken aback by that fateful event.  That cruel fate had me "broken" into million pieces from which I have yet to come out "alive" in full glory. No word of condolences and desperate "cheer up" attempts of friends made any sense to me. A very heavy ‘invisible’ force stuck me so hard that knocked me down unconscious. Sympathizers and friends alike freaked out by the terrible sight of me. I was a sick man with all dreams shattered. I could hear and see yet nothing really existed. I would walk miles with no clear destination. I would wake up from a nightmare, totally soaked in sweat.  Living in that amusing hallucinatory castle was a beautiful feeling only to be short-lived. I would think millions different things yet only one thing would eventually come to focus, repeatedly. It was irresistible and I gave up after playing that losing battle. My airbed turned unbearably cold and otherwise charming life turned into a source of miseries. I

Balloon dance. Photo credit: Google. This fictional story was written in 2012 when I was at Samtse College of Education undergoing Post-graduate Diploma in Education (PgDE). So all characters or names appearing in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.                                         One morning, an invitation letter greets Tandin in his sitting room. Bound with strong curiosity he quickly reaches for the letter as he reads out loud:  “We the Samtse College Family would like to cordially invite you to the 44 th Foundation Day cum sports day of Samtse College of Education on 28 th of April, 2012 at 0700 hours at College Stadium. Your presence will be highly appreciated…” A freshly graduated Army officer from National Defense Academy (NDA) from India, of course, now Dasho Tandin gladly accepts the invitation. It has been just over a couple of months since his first placement at Royal Bhutan Army’

Prof. Gopal in his office, during his final days at Shercol When I first got introduced to Prof. Gopal and Prof. Bala by Madam Dean as a new recruit in the faculty of Mathematics back in 2011, I was nervous! I survived that somehow but when the Head of School then allocated office with two of them, I was even more nervous and worried! Not because they were terrifying, but because I am no match with them and sharing office with Professors was nerve-wrecking. I was worried that our generation gap would be a big issue not to mention about their already established professionalism as compared to a fresh graduate like me. But I was so wronged. Both of them were welcoming, kind-hearted, adjustable, friendly and above all caring. Within no time, I felt comfortable and in fact felt fortunate to be under the guidance of the two professors. But their departures had me shaken, because I had looked up to and counted so much on them for whatever problems I would encounter in my teaching career.

Following excerpts are the last words with my students (classes VII & IX) of Chapcha Middle Secondary School, Chukha, during the Farewell session, in August 2012. I taught them (mathematics) for 45 days as a practicing teacher (TP). The time is a precious resource, which you cannot save for future! Does it sound familiar? I hope it does. Because I have been saying this, countless times and if it was something perishable, it would have been long perished and found its destiny in a garbage pit. But it isn’t something of that sort to say the least. It is a timeless thing. As a GNH graduate, you should be mindful of the time and its significance. And use them judiciously. Don’t waste time for something that would lead you to nowhere, be it short term or long term. There is absolutely no harm in aiming so high, unless of course those aims come into your life as deterrents. But your high aims should sufficiently be backed with consistent efforts from your part. In fact, it is onl

Today is the new beginning for me in many ways. Today is the first day after the New Year-LOSAR-2013. The female snake year in our Bhutanese term. This marks the beginning of the new year in our Bhutanese tradition, even though it has been almost one and half months since the commencement of the actual New Year 2013. I have just returned from Deothang after a simple gathering with my parents down there over a lavish lunch and drinks. Despite the college being opened for its academic year 2012 (Spring Semester) on 8th of February, for the obvious reasons, the actual teaching couldn't be started then. In fact, not even today! With a feel of heavy yoke already in my neck, having given to teach two complete modules Discrete Structures (for VI Semester MP) and Calculus I (for B.Sc. Comp. Sci. A & B), I took today as a very special day. The day that can make a biggest of difference-creating a right impression in other words.  The very class for the day was at 8:30 AM