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Becoming Bhutanese

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The Sun peeked from behind a cloud and began slanting through the windows, zeroing in on the boy who was still sleeping. “Breakfast is ready.” It was Kinley’s father. “Get dressed, you are getting late for school”. Kinley was in Class Nine at the local high school. He was an intelligent boy. He got along very well with the school “sophisticates” with their funny hairstyles, which he knew was the popular Korean cut. He studied hard and came first in his class. Soon, influenced by his stylish friends, Kinley too began copying the Korean look so he could fit in better with his friends. It started with the hairstyle but over time he became obsessed with everything Korean. Before he knew he was swept up by the new “Korean wave” that was sweeping all the young people in the country. Photo courtesy Druk Youth Fashion “Kinley, you are changing day by day”, his father told him. ” I am afraid that you will be like the funny-looking boys I see loitering in...
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A teacher named 'Gift'

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Students can go to amazing imaginative limits to create nicknames for teachers. They are sometimes arbitrary but sometimes quite logical. The word soera means gift in Dzongkha. Twelve years ago, I first heard the nickname Soera . I was a student then. It was a nickname for Lopen Gembo Tshering. Over the years his nickname has changed to shakam (dried meat) because of his lean physical stature. I am not sure whether the students today still know him as Lopen Soera but when I was a student many only knew him as Lopen Soera and not his real name. Like anyone with a nickname story, Lopen Soera also had his. Every time his students misbehaved in his class, he would smile and tell them to come and receive their soera . His old face would conjure a tired smile as he flexed the bamboo stick. His other soeras were also unique and became quite popular with the other teachers. During study hours if he caught you polishing your shoes or combing your hair and not studyin...
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Not just a Gate – Update from Punakha HSS, Punakha, Bhutan

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Before, 12 Sci C, 2010 What stood tall for thirty years or more is now being hammered down. A new traditional gate will soon welcome all who come to the school. As a student I walked under the old gate ten years ago and today I am witnessing it getting demolished. I feel a profound loss or else I would not be writing this. This gate stood mighty and firm for so many years. It was often the favourite spot for the students to take photographs before it - souvenirs after graduation. The gate proudly posed behind many to grace the people in the photographs. And people knew it was Punakha HSS because of the Gate, it was Phunakha’s face for so many years. Demolition  A Buddhist Gate. Courtesy Google image The Gate didn’t have our traditional architectural feature but it had deeper expressions of what is rooted in us as Buddhist, The Wheel of Dharma. The Dharmacakra on three flying banners adorned the Gate and it took the school to many a great heights ...
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