This is yet
another episode of my update which I put last year, http://lobzangn.blogspot.com/2014/08/home-hearth-and-heart.html but this time it’s Chukha Higher Secondary School. I was to go to Chukha
Dzongkhag for invigilation duty to some schools..when I checked the listings, I
was elated to see Chukha HSS in print and this update of mine is about Chukha
HSS. Later, in the interest of my 7 month old and my wife, I chose to go to
Wangchu MSS not because I wanted my duty to be lighter but because I will be
nearer to my parents and I will have my baby well looked after.
Well then,
it was in the afternoon of November 27th. I hurriedly got hold of my
office order and went home to pack my things for a fourteen day visit to my
former school. I started feeling nostalgic about my time in Chukha HSS as I
spent my formative years in this school as a boarder student. I was the tiniest
among my class mates and I still remember my huge grown up room mates calling
me Chunku and helping me put on the Gho early in the morning. I just needed to
put my two hands on my head and they would twist here and there and at last put
me to shape, ready for morning study. I would unwillingly rub my eyes and go
for the study. 
Mr. KR
Pillai, was my economics teacher back then and he was a personality in himself.
He was feared among all my mates and still believe he was one of the teachers
that I got inspiration from. During lunches, he used to take me to his place to
eat. One thing that still remains in my mind is he a man who loves the
Bhutanese red rice. I never saw him favoring the white rice if the red was
available. He used to teach in such a way that every doubtful soul in a
classroom will have no difficulty in understanding his teaching. Thank you sir
for I am now a teacher like you. That’s why I have titled my update as the
Pillai days.
The upper
gate from where we carried rations to the school store is now barred and school
has undergone a complete metamorphosis. The shops that greet all visitors in
Tsimalakha town still remains the same, except for the speed breakers-bumpers.
I couldn’t spot it and bumped my car so hard. I revisited this place after 16
years and you can imagine how I longed to go back and be a student again.
The weather
remains the same-cold and chilling. All the teachers that taught me are all
elsewhere. The Sherpa Hotel from where I used to eat on credit still caters to
fast food and students make a majority of its customers.
If I were to
relive a moment, I would definitely go back to the Chukha days and particularly
the Pillai days. Thank you sir. I know you are in your native Kerala and you
keep us updated on facebook. At this point of time I have come to realize that
life does have potentials of wonderful memories even if we are mountains and oceans
apart.
