A Tribute:

How ‘I Love Bhutan (28)’ helped transform “The Ugly Duckling” into Something Beautiful:

Forgive me, Bhutan, if I ever seem or sound ungrateful to you even in my wildest dreams!

When one is grateful, there are two things one can do. Either one can keep the sense of immense gratitude to oneself or be vocal about it, no matter what. I have always preferred the second option. Love, Gratitude to others ought to be expressed openly, honestly. It is as simple as that! This glorious country, Bhutan, has given me so much that one life is not enough to express what I really for this country.

I am not the saving type. I have never been (that does not make me a spendthrift though). Otherwise, just like the friend from Kolkata, who had joined Ura Pilot School in Bumthang the very day I did, I would also own a three-storied house in my native place. When he last met me at the Tenzin Norgay Bus Terminus in Siliguri, he told me how he was busy having a garage in the backyard of his house constructed! God is always kind to those who are good and all the five fingers of the hand, can never be the same.

Anyway, to come back to the main point – today my daughters are studying in one of the most reputed schools in Kolkata. Education, as you all know, is very expensive in India these days. I am not far from the truth in saying that the education of my daughters is literally costing me a fortune. How could I have them admitted in that school without Bhutan? How could they continue their studies, had it not been for Bhutan? How could I sit in front of my laptop and type this write-up without god’s greatest gift to the world, Bhutan? It goes without saying then that I feel deeply indebted to this god-blessed country. So if I ever so much as do something that makes me appear ungrateful in my own eyes, I won’t be able to forgive myself, let alone nurture any hope of being forgiven by the One Who Matters and being a god-fearing person all my life, I don’t want to die like a dog!

It happened for the first time in 1991 at UPS, when there was a complaint against me by a colleague (It’s ironical that we became the best of friends later). I learnt it from the Headmaster only. Kuenga, of ‘if you love your students as your own, they reciprocate your love’ repute happened next. As a Contract Teacher, a lot depends regarding our contract renewal, on the yearly report of the Head. I was scared. I thought Mr. Thapa, the Headmaster, was really in a rage and I’s going to be given the sack as a result. I was so distressed, so very distraught that I decided to tender in my resignation. That was the first time I acted stupid (though an Indian colleague of mine, senior in the profession and quite influential in the country at that time, tried spreading a rumour that resigning was a way of life with me!) I thought of resigning because I felt that I’d failed in the discharge of my duties somehow. The Headmaster, who thought the world of me, must have considered me incompetent after the incident. When I handed over the resignation letter, Mr. Thapa went livid. So angry was he that he almost yelled at me: Mr. Bhattacharjee, don’t ever talk to me about resignation again, you understand?

I did. What I failed to make him understand was how much I loved Bhutan and what the country meant to me. And the thought of resignation never surfaced again in my mind till as late as 2008. It happened again a couple of years after I had joined Chukha Central School (it was a higher secondary school at that time).Mr. Tashi Chonjur, by then, had taken over the Principalship from Mr. Y.B.Ghalley. Inspite of his extreme good looks, vibrant youthfulness, he was one of the most capable, resourceful, competent Head that I have ever had the good fortune of working under during my stay of over 28 years in this country.

The best thing I liked about him was his natural love for and rapport with the students. I have seen all sorts of teachers and students in a long teaching career. I can honestly say that the Bhutanese students are by nature, very respectful, hard-working, understanding and loving. They respect their teachers so much that raising a voice against any one of them, would be like committing a great sin for many of them. I have also seen a couple of teachers engaging in the blame game, trying to put it across on the students. They get mad at the students as they (the students) are never serious about their studies, dull with cow-dung in their heads and all! Once I even had the ignominy of sending a colleague back from my doorstep as he was bent on ruining a student’s life. The student’s fault was he forgot to wish the teacher in the market by taking off his cap on the previous night in Bumthang!

Now, to come back to the second occasion when I was foolish in submitting my resignation (and I would be happy if that was the last time as well) was in October, 2008. Now, normally I try my best not to stay away from school unnecessarily. I think no teacher does. But I am a god-fearing, to a great extent superstitious, and a family-man after all. Naturally there are times when things are just beyond my control. I also try to inform the authorities about my intended leave much before time. Sometime a month before I take off. As there was this Annual Puja at home, I do not know how this belief has taken hold of me over the years, but if I fail to attend the Puja (I get panicky thinking that something awkward, something terrible would befall me or my family in the days ahead!), I tried intimating Sir in advance. Sir was far from looking pleased and asked me to remind him about the leave afterwards as there was still time. A week before the PUja, I tried to remind him with a tremor in my heart. As luck would have it, I started suffering from a severe toothache a few days before I was to seek his permission. As the medicines from the hospital were not much help, I went to the Principal’s Office to request him for an extension of the leave. He took it as a lame pretext and tried reasoning out about it with me.

He was every bit right and I understood because I’d have done the same thing in his place as well. Finally, I felt Sir was doubting my integrity. I acted silly again, for the second time in my life. I went to the adjacent office and standing at a table, hurriedly scribbled down my resignation letter. I’d like to believe that I had tears well up in my eyes but only Madam Pema Choki, who is working at the Dzongkhag Office, can vouch for the authenticity. When I went back to Principal Sir’s Office again, I could see a highly qualified Indian friend, standing at his table and handing over his resignation letter to Sir. The colleague had decided to try his luck out in Kerala long back. What would remain etched in my mind is how Sir gave my resignation letter back to me with the request to think it over! He remarked: “I’ll take your letter but I want you to think it over, Sir…”

I did think it over, sitting in the confines and comforts of the adjacent office and I realized what Bhutan means to me. I realized what this glorious, all-forgiving country has done for me. I couldn’t submit my resignation letter any more after that. Mr. Tashi Chonjur, one of the most versatile, talented Head saved me that day from making the greatest blunder of my life. No wonder then that I love Bhutan for such capable, understanding and magnanimous people.