a dance, a new year and thoughts

I began my new year with a trek to Bhutan. I needed some time off in the mountains thinking, seeking and learning to be able to put my thoughts on the classroom in perspective. And I got that in loads. One on one interaction with the children and all the local people there. Being in the villages and the cities there also made me think about how much happier and peaceful my community back home around the school can be.

However, being back in Delhi brings with it its own pressures. And I sometimes feel my ideas for change are Utopian, need a longer term for gestation and time on my fellowship is ticking and running out faster than I can deal with.

I have been back in school a week - its been cold and intense. Today we (teaching staff) got called to an inauguration of the new school building which was a proverbial show put on for the local powers that be. I have no stand / issue that I want to comment on / bring up. Its just that the juxtaposition with the system, my co-fellow's exhortation to think practically and the reminders of the distance my community needs to traverse makes me wonder what I can do in my second year which approaches fast. 

But there is a silver lining to my thoughts. At the school inauguration twenty girls from class five at a MCD school twenty minutes away came to do a dance show. Decked out in saris and makeup these girls are gorgeous. I walked over to them, spoke to them a little and then walked them into my class. We spoke about the Explorers and they liked me enough to offer putting up a small aerobics performance. Their coordination (I have two left feet), enthusiasm, love - blew me away. And reminded me that deep down, all of us, love being excellent at something. That being true for me, other adults and my kids more than all. At the end of my year I should leave them excellent at something. And that something is probably education / high academic achievement.

Going back to the community - we have a BTCP (be the change project) in the community in year two. I am thinking of opening votes upto five ideas for the children to decide on, ask my principal for a veto / vote and then get to it with the community. Greening the school / a playground / computers are the top 3 ideas I have now. Do you have an opinion or an idea?

The project will take thinking, money and a lot of doing. But the dream is to create this tiny primary school into a happy, welcoming place where wants to go. Where parents feel their kids learn something great, something they help build and are proud of. It might mean many many days spent in the community and lots of disappointment but as always I will turn to you for hope and encouragement :)

And did I tell you? The day I sleep well, I get up early and start my car to make the 25 min drive to school. Usually I'll play loud dance / rock music that thunders in the car. For me its like I am going to war each day to make sure I impart something to my students. Something that is useful and helpful. People ask me why I did not follow my Dad's footsteps in the Army. I think I did. This Army I am a part of will change India. 

Baby, we're in the Army, now. 

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

The wannabe hermit’s tryst with the Hermit Kingdom

I spent a marvelous week in Bhutan ushering in my New Year. It's a gorgeous country and I am in love with it for multiple reasons.

For my trip I'll let some pictures do the talking - click here

Yes some parts will get missed out like my fantastic dinner with Phub Gen and Ugyen from Yangphel, making dinner friends with an American opera team performing a classical music opera in Bhutan, lunch with Tandin and his family on the outskirts of Thimpu, the first night on the trek visiting a Bhutanese house and chatting with a llama, visiting a monastery under construction, my talks with Tandin about Buddhism, the visits to monasteries but the pictures are a chance to chronologically go through my holiday .

As I leave Bhutan I realize I’m more at home in the mountains. I focus better and work more efficiently. I have known this for a while so now I wonder what I can take back to the city.

- (I struggled for four months but) Email on the go is a waste of my time. I've said good bye to blackberry services on my smartphone

- Sleep and walk (not sleepwalk – which I last heard of in the Enid Blyton series Malory Towers) more

- Do less email and talk to people more

- Eat bigger meals and play a lot

- Spend more time around my kids back at school learning with them AND stop planning life outside class so hard

Bhutan rang home some experiences and brought to life some stuff I've been thinking about too. Just before I went to Bhutan Geet Sethi spoke to us at Teach for India's Ahmedabad retreat. He said “you cannot have the focus of a monk if you live like a king”. And Zen Habits, the blog I read a lot has been encouraging a year without goals for a while now. Living in the present and giving everything a huge shot. Those might be my guiding principles for the year - live simply and work with out goals.

Here is to 2012!

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

Finding food in Thimpu

I swear the only reason I'm sat in a fast food joint in Chang Lam Square, Thimpu is because Baan Thai which was recommended is shut. So is Khamsa Oriental which I walked a few klicks to and I refuse to pay for an over priced meal at the Taj. In any case everyone says the Taj has horrid food.

Its a cold night, it just rained and I'm glad I decided to walk out. Its the first of my two nights in Thimpu and I got to cover a lot of the town on foot. I love being layered well and walking in the cold.

Thimpu is a gorgeous city. Developing fast but not bursting at the seams. Quaint but modernizing well. I was catching up with the world on CNN when an advert for Bhutan flashed. Much of what it said about an erstwhile shut but fast opening up country is so true.

I'm sure I've barely scratched the surface with my two days in Paro, a three day trek and a day yet in Thimpu but here's what I love.

A king who moved with the times and abdicated his thrown to usher in democracy. And its a pretty well planned democracy - there are posters everywhere in Jhongka (the national language) and English encouraging voting and providing info about the elections.

The kids in the cities and the villages are well educated. This is across primary and high school. They speak English well, sing in Jhongka and English, dance, connect things and are refreshingly curious. Maybe the last bit is just my outside the class, one-on-one interaction.

The women (are gorgeous) and everywhere. They own businesses, run shops, work in the fields, build houses and almost always study up to class 12 and often beyond. They have rights to property by tradition and the divorce rate is high but the women are the ones who make the call to leave their husbands. Remarriage is not uncommon in both cities and villages. And this bit just might be the Indian in me speaking but I think its a very powerful statement if you're a developing nation but socially liberal with a high regard for women's rights. (Homosexuality seems repressed yes).

Till now by royal decree they've chosen to preserve their culture smartly. You can build any style of house but doors, windows and roofs should be in Bhutanese tradition. One must wear the national dress when going to the offices or the monastery.

And they're a blissfully happy nation. A lot of what I'd say - people talk to you willingly, offer you a drink, are friendly to foreigners is actually true for India too. But they're incredibly happy with status quo and that's not true for India. Its not Bhutan is not on the move. They are but they're not fussed.

I still have a day to go so I'm going to dig deeper but I've loved being here. Here's to an upcoming walk in the cold back to the room. I've had a huge dinner and I'm going to love the walk hopefully.

PS - I got a rather strong JD with coke cause I thought of Nandeeta and felt good enough to break my non alcohol drive for a hol night. And spoke to an American team who are doing a classical music opera in Bhutan. The Americans were there at lunch too. We bumped into each other again - good to speak this time! Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

Good karma to Bhutan

I have been very keen to visit Bhutan. A trip in the Oct 2011 Diwali break fell through. Jan 2012 in the school winter vacations seemed the next best idea. It was always going to be a challenge doing a winter trek though. And it is.

Early on in the planning the long treks (7 days+) got cancelled due to snow and cold forecasts. Finally, we selected the Paro to Thimpu, 4n & 5d , Druk Path trek going up to appx 3300 mts. Decent snowfall over the last two days has meant that the Druk trek has been cancelled. I got to know as I was about to leave for the airport this morning.

I'm still going though. There's an alternate route in Central Bhutan that I might do. I will hang onto my flight coming out 11th Jan. I'm excited to go visit, there's not much chance I'll get to go again, there's a lot of good I hear about the country and I'm happy to be in the mountains and the snow. I'm carrying good trekking and winter gear. Things should be fun.

Wish me luck and look forward to pictures!

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie