It's already 11 PM. I can hear the wall clock make tick-tock. It
is a dark and a very cold night. I have four layers of clothes on my body and another
four on the bed that wrap me. Chill on the toes doesn't go away despite
wrapping inside the layered blankets. It's
numbness that buzzes like the swarm of bees on the toes and fingers. You would hear it, if you
were close to me.
Itches on the body are
better left unattended than tried to scratch or else it would feel like death
laying its icy hands. Ducking inside the layers of blankets and dodging the
freezing cold air that hovers inside my room, I don't have many complicated
things on my mind but a silent wish that time would elapse fast and winter was gone. Emotions are rendered numb and frozen as cold deepens with night and being
in Thimphu feels more of a curse than blessing. My emotions seem confused and
senseless at the intensity of this cold. Despite the overwhelming fondling of
the spiteful cold, I don't know what it is but there is a light of excitement kindling
within, as December slowly enters the calendar and take a few steps ahead to
exit as well. Some students are done with the annual exams. And they are
excited to enjoy the winter vacation after hectic academic sessions. School
staff must be already laying the thread of activities to weave a plan for winter
break. After a heavy dose of academic sessions, who wouldn’t be excited!
Back in the village, paddy fields must be
strewn with the after-harvest of paddy plants- stubbles. And where water has managed
to exist, egrets must be already spread into
paddy field to hunt for fishes
and toads. Young kids who have not been colonized by the use of mobile phones
must have started turning the school socks into ball to play PITU (Game of
seven stones). Some students must have already bought a CHUMKI to play. While
that w as on a fun note.
On a serious notes,
those border students who have been away from their must be excited to be home.
But fate has thrown discriminations abundant for many kids like us. For them
winter also means a time for earning hot cashes for the next academic session
as opposed to attending a winter coaching classes for urban children. Or maybe
what urban children would think of building and polishing skills, it was a time
we thought of earning cash. Rustic as we are, our thoughts are always a pyramid-like,
ultimately having cash that would help us push towards the educational journey.
I have those vivid
memories of having undertaken so called TEMPORARY JOB of loading and unloading
stones, sands and gravels. Clearing bushes, making drainage along the road,
making gravels and constructing walls, you name it-we would take up anything
that would keep us engaged and provide a platform to earn money. And happily
receiving cash of Nu 3000/- at the end of the month that would straightaway go
as school expenditure would be a milestone that would be so overwhelmingly unimaginable
at that level. Even sweater memories are of the packed lunch we would share
among friends after having lost significance amount of energy, loading and
unloading stones, sand and gravel. How painful palms, fingers and hands would
be in the evening when we used to wash them! But basking in the fire with those
weary eyes and body, it would be a reunion with parents that is worth million
dollars, from a monetary perspective. And
those agonizing pain would be forgotten. Sitting by the fire, over a cup of tea, I remember
dreams I would share with family. The dream would be regarding what I would do
after studying. We were small people with dreams suitable to our status. Innocence
would be another feature that would decorate our dreams. Yes, winter also means
dream -sharing moment-at least to me.
In addition to the
above, winter also meant collecting firewood from jungle. I still have in my
mind that fear of elephant or any wild animals used to be zero. Unstopped by
any fear, motivated by the fact that such life was our obligation, I still remembering
travelling through thick and scary pockets of jungle. Be them fodder of bamboo
and many plants that cattle would consume or firewood stacked in the baskets,
this life had a privilege to taste, which would soon be a tale for today’s generation. Such life was not tough but held
great values that prepared us for future. I still find value in keeping an
image of myself ploughing field or carrying a basket on my back. That is the
root that created the branches of life I have today and will have in future.
