“What is your ambition?” My class four teacher asked me, and that was more than two decades ago. We had little ideas about what we wanted to become in future.
‘Teacher’ was a common answer, and then doctor and engineer. My parents and relatives often said I would become ‘Khe babu’ when I finished studying. I didn’t know what that exactly meant but I guessed it was an important title in the community of illiterate people then. ‘Khe Babu’ is a connotation of a agriculture officer(babu in Hindi) in the village who distributed fertilizer(Khe in Sharchop) to the farmers. I didn’t like the title of a Khe Babu. I felt like it meant someone whose only work was distributing ‘Khe.’
I wanted to become an English teacher, because I loved English and this was inspired by my class four Keralite teacher. I raised my hand for teacher, and this continued to the high school classroom.
One of the other inspiration was my own father who I learnt was a Dzongkha teacher and later an influential representative of the people to the government. When I knew him, he was a learned farmer, a respected aristocrat in the community. He was referred to as Lopen by everyone, and everyone seem to have some reason to come and meet him. I would see him talking and writing for people in the community. I and my brothers and sisters were referred to honorably as Lopen Ugyen’s ‘Sey and Sem.’ There was a deep sense of respect to my father and to our family. This status defined how I lived my childhood in a disciplined way, spending time meaningfully, balanced between work, play, studying and reading. I loved reading English comics and novels, and anything that is English. I was beginning to see myself as an English teacher as I crossed over from primary to high school.
Today I am a teacher, but a science teacher, not an English teacher. I am teaching chemistry and biology mostly, but I am still in love with English.
How did I become a Science teacher is a beautiful twist in my school life, driven by pride of academic success to go to Sherubtse College. It was the only premier college then in the country providing science at pre-university level. To be able to get selected to the most coveted college during our time to pursue science is a dream only some sixty students across the nation can get to become doctors and engineer.
Only the cream of performing students would get to pursue science at Sherubtse, and unfortunately I secured board exam marks that caught me into it. It was a matter of pride for parents and relatives, and everyone’s dream to go to Sherubtse. I could not have been a fool not to grab the collegian life of freedom and romance, and for my parents a respect and pride.
The twist in my career hasn’t dampened my performance. In fact, the strength and eloquence of English language I had acquired in decades of reading has only made me a better science teacher. I was able to explain concepts and abstract science theories with ease and grandeur. I was best at how I explained what was atom to how science governed us by its laws.
Although I didn’t become ‘Khe Babu’ of the time, I am teaching how Khe is made, how Khe is important for farming productivity and how Khe can also be deterrent to health and environment. ‘Khe’ are fertilizers and it’s made from elements and compounds we learnt in chemistry. Chemistry teacher is a ‘Khe Lopen’ in some ways too.
I am happy about everything I am now.
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