Helping Grade Ten overcome Inhibition.

I don’t remember the year when I’d to teach the rippler ( I've used it to mean something that causes a ripple) for the first time. I had already gone through the novel a couple of times, but for some reasons I wasn’t feeling very comfortable. I guess, I had the doubt that most teachers have when something is being tried out for the first time. Had it not been  for the timely help rendered by my friend, Mr.Sonam Jamtsho, who later on rose to be the Academic Head of Chhukha Higher Secondary School, I would have never mustered up enough courage to teach this extremely powerfully crafted novel.

Anyways, let me come straight to the point without beating around the bushes. This February end, after a gap of almost 8 years, I’s given another chance by the school authorities to renew my love for the novel when I was asked to teach class X again. The very first day of the novel, I entered the class a bit tentatively like a newly-wed Bengali bride. I was quite apprehensive, to say the least. But the lesson was a big hit and the positive response of the class gave me a new hope. I wanted to blog about the lesson the same day, but my lethargy had some other designs for me!

Today, right after the second period, having been back in the staff room, I realized that time was not going to stand still for me and if I really wanted to put pen to paper, this was the time. Let me tell you readers that as per the plan I made last night, we were going to do the fifth chapter of the novel. Let me also give a brief summary of the chapter for the convenience of all concerned.

At the daily ritual of dream telling, Jonas, the protagonist, is indecisive about his dream and how to put the different fragments together. Finally he decides to share his dream with the family. He finds himself, in his dream, back in the Bathing Room of the House of the Old, with his heartthrob, Fiona. Both of them are standing near a bathtub and Fiona is provocatively driving Jonas to madness. He, much against his sense of propriety, desperately wants Fiona to get into the tub and bathe her. At this point Father cuts him short by asking him to talk about his strongest feeling at that precise moment. Jonas replies that it was the feeling of wanting – wanting to possess her completely, heart, soul and all. At a signal from Mother, Father then takes leave along with Lily, Jonas’ sister, and the sick child, Gabrielle. Then Mother and Jonas have a short talk as she informs him about his first experience of sensual pleasure. He is given the pill to keep the stirrings away. He is not the only one to be given pills as others in the community do the same till they enter the House of the Old. As Jonas heads for school, he wants to have the pleasurable feeling back, but cannot as the  pill starts impacting him.

While I was preparing for them, one thing was clear to me – the importance of explaining the content of the chapter to the students freely, but I wasn’t sure of their response. I did not have the slightest notion of how the class was going to react.

 Right after the presentation on Idioms by a girl called Jamuna, I began by talking about the previous chapter and asking if they had any doubts about it. As the class shook its head, I asked some volunteers to read out the first page of the next chapter. I think it was Sancha, who raised his hand first. I was thinking of assessing his reading skill for the reading record, when I heard him mispronounce words for the third time. So I had to quit any thought of evaluating his reading and asked him to try to explain the paragraphs in his own words.

By then we had reached the place where Lily is found to be sharing her frightful dream of being caught by the Security Guards for violating the rule by riding on her mother’s cycle. We had also learnt something about Mother’s dream and her fear of being chastised for the infringement of another rule. Jigme, a very bright student, by then, had started reading about that part of the dream where Jonas and Fiona are alone in the Bathing Room.

“Why do you think Jonas was given the pill?’ asked Tek Nath, another bright boy, the moment  Jigme was done with the reading. Before I had time to think over the question, Jigme made me marvel at his ingenuity by replying that most probably, they were trying to control birth in their community! Then Pema Lham, Sangay Penjore and Pema Wangmo, took turns to read the rest of the chapter. Despite my interruptions at ensuring understanding, the class urged them on.

Then there was a silence for a moment or two as I tried my best to get the class back to discussing the main points once more. Luckily for me, Tshewang Rinzin, another hyper-active student, at around this time, decided to challenge Tak Nath’s prowess by asking him to explain a sentence from the text. He read out the sentence from the closing part: Pedaling rapidly down the path, Jonas felt oddly proud to have joined those who took the pills

Something had come over the class in the meantime and it was not looking comfortable at all. I think Jigme's remark about Jonas's community trying to control the sex hormones of the people, might have something to do with it. There prevailed an air of suspicion and distrust. I knew I had to act quickly before it took a nasty turn: 
" Let me tell you something in this connection. You know I had a very conservative upbringing. In our time, we were supposed to be deceitfully decent at all times at school and could never discuss things freely with our teachers. That is why I could never discuss anything physical, let alone mention the word ‘ sex’, with them. That was a wrong attitude on my part and may be the reason why I am so hesitant to talk about the subject even today. But gone are those days of ignorance and I think the Government of Bhutan is doing the right thing by trying to introduce subjects like Sex Education in schools across the country. You are the citizens of the twenty first century and as such, must be taught not to keep your doubts, your questions to yourselves. You must be knowledgeable enough about a lot of things not to let anything unpleasant ever happen to you due to ignorance. Nowadays, cases of teenage pregnancy, abortion are reported on a daily basis. To avoid getting caught in the throes of such deception, immorality, and this goes especially for the girls, you must not be shy to talk to others, people you trust and people who will never betray your trust. Talk to your mother, sister or a close friend, if you deem fit to. But please don’t make the mistake of keeping things to yourself. Have I made myself clear ........?"

The class sat up as Tek Nath answered Tshewang’s question: 'Could be Jonas doesn’t feel like a child any more. He knows he’s grown up and the knowledge makes him happy ….

It was precisely at this moment the bell for the recess rang. I reminded the class to go through the next chapter during the weekend and took my leave.