Tribute to YCS Part II: Some Finer Aspects

Yangchenphug is celebrating its golden Jubilee this year. As an alumnus, I recently wrote a short tribute and posted it in my blog. While many commended me and connected well with my reflections, there were a few who wanted me to write more. This sequel is for the reading pleasure of those who prodded me to tell more.

After my last story, people messaged me from far and near. A lady – Lubna Abedin - commented from abroad. Like me she is an YCS alumnus - ‘I am of the 1986 batch’, she reminded me. That makes her only a year junior to me, I calculated. Yet, I don’t remember her. One Mr. Edward Kelly connected from California, USA. He said that he had taught art to junior students at YCS in the early 1980s. I could recollect that. A tall robust white man, often in gho, used to be among YCS faculty when I was in class ten. He didn’t teach me, but I remember Mr. Kelly.

Some commentators tried to take me further back into the history of YCS. JB Tyson, RD Sing…rattled one old boy citing a continuum of larger than life principals who had governed Yangchenphug over the years. One asked me, ‘what about Mr. Verma, the then Chemistry teacher? I hadn’t written about Mr. Verma in my last story because he didn’t teach me anything, let alone Chemistry. Of course, I remember him; he was the Chemistry teacher for 9A and 10A, while Mr. John taught me the same subject in 9B and 10B. Verma was purportedly a better Chemistry teacher than John. But I had no option – John was destined to teach me Chemistry. I had to try hard to reason with my Facebook friend who found Verma missing in my story. ‘How can I write anything about someone who I had barely met?’ For me, Verma was like a movie star, I knew him, he didn’t know me!

One reader commented that I had written only about stealing apples. ‘But then we used to steal peach and plum also’, he reminded me. He is right - apple hunting was meant to be a prologue to the well orchestrated marauding of various fruit by YCS students of yore. However, while we stole peaches in broad daylight from the Indian Embassy and GREF estates, apples were mostly hunted at dark. Another mate reminded me about our regular trips to Tandin Nye. Tandin Nye was both a protecting deity as well as a romancing spot for the more romantic of us. The path to Tandin Nye from YCS ran through a sublime blue pine forest. Some of my mates used to pretend to carry a book or two under their arms and walk towards Tandin Nye. Very soon, female shapes would follow suit – books under their arms and onwards to the Nye. Whether they studied, prayed or did something else is everyone’s guess, I guess!

One mate reminded me about the boys’ toilet up on the hillock. ‘How can you forget that?’ he chided. It was a one-of-a-kind of toilet. There was a long low-roofed house with two long rows of cubicles fitted with two cement bricks about 20 centimeters apart for students to squat while emptying their bowels. The excrements - be it solid turds or diarrhoeal - flowed down a single drain. As a result, if you were using one of the cubicles towards the end, the exhaust delivered by some five to six of your mates further up the discharge chain would come gushing by and pass under you. It was fun predicting who sat and shat above you from the colour of the stool. The walls of the toilet cubicles were mini-encyclopedias of some sorts – students scrawled good and bad with the green grass they would have taken along to wipe off their under sides.

A few of my friends called me and suggested, ‘you could have written about some of our mates who are public figures today.’ Except for fleeting references to a few mates, I hadn’t written about any of my mates in particular. I was afraid of not being able to cover everyone, thereby offending those I miss. The more pertinent reason was that I wanted to focus on the external environment rather than on the details of friendship and camaraderie. Kinga Tshering, Hon’ble Member of Parliament from North Thimphu constituency was my immediate bed neighbour in the Tiger house dormitory. When I was in class nine, Kinga was in eight. He was already shining as a student. Besides his intelligent academic capacity, I remember Kinga as a good artist. Yes, he used to draw good pictures. Apparently, he didn’t develop or pursue this hobby.     Kaka Tshering, who had merited a mention in my earlier story, was also a dorm mate. He was a fine boy and a good leader of Tiger House. As the Hon’ble Member of the National Council representing Paro, Kaka continues to lead to this day.

Among my classmates, I am still in touch with many – thanks to Facebook. After a brief, yet distinguished stint in the Ministry of Finance, Sonam Jatso (the Jatso was added much later and he was simply Sonam those days – fondly known as Disco Sonam for his dancing skills) started his own business. Quite a few of my mates from YHS went on to become doctors. Dr. Shah Bahadur Gurung and Dr. Dhan Kumar Acharya immediately come to my mind. Kinga Namgay became an engineer and today, he is an executive director at DGPC. Ugyen Tenzin (popularly known as Abdul) ran a successful stint as Haa MP. Diwakar, one of my closest pals is doing well as an engineer. He has been part of the Government’s school planning and building initiative for decades now. Chandra Rimal, another close pal, is in Phuentsholing and I meet him regularly. I have lost Thag Bahadur Powdyel; I know he is alive and kicking somewhere, but I don’t know where. Three of my female mates joined Bhutan’s health services. After serving as nurses, to day, Sonam, Chimi and Sapna are either health administrators or trainers. I used to have an adopted sister – Karma Choden. She was one of two Bhutanese archers who participated in the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984. When she returned from the USA, she had brought for me a pair of socks and a very nice T-shirt, which I wore until five years later. I don’t know where she is now!

Sometime last year, I came to know that Karma Kinley was in the Bank of Bhutan, Phuentsholing. I sent him words through Rimal suggesting that we meet over a dinner. A dinner meeting was fixed for the day I was to arrive in Phuentsholing from Nganglam. Pocketful of money, I was ready to host my two old mates to a sumptuous meal. Around 6:30 PM, it started raining. I called Rimal and enquired about our meeting, as I was quite keen for a reunion. Rimal called back a while later to inform ‘Karma Kinley says it is raining; so he wants to meet you another day’. My excitement was drowned in the early monsoon shower. Friendship is supposed to be all weather, but here an inclement weather stood between my mates and me. At that time I realised that not everyone I had met at YCS wants to reconnect.

My memories of YCS are not connected through my classmates alone. Today, I count among my good friends alumni who may have been a year or two junior to me. Parsuram Sharma (GM, CDCL), Binai Lama (Senior Advisor to SNV Bhutan), Madan Chhetri (Financial Advisor to WWF Bhutan), Wangchuk Namgyel (CEO of GIC Bhutan Re Ltd), Finance Minister Namgay Dorji and Suresh Nepal (Consulting Engineer of international repute) are a few with whom I meet and interact regularly.

I end my reminiscences of YCS with a salute to all the wonderful people I met there – as classmates, housemates and schoolmates! Happy Jubilee YHS!