THE TENTACLES OF LOVE

"Hey! Yoezer! Don't sleep like a log! Wake up!" a loud cry with resounding knocks on the door nearly made me jump out of my bed in fright. It was my cousin, Karma Lhazin, a mother of two working at Bhutan Development Bank. She was already up and had even prepared breakfast. I could smell the mouthwatering omelettes coming from the kitchen. "You can't be late on the first day of your high school! Can you, huh?!? Hurry up!" she knocked even harder with a loud yell. "I'm already up, Sister! I won't be late!" I hollered weakly from my room. I could still feel the movement of the bus from the previous day's journey as I sat still in my bed. "You better do that!" said she before walking away. I could hear the hard slap of her slippers on the floor fade away into the kitchen as she walked away. I wiped my eyes sluggishly trying to clear away the lees of my sleep and reluctantly dragged myself towards the window. I drew the curtains and looked outside as I let out a loud yawn. The day was unusually beautiful; the early rays of the sun broke into the room through the transparent windows like a quiver of arrows. Tiny sparrows chirped from the clump of silent guava trees in the vicinity. Angry cars roared deafeningly from the road nearby. The gentle breeze of spring howled through the tiny gaps of the window. First day of school! New school! New friends! New uniform! 1 exclaimed to myself. However, an unusual feeling began to grow simultaneously inside me, I was apprehensive. I wasn't really sure how I would be able to fit in a new place completely different from where I was born; I hailed from Salabi, one of the remotest corners of Mongar Dzongkhag which was tucked away among the giant valleys. The place I came from had not even a sweets shop. The village was gifted with a farm road, but the cars showed up seldomly. Unlike the populated Mongar town, Salabi had only a dozen households with less than 200 people. The people were always preoccupied in fields and hardly had a day off from their mundane works except on holidays. Mongar was the largest town I had ever seen in fourteen years of my life. Being born in a remote, backward area, I wasn't accustomed to the culture of an urban area. I knew it would take me some time to adjust to the new surroundings. Just then, the clank of pots from the kitchen startled me out of my deep thoughts. Everything will be fine! Everything will be fine! I comforted myself and hurried to get ready for school. I didn't want my cousin to appear at the door again and yell for the second time on the first day of my school. I was taught by my late grandfather that if a day commences with something unpleasant, the whole day would drag on with the same unpleasantness. Therefore, 1 wasn't ready to let it happen. Being born at one of the remotest corners of the country, superstition was ingrained in my blood. I hurriedly got myself ready for the school. "You're already getting late! Come, have your breakfast!" she called me from the kitchen in her shrill voice. I dashed towards the kitchen and began gobbling my breakfast. After both of us were ready, she began driving me towards the high school. I checked my watch; the time was already 08:34 a.m. and I was sure the assembly would have already begun. I sighed out loudly in worriment. "Don't worry, Yoezer. I'm sure the classes won't run today!" my cousin comforted me, her eyes fixed on the road. "Oh! Silly me! I didn't remember that! They'll distribute textbooks today! How are we supposed to start our classes without even a single textbook!" I exclaimed as I sighed in relief. My cousin remained unsmiling and silent. "You'll rot if you sleep too much! Do you know that mushrooms will start growing from your bones if you sleep for more than seven hours? Remember, there are brighter students here", she said sternly with a sarcastic remark. I hid my excitement and remained silent. "1-1 w-won't be l-lazy once t-the class s-starts. I'll study well, sister. 1 overslept today because of the tiring journey yesterday", I stammered as I tried to assure her. "Good! Good if you do that! Let me see if you really understood at the end of the year", she nodded her head. I remained silent without a word wondering if I would really be able to prove it to her. After driving for a couple of minutes, we entered through the giant gate of Mongar Higher Secondary School. "JENPALEKSO! (Welcome), the entrance read. I was shocked to see hundreds of students lined up in a long queue for the first time of my life. They're taller and fairer. I had never studied in a school with more than two hundred students before. I was unsure of how I would be able to be confident in front of all the new faces. "Sister, what would be the approximate strength of the school?" I asked her as we pulled over at the school parking. "More than 700 students and 30 teachers roughly!" she said as she turned off the engine. "M-More than 700 students?!? A-And 30 teachers?!?" I couldn't hide my amazement. I gaped as my cousin sister laughed. "Remember, Mongar is a town. Think with your brain, not with your kidney!" she said as she laughed at my perplexity. Having studied for almost a decade at a school with less than 15 teachers and less than 250 students, I've never imagined of a school with thrice the number.