2015: A TOUGH & CHALLENGING YEAR

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

                                                                                                 —Martin Luther King, Jr.

After a decade of living in quietness and solitude (well almost), 2015 was packed with events – making it one of the most memorable and eventful years of my life. The situation at the home front was most fluid throughout the year. I now realize that my family members and I in particular have been living away from our home in Gangtok most of the time ever since the partial demolition of our house in the third week of March 2015  by the powers-that-be.

2014 ended on a sad note with the passing away of my mother-in-law Ama Yangchen, who was living with us, in November 2014, followed by the death of our beloved former Principal, Rev. DH Stewart (of Mt.  Hermon School, Darjeeling), in New Zealand in the month of December. In April 2015, another former Principal of our alma mater, Mr. GA Murray, also passed away.

Their passing away and the deaths of our family friend and former Gangtok MLA, Mr. Balchand Sarda, and my brother-in-law, Sonam Gyatso Chingapa (Yap Saila of Ben, South Sikkim), and Khenzong Anyola during the year, were very personal losses to me and my family. We will continue to miss them but will cherish their loving memories.

However, despite these sad and trying moments we were able to lift up our spirits mainly due to our own inner strength, the blessing of the Almighty, and the tremendous love, affection, support and sympathy shown to us by our family members, relatives, friends and well-wishers.

As the year passes by I want to particularly thank Sikkim’s Ponpola and his wife Kesangla, Princess Hope Leezum and her husband and my cousin Wangyal Topden for graciously allowing me and my family members to stay in their home when it became virtually impossible for us to live at our place after the demolition. Thank you for being there for us when we needed the most.

As summer gave way to autumn our twin daughters, Sonam and Kunga, gradually moved away from home after 21 years. They are now graduates and learning to live and work on their own. This is another phase in our life which is hard to face but accept we must. It is both a joyful and painful process.

Resuming old ties with people like Suresh Pramar, my mentor and journalist who introduced me to journalism in 1983, and Mani Kumar Subba, former Assam MP, is a good thing that I was able to do this year.

Now a word about my extended family: the Hermonites. Surprisingly, even as we were in the midst of ‘turmoil’ the Hermonites, once again, made concerted efforts to make me Principal of Mt. Hermon in order to save the school. However, the authorities kept mum and because of this I have decided to close the chapter from January 1, 2016.

To all Hermonites, thank you for your concern for MH and the support to my candidature. We know that our dreams are buried in our wounded heart and we must gradually learn to accept the reality of the situation. Now no one, including God, can accuse us of complacency on MH affairs. We must move on.

Despite these developments Hermonites continue to join hands to have a good time by themselves. The small reunions at dinners, weddings etc. and the big splash at the North East Hermonites Alumni (NEHA) meet in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur in the first week of December this year all go to show the tenacity, camaraderie and the spirit of MH and Hermonites. We are indeed unique and rare – the salt of the earth! Hail Mt.  Hermon!

Special thanks to Hermonites Krishna Goenka and Mahesh Singh for being there and for their help and cooperation while my family was in the process of finding a home away from home towards the end of the year.

2016 is bound to offer more surprises and I’m ready to face anything. But I hope it will be a less eventful and quieter year.  I want to spend more time with myself, my family, and my close friends.

Cheers and Happy New Year!