Himalayan Home - 7. HH Chapter 7

After been away for two weeks, Giles returned, and he was happy to be back, although he too was a bit jumpy when there was a sudden loud noise, which made me react in fright most times. Every afternoon for 90 minutes, I would sneak into the chapel for meditation, straight after school had ended and before evening roll call, and three days a week Giles, Adam and Chad would join me, while on the alternate days, I was on my own.

Aunty Grace had arranged for the delivery of a number of Tibetan floor rugs, wall hangings, and large sitting cushions, as well as a Buddha statue, made out of light plastic, so it was easy to carry up to the room, and the meditation room was now a large comfortable relaxing place to meditate quietly, although some days I could hear the choir practicing in the loft below, which I didn’t mind.

After nine long weeks, I was now on my way back home to Bhutan, were I would be spending my two weeks holidays with the family. Thanks to my Aunty convincing my parents that I really missed home and that she thought it would be best that I went home for the two weeks to relax and meditate in the Himalayans, I was making the long journey home.

With the school holidays now in place, and as is required, I had packed all of my school belongings and they are now all stored at Aunty Grace’s place until my return for the start of 2^nd term at the school, and I watched out the windows as the plane approached the Bhutanese capital, feeling happy to be back home again, especially after a long flight.

Once cleared through immigration and collecting my luggage and having it thoroughly searched by customs, and finding nothing, I was permitted to exit the restricted zone, where I found my parents and younger brother there waiting for me, and I burst into tears of happiness, as I was hugged by my family.

Although the family had just finished their five months in the Himalayas, I was informed that we would be making a special trip up there for my 2^nd week, so I could spend some time there before returning to Australia, which I was very happy to hear.

Although I had been away for just two- and a-bit months, Kalden had already grown quite a lot, and he was now a real chatterbox, and was constantly asking me questions on what I have been doing since I have been away from home, which soon became very tiresome.

I spent a lot of my first week catching up with all of my old friends, but I had to wait until they were out of school for the day, and when they were, we played soccer on the school oval, talked and joked, all in the native Dzongkha language, which made me very happy.

On the weekend, some friends and I went hiking for the day, leaving after morning meditation and prayers, just as the sun was rising for the day, and we arrived back just before sunset, tired but happy and full of laughter. It was just awesome to be back home and to be amongst the people that I have grown up with, and I we dreading having to return to Australia at the end of the following week.

On the Monday of my second week home, our family had packed up for a five-day trip into the Himalayan Mountains, where Mum and Dad had arranged for us to stay at Gasa, and I knew full well that it would take us a good five hours to get there by car, due to the narrow mountainous roads.

We had been to Gasa many times over the years, and because it has the hot springs, it was one of my favourite places to visit, so I was pleased when Dad informed us that this is to be our destination for our short family holiday.

With it being located at over 2,800 metres above sea level, and just 28 kilometres east of the border with China, the location is very remote high up in the mountains, just were I feel the happiest.

I guess it must have shown, as I spent the next few days spending time with the locals, and hiking in the mountains, plus soaking in the hot springs, because my parents commented that it has been the happiest that they have seen me in some time.

On day four of our stay on Casa, a message had managed to reach us, that Aunty Grace has been trying to get into contact with Dad, and of course he had brought his satellite phone with him, just in case of an emergency, and with the time been being just after lunch time in Bhutan, it was late afternoon in Tasmania, as Dad dialled the number.

“Hello family, you are a hard lot to get in contact with,” Grace said when she answered the call, “Hello Grace, sorry about that, we are on a mini family holiday up in the mountains, and some family friends managed to send a message up, to let us know that you were trying to contact us. What is wrong? Anything bad?” Dad responded.

“Well, it depends on what you regard as bad, and for Dechen, he may regard it as bad, I have received a message from your school friends Dechen, Lenn and his cousin Giles?” Aunty Grace started, “Go on Aunty, I am listening,” I said to her.

“Well, they were informed yesterday morning, that those three bullies had appeared in court, and received a suspended sentence. In addition to that, they have managed to get a court order, reversing the school’s expulsion order, meaning the three bullies will be permitted to return to the school at the start of nest term,” Aunty Grace informed us.

On hearing this, I stormed out of our accommodation to take a long walk. I was furious at this news, I had hoped that I would not have to deal with those three ever again, but here we are, just three days away from me flying back to Australia, and we hear this news.

It was a good two hours later before I returned to the accommodation, and Dad and Mum were patiently waiting for me there, worried more about what we had just learnt, than me going off into the mountains for two hours, as they knew that I was experienced and knowledgeable enough to not get lost and be able to survive easily if I did.

“So, son, we are guessing by that reaction, you do not want to return to that school in a few days’ time?” Dad said once I had sat down in the lounge area of our accommodation. “Ha, you got that right Dad, no way in… well no way am I stepping foot on the grounds of that school, while those three bullies are attending that school,” I responded.

“Dechen, kerb that attitude please,” Mum scorned at me, “Sorry I am just so flaming p… well you know how I am feeling… how in the blazes did they manage to get back to attending the school again?” I replied. “Apparently they have the assistance of a top Barrister, and they managed to convince a Magistrate to have the expulsion cancelled,” Dad replied.

“Your friends would really like to talk to you, to find out what you plan to do about this situation, we asked Grace to let them know that you are out of the country and that you would get in contact as soon as you can,” Mum said to me. “Ok… well can I stay here in Bhutan, at least until the end of the semester, I should be able to return to my old school here cant I?” I responded.

“Yes, we can arrange that, we thought that might be what you wanted to do, so we have seen that you are very happy to be back home here,” Dad said to me. “If you want me to go back to Australia, maybe Aunty Grace can find me a different school to attend, maybe just an ordinary government school, as long as it doesn’t have any problems with bullies,” I replied.

“We will look into it as soon as we get back home late tomorrow,” Dad said to me, and I smiled, happy that I would be spending more time at home in Bhutan. “Hello, Lenn, this is Dechen speaking,” I said into the phone late the next day, once we were back home in the capital, where it was almost 9pm over in Tasmania.

“Hey buddy, glad to hear from you, we been trying to get hold of you for some time, to find out what your family plans are regarding this news,” Lenn replied. “Well, my parents and I discussed it yesterday, about two hours after we learnt about it, as I stormed off and went for a long walk to cool off,” I responded.

Lenn laughed, “off on one of your walks again eh! Hamilton,” Lenn said to me and I chuckled at this, “Yes, except this time I was high up in the mountains, over 2,800 metres above sea level to be exact,” I answered, “Wow, so you are back home in Bhutan, in the Himalayans? It sounds like an incredible place, I would love to come and see what it looks like one day,” Lenn said to me.

“Yes, it is. As a treat for me, Mum and Dad, my brother and I have spent five days up there for a short family holiday, and it takes about five hours to drive up there because of the mountain roads, but the scenery when you get there is amazing,” I answered.

“What has your family decided then?” Lenn asked me, “Oh, yeah, I am staying here in Bhutan, at least until the end of the Semester, so I can attend school here. Since I have only been away from my old school a short while, it won’t be too much of a problem getting back in again.

I will miss you guys, it has been great meeting and getting to know you and your cousin Giles, but for now, I am staying here, well away from those damn bullies,” I replied.

“That is pretty much the same decision that Giles and I have come too as well, which both sets of parents are not too happy about, but we have told them that we are not prepared to put up with that sort of situation again, and they are in agreement, so we will be going to another school next week,” Lenn informed me.

“Well, I hope that it all goes well for you, and since I still have my Aunty Grace living down there, I will be coming back down to Tasmania at some stage to visit her, and also to collect all of my stuff that is still there,” I said to Lenn. “We will miss you too buddy, and yes make sure that you let us know when you are coming back to Tasmania, so we can all catch up,” Lenn responded, and after a few minutes we ended the call, with mixed emotions, for not been able to see my new friends again for some time.

I started back at my old school again, like that I had never been away, which was really awesome. I was still having conflicting thoughts about boys and sex, but I kept it to myself and filed it deep in the back of my thoughts, as I started doing my daily routine of Meditation, Prayer and Reading on a more regular basis than what I was in Tasmania, and once again, I had Mum cut my hair very short, so I didn’t look too much out of place with the other students at the school.

At the end of the school week, I arrived home and started right away on my homework, and while I had internet connection, a notification came up for an email received, so I clicked on it and smiled when I saw that it was from Giles, with an attachment to the email.

“Hello Dechen, (if I am allowed to call you that), Lenn filled me in on everything that he knew about you and I am very pissed at you for not trusting me, but then again, I do understand that you wanted to keep it all very low key and hush hush, so I forgive you. Lenn asked me to say hi to you, and to tell you that he and I both miss you heaps. We have attached a copy of a new item that may be of interest to you. Take care and email us back as soon as you can please. Your friend always, Giles”.

I clicked on the attachment, which was a newspaper article – “20% of senior students withdrawn from exclusive private school, after court overturns an expulsion order of three known school bullies,” was the headlines, which surprised me, and I read the article with interest.