Himalayan Home - 2. HH Chapter 2

I looked at the email to check for any errors, and five minutes later, after searching and locating the right email address, I clicked send, not really knowing why I had sent this email to a representative of Buddha, his Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet.

My first visit to the Meditation Centre in Snug, was a very relaxing and enjoyable time, with Aunty Grace keeping at a distance as an observer, as I went through my meditation session, with the two monks and the rest of the Tibetan Buddhist community.

“Hello young man, may I ask what brings you to our little community?” one of the monks said to me as he approached me. Caught off guard a bit by been approached by one of the resident monks, I fought to think of something to say, and when I did, I said it is the Tibetan language, followed by in Dzongkha, in case he didn’t understand.

“Hello Brother, I come to spent some time of meditation in a place of peace and harmony that is in your little community, having just arrived back in Australia, after spending most of my life in the Kingdom of Bhutan, after a twelve-year absence, as my family live and work in Thimbu.

I apologise for surprising you sir, I have been sent back to Australia to complete my last three years of my education, and living with my Aunt, while attending a private school, starting in a fortnight. I also speak fluent Hindi and Nepali, as required by my education in Bhutan, where my parents work as a Doctor and a Teacher / Nurse, and I have a much younger brother, who remains with my parents,” I replied, as I saw the second Monk approaching us.

In Tibetan, the first Monk repeated what I had just said, to his colleague, who’s eyes opened very wide in surprise, before asking in Nepali what my name is. Also in Nepali, I told him that my Bhutanese name is Dechen C Yeshe, with my second name being Christopher, and my surname being Hamilton.

Switching back to English, as I saw my Aunt approaching, “but either name is acceptable by me and the family. the first monk smiled and nodded before he said to me also in English, “Well Dechen Yeshe, welcome to our community, we look forward to seeing you at our regular meetings,” and I gave a small bow of my head in respect.

“May I present my Aunt, Ms Grace Alpike of Blackman’s Bay,” I said just as my Aunt arrived to hear me make the introduction. “It is a pleasure to meet the Aunt of an extraordinary young man, welcome to our community, you along with your nephew are most welcome to attend any of our meetings,” the first monk said to my Aunty.

“Yes, thank you, as long as I don’t have to shave off my beautiful hair, I would like that,” Aunty Grace replied smiling, and both monks laughed at that comment, and I smiled broadly. Although my hair was cut very short, I have never had it completely shaved off, and that seemed to be acceptable in the Buddhist community back home in Bhutan, and it seemed that the monks before us had no issues with it too as Aunty Grace and I enjoyed a day surrounded by new friends, in a very peaceful environment.

Although I was tired from a long day, I was also extremely happy, that we had found a great Buddhist community that I could be with on the weekends, and after an early dinner, I made a phone call to my parents in Thimbu, telling them all about my day, and about the Buddhist community south of Hobart.

On the Monday morning and with less than one week to go, Aunty Grace had made an appointment to meet the School Bursar, who is in charge of enrolments of students in the school, my aunty informed me that I had to sit a small examination for the school to determine if year 10 is the correct year for me to begin at the school.

I was required to attend an interview with the Bursar and two other staff, select what courses that I would be doing apart from the normal Australian Curriculum, plus I had to purchase all of my school uniforms, get all the text books that I would require, and also have a thorough tour of the school grounds, and all of this took the whole day to complete, which I found very exhausting.

Apart from the main subjects of English, History, Religious Studies, Mathematics, Health and Physical Education, and Science, for the elective subjects I had chosen, Philosophy, Digital Technologies, Music plus Business and Enterprise, while for sports, I selected Badminton in Term One, Hockey in Term Two and Soccer in Term Three.

When asked about my unusual accent and the Bursar and Dean of Studies learnt that I have spent most of my life living in the Kingdom of Bhutan, with some months each year spent in the Himalayan mountains, they became very interested about me and my life in the Himalayas and asked for more detail about my life there in Bhutan, I just gave them a basic outline of what I did there each year, mostly in the area of schooling and sports, which I could see they were not too happy about.

They tried to push me for more information, and when I refused to give more details, my Aunt eventually spoke up and said that her nephew was beginning a new chapter in his life and that his time in Bhutan was the past, and that he wanted to concentrate on the future. Although they were not very happy about my Aunt’s intervention, they had to accept our decision to not expand on what life was like in Bhutan.

“Bursar and Dean, let me make it very clear to you both, if you continue to persist on learning more about my nephews life in the Himalayan Kingdom or you reveal to the schools teacher, staff and student population or anyone outside of the school, about my nephews time in Bhutan, then I will not hesitate to withdraw Dechen from the school immediately, no matter what time of the day, week or school year it is,” my Aunt said to the two staff members sternly.

That evening during our telephone conversation with my parents, we informed them of what had happened at the school, and although it was Dad’s old school, he didn’t feel comfortable about the school trying to use me for my experiences in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

After some more discussions, Mum and Dad asked Aunty Grace go and get a court intervention order on the school, stopping them from revealing any details about my life in the Kingdom of Bhutan, and as a back up to start looking for an alternate school for me to attend, just in case the school does try to get a bit too nosey in the families affairs.

The following day, Aunty Grace and I made a court application for the intervention order, and we were told that the earliest possible time for the Court’s Magistrate to hear the application would be at 10 am on the Monday next week, the day of the commencement of the school year.

Although not happy about the long delay, Aunty Grace paid the application fee, and after receiving all of the paperwork, we headed back outside, where there was a nice park nearby, where we sat and enjoyed the serenity of the lawn and gardens, among the hustle and bustle of city life, and I sighed.

“It is a really nice park, but the noise…” I said more to myself, and Aunty Grace also sighed, “Yes nephew, I fully agree with you, especially after my short visit back to Bhutan,” Aunty Grace responded. “Excuse me, Ms Alpike, Mr Hamilton?

Sorry to bother you, my name is Mary Walters, I am one of the Court Clerks. His Honour, Mr Miles Kent, the local Magistrate will hear your case right away if you would like to come back to the Courthouse right now,” a lady said to us, which caught both of us by surprise, and we hurriedly followed the lady back inside.

We were ushered through security and straight into the court room, were we stopped just inside the door, and putting my hands together, I gave a bow, and Aunty Grace did the same, and we were led to seats near the front, where the Magistrate was already seated, and he looked up and smiled.

“Ah, now young man, I hear you have a very interesting story to tell. Is this your Guardian… Ms Grace Alpike is it?” the Magistrate stated. “Yes, Your Honour, and my name is Dechen Christopher Yeshe Hamilton, and although I was born is Australia, I have lived in the Kingdom of Bhutan since the age of two years, and I am now fifteen, due to that is where my parents live and work.

I speak four foreign languages, and I have been sent back to Australia, to complete the final three years of my education, before deciding which university to attend. Although our family are Christians with the Anglican Church, I have been brought up as a Buddhist, which is the major religion in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Sir, we are here today because the private school that I am enrolled to attend in less than two weeks, wishes to learn more and possibly exploit my life and experiences in Bhutan, which is not what I or my parents or my Guardian want,” I said to the Magistrate.

I went on to give a brief explanation about what an average week was like of living in the Kingdom’s capital and high in the Himalayan mountains for part of the year. I was about to continue on with some more about the trouble it would cause our family, when the Magistrate raised his hand for me to stop.

“Young man, I find you to be an extremely well mannered and intelligent teenage, who has a very bright future ahead of him. As it happens, I have a nephew who attends your new school, and I too am an old boy of the school. I hear by grant you an intervention order, for a period of your entire three years of your schooling, as well as for a further two years after you have graduated.

Good luck with your time at the school, and if you have any problems with the school not abiding by this order, don’t hesitate to leave a message at the Clerk’s office. That is all, just go back to the Clerk Office to finalise the paper work and you are good to go,” the Magistrate announced.

Aunty Grace and smiled, and we gave his honour a deep bow, before leaving the court room, happy that we had the support of the Court to keep my life in Bhutan private. “I don’t think we need to start looking at other schools, do we?” Aunty Grace said to me, and I smiled and shook my head no.

After a celebrate lunch at a small café, we headed back home, to relax for the rest of the afternoon, since I now had completed all the tasks needed to attend a new school in Australia, and having organised my new uniforms and all text books that I require.

Two days later on the Thursday afternoon, after spending two days looking around some of the tourist sites closest to Hobart for most of yesterday and today, my mobile dinged with a notification that I had an email, and I quickly opened it. Briefly reading the email, I smiled happily knowing that the intervention order had been served and that I should not have any issues with the school.

With student boarders required to be on campus by 4pm on the Sunday afternoon, the day before school commences, and since I had experienced being a boarder before, I had all of my school luggage packed and ready to go soon after breakfast, and just before Aunty Grace and I headed off to the Anglican Church for Sunday service, having spent most of yesterday at the Buddhist centre in Snug, mentally preparing myself for the start of the school year at a new school.

When we arrived at the school later that afternoon, my stomach was in knots and I was feeling very nervous, plus I was having trouble getting used to the new school uniform. “Name please,” the gentleman asked as we approached him.