An Unknown Journey

Hissey Lepcha

“Grandmother, I don’t want to go there”, This was what I had said when I first came to this school. An unknown journey was waiting for me, and I had this fear to travel alone. On the path which was like a labyrinth, where the roads could take me to distanced undiscovered lands and new faces to greet my life. But somewhere deep down my heart, I had that feeling of hope and prayers of survival throughout my journey.

My deepest gratitude to our Honourable Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, for granting us this opportunity and supporting us. I wouldn’t have become what I am today if he had not given us this platform to know our own caliber and to pursue further education. I joined this prestigious institute, Tashi Namgyal Academy, in the year 2013 as a candidate of Honourable Chief Minister’s Meritorious Scholarship Scheme. This is what I was talking about “The journey to Tashi Namgyal Academy as a scholarship student”. Although these five years might seem quite short and easy escaping, but believe me, every second counted as challenge for me. When I joined here in class six, I was a little child left out in the crowd with fear in my eyes and bewildered thoughts.

Receiving this scholarship was a proud moment for my parents and me as well. Though I was happy to be pronounced as one of the selected student for the scholarship however, I wasn’t ready to begin this new chapter of my life.

Having studied in a Government School and suddenly coming to this English Medium School was a tough thing for me. I can still remember the first day of joining hostel. I was flooded with tears and I was holding on to my sister and grandmother’s arms, telling them not to leave me here

My anticipation was broken when I went to the school the next day. Every student seemed to welcome me with their warm smiles and greetings, unlike me who was feeling quite lost, strange, bizarre and scared with those new faces. Generally saying, the students of this school really emphasize the importance of being good to others. As I had mentioned before, it was very difficult to cope up with the studies, especially the medium of language, teaching and understanding. I was chosen for this scholarship because I was a good student with good grades. But, keeping aside the good grades, it was even difficult to get a passing mark and I did fail in few subjects in the starting year. Sometimes I even felt like giving up and turn my back to disheartening situations. However I did not.

With the tides of time, I started improving myself, and began to do well in my studies too. It wasn’t a sudden improvement but a gradual outcome of my hard work. I had started to accept things by acknowledging the truth that I have to fight my own battle, and became a part of tenacian family.I did take part in school’s curriculum activities and sometimes even announced as a winner. I believed in myself even though I was scared to be lonely. As the saying goes,” Hard work is key to success”, though hard work is prior to me, but in my case I would rather say,” Failure is the key to success”. If I had not failed that time, if I had not felt the pain of failure and the realization had not dawn upon me, then I guess I wouldn’t have been here to write these lines today.

I had entered this academy for wisdom and knowledge but, beside these two words I have gained more than enough. I’ve been through the process of change and was able to achieve the improvement till date. Tashi Namgyal Academy has provided me the platform of opportunity, moral ethics and creativity. Indeed I would have regretted if I had not chosen this school. Today, that cry-baby has grown up to be a life experienced girl, with full of zeal and enthusiasm. Thank you Rongneck Jr. High School and Phensong Secondary School for being the foundation to my achievement.

This is the unknown journey, which has led me to an amazing destination. It was a beautiful experience yetchallenging one and, what I have learned from here is that, we have to make our own path of achievement.