Beyond the Sky and the Earth

Shakuntala and Zeppa continue to be good friends, even as they sense that the other staff members look down on them. They get to know the students better, sometimes having dinner with them or playing word games and charades. The students from Thimphu and from wealthy families are often the most Westernized and wear clothes familiar to Zeppa. However, Zeppa often gets along best with the “simple” ones from the country, who are often shy at first but very mature for their age. Some of the young men are already married.

Zeppa’s older students are able to teach her things she doesn’t understand about Buddhism, like how Buddha’s teachings against superstition seem to conflict with many of the rituals of Buddhism. Her students often think about things very differently from her in a way that surprises her. Zeppa often makes mistakes, like accidentally pouring tea for a student backwards, which you should only do if a member of your house has died.

Depending on where they’re from, students have strong opinions on whether Zeppa should focus on learning Sharchhop, Dzongkha, or Nepali first. She sees how these different languages each have different cultural meanings to the students.

One day, Zeppa sees an announcement about the upcoming Hindu festival of Durga Puja. The festival involves reenacting a scene from the Ramayana when the demon king Ravanna abducts Sita, wife of Ramchandra, and Ramchandra prays to Durga for nine days for the strength to defeat Ravanna. During preparations for the festival, Zeppa sees some Nepali students in a serious argument with the principal about wanting to wear traditional Nepali clothes—it’s the first time Zeppa has seen people in Bhutan challenging authority. Eventually, however, the students change into Bhutanese clothes. Later, a student named Rajan explains to Zeppa that the northern Bhutanese people don’t want the influence of Nepali culture to remain in the country.