Till my late 20s, I had the feeling that I had failed everyone, that I couldn’t live upto the expectations of most of those people who loved me. Academically, I didn’t have the results, nor the means to make anything extraordinary with my life. My Part-II result was out and I was the only one from my college not to have majored in English! All my close friends had enrolled themselves for the Master’s in English. I was the only one left out. Life couldn’t have been any worse.
At 23, I had nearly given up on Life or on any hopes of ever making it big in Life.
From 1983, when my result was out till 1988, when I left my job as a freelancing market researcher at IMRB (Indian Market Research Bureau), I tried my hands at various odd jobs driven by the belief that I was a good human and good things always happen to those who are good. That God loves good-hearted people and never lets them down. All my life through, I have been driven by this belief. Call it Belief, Hope or what you will, dear reader.
By 1989, I was working, by courtesy of a distant relative, as the Sub-Editor of a bilingual magazine called “Anubad Patrika” published from Kolkata.
You may be wondering, dear reader, why I considered myself a failure even when I was working as the Sub-Editor. I was still discontented as I was fed up with my life at Anubad Patrika. Firstly, the pay was quite meagre. Secondly, despite all the hard work, there was not much hope for a bright or let alone any future!
By then, many of my college friends had started working as highschool teachers, a couple of them – even as Lecturers.
When things seemed to have reached a dead end for me, I came across an advertisement published in one of the leading dailies from Kolkata, called The Statesman. The advertisement was from the Royal Government of Bhutan for various teaching posts. I applied consequently as I had all the required qualifications.
Soon afterwards, I was called for a Written Test and Viva Voce.
I had hardly written half a page of the essay on the given topic, when the nib of my pen broke(Can you believe it?). And the surprise of surprises was that none, including the Invigilator, in the hall could provide me with an extra pen! I finished writing the rest of the essay, nibbling at the broken pen, with a pencil, if my memory serves me right.
Later, at the oral interview, Mr. Prasad, one of the interviewers, sitting on the chair opposite mine, across the table, flanked by two other persons on either side, held up my answer script before asking me :
“Did you write this essay, young man?”
I nodded my head, apprehensively.
“You write beautifully.”
His friendly tone eased my tension and helped me to be at my best during a lengthy interview that lasted for twenty to twenty-five minutes. At the end, he asked me:
“Are you keen to go to Bhutan?”
Though I knew nothing about our neighbouring country at that time, I made my eagerness and intention clear. As Frustration was getting the better of me, I knew that I had to get away from my native place, Kolkata to a far-away place, far from all my relatives, friends and others and start my life afresh.
I did land up with the teaching job in Bhutan and left for the unknown country, against the wishes of all my family members. Truth to tell, none in my family had heard anything about BHUTAN!
Later on, I would share with my high school students how Bhutan had given a new meaning to my life. I worked in that god-blessed country for close to three decades and never regretted my decision of setting foot on The Last Shangri-La for a second.
Looking back, I realise now that many of my friends might have done better than what I did financially. But I was the only one of my friends privileged to have worked in The Happiness Country. And the respect and love I received from my students, colleagues and the parents of the students, will be something for me to cherish as long as I live!
If I am a better human being, if I am contented with the way things have shaped up for me, I have reasons to be grateful to The One Who has plans and designs for all of us. They say that God never holds back and gives back to you generously. In spite of being a very ordinary human, I have always tried to lead a straight life by not telling lies as far as practicable or cheating, stealing and being greedy. I have tried to make my life worthwhile, helping others. Most of these easy-to-practise values were ingrained in me by my late parents and siblings. Bhutan strengthened these values in me and my belief system.
A failure from the University of Calcutta, I had the privilege of teaching English from Pre-Primary to High School students with a fair amount of success. By 2012, I had also started blogging about my experiences in Bhutan. Never in my wildest imagination at that time, I could ever believe that what I had been blogging about, would one day be published as a book entitled “The Autobiography of CU’s Worst Student” by Zorba Books and by Amazon.in as well! I went on to write four more books, one of which was nominated for the Literature Times Legacy Award in 2025.
So, my dear reader, never give up on your dreams. Be a dream-chaser and have faith. Because you never know, despite all the obstacles and setbacks that Life might throw on your way, what God has in mind for you. Be true to yourself and have faith in The One Who will never deny you your share of Luck, Success and Happiness.
The end
Author: Rathin Bhattacharjee
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