"Fat free Suja" is possible.......

Krematop Suja

As long as I know most of the Bhutanese people were addicted to “Suja” (butter tea). I too love it and really enjoyed it when I was back at home but for more than a year I have survive without suja as I am away from home. It seems unhealthy as it contains high calories of fat but most of the people don’t care about their health.  After knowing that high deposition of fat in our body is not good, still people hardly give up drinking suja. It is harm full for the people of high blood pressure. So doctors’ advice such patients to reduce the consumption of butter and salt but some are addicted to such tea. I am sure some people won’t be able to quit it easily.  Fortunately few months back one of my friends came up with an idea of fat free suja. So I am here with fat free Suja as a substitution for Suja. It sounds weird and one may think that it would be tasteless but I would say it is delicious. In term of taste it comes to the same level of real Suja.  I had been enjoying it last few months and still continuing with it. Those are the main ingredients: krematop milk powder, tea leave (homemade), and salt.

Procedures are almost the same as real suja. Just the difference is to add krematop milk powder instead of butter. If such milk powder is available at your place please try it yourself. I am sure you will enjoy the flavor of this fat free suja. Or you can drop by to have this delicious tea at my place in future. I will prepare it for you.

 Those are the ingredients:

Krematop

Tea Leave

Salt

PS: If anyone of your family member is high BP patient but addicted to Suja, share this and let them try it. They will surely enjoy it.

"Auspicious Gift of Samtengang Lake"

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As I have gone through some books of Bhutan, I am very astonished to see there are so many sacred places which I have never heard of. The places like Buli Manmo Tsho in Zhemgang and Ombha Nye in Tashiyangtse and so on. Sacred places like, Ombha Nye of Trashiyangtse, Aja Nye of Mongar and Hungrel of Paro are very important as the combination of those three names make the mantra of Guru Padmasambhava. “Om Ah Hung”. I am pretty sure that there would be some places which many people are not aware of. So I just wanted to ask the readers, have you ever heard of “Lake of Samtengang?”. I can predict the answer yes for certain percent. Again if I put up next question, do you know how it first existed? There your curiosity will start overwhelming your thought and you will start questioning yourself. When it is formed? What would be the story behind this? Such questions will piled up in your mind. So here I am with what I heard from local people about the existence of “Samtengang Tso”( Lake of Samtengang) or locally known as “Lue-Tsi-Kha-tso” named after the local deity “Lue-Tseb”. The place where there is lake at present was a fertile sweet buckwheat field of a farmer from a village called “Leko-Kha” just below the Samtengang Junior High school at present.

Samtengang Lake came into an existence in the season of early summer during the harvesting time of buckwheat. One evening the farmer was about to leave the field after work, an old woman with bamboo bucket in hand appeared.

An old woman asked; the farmer for shelter for that night. He said, Sorry you better go for somewhere or else you can come with me. Here I don’t have house also, so how can I provide you a shelter. But the woman said; it is fine I would like to spend my night here if you are kind enough to let me hold my night here at your field. So the man said, then it is up to you. They see off and the farmer left home.

Next morning, as usual the farmer went to his field for work. To his surprise his very fertile field turned into a huge lake and the heap of buckwheat straws floating over the water body. He was horrified and also annoyed. Out of frustration he dug the mountain to drain out the lake. The man had rancor for her unexpected deed and numbness overcome his body. Without his notice he almost dug the hole with the diameter almost one meter. That time, stunning lady came out of the lake and begged his pardon. But he denied her approach and continued digging.  Then the woman came up with talk of compensation for everything. She promised him that she will give whatever he demanded. So he said if you really willing to give me, then I would like to have some instruments of Shaman as those persons were very famous during that time and also he was very fond of Shaman. As per his demand she promised to give him a “Nga”(drum) and an oxen made of sealing wax by next morning. She even guaranteed that the thing she has given will empower his life and bring luck for his entire life. So they agreed to meet next morning.

Samtengang School

As she promised she was there at the side of lake waiting for him with the compensations. The man was very happy with the compensation and lived happily with the grace of those auspicious things. The local people used to worship local deity which is popularly known as “Nyep Lue-Tseb” annually. During that time each household is supposed to prepare “mengay”(rice-cake) and a model of an oxen be it of rice or some other material with the grain filled in trough in front of the oxen. Farmers should place their own model in public and has to wait for ritual to be done by “Phajo” just like Shaman. When the prosperous man was busy with some other stuffs, a man from a village called Chim-Tse-ling saw that the oxen of that well off  man was eating the grains filled in trough gently. The man knew that it was of sacred and auspicious one. So that cruel man tried to produce a replica of the oxen that belong to the fortunate man.

Time past by and again the time of that same festival came. Each year they had to prepare the same model. So during the gathering the cruel man exchanged the oxen without the notice of the owner. From that time, the prosperous man started to decline and poorer he became. On other hand, that cruel man started to glow with his luck and became the prosperous man of that valley.  With great acceleration in his luck and he became well known as “Chim-Tse-Chum”( richest man of that village). So it is said that those special gift of mermaid was presently there at present Nysho Gup’s house, enclosed in the wall. They believed that if they touch or removed it from the wall, it will bring bad luck and as a result their fortune will decline. I have seen that they renovated the house but they kept that specific wall untouched.

Farewell for you my friends

My friend Deki and Tendri

When a meeting happens a parting will follow. But I feel how lucky I am to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to.   Saying goodbye doesn’t mean that they are really leaving and forget everything. I am sure they won’t forget us specially the members of TPS family as I have known them for past three years and they were not a kind of person who forgets their old friends when they met new ones.

As life is all about timing, sooner or later it will put everything to an end so it is rightly said “Time and tide wait for no man”. So now the time has arrived for Mr Tendri and Miss Deki to setoff back home. During their stay here they had been a very good friend to everybody and we had a good time together. We really looked into each other’s problem and cherished ones happiness together. Miss Deki, usually we hang out together and had been really good friend.  At first sight, she seems quite serious and nobody would get along with her but if we get to know her better she would be better person than what we thought of. So never judge the book by its cover. I regret for misjudging and not getting along with her at first. As the time past, we get to know about each other deeper the better. She hardly talked to a stranger but after we get closer, she has the power to get into ones heart and left the footprint of sweet memories of her presence.

sweet memories at koh samet beach

Mr. Tendri, most of the members of Trongsa Poenlop Scholarship family used to call him by his nick name Apa (father). This name really suits him as he possessed fatherly character. In the family of TPS, he is well known for his talent in cooking any kind of Bhutanese cuisine during our gatherings. He had been very sincere and dedicated to the work that is assigned to him. He worked wholeheartedly and tirelessly. So he was the liking subject of all the members. He was very frank and approachable to everyone, so he had been in a large circle of friends. He entertains whoever comes by, so I often pay my visit to his place to have special Bhutanese dish. Whenever I dropped by his place, no wonder his apartment will be crowded with lots of friends because everyone really enjoyed his hospitality and frankness.

On the 2^nd of August we the fellow mates organized farewell dinner for two of them. This time senior ones took part as an in charge of this gathering. They were responsible for shopping, cooking and refreshment serving. With the exchange of farewell wordings formally and we remarked the night of 2^nd August as the memorable night with two of our friends, Mr Tendri and Miss Deki.  Indeed it is the saddest part on our TPS family to lose two sincere friends but as I mentioned above it is not an end. So finally the morning of 5^th of August, I along my other three colleagues reach them to Air Port. With over flown excitement they set off to home with great success, I am very proud of them and proud to call them as the first batch of TPS who left behind their good reputation for graduating with the pinnacle of academic achievement. It is fact that we are miles away but I swear that I will keep our sweet memories alive. Hoping to see you soon and have fun together as we used to have.I end here with my sincere prayer for your success and also best wishes for your Royal Civil Service Commission Exam. Good Luck........

Goodbye Guys

"HARD TO FIND AND LUCKY TO HAVE"

My best friend with her sister and baby

The night was still alive, and the new day hadn't been born yet. In this dark and long night where people around me are sleeping remarkably still and silent in their deep sleep, but I miss you so much, my dear and sweet Phub Om.
Distance is long, but time has no end and our precious memories keeping me awake. There's hearts filled with laughter, eyes moved to the tears with the memories that we have built together. When I think of the days we spent together, it brings a tug at my heart and naturally the life in my face faded away in your thoughts. I can still feel your kindness and beauty of your heart. You got a really awesome heart which captured mine too in return.

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We have been very good and close friends, so I believed that you are just sent by almighty to heal my inner and outer pains. The words you have spoken heal my inner unseen pains and encourage me to held my head high when I feel low or during ill time. Therefore I would say friends are worth having, if all are just like you. I just feel better to be by your side, being by your side means a lot for me. The night long talks where we shared our laughter, problems and secrets. The days we have spent our vacations at each other’s home was the moment that I really enjoyed. Your parent’s hospitality and meals at your aunties’ place were the best with the flavor of your love and care that you have for me as a best friend. When I look back into our friendship and glad to know that we haven’t faced even a single misunderstanding during our stay together, it reveals that how strong and our friendship was. It bond our friendship to further strengthen and value our last long friendship. Those were the sweetest memories I ever had to cherish till the end. And I also know you too still care that we are friends forever.

When I fall sick in your presence, I feel that half the pain of mine is shared with you. Your love and care really uproot the saddened emotion of my heart and shared the burden of my shoulder. The way you care me says that you are my best friend forever. It is rightly said that “Best friends are like four leave clover, hard to fine and lucky to have”. I really owe my gratitude to you for being my good friend and I am glad to have you as my friend. I love you from the bottom of my heart. I wish almighty to bring those two best friends together soon. 

Most valued gift of my life.

It seems as if it was just yesterday I was back in my village dreaming the dreams of others and never really having one to call my own.  It wasn’t because I didn’t want a dream of my own.   It was because as an orphan I was scared to have one.  The moment my father who showed me love, reason, and dreams was taken away from me was the moment I lost my will to dream. 

Today, I am here in a renowned university to quench my thirst for knowledge, and to begin to dream again.  I am here with twenty-six others whose wishes were granted when His Majesty the Fifth Druk Gyalpo bestowed us with the “Trongsa Penlop Scholarship”. Most of us who are from shattered homes and families; we who had no hope, we who were scared to dream- now have the opportunity to make something good of our lives. Today, I am no longer scared to dream.  I do not dream the dreams of others.  I have my own dreams.  I will be forever grateful to His Majesty for his kindness and noble support to children like me – children who would have never been able to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty without His Majesty’s love for the less fortunate. 

It was in 2007, one morning I was called up to principal’s office. I didn’t know the reason for calling me there. To my surprise, my principal introduced two men who were from zimpoen (Chamberlian)’s Office. They were inquiring me about the tragic that I faced recently. Tragic that nearly took my life, but saved me by the grace of Ken-Cho-sum (Triple Gem). Though I am saved but unfortunately that accident took away the life of my only and dear father. They even inquired me about my performance for the past years of my schooling, my relatives and who was helping me for my schooling necessities. I answered their questions with the best answer I have. So that was kind of interview. Some other students were also waiting there at the doorway but I am sure they were also not aware of the purpose of being called up there.

During Audience

One morning in the month of March 2008, I really don’t remember the date. I got a call from new number. I received the call with doubt. I took it as a crime call, usually being a lady we received such calls often. I heard a strange voice saying are you Sonam?, I tried to recognized the voice but it sounds totally strange. I replied yeah I am Sonam and I asked who is this? Other side of the phone said I am Yeshey. My eyes flew open in surprise as I don’t have any friend or known called Yeshey. I repeated, Yeshey in sharp tone. He said, yeah! Yeshey from zimpoen (Chamberlian)’s office. So I started shivering and stammering. He asked me, do you remember me interviewing you last year? I answered promptly in low voice with respect. He inquired me about the performance of that very year and he also asked me, “If I am given the chance to go for further study overseas. What was my opinion?” Though I was nervous but I tried my best to answer as I was alert that I am talking with such a great person. I replied; I would be fortunate to get this privilege. So I would love to go anywhere to pursuit my studies if I am given the chance. So we concluded with our conversation. I can’t believe what just happened and what I just heard.  Few days later, I got a call from my school asking me to collect the necessary documents and report to zimpoen office there at Thimphu. I immediately made my presence there and collected the documents. As directed by one of my teacher I rushed to Thimphu. I really don’t have the idea where the office was located. So I gathered all my courage to call Dasho Zimpoen and I was able to get there with his help. There I got a chance to meet with many new friends, including my present roommates. I met them for the first time. We introduced, and tried to get along with each other.  In group we were busy processing Visas and pass ports.  With the help of Dasho Zimpoen, we finished processing our necessary documents. Along with my friends I have done with my shopping and all. Indeed there was nothing much to do with shopping matters as financial was the main problem that time. So the remarkable day of my life came, the day that will be engraved in me for the eons to come. That was the day His Majesty the Fifth Druk Gyalpo granted an audience before we the scholars left the country.

With over flown excitement, on the 4^th June 2008 I with other twenty-six students stepped into our only and renowned Airline “Druk Air”.  For me that was the first time I got the privilege to fly in the flight which I used to look upon with the wish that “I could fly in that Airline at least once in my life”. So that makes my dream come true. My heart was fully drown in the pool of excitement and joyous. That was the precious and most valued gift that my beloved king granted me. So I and my fellow mates would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to His Majesty the king for his kind and noble support to children like us. We shall serve your Majesty with our full dedication and heart and take every task meant for the king country and its people not only as responsibility but as a passion and cause and will work on it until it is ensured that everything is in right place.