16th July- A Special Day!

Today i.e. 16^th of July, I share a beautiful tale of a colorful and happy soul I have known for the past few years. Here is to you Miss Tshering Yangki, who is completing 23 years of sparkling reign in the hearts of her lovely family and almost four years in my life now.

Tshering Yangki

She was born to pretty mother Sonam Lhamo and handsome father Tashi Tobgay as their first child in the JDWNRH on this special day. She has grown up in the protective cocoon of her loving granny (abi) who has not left any stone un-turned ensuring her a glittering childhood. And I am told by herself only that she was the most most short-tempered baby ever…that’s so bad Yangki! Soon a younger brother came into her family which divided the love from her parents and abi. And few years later she was blessed with a younger sister who is currently serving as her secret chamber.  Being the eldest, she has imparted the justice and given the best of her to both her younger siblings and parents.

Studies were the top priority and because of this she excelled in her academics and had gathered enough marks and karma to meet a friend like me in college…lol. I still remember the first time I saw her at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in August 2013. She looked so tiny but smiled heavily and carried that abnormally heavy purple trolley. The two guys who accompanied me to the airport were completely awestruck carrying her huge trolley. So here are some of the best memories collections with her I have in words and few pictures as well:

For the first six months of our college we ate from the hostel common mess and I still remember the way we had our meals together there. I would go to the food counter with a big and small bowl and pour in the food for two people. Once on the dining table, we would insert our individual spoons and feed ourselves. Everyone noticed and knew us this way and so even the cook would tell me to take more food as two of us was eating from one bowl. Some described us as too much cute and sweet together.

Like boys, we managed to sacrifice our sleeping time and stay awake till midnight to catch up a match between our favorites: Cristano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. We had very less knowledge about the club and all those leagues but still we dared watching and entertaining ourselves with those matches.

At the Sukhna lake, Chandigarh

And how can I forget our sudden Chandigarh trip in September 2014? We abruptly planned the trip a day before and by the next day afternoon the two of us were seated in the bus at Kashmere gate which was scheduled to depart for Chandigarh. It was 8 pm when we got out of the bus at Zirakpur, Chandigarh and waited there anxiously for our friends. Once our friends reached there, we had a crazy bike ride in a completely unknown and new place.

2015, Nepal earthquake perhaps would be the most dreaded natural disaster for us. And the residents of Delhi had the most terrible nightmares due to the aftershocks we were subjected to now and then. Yangki and me too were left frightened which forced us to vacate the hostel at the earliest and took shelter somewhere else.

Once in a life time opportunity

One of the best privileges I have received and of which I am dearly thankful to her is the Dharamshala trip. Those cold rainy days under the snowy mountains and a once-in-a-life-time audience with His Holiness Dalai Lama are something I treasure massively. The Tenzhug (long-life offering) offering and having a chance to listen to the teachings from His Holiness live are forever imprinted on our hearts as the most blessed moments in our life.

The first lunch at embassy

Splashing water at the Park

Our first sightseeing: Lotus temple

At the WoW

At the KOD

Bhutanese on the stage

We had those frequent lunches at the Embassy canteen and then the most popular Sarojini Market shoppings, so many sightseeings and our adventurous visits to World of Wonders, Kingdom of Dreams, Splash Water Park and Akshardham temple. The one and only rendezvous night at Jamia Hamdard which made us present a lovely cultural item portraying our colorful flag and a unique dress code on a foreign land made us the most proud Bhutanese ever.

Evening walk at India gate

I really miss our lovely evening walk from Rashnaprati Bhavan to India gate and our grocery shoppings from Alakhnanda Market.

Those lengthy delayed train journeys had been the biggest part of our college memories. While in the train, we lost our battle to the sleep though we were very much aware of the robbery that mostly happened during the night time when the passengers slept. And this even made me remember the smelly train food we were offered and having no other option, we had to eat those foods.

Adorning with Boe-gho for a tibetan perfromance

We gave a number of performances at the embassy celebrations of our King’s Birth Anniversary and those were just the proud things we did as a Bhutanese under the reign of our visionary Monarchs.

A crazy time

All these came down to the memorable farewell night which was the official end to our college life and to us, the end of being roommates. This has been the saddest part. We couldn’t stay in that Room No: A-702 forever. It was a place in this whole world where we created so many fond memories and had done so many crazy stuffs. The only room whose walls had developed the resistance to our donkey voices as we consistently assumed ourselves to be Taylor Swift and Minzung Lhamo. The only space which was safe for the two of us to share our deepest secrets and thoughts including all our worries and fears which we could never dare to say somewhere else. So let’s take a moment to thank our kind room here.

Our lovely room

Our last trip to Alakhnanda

There seems to be so many other memories which are both funny and emotional but let me keep this till here and wish you:

Happy Birthday Yangki

Be the lovely person you are

May you be always happy and smiley…just like the first time I saw you

Love you always and forever

Tashi Chenzom

Those funny days

In the year 2012, we were crowned in our school for being the senior most as we were at the peak of our high school. We enjoyed putting on that serthra gho and kira to school every day. Our class teacher, Ms Sumitra with glasses used to start our day with all those friction, force, motion…blah blah (I don’t remember much of physics content now). She was even the Head of Science Department in the school. So when her department decided to have a science exhibition in the school, she held great expectations from her class which was XII science B. Why would she not expect? We were the senior most science students in the school. With the exhibition happening in just two weeks, none of my classmates thought about participating there to showcase our talents.

We all were busy with our own studies. Few days before the event, she asked us what our plans were and nobody had any answer. Then she gave us her whole teaching period to discuss and plan out something amongst us. When the time was over, there were lots of ideas cropped among the students which made her feel really relived and happy.

But on the day of the event, there was hardly any model. It was me and my friend Tshering Wangmo who came up with a small idea of air pressure. It was an absolutely lazy and flat model. All we needed was an empty plastic bottle and a boiled egg..hehe (I seriously find it funny to share this idea here). We did the demonstration once and it was pretty cool but very unluckily on the day of exhibition, our only plastic bottle got crumbled and shapeless which gave a failed report to our experiment.

When the science lab assistants knew about our problem, she gave us another plastic bottle. I and my friend had no idea that the bottle was previously used to store diesel and we simply inserted the flame into the bottle. Within seconds, the flame busted and we both nearly survived an accident. Thank you Buddha!

After this event, we were more than sure that our experiment cannot be displayed so we sat back hopelessly looking at other models made by our juniors. Soon our class captain, Tshering Pelden came with a science book which had simple experiments. We scanned through the pages to save the nose of our class at the last moment. And we caught hold of one simple process “DISTILLATION” using the filter paper. Then the lab assistant again came to us and seeing our pathetic presentation on our table, she gave us a water filter purely made at home using the available materials, which everyone can make at home. And she told us, “Last year’s passed out students made this”

So finally we had two displays on our table: water distillation and home-made water filter. And we were four girls (Tsheyang Choden joined us) from our class presenting the models. When the experiment finally began and students came around, we gained confidence in our experiment and model. Our biggest lie that we made the hand-made water filter seemed really true to our own belief. Everyone was praising our idea and appreciated the four of us there.

Then a twist came suddenly as we spotted someone in the crowd. There was a guy who was our senior, but he couldn’t do the final exams due to medical reasons and he was in our batch (in different section though). Seeing the guy, the four of us looked at each other and knew that he was the one in last years’ student batch who made the home-made water filter which we were displaying as our own. So the only option left for us to save from the shame was to run away. The two of us ran away, leaving our table. The other two friends were reluctant to leave. So they did the rest of the presentation and completed it too.

Towards the end of the exhibition, Sir Pradeep came for inspection and evaluation. He knew everything about the models and who really made it too, so he just gave us that look of how insincere and irresponsibility we were. And when the results came, better don’t ask where my team stood in the ranking…hehe

Though this wasn’t a good thing we did but whenever I recall this incident or share it with my friends, I am always happy of the fun I had because it seems really interesting and shows how much fun our school life really was. 

Back to Paro

School is a complete package of our childhood memories where we go through so many things learning a lot in the meanwhile. I can describe my school as a huge basket of adventures which made me ready for my life and those little adventures I had in school are all unforgettable.

Hello Paro!

It was a fine cloudy day (Tuesday; 5th July) at Paro when i decided to return to Thimphu that me along with my friends Kezang and Gyeltshen uninamously agreed to make a short visit to our temple of learning and experience which we left 4 years ago. It was a good opportunity as the school was on mid term break.

After 4 years!

We got into those feelings of going to school just like few years back as soon as the school gate welcomed us. Everything was same and we got that sense of belongingness because we were once a part of this giant family.

As beautiful as ever!

The school mission and school vision which was enshrined on the notice board near the entrance of the school office was as perfect as ever. The huge Lha Dhar signifying the well being of the whole school was waving gently in the cool breeze. And yeah not to forget the legacy of my sister’s batch: the two fountains before the library building was completely enthralling. The best thing of my school is the it’s beautiful surrounding which is decorated with all the greenaries.

School buildings 

And during the summer, the colorful roses around  the office and academic blocks makes my school no less than a heaven. The bright statue of Jetsun Jampelyang-the God of wisdom, is installed on a height raised above the ground and this is where hundreds of knowledge-seeking students pray daily to bless them with wisdom and knowledge.

As 12 B of 2012

When we stepped towards our classroom block, we said that we feel as if we have never moved away from that place. We peeked through the windows into the class and pointed to our own seats. The class was not cleaned and I am sure it was same case during our time also. Around the campus,  we kept exploring trying to detect any kind of change. We even scanned the school notice boards and figured out so many happenings in the school.

Touring the campus 

Seen around the campus 

The basketball court and football ground was wholly occupied by players. Flowers and hibiscus trees made the nature look at her best. Inspirational quotations and rhyming words made the learning environment truly a source of positive energy for great achievements in life.

The First Time

My friend Yangki and I just realized that it has been a very long time since we went out to have fun. Its almost two months into the new semester and today was the first time for this year that we went out to eat together. Thanks to Ngawang Tseten (Yangki's Tibetan classmate) who initiated to take us out and try our taste on Korean cuisines for the first time. We immediately filled in with positive response as undoubtedly, we are the Korean freaks...hehe.

The first time I knew we were going to a Korean restaurant, kimchi came to my mind. I knew that kimchi is very famous and is very spicy and sour: like my kind of taste. And so I asked Ngawang who had been there before weather we will get kimchi or not. And she just laughed and told me that it will be there as a side dish.

The restaurant by the name Kori's Cafe & Restro was at Majnu Ka Tila in Old Delhi and it took approximately an hour to reach there via metro but no loss because its all for our fun of eating and who doesn't love eating? 

The beautiful restaurant

The restaurant was very beautiful and clean. I really liked the place. We then proceeded on with the orders: ramen, kimbap, BBQ chicken, Jasmine tea, red ginseng tea and ginger honey lemon tea. Ngawang was the pioneer while ordering as she had tasted most of the dishes before. As our dishes were laid on the table one by one, we hardly cared about anything else than to eat. Of all, I really loved kimbap which was made from rice sticked together in layers and encircling vegetables inside while the whole stuff was surrounded by some seaweed kind of stuff. The taste was awesome. I seriously want to eat this kimbap once again. And I managed to eat three little bowls of kimchi all by myself as both of my friends didn't like it much...not bad!!

Once we were done with eating, the staff over there asked us to write our feedback and I gave them this short feedback.

It was only in the Korean movies and dramas that I saw those dishes but I never thought that I will taste some of them some day. I am happy to have tasted it and I wish to taste other variety too in future.

P.S. Thank you Yangki for the photos!