While I was Away

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The Dog and the Tungrymbai- A Tale from the World’s Wettest Place

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  Tungrymbai (Fermented Soyabean) Have you ever wondered why a dog's sense of smell is so good?  If you were to ask this question to anyone in Meghalaya (the wettest place on earth), he/she would attribute it to 'Tungrymbai' or fermented beans! Tungrymbai is a popular indigenous Khasi food prepared by fermenting soybeans. Fermented beans is actually a popular food item in the culinary tradition of Northeast India. It is known as 'kinema' among the Nepalis of Darjeeling and Sikkim, 'axone' among the Sema Nagas and 'hawaijar' in Manipur.  For fermenting the Khasi Tungrymbai, dried beans are washed and boiled for about 1-3 hours till they soften. The beans are then placed on fresh salem(phrynium pubinerve Bl) leaves spread inside a bamboo basket. The beans are wrapped, and hot red charcoals put on top of it. The beans are covered again with another layer of salem. Finally, the beans are put...
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Makhel : Back to the Origin

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9.8.2014   We  arrived in Makhel 30 Km. south of the capital Kohima after a rough and bumpy ride on the Hero Honda Super Splendor bike .  Steering clear and keeping out  all the potholes that cover the disfigured NH 39 between Kohima and Mao,   affronted by  swarm of Indian army  convoy trucks and buses blowing storm cloud of dust and diesel fumes and tackling rude and rowdy policemen at the border checkgate  was intense both body and mind .   Sacred Banyan Tree at Makhel  Makhel is a name of a small hamlet here in Mao which also belongs to an important family of the Naga tribes with the  same name- Mao aka Ememei. My wife Akatoli was accompanying me to this short trip to Makhel.  I had first heard of Makhel from my hostel roommate  Joseph(Kaihrii) a resident of Makhel back during our post-graduation days in Shillong. Since then the legend about Makhel had always intrigued me and that feeling stayed wi...
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Les Gurung- A Cultural Journey into Sadiya Assam

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March 2014 We arrived at the New Tinsukia Station on the 20 th of this month. Manoj who is my sister in law’s husband was accompanying me to the one and half day trip to Sadiya in the Eastern Upper Assam district of Tinsukia. Manoj has relatives living in Sadiya. He was taking me to the Gurung settlements of Pathi Pathar and Gurung Basti in Chapakhowa town of Sadiya. After travelling for more than three hours on the kuccha road we arrived at the Saikhowa ghat at the bank of the Brahmaputra. A fifteen minute sail on the ferry with a heavy load of passengers and goods got us on the opposite bank where a relay bus was waiting to take us to the town of Chapakhowa. Awaiting departure at the Saikhowa Ghat in Sadiya , Assam The Gurungs I encountered in Sadiya had all the anthropological DNA of the Gurungs I had encountered in Lamjung Nepal. Yet, at the same time they had developed other unique cultural traits different from the Gurungs of Ghalegaon and Ghanpokhara in Lamj...
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