Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
All you need is food
The Northeast expedition series is a tribute to the food of its magnificent hills and lands
Remember what our grandmother used to say: ‘bhookh na dekhe sookha bhaat, neend na dekhe tooti khaat’. The translation to this Hindi adage would be: real hunger and sleep would welcome even dry rice and a broken bed. But, I understood the meaning of this line only recently.
During childhood, while the sleep didn’t discriminate much between a car seat, bus seat or even a sleeping bag on devilishly-cold nights, the never-depleting excitement and non-stop roaming around made sure that every meal was nothing less than scrumptious and sumptuous, even if sometimes all we could find was simple daal-bhaat or hardly appreciated poori-bhaji (for north Indians it is not a delicacy, more so when you want to savour the local cuisine while travelling).
Sometimes, the meals were such that they could initiate envy even among the casual food admirers. And, we gave in to the temptation more often than not. The love affair had started right in Guwahati with those bell metal thalis adorned with bowls full of khar (a raw papaya preparation that acts as an appetiser), aloo pitika (mashed potatoes garnished with raw onions, mustard oil and green chilis) and masor tenga (a light and sour fish preparation) among others luring you unabashedly. The duck, pigeon, smoked pork, mutton, the crispy yet moist fish fingers and maach pitika (aloo pitika version with fish) just made our gastronomy go wild. And, when you are with a friend whose love for food transcends beyond logic and lust, you know that hunger would not even dare to look at you.
So, post our tryst with the rhinos in Kaziranga, we decided to check out the muchrecommended Orchid Park in Kaziranga itself. After some rushed moments of appreciating the flora and local craft, the thatched restaurant offering Assamese thali caught our attention. Having had breakfast barely an hour earlier, devouring its whole spread seemed a task too tough to carry out. Coming back for it post the afternoon jeep safari sounded wiser.
However, the moment we got to know it was available only during lunch time, the sense went for a toss and we sat down to win the battle. The 23 bowls of various chutneys, greens, vegetables, dal, pickles and a mound of rice lost the battle. The accompanying bhut jolokia, which otherwise makes for a pretty picture in the vendors’ baskets, was the only bastion left unconquered (we could not even get the better of its counterpart in Nagaland or Meghalaya).
With both of us believing a lot in the healing power of food, the unsuccessful jeep safari which we had taken with the sole aim of spotting a tiger, was well followed by a stroll in the local market with more than a handful of curry leaves pakoras for company. A round of die-hard bargaining for a family of wooden one-horned rhinos and hornbill then called for Assam Tourism cafe’s chowmein (the version that used to be a staple at weddings and kids would queue up for) and chai (somehow calling it tea made
from those open kitchens, big pieces of pork and other meat being smoked on firewood could make you lose focus in a jiffy. So much so that even a professional photographer in the group sometimes chose the fare of smoked pork with bamboo shoots, deer meat and green bamboo glasses full of rice beer and heavenly-sweet pineapple over the photo opportunities. One wonders if it was the music and the attire of the tribes that were more soulful and colourful or the food.
Perhaps that question is best left unanswered, especially when it concerns someone who would rather enjoy her juicy momos and chocolate shakes and care about where she was headed. While travelling suits one to the hilt, the planning part scares. Hence, as we sat down at ML05 cafe in Shillong, one was hardly worried about whether we were heading to Mawlynnong or Cherrapunjee. The cotravellers would definitely not let one’s moment of ignorance pass away without their share of laughter. Anyway, as someone once said, more than the destination, it was the journey that mattered more sometimes .
And, till you have food on your table (fish or meat when in the Northeast) what’s there to worry about. You could always make time for a delectable hot dog even if you were pressed for time and had a flight to catch. The Bread Cafe in Shillong, after all, serves hot dogs that not only make people salivate on Instagram but force you to indulge in more than four-square meals a day.
We had become equally forgetful of the luggage restrictions while stuffing our suitcases with packets of teas, bags of shopping and souveni rs. But, when the ‘tourists getting swayed by the place’s goodies’ card didn’t work on the airline staff, the friend (and thank God for them) promptly ordered one to open the bags and layer up. And, as we transformed from mere women to balls of clothes, we knew we had not only rescued our memories that each thing in the bags represented, but made one for a lifetime.