Sherchokp-delicacies

My father had spent three years of his life in the nineteen nineties on the hills of Eastern Himalayas. This piece of writing is based on whatever he shared with me. 

As a fresh postgraduate then he had joined the 'Education Department' at Tashigang Dzongkhag under the 'Royal Civil Service Commission, Bhutan. He was directed to go to Eastern Bhutan'. Out there he worked from 1990 to 1993. His life and experiences in East-Bhutan and in some parts of North-East India during those three years have always kindled the desire to embark on a special literary endeavour – write something like what centre-page articles of famous newspapers are composed of. 

It probably has something to do with the richness and variety of those experiences he gathered, including the nature of the poor but amiable hill-folk he had come across. 

Eccentric, loquacious, gluttonous, woebegone, untidy, moody, alcoholic and so on – an unending list indeed! He commented that he had never seen such an amalgamation of humanity before. Their slovenly robes were foetid albeit but their heart, spotlessly clean. Their life and the surroundings can be befittingly expressed by the word 'pristine'.

Some of the other things that captured his attention out there, those were the desolate life in the small army joint-check-posts amidst the forbidden hills, the mysticism of Shangri-La, the tranquil monks of the remote and lonely monasteries, their occult anecdotes of re-reincarnations, the primitive-lifestyle of the nomadic 'Brokpaa' people, and the ecstatic chhaam-dance, one of the famous Himalayan mask-dance forms of the hill-folk during their festivals. All these fascinated him completely.

But what caught his attention the most were the mouth-watering delicacies of the country. Think Bhutanese food and the first thing that comes to his mind is the puffy 'Bondaa'. Each time it makes him wonder how this bouncy delicacy reached Bhutan all the way from extreme South India! Maybe the fortune-seeking Keralites imported it long back. 

Nevertheless, out there in that small hill station where he worked, Daaju karna's brasserie provided some really tasty bondaas, all lapped up by children from the nearby school during recess.

He was under a real delusion that noodles can't get better than the Chinese version but 'thukpaa', the delicious buckwheat noodles of Eastern Bhutan, was no less in comparison. Every other Sunday morning, Indians and other foreign nationals working in that part of East Bhutan would gather at Tshomo aama's delicatessen for its special thukpaa, particularly the one with toothsome mushrooms. Tshomo aama's shop was not like a restaurant at all. It was a big, unfinished, traditional wooden house. A massive chunk of rock lay there behind the house. A pretty big wooden press was installed on that rock to squeeze out buckwheat-noodles from the dough. 

He remembered, the first visit. It was on a drizzling-cold-evening with one of his colleagues, Mr. Nabin Gurung, a Nepalese national. The lady at the shop offered them big glassfuls of steaming tea. He was told that the said beverage wasn't chaa but 'jaa', the time-tested Tibetan butter tea. In addition to tea, they would concoct leaves of mistletoe and other herbs like myrtle. One has to drink it to believe how effectively the said beverage would give soothing warmth in those cold surroundings of sherchokp-hills, the part of Bhutan close to Arunachal Pradesh. 

Momos, or steamed dumplings, also deserve a special mention here. Sold in almost every restaurant, these momos were dumplings filled with boneless pork or beef or sometimes spicy mushroom and used to be one of the most sought-after delicacies. The tasty boneless-meat preparations were concealed within.

He farther recalled a small triangular area in front of the tshongkhag (i.e. shop) of Tshering aapaa, where villagers from the nearby hamlets would bring dozens of fresh orange, apple, apricot, plum and raspberry, Bhutanese-red-rice, buckwheat, maize, known and unknown vegetables, fern-fronds, orchids and yummy mushrooms. The shopkeepers would sell their commodities to these villagers and in return the villagers would barter these items hitchhiked from their respective hamlets.

It may sound rather crazy to savour a literally hot alcoholic beverage. However, there was the age-old practice of the steamy-hot 'shing-chang', which was enjoyed by the hill-folk in certain special festivals. 

And during gelid winter they would heat this limpid homemade liquor and pour the contents of chicken-egg very slowly into it. The amazing hot-drink was considered auspicious in their custom. But only spirited souls can enjoy such truly hot-spirit. By the way, the slightly sour home-made-beer, 'Bang-Chang', was not only tasty but also nutritious for they used malt to prepare it.

No party or picnic was complete without the ecstatic 'Aemadatshi', a hot but non-spicy curry. Fresh green magnum size Bhutanese chilies and cheese were the chief ingredients. It was indeed mouth-watering. But relishing it in a get-together was a perspiring experience.

Whenever he thinks back to his times at Bhutan, it's the food that comes to his mind instantly. As someone who loves food, this is hardly surprising. Now, after all these years, when he used to muse over his desire to write a proper center-page article. 

I begin to wonder if it has to be on Bhutanese food. Coming to think of it, it wouldn't be a bad idea, after all.

And I'd like to wrap up this piece by saying the popular Bhutanese phrase, 'Tashi Delek'.