Alinye (17 May)
Today marks the first day where I feel quite relaxed. The travels up to here were not easy - there was a lot of time spent sitting in the backseat of a car, shoulders pushed against my fellow passengers’ on either side with music from the 90's and early 2000s blasting on the speakers.
We were surrounded by beautiful mountains as we traveled on the roads that were once the inside of the mountains. I wonder how different the experience would have been had the above mentioned music not been a part of it. I remember the breakfast that we had at a local hotel. Hot dal with aloo bhindi and roti. It was beautiful. The dal touched my lips at the perfect temperature, My tongue making to usual cual sending the mouthful to different parts of my month. as I relished the rich yet simple flavours that collided with my senses. Vishnu treated us with a — performance, — on by a small crowd listening in, enraptured by this diverse array of sounds produced by this instrument.
Today as I am writing this, I am in Alinye (finally). It is exactly the way I had imagined it. My heart feels the presence of a home amidst this landscape. Alinye is home to the shaman I have come to learn from. His wife (Who are lan mct) was an absolute delight. She is a child touched by this land and has innocence is a reflection of a life lived in constant communion. She, like most tribals I have met, was gracious from the moment we set foot in her house. We call her 'Nani' which means ‘mother' in the Mishmi language. As we sat drinking tea in their house, I was swept by a wave of gratitude for just being here. She asked me about where we have come from and what our purpose was for coming here. When we told her why. her expression turned very s into a more serious one, as i to acknowledge the journey we had made to get here and the one we were about to make. We finished our tea and I playfully asked her a few questions about the leaves around her house and to my surprise, It led to an animated conversation on all the edible plants around. This was a blessed moment, for we had both found something to connect on. Our bond had begun to form.
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