.......what money can't buy.

Somebody I know phoned to say she was stuck for money. A fair amount of money. I offered to help. Not the entire amount, but a part. Pat came the reply a) I wouldn't dream of taking from you. b) This meager amount will not do.

What poor taste. Not a complete being, he/she who cannot take a hand reaching out.

Bad .....Bad......Bad.

Home and I

I love my home. I love it when my family is around me and with me. And I love it when I am all alone. The past few months have taught me to embrace solitude. The peace around me. Being able to think, being able to read, to exercise creaky finger muscles over the keyboard. The silence of the night is beautiful, broken only by the rustle of a page turning. And by Skippy's soft purring.

I long for my family to return, but until then I'm in love with the solitude. It is something to look forward to throughout the day. The moment I walk in through the door, all the vibes soaked up during my day at my workplace dissipate, and I am at peace again, with my thoughts clear in my head. My animals, my music and my books await me.

My workplace is undemocratic and stressful. My home in the house by the graveyard is peaceful.

Travel ???????

I am too old to travel much. Some amount of travel, yes .... but not much. Yet there are places I'd like to visit, places I'd like to go to...... after all I might die anyday.

1. First on the list is Times Square. At Midnight. It's a strange thing, I have never been to the USA.

2. Oh for the purple heather of Greece. It's really a deep purple, merges with the far-off horizon and smells heavenly.

3. London. ......... one word is enough.

4. I want to visit Paris and revisit Paris. Alone. With no one. In the summer. In the rain. Late at night. Walking over the bridges.

5. Haridwar. A trip that Opu and Bhutu and I had planned years back and never materialized.

6. Scotland. And also Cornwall. Once again alone. To meet my friend, the sea.

7. The Garwhal Himalayas, the Kumaon area, Himachal. I dream of this area. The peace. The solitude. The hills are always lovely. If ever I have pots and pots of money, I will retire and live in the hills and build a sanctuary for all my old students. For whoever needs the quietitude and the solace. And of course my company.

8. Lots of other places. In the hills. With the wind on my face. The sound of the sea. The red dust. Long drives on never ending highways.

Forget it. It's not going to happen.

Apong

Someone sent me a forward about the variety of food to be found in India. Very interesting......very colourful. And wonder of wonders, there was Apong from Arunachal.

This was indeed odd, because all other food in the forward was food .... as in edible food. Apong was the only liquor, the only drink.

I have to write about my experience with Apong. I am the hoochie here.

In 2004, during a short break from AVS we went to Tawang, Arunachal.

Arunachal is a beautiful State. Lush and green. And so quiet and serene.

On the second day we went to Siang district. In a ramshackle army reject

Willy's jeep (from 1942) driven by an aged Arunachali reeking of liquor.

The road to Siang was steep and winding. Through the rattling windscreen of the

jeep only the bright blue sky could be seen. The angle of elevation was surely more than

60 degrees. At Siang we saw Apong being made.

Apong is a rice beer of a kind. The sticky (unhusked) rice is dried and then smoked. From what

I understood , the smoking is an integral part. This is done on large open-air chullahs.

Then comes fermenting...... a long process of about three months. In large wooden

kegs. Finally its distilled. However the distillation is a rather incomplete process, because

the final product has to be drunk through a long narrow bamboo pipe (a straw, if you

like), with three slits at the bottom. Very similar to the chung pipes of Sikkim or Darjeeling.

Apong is like water to the local population. Everybody drinks it. It smells. It is peculiarly opaque

and frothy. AND IT IS POTENT.......to say the least.

Our driver had a refill. I had a few sips. My travelling companions were strait-laced

people. Unadventurous to the nth degree . Shantam was already green at the gills with travel sickness.

So, I was the only one who tried Apong at Paia, Siang.

The advantage was all mine. On the return journey, the driver drove recklessly. My

companions were severely sick. I, who is nearly always travel sick remained unaffected

by the 60 degree angle of declination.

Not too bad......my encounter with Apong. Wouldn't recommend the moonshine to anybody,

though. And can't vouch for the cleanliness factor either.