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.