Humbled

Having had pickles in plenty (ranging from the sweetest to the hottest), you tend to wonder, have I seen it all? The different forms of serving the ultimate in spice all tried and conquered successfully. Just when you think that you have seen it all in all forms you see a small cluster of four chillies lying inconspicuously besides a vegetable vendor on a sack spread out with all the other vegetables on sale. You hardly give it a second glance but then your attention unknowingly gets drawn to that small cluster, maybe because of the oddity of seeing these clusters of three, when all the other chillies nearby are heaped up in bulk.

Having heard of the famous Naga Jolokia Chillies, the Worlds Hottest Chilly and a native of our country, Tezpur, Assam, it was only fitting to enquire with the vendor if they were the real deal. Well the vendor certainly looked at us with awe and confusion, probably thinking to himself crazy buggers don’t they know the world hottest chilly!!!

(Honestly put, this chilly, ever since I have had the first taste, has been spicing up my meals at regular intervals thanks to a friend who graciously offered up her share of the pickle made with the infamous naga’s.)

Hearing this we grab a cluster of three chillies and pay for it hurrying back home to actually or should I say finally eat the chilly naturally, ie; raw. Sitting down for lunch sumptuous in itself we decide to take the spice to a different level with the naga jolokia. Warned well in advance by my friends mom the two of us were only too excited to try the chilly and paid little heed the good intended warnings. A very small pinch later there were the two of us scrambling for bottles of water and tears coming out of the eyes, sweat pouring out of every pore and I would probably think had we had some more of the chilly it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to see smoke coming out the ears.

The first small bite of the small pinch was really cool initially, but once it left the tongue and went down the throat it started marking a trail of fire right to the belly. This little chilly really knows how to bring down even the bravest amongst us. Apparently the tribals of the north-east have a whole chilly with their meals, maybe reasons for their rosy cheeks! Hearsay was that the contestants of a popular reality were asked to chew down one of these naga’s as part of their dare. Whew I pity the poor buggers.

The humble Naga Jolokia sure knows a thing or two about making or rather giving a new term to the whole definition of spicy food. This little treat is something one has to get a taste of at least once in his lifetime. Honestly speaking I am up for another bite of raw spice. Sizzle!

Misinterpreted…

Being an outsider, it’s very easy to actually form a verdict on a place with the very little information that is available. We seldom verify if the statistics provided by the different sources are true, or even go so far as to verify the reasons that have led to the so called disturbances. Hearing a lot about the disturbances of the north-east I was told by pretty much everybody I knew, to be careful or not to go. The only people ever supporting the decision to go on a vacation were a couple of very good friends and my Assamese colleagues.

Taking the word of my friend that you must actually see or rather experience something before forming an opinion I decide to give it a shot. Already armed with a little knowledge on the state from my cousin who had gone there earlier I geared myself for a long awaited vacation.

Entering the state of Assam was actually nostalgic. It reminded me so much of my native state of Kerala. Assam welcomes you with lush green paddy fields dotted in regular intervals with small water bodies and of course that sprinkling of modernization with the ever present signs of communication and electricity poles. Getting over the initial surprise of geographical similarity I notice that the track is yet to be electrified.

Well with the news reports from nearly almost all the national and regional channels I am geared up for a city and a state plagued by bomb blasts and riots. Stepping on to the platform and subsequently out of the station and on my ride to my friend’s house what I see is actually a city just like any other in the country. In fact the city is even more peaceful than most other cities, there is a joke about Kerala, where they say that the state works for a maximum of hundred days and the rest two hundred and sixty five days they are on some strike or the other.

If you actually take this statistic even with a pinch of salt, the city of Guwahati and the rest of Assam is doing far far better than the rest of us. Well which state does not have its share of troubles? Considering the fact that the state bounces back pretty soon after the several different problems is very impressive. The city of Coimbatore had a couple of bombs blasts in ’97, it’s only of late that the developments are happening. Compared to this even with the induced insurgency in the state, it is pretty calm.

Very recently I was talking about my trip to an uncle and aunty when they too asked about the political scenario of the state and when I explained the same to them they too were amazed and in fact so fascinated were they with my explanation that they are planning a trip to Assam soon. (must ask the government for making me an ambassador)

This reaction and the subsequently the wonderful experience I had in Assam actually makes you wonder why is it that the world perceives Assam as a place plagued with violence when there are places within our country where the intensity of violence is even more pronounced and the yet the places are synonymous with holidays and tourism. Blame it on the government or the media, blame it on us who actually jump to conclusions without actually seeing the situations for ourselves. Well each one of us have a different point of view and it really wouldn’t be fair on my part to form an opinion for the rest of you but as far as my judgement goes step foot into Assam and it will really be hard for you to hate it. You just fall in love with the land the people and the culture. Jai aai Asom.

The city of blood...

There was once this king called Banasura, an asura, but also an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. One day this king was gifted with a beautiful girl child. Like all fathers our king too on the best intrests of his beautiful daughter built her a splendid house on the hill. With all the trapping worthy of a princess the young girl lived her life blissfully unaware of the hardships around her.

Well one can't blame the little princess of going queen marie antionette, as her father to protect her from the harsh realities of the world not only got her privately tutored but also had her house surrounded by a constant blaze.

The fire roaring and crackling, making or rather devouring the constant timber being fed. It's appetite never ceasing always wanting more and the king only to happy to appease it's every whim... This incessant flame had one aim and it effectively carried out it's duty to the maximum...

Now the little princess who till now played hop scotch and marbles, brushing the artificial hair of her prestine porclein dolls, slowly stared outgrowing her pretty frocks and started taking a liking to the mekkala chaddar... She slowly graduated from just self grooming to the intricacies if life via a viz the pursuit of fine arts... As the princess reached adolance she kept havin these wierd dreams of a young man and as it so happens the young princess started falling in love with this young man.

In the city also lived a great person called Chitralekha. She was an exceptional artist and had several gifts one of which being the boon of drawing or rather sketching the portrait of a person by just the description of the individuals features. The princess upon hearing this, called her and asked for the rendering of the image that appeared in her dreams. The portrait once formed reveals the picture of krishnas grandson, Annirudha. The artist, also had magical powers and using that, she whisks krishnas grandson while he was sleeping, to the princess and Agnighar.

Both the youngsters immediate take a liking to each other and are married off inand with the typical gandharva marriage rituals.

Hmmm... Love is in the air could danger be lurking in the shadows???

King Banasura had no idea of what was transpiring behind his back and once he got to know of all the development his anger hit the roof and even storm clouds seemed pale in comparison. Hell bent on taking revenge by killing Krishna's grandson he starts a mighty war.

Well a grandfather cannot forsake his grandson side... So the sayin goes... So Krishna fights against Banasura alongside his grandson. Now King Banasura being an ardent deevotee of Lord Shiva summons him to fight alongside him in the war and Shiva being a God have to stick to his devotee and so ensues a war that last for a lot of years and the toll is heavy on both sides.

Finally hearing the cries for help from the people of the land, Lord Brahma enters the scene and works out an amicable solution to the whole problem and brings and end to the war. Due to lack of literature we are still ignorant of what the solution was but anyways one as reached. The outcome of the war was disasterous and with both sides suffering great losses one could see the land drenched in blood as far as the eye could see.

This led to the city being called TEZPUR, the city of Blood.