10 things I miss about Assam

It's been fifteen long years since I have left home.
Yet I am homesick. I try and dive into memory pools but in today's time poor life, barely manage to do that as much as I would have liked to.

Here are 10 things I miss about Assam. ( I always put 10 because it is a number that sets a limit to what I write)

1. The green paddy fields and the undulating tea gardens

2. The masor tenga and the Sunday mangsor jhul with aloo.

3. The weddings where we wore mekhela chadors and had sumptious buffets.( preferred the earlier banana leaf servings though)

4. The doba and bell of the neighbourhood Namghar in the evening

5. The social visits ( abeli phura) to friends and relatives, where we were served tea, mithai and sometimes luchi bhaji.

6. The bihu sanmilans and the husoris , where we would do xewa with tamul paan and gamosa

7. The japi, the xorai, the bota, the baan bati and kahor thaal

8. The sweet language- ahisu dei, tumar bhal ne, deuta podulir mukhot rokhi ase....

9. The xatriya nritya and doxavatar nrityas

10. Paan tamul, saunf, bhoot jolokia, dighol nemu, joha rice, gheela pitha....

The list is endless but these are top of mind.

And as much as I try, it's very hard to replicate home outside home- for how can one capture the smell of rain on the grass, the sight of orchids on trees, the sweet sound of naams in bhado maah in namghars, the frenzied shopping spree during Bihu , Bhupenda performing live in Latasil, family chatter in a familiar tongue...really very hard.