Hello I am alive! Mizo thlai leh pangpar ilo I ti leh ang aw

In my current life and time, very often, I forget that I even used to blog. And there was a time I used to run 5 blogs simultaneously! I've been busy, and when I'm not, I've been busy being lazy. I have been traveling a lot, all work related, but still fun trips. And thankfully, my work also offers me the chance to work with plants. A lot. And I work with people who are passionate about the subject, so I get the chance to learn every day. We also have an upcoming project where our little team will work to survey and document wildflowers in one district in Mizoram. Living in Mizoram means longing for the wild no longer has to mean taking several days off off work to take a flight out to a place where you can be with nature. I can always drive for an hour or two and be in the lap of nature.

Anyway, logging in to my blogger account today, I saw all of the new comments were mostly on my flowers & plants posts. Well lucky for you people, I'm here to make another post on the same topic. It's much easier these days finding the Mizo names of plants and flowers, some very good publications have come out. I refer to those almost every day. However, I still see incorrectly named plants all the time. My interest is now more on the uses of these plants but that's not something I want to post about here. I, thusly, shall share my list with thou'll - fruits, flowers, vegetables and others. And if you can help me out with the identifications of some of them, it shall be greatly appreciated. (Pictures stolen off off the internet, if any of it happens to be yours, forgive me!)

1. Khanghu: Climbing watttle (Senegalia pennata) (And any true Mizo loves this simple vegetable more than the most expensive of food, more than life itself!)

2. Kawhtebel: Snowflake tree (Trevesia palmata) (Mostly eaten boiled in our house, I've seen it being currified, fried - all of it good)

3. Chingit: Michinga patta (Zanthoxylum rhetsa) (I've seen Chingit being called Schezwan pepper online, incorrectly, I believe, though it is of the same family - Zanthoxylum simulans. Glosbe says Schezwan pepper is called Chingit te in Mizo. Z. rhetsa also seems dubious but a research paper I saw listed as this, so I'm going with it. Also sadly, I've never really seen a Chingit tree so makes it difficult to identify from tree pics. I have pictures of the two here for comparison, let me know what you think)

4. Samtawkte: Forest bitterberry (Solanum anguivi) or Poison berry (Solanum violaceum), leaning more towards violaceum. (Confusion again with this really difficult to identify plant. Many books have listed it as Solanum nigrum, which seems to be incorrect as it looks more like what we call in Mizo Anhling. Again, pictures of S. anguivi and S. violaceum so you can help out.)

5. Ankasa: Paracress,Toothache plant (Spilanthes acmella) (A truly terrible vegetable, I have maybe tried eating it once and never tried again. But I find it interesting that we have been using it to treat toothaches, long before we knew that it was called the toothache plant :D This is also probably a bit off as we have the edible Ankasa and the wild Ankasa)

6. Saisiak: Common Bushweed (Fluegga virosa) (Not eaten but all of its parts are used for different medicinal purposes. I remember being 7 and bathed with a decoction of Saisiak leaves when I was down with chicken pox. Did it help? I have no idea. But it probably did, there are many research papers on its medicinal properties.)

(Picture taken at Kawlkulh village)

(Adding the few below to address some comments left on the original Thlai Pangpar etc posts)

7. Theichhungsen: Blood fruit (Haematocarpus validus) (Tasty even though there's really nothing to be enjoyed in terms of flesh or juice. And there once was a childhood friend who almost choked to death trying to swallow its big seed so I'm forever scared of this fruit)

8. Waiting Waivet (LOL): Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)  (I can never make sense of what we call it in Mizo, and why. It sounds like some English name that we completely bungled up.)

(Picture taken at Tualpui vllage)

9. Chawnpui Par: Queen's Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) (We have a popular saying in Mizo "Thlado kung ah Chawnpui a par" - meaning the tree and its flowers are known by different names. The tree is called Thlado tree but you wouldn't call the flowers Thlado flowers).

(Picture is blurry but I drove all the way out to Lungdai to take this picture so still using it)

10. Phuihnam: East Indian Glory Bower (Clerodendrum colebrookianum) (Another popular leafy vegetable, especially among dog-meat lovers.)

Two clubbed together here to address two very common flowers but which I still get asked about often - Derhken (Marigold) and Saron par (Bougainvillea)

(Image swiped from Zara's blog)

And lastly, to address my last blog post, made in 2014 haha. During the 4 years that has passed, I found that these are called rain lilies - Zephyranthes lilies (easy to remember because of the most famous drama club in Mizoram - the Zephyr Drama Club. Still no name for them in Mizo.)

Anyone know what these flowers are called? Mizo tawng pawhin ka hre duh hria in awm chuan.

My sky shoes are spiked with lead heels

...and I'm lost in this star car I'm drivin', but my air sole keeps pushin' big wheels...etc etc

Yeah that song. That's the song that pretty much sums up all that I feel about life right now. And as depressing as it sounds, it's really not even that bad. I mean feeling this way. I think my incessant need to be happy or having fun or feeling some form of thrill or excitement at all times will actually do me more harm than the rare times that I sit and brood and worry or just be miserable.

Anyway, this post is to a blog as CPR is to a human being with heart failure or something. I will do a real post soon. I guess.

Round and around this world you go, spinning through the lives of the people you know

I feel like a spinning top or a dreidel...

To all the dogs I've loved before

One thing I really really really want is for dogs to have souls. You know back when I was a kid and I would ask Sunday school teachers and general adults who were always assumed to be wiser, if animals, particularly dogs, have souls, the answer would always be 'Nay, human beings are the only creatures to be blessed thus with souls. Aye, t'is so.'

But this has never stopped me from wishing that dogs would have souls. For as long as I can remember. And who knows? Who can really tell right? Heaven might very well be teeming with beautiful dog souls. Damn, I even loved Lord Byron more just because he wrote that dog poem.

If I were to die and go to heaven, there's no one I'd look forward to meeting more than all the dogs I've had and loved in my life. Rover, Gus, Bozo... my eternally beloved friends. I feel guilty saying this when I think of the many also beloved relatives that have died. And I would love to meet them all. But oh, to scratch Gus' ears and smell him in all his divine doggy smell, to see his white and brown body running up to meet me...to romp around in the fields with Rover, and to fall asleep with Bozo's wet muzzle on my shoulders...

I saw this cartoon once somewhere, and it brought tears to my eyes. I found it easily enough ("dog in heaven cartoon" search term on Google). Now this one would be me and Rover, the dog I named after a dog in my lesson book when I was in Kindergarten. The dog that always followed me and my friends around whenever we went exploring the hills and streams nearby. My memories of him are so hazy now but I remember him rustling around in the bushes always :)

Gus who was the little runt of the litter that nobody thought would make it but who instead turned into a big, beautiful, healthy dog, always kind and gentle. They gave him to me for free because they thought he was too weak. All his siblings made the owner a lot of money I'm sure because they were German shorthaired pointers, a rarity in Mizoram at the time. My only pedigreed dog. Gus because of whom my green school uniform always looked a bit like they were interwoven with tiny white threads. Gus who was always scared of firecrackers.

And then the crazy, neurotic, yet the most loving and loyal dog I've ever known, Bozo. Bozo who couldn't care less about firecrackers.

I have no doubt that if allowed in, all of them would do heaven proud. All dogs would do heaven proud, most humans would not, I'm sure. And yet we dare to keep heaven only for ourselves! Just like Byron wrote

...The poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth--
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth:
While Man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive Heaven.

(This one stolen from 9gag)

I really miss my dogs tonight.

And a few more

Me and my mom just had our bi-yearly checkup and hooray! everything's great! I can't explain enough the exhilaration you feel when your doctor after a thorough checkup writes on your file "No evidence of disease..." The only thing better is when he writes the same thing on your mom's file.

Me and my mom sees the same oncologist. He is a pretty fancy doctor, he is (or was) an advisor on the advisory board of physicians to the President of the United States of America (or something along those lines). He was on the Who's Who in America book some years back, and yet he doesn't have any airs, and I have no doubt he treats us any differently from his more affluent, wealthier patients, of which I know he's got plenty of. Which is more than you can say for some doctors back in Mizoram.

My mom initially was seeing some guy back home. I went with her once to see her doc. And this man, even though I was right there with my mom never even once acknowledged my presence in the room. He was curt and cold and terse (in my opinion) with my mom. I left the room seething, feeling small and belittled. So I told my mom "You're not going to see this guy again. You come to Hyderabad and see my doctor who is nice and normal." And we've stuck with this guy ever since.

And I'm sorry to say this but why do I have this feeling that the doctors and nurses out here are so much more nicer than the ones back home! Don't get me wrong. I know there are plenty of nice nurses/doctors back home too but I generally don't run into them. There was this one time I took my sick 1 year old nephew to the city hospital's casualty about a year back and more or less got my heart broken over how harsh the nurses handled him.

Enough about doctors! I've made a sudden decision to go back to Mizoram tomorrow for my grandfather's 'lung phun.' Can't wait to get out of this heat and be back at home where it's always nice and cool.

And people, celebrate your health! Celebrate the health of your loved ones. I myself, even despite the cancers still take it for granted all the time. But it is so wonderful. To be alive, for your mother to be alive, for the people you love to be alive and healthy. Diseased or not. Cheers everyone!

A few words

Hello much ignored blog and the entire blogosphere! I feel like I've just woken up from a long sleep. I guess I've been too intoxicated with the new year and my new freedom.

Now that I'm not working, I've sort of regressed to being a teenager all over again. Being the bad, irresponsible teenager I never got the luxury to be. Now for a brief period at least, I can be all that and more. I sit on my ass all day playing video games, and go out to dance all night, and take men home to play God of War with me. It's quite exhilarating!

Having said that, I do somehow miss working and being tired and busy, those times when you stress out so much over your quarterly targets that grey hair magically pops up on your head overnight.

And I can honestly say the 6 and a half years I spent with Google were the best years of my life. You know how people always say 'Ooh those college years were the best years' etc. Not me. I don't even miss college. Maybe I miss school a tiny bit...nah, not really. But Google is like my college years for me. I am thankful to God that he put that bit in in my life. And whatever comes in the future, I will think of my time in Google fondly always. I will always miss it.

I know almost everyone thinks leaving Google is a really stupid thing to do. I would probably think that too if I was someone from outside Google looking in. But sometimes you need to take some risks and make some changes, you just can't stay in the same place just because it's warm and safe and secure there.

When I left IBM to join Google, no one ever thought that was a wise decision. Back then, Google was famous for its search engine of course but people here didn't know much about Google as an employer. And to move across the country, alone, to a city where I knew absolutely no one. Even then, I had to listen to a lot of not-so-encouraging comments about how I take too many risks for a single woman, how people in the South were, how 'lowly' the Google job profile was.

But yet, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I would never have believed the wonder I was going to be exposed to if somebody had told me then.

And sometimes, things happen in your life that makes you look at life a bit differently. Your dreams change, your ambitions shift. What makes you happy changes, and with that, we have to search for new things. New situations that perhaps doesn't look right to others but it's the only thing that feels right for you.

So this is just me taking some risks, and keeping my fingers crossed that this path will lead me down some happy roads.

Goodbye Corporate Laptop

Why do I get so sentimental about unfeeling, lifeless objects?! I'm finally parting ways with my constant companion of the last few years, my laptop which unfortunately belongs to the company I am leaving. I don't have much to write, I really just wanted to make this one last blog with my old friend.

It's strange how you can harbor such affectionate feelings for inanimate objects such as laptops...and pens...and old Tshirts but... *sigh* 'tis so - my heart wrenches at the thought of us parting ways forever. She will go on to sit on other loving laps, and I, I have already bought a new one, the first laptop I've bought in my life. It's shiny and pretty and new and I will grow to love it eventually but I will still miss my clunky old ThinkPad for a long time to come.



So sleep your sleep, old girl
Our love will keep, old girl
'Til then...
Goodbye, old girl,
My old girl...

:D

For the Kims

Notes from the Katz Motel

Tonight I am going to give my poor, ignored blog some good loving and warm it up with a few scrambled words and pictures. This is going to be a very random post....

The year is almost over. It scares me, that time goes by so fast, and that I have achieved nothing, done nothing significant at all. I've been lazy, no excuse. But mostly I've just been tired. And after all, a year is only 365 days. Doesn't seem very long when you count it in days.

I've traveled quite a bit, and for that I can give myself a good pat. My one unwavering goal in life has always been to travel as much as possible. I had to exercise some self-control and turn my eyes away from the sinful call of pretty shoes in order to finance my trips.

I've been to Delhi several times this year and I finally got a chance to go to Yashwant place after I don't know how many years for their amazing (and super cheap) pork momos on one of those trips.

This place holds a lot of memories for me. This is the place where I took my roommates at the time - Franky, Ben, Jeffrey & TM-a for a celebratory dinner when I got my first job with IBM Daksh.

And there was that one time I saw Titanic at the neaby Chanakya theatre with some friends, and most importantly, a crush who sat right next to me. But apparently, the close proximity of this especial person was not enough to stifle the sniffles, which was soon followed by all out wailing and honking of the nose. He awkwardly bid me adieu after the movie, he who was chatting so amicably with me before the movie. I then headed off to this place to drown my shame and embarrassment in pork momos with my friends.

My last trip to Delhi was for the Metallia concert where I almost got trampled to death. The place was full of wannabe rockers. The type that try to make up for their lack of badass-ness with musical instruments or admirable vocal chords with black clothing and dirty hair. And they came out in droves at the concert, men and women alike, who probably know a song or two of Metallica's (most likely 'Nothing else matters') and proclaim themselves die-hard Metallica fans :P

Here is Zorin at 3:30 pm. She was walking funny because she claimed her shoes became a couple of sizes bigger after our stampede struggle.

Zorin's bathroom literature :)

And I found some unknown fruit so I bought some and took a picture. The orange one. And it tasted BAD. Anyone know what they are called?

Laphetauh (?) - and I got to do a Laphetauh night. This was nostalgic for me. The many nights of eating these things and drinking tea with your friends in Mizoram, and every night you laugh so hard your stomach hurts and you never ever feel like going to bed. Laphetauh is a symbol of good times for me.

I'm not all self-complimentary. I am very deeply disappointed in myself that I didn't learn a new language like I promised myself I would. I promise by the end of next year, I will be speaking Spanish like a native speaker. I will write a blog post in Spanish by this time next year.

The hospital has become a constant in my life. I'm always there for one thing or the other, a test, a checkup, more tests. But I won't complain about this because these tests brought us good news after all. I did get admitted last month for about a week, for dengue this time. I actually thought I was going to die one night when I didn't have enough strength to walk to the kitchen. Funny how you can have cancer and be so calm and then a mosquito comes and bites you and gives you some viral fever and you think 'OMG I AM GOING TO DIE!!!'

My mom is convinced I got it from my Himalayan trip, she was quite freaked out (my family freaks out over everything now - a little cough will give them sleepless nights) and has banned me from cleaning any cobweb in my room :) My room has become like the Katz Motel, and I the evil Katz.

Funny. I was going to write about hair, that was the only thing on my mind when I opened my laptop. I don't know why I wrote all this. Anyway, hair next time!

Mizo thlai/thingkung/hnim etc leh an sap hming - Part 3

Official vak lo a Part-1 leh Part -2 a awm tawh bawk a, hei a part - 3 na atan ti leh teh ang. Hriat thar leh thar loh te, a hma post a la tel lo te hi share zel phawt ang.

Mahse a hmasa in request - helai a thil dah hi a duh duh in engmah sawi lovin emaw a source cite lovin inlak sak hi ching lo hram ila. Mi in hun pe a kan ziah leh (a ho a ho in) hun seng a kan inchhiar chhuah te a ni ve a, ngawi reng a an lo la a, anmahni kutchhuak ang a an treat hi chuan rilru a na ve duh deuh ania. Hmanni ah Facebook group pakhat ah Mizo pangpar te leh an sap hming ka ziahna ami kha an lo dah teuh mai a, hman kumah khan Evening Post ho in ka post pakhat mipakhat ziah ang hmakin (a ziaktu hmingah Zaia/Siama tih vel in an dah hmeks) an lo chhuah tawh bawk a. Ka blog content hi a nep a nepin ka copyright ve thlap ania :-)

Tawk e copyright lam chu. Tunah a tui ber atangin ilo tan nghal ang:

Zawngtah: Bitter bean, stink bean etc (Parkia speciosa)

Zawngtah awm a hun leh tan dawn, keipawh ka Krismas rawn haw in ka rawn nang ngei dawn bawk a. S.E Asian lam zawngtah mu recipe te han try ka chak khawp mai. Mahse bekang leh hmarcha hmui nen tluk a tui a awm theih ka ring lem lo.

(Pic source)

Chakawk: Fernbrake, bracken fiddleheads (Pteridium aquilinum)

Chakawk hi tui ka ti in englai pawhin ka ei peih thin. Mahse a saphming kan hriat hnu ah kan chhiar chiang a, ramsa thenkhat ah a 'carcinogenic' (cancer thlen thei) a, Japan ram a stomach cancer tam chhan ah pawh factor lian tham ah an dah tih an ziak ka hmu a thin a ti thawng. Vairam lamah hi chuan chakawk ei na chance a awm lo hlauh a, mahse Zoram lam chhungte ka han phone nghal, chakawk lo ei tawh lo tur a chah turin. Chhiar tu te pawh ka chah nghal vek bawk che u e :)

(Pic source)

Mitthi sunhlu: Carry Me Seed (Phyllanthus amarus)

Heng hi kan naupan lai chuan mitthi sunhlu kan ti thin. A hming dik tak a ni em ka hre lo. Lung a tih len reuh em vangin ka rawn telh ve mai ani e.

(Pic source)

Sehnap, Lakher Anthur: Bush sorrel (Hibiscus surattensis)

Hei pawh ka lung a tileng. Kan tet lai chuan D.C Workshop, Chaltlang thlang ah khuan mi huan te a awm a, kan lo ru nasa thei lutuk. Jam te kan siam a, a chang leh a tui chi nen al thur tek tawkin kan siam bawk a. A tui theih dan kha awww!
(Pic source)

Khuangthli: Bishop Wood (Bischofia javanica)

A lem tha tak ka zawng hmu thei lo, hei a thingkung naute thlalak :)

(Picture source)

Chabet: Beggar-tick (Bidens family ami, eng species ber nge ka chiang lo)
(Picture source)

Tualvungi em: Fluted bird's nest (Cyathus striatus)

(Pic source)

Anhling: Black nightshade (Solanum americanum, Solanum nigrum, leh Solanum ptychanthum ah hian a eng ber hi nge keini Mizoram lam in kan ei hi ka hre hrang thei lo).
(Pic source)

At hlo: Angel's trumpet (Brugmansia)

Heng pangpar hi naupang te kan nih lai tang tawh khan, a at theih an tih avangin ka hlau deuh titih thin khawp mai a. Ka len hnu ah khang te kha thu ho mai mai aniang ka ti leh a, mahse kan chhiar chiang a, a lo poisonous hle tak tak.

(Pic source)

Kelbean: Broadleaf plantain (Plantago major)

Kan naupan laiin kan inkhualtelem na ah heng hi vaimim kan ti thin. In ti ve ngai em?

(Pic source)

Behliang: Pigeon Pea (Cajanas cajan)

Behliang hi chu a chhung ah pangang awm a ching em avang in, tui ti hle mah ila khat tawk chauhin ka ei risk ngam.
(Pic source)

Chuan a tlip nan -

Maitamtawk: Bristly balsam-pear, spine gourd etc (Momordica balsamina)

Maitamtawk hi tui ka tih theih tehreng nen ka ei tui thei ta reng reng lo mai. Vairam maitamtawk hi Mizoram lam aiin a tui lo bik nge pawh ka hre lo. Te reuh te hring tha deuh si te hi a lo chang fer zel.

(Pic source)

Ti zawng kha ni mai rawh se, ka lawm e. Zan a tlai tawh e mai, a bang zawngin part 4 ah rawn chhunzawm tawh mai rawh se.

Valley of Flowers & Mana trek

A little late but here it is anyway - I've been dying to share some pictures from my Himalayan trek. Too lazy to go into details but I'll just say this - it was one hell of a mad wicked trek and I've never felt so proud of myself before. Ever.

Altogether, we did a total of..let's see..close to 40 Kms, mostly steep uphill climb through craggy paths. And don't forget the relatively less oxygen in that high altitude! Not bad for a bunch of city dwellers whose sloppy lives only involves sitting in front of the computer all day every day.

We (me + 2 friends) took the overnight bus from Hyderabad to Delhi, reached Del in the morning. We met up with another friend, then hired a car to take us to Rishikesh. This took us around 6 hours, and we spent the night dining on our last non-veg meal for the trip and chasing fireflies.

We left Rishikesh at around 5 am, another hired another car to take us to Govindghat. This was a long ride and took the entire day despite us having a suicidal speeding driver who was a little wonky in the head. There were some moments I was sure he was going to plunge into a gorge with us with him gleefully pumping his fist at the world.

There are certain memorable things about this ride - the beautiful scenery, and the roads...the roads!!! (GAH!!)

The roads were interspersed with little brooks and 'falling rock zones' and 'mud slide zones.' We were stuck in the middle of nowhere for over an hour because of a major landslide that had blocked the road, and several minor ones along the way to add more color to the trip.

There were some areas that actually had rocks crashing down on the road as we were passing through and there's nothing you can do as you zig zag through except pray that nothing too big falls and whatever falls doesn't fall on you. Scary!
We reached Govindghat in the evening. It was cold here, which was a relief after Delhi which was its usual charmlessly hot self, and Rishikesh too which was disappointingly stuffy and humid.

Govindghat is at an altitude of 6000 feet and is the last motorable point on our journey. It's quite pretty, surrounded by very TALL mountain ranges on all sides and with a big river running right through it. From here on we would have to continue on foot.

We checked ourselves into a hotel, stayed up late telling each other ghost stories and again got up very early so we could make an early start.

First picture of the day - the trek begins.

It was a 13 Km trek to Ghangharia. We covered the first few kilometres pretty fast and without too much trouble. Here we are posing after we finished our 5th kilometre, feeling pretty good about ourselves.

Little did we know that we had only covered the first few easier part and that the rest of it was going to be absolutely grueling.

The sun went down on us, trapping us in a freezing forested area full of langurs (I'm terrified of monkeys, but I feel slightly better about these langurs. I have a feeling they're smarter than the regular monkeys).
We stumbled into Ghangharia in the night. I think that was the most exhausted I've ever been in my entire life.

Ghangharia is at 10003.280 feet. It's only open for half the year, and for the other half it is apparently covered by 8 feet of snow.
This is where we stayed. The entire village runs on a generator and all lights go out at 10pm. You have to make sure you're in bed by 10 no matter what.

We had a little supernatural experience here. Will write about it some other time if I ever feel like it.

Okay, this is going to take forever so let's just post some pictures.

Here is the actual valley. This is at 10,500 - 21,900 feet above sea level.

After doing the valley, we decided to hire another car to take us to Badrinath because we wanted to see Mana, the last Indian village. Mana has no hotels so we had to stay at Badrinath and trek to Mana from there.

We bribed some locals to take us across the river with this condemned trolley.

Bonus pics:

I was thrilled to find these pomelos on tyhe way to Rishikesh.
Cabbage patch in Mana.
The famous Edelweiss. I promised before we left for the trip that if I found an Edelweiss, I will sing the song. This is the first time I'd seen an Edelweiss, so I wasn't too unhappy abut having to wheeze out the song up there in the mountains.
After all this great physical feat, I came back and then fell seriously sick with dengue fever and spent several days in the hospital instead. But now I'm out and happy and well and planning another trek.