Its been a month since I have been here In Bomdo, but it just sunk in, Bangalore is now not just physically away, its mentally a long way away too. This sunday was unlike others. The day began late for me since all night the hum of rain falling on the tin roof of this 'bungalow' I stay in kept me. I woke up thinking its too much rain so field work is not a possibility and I can sleep in. The kid whom I recently employed to cook for me came in late too, at 6 am. I hear him chopping some wood to make the fire and very slowly I wake up. I was still hungover with the cold that I caught with the onset of the winter, four days back. It is still drizzling but I sent my field assistant Army to pick up lots of seeds of a Castanopsis species. Small oak like fruits, that remind you of the squirrel that would not let go of its fruit in the movie 'Ice Age'. These are quite tasty too, and the species fruits only once in two years, so I had to get some quick for my experiments, since many animals and birds make a quick meal of it. In fact I ate some two years back too; roasted on fire, they make a sumptous snack. So Army has left to bring back the seeds by himself since I am still a little sick and the walk to the place where these trees and seeds are is more than10 km to and fro in the hills.
After the morning meal cooking, I put in more wood and decided a bath is due. So I made some hot water and just finished with a rejuvenating and (a word that always takes me two minutes to remember!) a therapeutic bath. For the rest of the day, I plan to read a couple scientific papers, do some data entry and plan the field work for the next few months. I can't help but remember how it used to be in Bangalore when I was even a little feverish. Amma would prepare a peppery concoction we call 'kashayam' and a peppery pongal (rice and lentils) breakfast. I could read the newspaper and then contemplate life the whole day! Here, I would miss her caring but hey there is warm ginger tea and I could do the latter but contemplate not just life but my Phd too! But a bath did me real good; I feel fresh enough to make an entry on the blog and perhaps to get well soon enough to continue field work.
