Yari - Pori (2020)

TRAVEL

Sikkim Through My Eyes Continues...

We had an early excursion the next day, so I went to bed early. The night seemed so
long, it was minus 9 degrees outside and it was cold even with the heater on thru the
entire night.
I got a call from my cab driver cum guide as early as 6am in the morning the next
day and his super excited voice, annoyed me to no end as I was still groggy after a
restless sleep in the bitter cold at night. At around 7am, I somehow managed to get
out of the bed and got ready for the day. I met him outside my homestay, munched
into a simple toast with tea for breakfast because I knew the road was filled with
twists, turns and bumps and with a bad night of sleep I would quickly feel bouts of
motion sickness.

When I came back home to Guwahati, I had a cartload of Sikkim memories. Even
after a year, I still feel the breeze beside the lake when I look through the pictures.
This year, I had promised to explore more places, but sadly Corona hit. Anyway, let's
not lose hope and look at the brighter side of this situation as we have more time to
spend with our family.
I am ending this little anecdote of mine, hoping to travel and unravel more places
next year. Hoping you would travel to places to unwind too.

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RECIPE

Chackcha

Anubha Sinha Aparajita Tea

Agartala, Tripura (Blue Tea)

Health Benefit

Blue tea is not only a memory booster, It also Image Source: Author Provided
helps in relieving anxiety and asthma. It
helps in bringing down fever and treating
diabetes. Super high in antioxidants and is
anti-inflammatory.

Recipe

Aparajita flowers (commonly known as Asian pigeonwings, butterfly pea or
Neelkanth flowers) are used to make the blue tea. Add aparajita flowers to hot water
and cover it with a lid to retain heat. Allow the tea to brew a few minutes till the
water turns a deep shade of blue. Strain it, stir in a few drops of lemon juice and add
sugar or honey to taste. Serve over ice.

Sukhajyoti Sinha Daailor Chhok

Kailashahar, Tripura (Tomato Dal)

Ingredients

Masoor dal - ⅓ cup For tempering Image Source: Author Provided
Medium potato - 1
Large tomato - 1 Mustard oil - 2 tbsp
Haldi powder - ½ tsp Green chillies-2 or 3 slit
Jeera powder - ½ tsp Yennam (garlic chives)
Salt to taste Panch phoron - ½ tsp
Red dry chillies - 2
Method

Pressure cook the masoor dal, potato, tomato in 3 cups of water. Medium heat for 1
whistle. Let the cooker cool and pressure slowly let out. Do not open the pressure
cooker immediately. Mash the tomato but break the potatoes to chunks, do not mash
the potatoes as mashing them makes the dal bland.

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RECIPE

Tampering Chackcha Continues...

In a kadai, heat mustard oil till smoking, add and splutter panch phoron, red chilli,
green chilli, chopped yennam. Add the boiled dal, haldi, jeera powder and salt to
taste.

Boil it to your desired consistency till the raw smell of haldi is gone. Add a few fresh
chopped yennam and green chillies for garnish and serve with hot steamed rice.

Ranju Sinha

Guwahati, Assam

Ingredients Sakol Khoi

(black split urad dal)

Black split urad Dal (sakol khoi) Image Source: Author Provided
soaked for 1 or 2 hours
Yennam (garlic chives)
Dried red chillies - 2 or 3
Jeera - 1 tsp
Paanch phoran - ½ tsp
Ginger grated ½ tsp
Naga dhania (culantro)
Salt to taste

Process

Pressure cook the dal with jeera and chillies, for 2 whistles. Let the cooker cool and
pressure slowly let out.

In a kadai, heat 2 tbsp oil, add paanch phoran, chopped yennam, dried chillies. Add
the Dal to the tempering and boil to desired consistency. Add ginger and Naga
dhania,add salt as per taste.(You can add finely chopped ginger instead of grated
ginger if you like the bite)

Serve

Enjoy with steaming rice.

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RECIPE

Chackcha Continues...

Suroshree Sinha

Bangalore, Karnataka

Ingredients Garnish

Boot (dried yellow peas) soaked overnight Yennam (garlic chives)
- 1 & ½ Cup Miyangpa (lemon basil / Thai basil)
Sakol khoi (split white urad dal) - 1 fistful Dhaniya patta
Rice - 1 fistful
Kacha Khobol (raw papaya) - 1 medium Khobol Lo Bootor Khar
size cut in large size
Khar (cooking soda) - 1 & ½ tsp (motoror khar)
Jeera powder - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 6 or 7
Green chilli - 1 or 2
Salt to taste

Method Image Source: Author Provided

(Khar preparation is little time consuming process, hence need a little patience)
In a big karai, put 4-5 cups of water, add boot, sakolkhoi, rice, Khobol and bring to
boil. Add cooking soda, jeera powder, red and green chillies. Cook on medium high
heat while stirring once or twice, till the boot just breaks when pressed (the boot
should remain whole and not be mushy) and the Khobol is cooked, add salt to
tasteGarnish with yennam, miyangpa and dhaniya.

Serve with hot steaming rice

Accompanied with paltoi - made with red chillies (from the khar)

2020 Yari Pori 154

RECIPE

Chackcha Continues...

Sajna Pata Lo Maasor Hou

(Fish Curry with Moringa Leaves)

Suroshree Sinha

Bangalore, Karnataka

Ingredients Image Source: Author Provided

Catla / Bokua maas - 300gms slightly marinate the fish with turmeric and salt
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp for marinating fish, ½ tsp for curry
Jeera powder ½ tsp
Tomatoes - 1 medium chopped fine
Potatoes 1 medium sliced (can be avoided if you don’t like potatoes)
Panch phoron ⅓ tsp
Red chilli - 2
Oil 3 or 4 tbsp
Green chillies – according to taste.
Moringa / sajna leaves – 1 bunch, separate the leaves and give a slight chop
Salt to taste
2 or 3 cups water

Method

(Heat oil in a Kadai. Fry the fish till half done. Keep aside. Fry the sliced potatoes for
2-3 minutes, keep aside. In the same oil put the red chillies and panch phoron, when
it splutters, add the chopped tomatoes, dry spices and fry till tomatoes break down
and oil separates. Add water and fried potatoes. When the water starts to boil, add
the fish, sajna leaves and salt to taste. Put a little less salt as the water would reduce.
Cover and cook on low flame till the potatoes are done.

Garnish with a few fresh sajna leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.

2020 Yari Pori 155

EXPERIENCE

Keeping Up with Bangalore

Anuja Sinha

Bangalore, Karnataka

Growth.

Google describes growth “as the process of increasing in size”.

When you look back at the thin, faded lines, etched on the walls of your childhood
home, to check how tall you have become, you can describe it as “growth”. Or the
time you come across a green dress while cleaning the house, and look at it trying to
recall when it was that you had actually stopped wearing it because the sleeves don’t
fit you anymore, you can describe it as “growth”. In both cases, there was an
increase in size. But if you look at it closely, you will notice there’s something else
that is going on. Your experience. Your old dress not fitting in your body anymore,
doesn’t really upset you - because with the change in size, there was a change in
your taste. You grew up, wholly, as a person.

I was born in a small town named Agartala and lived there for the first eighteen
years of my life. I grew up a little every year, and watched this little town grow up
along with me. Not in size, but experience. The changes were slow, but consistent. A
person who’d meet me five years earlier would point out much I’ve changed in the
last five years. The same could’ve been said about the town. It was like a companion
I was getting along with - learning, failing, and getting up again.

But as all things come to an end, so did my time spent in this town. I knew I had to
move somewhere else. For the pace at which I was growing in did not match with
what was expected of me. I shifted to Bangalore soon after my 12th board exams.
One might think, living away from your parents, making new friends and enjoying
the new lifestyle would be a fun experience. But reality was a lot different. It felt like
time as a concept had to be re-evaluated completely in my head. Months felt like
weeks and weeks felt like days. At every moment, I had to keep up with what was put
forth on the table. I felt like a cyclist trying to maintain her pace with a race car - but
there were bumps on my lane, while the car moved freely.

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EXPERIENCE

Keeping Up with Bangalore Continues...

It was a mess. But I learnt to live with it. I learnt to live with the people inside the
race car, despite being a cyclist.
Soon after, I figured out that the girl who was growing up a little every year, had to
grow up a lot every day. The person you’d meet a week earlier, was not the same
person you’d meet a week later. The change was evident. It was written all over my
face. One thing that did not change was my habit of making the place I live in my
companion. I did the same with Bangalore, what I did with Agartala. The only
difference is - Agartala was like a best friend I had grown up with. Bangalore is the elder
sibling I try to keep up my pace with.

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UPDATES

BMWCA 2020 (At a glance)

Covid Support:

This sudden and unexpected pandemic that fell upon us, left many of us gasping for
air. Many were stranded, many were left in the lurch. So many not knowing what to
do and whom to go to. We at BMWCA found out that there were many of our brothers
and sisters who needed us and we didn't know where some of them were. But we
didn't relent till we found everyone of them, and helped them to the best of our
ability. We worked hard at our communication and outreach. So that anyone who
was or is in need, could reach us and we do what's needed to be done, be it medical
or financial or just communication. This pandemic has only strengthened our
resolve to be there for our brothers and sisters living in and around Bangalore. Yes
we still have a long way to go. We might make mistakes, but we will do our best to
help. The feedback and love that we got from them was so fulfilling. You can find
some more on our YouTube channel.

Janmashtami:

This year has seen many firsts, first time our reach was beyond boundaries, first
time we did such a large scale search and help mission and definitely first was our
online live Janmashtami celebration. Due to the pandemic and the government
imposed lockdown, the usual celebration of Janmashtami did not look like a feasible
option. So we at BMWCA went ahead to celebrate the occasion virtually. The
enthusiasm of participants was contagious. They performed with so much gusto and
were not pulled down by the fact that it was not in front of a live audience sitting in
front of them. They performed wholeheartedly and everyone who was logged in got
to see them perform live. This also gave an opportunity for many staying outside
Bangalore or even abroad, to be a part of the celebration. The Arati was telecasted
live from Shri Shri Bhubhaneshwar SadhuThakur Sevashram, Cachar. Many
couldn't hold back tears of joy watching it live. The entire event shone more when
our tiny trotters performed, they also put up a brilliant fashion show and to add the
cherry on top of the cake was Tushar Arjun's performance. Even a few technical
glitches couldn't take away the enthusiasm from the event. Our Cultural team and
technical team worked hand in hand to make this entire event a grand success.

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UPDATES

BMWCA 2020 (At a glance) Continues...

AGM 2020:

This year we went into election for new executive members and also the shuffling of
our Office bearers positions. This is a yearly process, needed by any organization for
a smooth functioning and also assimilate new members, so as to keep the think pool
diverse and fresh. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of volunteers who
had applied for the executive positions. Many new members had joined us as
executive members after an internal election process presided over by one of our
senior members, Biraj Sinha and many more joined us as our volunteer group. The
AGM was virtual, where there was a voting for the office bearer positions. Each new
executive member cast their nominations and voted to select the office bearers. New
rules-regulations were introduced and the by-laws relooked at, so that if any change
could be discussed and changed or upgraded if required. The AGM also saw a huge
influx of new ideas and internal groups were formed in order to take care of the
various ideas. A realistic target was set to achieve each goal. A regular meeting
schedule was set so that every member of the executive committee was updated
about the progress and if they needed to provide help or get help or even provide
feedback. The present newly elected “Executive Committee 3.0” is highlighted just
after the front cover page.

Abirbhab Tithi Celebration:

After our experience with the online celebration of Janmashtami, we at BMWCA,
tightened our belts and geared up to celebrate 151st Sri Sri Bhubaneswar
Sadhubaba Abirbhab Tithi. On the eve of his birth anniversary, we planned an
elaborate celebration. Pujas were streamed live from both Nabadweep and
Vrindavan, the program included performances from not only residents of
Bangalore, but also from abroad. We were fortunate to have Dr Manas Singha with
us. He had a discussion about Sri Sri Sadhubaba, and also answered a few of our
questions. The jewels on the crown was the launch of our Virtual magazine 'Yari-
Pori' and the Mandir initiative.

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UPDATES

BMWCA 2020 (At a glance) Continues...

Other Highlights

We are working on various projects not only to propel BMWCA into visibility among
members of the Bishnupriya Manipuri community in and around Bangalore but also
worldwide. We have upgraded our Facebook page and have also started our
YouTube channel. We are publishing our annual magazine virtually this year and
shall also be maintaining a quarterly newsletter for our ardent followers. Many
projects are in the pipeline. They would be introduced as and when they are ready to
be marketed.

We hope you subscribe to our YouTube and Facebook platforms. We also look
forward to having interactions with you. All the relevant details are provided below.

Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/bangalorebmwca
YouTube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/c/bmwcabangalore
Website : http://www.bmwca.in/
Email Id : [email protected]
Leaving you all with a glimpse of the participation by our tiny trots. Their paintings
and fancy dress pictures. (Event: Janmashtami Celebration 2020)

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Artworks

Kid’s Drawing/Painting

Kid’s Fancy Dress

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FOLLOW US ON

Photographer: Sauman Sinha, Belgaum, Karnataka https://www.facebook.com/bangalorebmwca
https://www.youtube.com/c/bmwcabangalore
http://www.bmwca.in/
[email protected]

BMWCA, BANGALORE www.bmwca.in

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