Hospitality at its finest

Aiesha D'lima

One of the best parts of my SBI Youth for India Fellowship has been going from home to home in Chendang village. What started with surveys and conversations slowly turned into shared meals, cups of tea and stories that I'll carry with me long after I leave.

During winters it's the big family dinners with pork, birds and if we're lucky even deer that they hunted. During summer it's the simplest meal, just some rice and mustard leaves and if it's harvest season then some potatoes. A little addition was the tasty chutney that added a kick to my plate of rice and mustard leaves.

Meals changed with the seasons, but their hospitality never did. From the youngest voice in the household to the eldest, there was always a constant, “Jinan Sha”(eat more). Before I'd even finished what was on my plate, someone was already asking me to have another serving.

I had the tastiest kaobak (beans) and axone, the spiciest Naga chillies that made my eyes and nose weak and I also had the very lightly salted almost bland yam and boiled mustard leaves with rice. Every meal felt homely irrespective of the flavour profile. 

Every house I entered offered me a meal or, at the very least, a cup of tea. If they didn't have milk powder and sugar then we all sipped black tea together. After every home visit I left with a new perspective, a few stories and my hands full of fresh organic vegetables from their khetis (fields).

Food does have a way of bringing people closer. Sometimes it's elaborate meals, sometimes month-end meals, sometimes Maggi and sometimes just some tea. 

I've never once gone to sleep on an empty stomach. No matter how late I completed my work, I always found at least one home that welcomed me for dinner and on other days I've even had three dinners one after the other. My food journey went from, “Do I have to eat beans every day?” to “Why don't we have beans today?”

That's the level of hospitality in Chendang village. We all sat together around the fireplace and enjoyed pika (black tea) and sticky rice biscuits during Christmas, and some delicious pork during Naknyulum. it's not just in my village though. I've been welcomed with open arms in Tuensang town and in Dimapur too, where I tried Anishi and Axone made by a sweet Ao and Sumi family.

Looking back, I don't think I'll remember just the dishes. I'll remember the people who insisted I eat another serving before leaving, the conversations around the fire, and the feeling of never being treated like a visitor, but like family. For me, that's what hospitality will always mean.