Brewing Beer And Memories

Aliya and her cousins were travelling back from Delhi to their hometown in Arunachal
Pradesh. Aliya had bought her naniapiya (father’s elder sister) a jewellery box from Janpath
and a set of flavoured beer from a shop in Safdarjung, an area famous for Northeastern
cuisine. As they sat on the bamboo floor exchanging pleasantries Aliya’s naniapiya was
mixing rice spreaded on a tarpaulin sheet with an aluminium ladle.

Naniapiya. Ini mein nu gebane aecha gifts lowada. Aathu.
Ohh. Aecha kesha mein taando! Thank you ah. Aecha aesya? Yu hunji aathu da.
Aecha mein flavoured yu dumo. Yu ajihone nu aecha ma fruit flavour aetehone ichibu topra
mein taando baida. Aathu aecha Kiwi chi, aecha mango flavour.

Naniapiya. We have bought gifts for you. Please have a look.
Ohh. These are beautiful. Thank you dear. What is this? This looks like Yu.
Yes it is. It is a set of flavoured yu (rice beer). When the rice beer is made it is mixed with
fruit syrup and fruits flavours and then we can drink delicious flavoured fruit beer. See this
one is made up of Kiwi, and this one is a mango flavoured drink.

As naniapiya nods at the explanation she cannot help but remember how the process of
brewing yu used to be a household chore which connected households through barter system
and merrymaking. Yu is seen as a necessary part of village and community festivities. Local
glutinous rice cultivated in the farm is half boiled along with red rice. Naniapiya says the red
rice is Mishinge jijiko. The name of this variant of red rice might have been derived from an
indigenous collection of rice of the species Oryza sativa, known as Jijiko from Tirap district.
Another possibility is another type of variant found in Lohit district which is nearer to their
district of Lower Dibang Valley. The name of the variant is Jijikong (Ahu) of the same
species. One of the ways in exchange in rice varieties and names could have been a result of
weekly markets held in villages and barter system.

As the local white rice is half boiled and mixed with the red rice it produces a nutty, starchy
aroma. The rice is spreaded evenly on a carpet until it has cooled down substantially. Then
the Pa is broken down into fine powder and mixed with the rice. Pa is a rice cake consisting
of yeast that will help the rice to ferment. It is made out of uncooked rice paste which is
mixed with old rice cakes consisting of yeast or local herbs which fastens the fermentation.
These small rice cakes are shaped into small disks which can be stored for months.

Naniapiya recalls “ Nga ichikihi ho nani so paku ne inane, oko ma pehiyo, pa ajigai chi. Pa
ajite hiyo, aashunu ma brushutu aehiyo, aaya gibene aamegaichida. Aaya ho Pa khege ma
prage lagaichi, aechaho Pa amuni babuda. Hu chi hone khepetya chiyada. Nga ichiga
bihitone Bizari iiho, ayahobu nga aatiko chi nani aalombro so inyime pa ajigai da. Pa aji
hone jigaiho ini yaku alombro mein jipa jeene oko chi lagaiji, aatiko chi, anapra chi lagaiji.
Baha chi taju bu lagaiji, aai aene jigachida.

Buge mein ini mein Bizari ne Pa ajite hayo Dambuk ma amewdane aagugaichida. Nga hone,
ichibu nani khe kani hone Dambuk bojaar aagugaichida. Bojare pa aakhahogaicha imu mein
taando pa lowdane ini maanu ma dega banaba. Ini chi pa wa mosa alombro mein
londogahiba. Baha aashunuge pa amehiyo, aaga kani kiku gine aegaichim.

“When I was young Whenever we used to return from our fields we would start making pa.
We would make enough that could be stored in our baskets and sell it in the markets, some
people used to come at home to buy it and we would also visit houses in our village. The cost
of selling one pa was 1 Rs. Now it has increased to 10 Rs. When I got married I had to shift to
my husband’s village which is Bizari. I used to make pa along with the village nani (mothers).
We used to talk about our households, childhood, food and much more. Then after we made
and filled our baskets with pa we would go to the market which was at Dambuk. One day as
we went to the market, we opened our baskets and displayed our pa for customers and
suddenly all the people in the market surrounded us. It was so crowded. Hands jutting out
money in exchange of a dozen pa. It was amusing. Most of our customers were Adi (another
tribe residing in Siang, East Siang, Upper Siang, West Siang, Lower Dibang Valley and Lohit
districts). Maybe because most of them lived in Dambuk too.
In the olden days mothers would fill baskets of pa and travel to villages and markets in the
morning. By evening they would return back with two baskets of grains and pulses.”

After Pa is mixed with the rice it is evenly spread again. When the rice cools down it is stored
in aluminium or steel beakers. The speed of the fermentation process usually depends on the
temperature and season. During winter season it takes more than two weeks for the rice to be
properly fermented while in summer the process may be completed in a week.

People believe drinking Yu in small quantities help in regulating low blood pressure and
digestion. Although Yu is harmful when consumed heavily, it is also an integral process of
traditional cooking technique. Rice beer, Apong, Zutho, Chuwak, Yu whatever the name be it
has connected several people with love and appreciation for tribal cooking and culture. When
resources were scarce and means of leisure almost none, drinking Yu and sharing stories,
enjoying some hours before lulling into sleep was a social outlet for men and women alike to
enjoy the simple pleasures of life.


References
http://genebank.nbpgr.ernet.in/SeedBank/AccessionDetails.aspx?state=Arunachal%20Prades
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