Shenya Kasuang - Session 02, 27 January 2024

In this interview, Shenya Kasuang shares about her life in Byale village and earlier in Jatam village. She shares how she spends her time, completing household chores, foraging, farming and processing sago. Among foraged vegetables, some grow near small streams, like Haji and Langmu vegetables and some are collected from the forest, like Jonko, Tataklachu and Mijik. She also shares how what steps are involved in the processing of sago, like felling a mature stem, chipping its outer bark, carrying it to the processing station, shredding and beating fibres from the trunk of the Palm and how the sago is dissolved in water and sedimented before it is collected for use. She also shares her knowledge of raising and cultivating the Palm, how it is raised and maintained. For instance, the importance of clearing the undergrowth and its impact on sago yield. She shares that the soil is not prepared in any way at the time of replanting a young shoot of the Palm. To make a grove of the Palm, a plot of land must be cleared of other vegetation and trees but is not in need of being burnt before planting the suckers or any watering. She explains how and when a young sucker may be replanted. She shares a bit about the lifecycle of the Palm and how long it takes to mature, and explains the identifying signs for maturations in the stem. She describes the yield based on the number of pieces, that are 2-metre portions of the stem, that are processed. Commenting on other varieties of the Palm, she names four – Nijvay, Matchisik, Beyryong, Satte and says that in her parents’ village, Jatam, there were more varieties than in Byale. For example, there was one called Mabya metchi and one called Matchiye. Nijvay, she explains, yields more bey and Matchisik forms a good consistency of Mraak (prepared sago) and hence, both are planted more abundantly. Shenya tells us how to identify the varieties by their appearance. Satte, she says, opens its leaf sheaths and Beyryong too, but Nijvay and Matchisik don’t open or shed their leaf sheaths. It's visible in the leaf too. Nijvay has a thin leaf. Mapyong and Beyryong have big leaves. She shares multiple ways that sago can be prepared and cooked, including Mraak, Sakap, and Bey-ja. She also contrasts the use of rice and sago in the present and in the past and how availability of rice in the markets has impacted people’s consumption. Both rice and sago are commonly used in the village. Speaking of the accompanying foods with sago, she comments Mraak is best consumed with Marung (fermented and roasted bamboo) and explains the elaborate process of acquiring and preparing it from higher-elevation mountains. There are also Masiyek and Chappe as good accompaniments with Mraak. They're also made of bamboo. She then comments on the difficulty of farming. She complains of the rain, mosquitoes and often having to carry a kid on her back. Even back at home, there is no time to rest as chores and her livestock await her. She says that the Palm takes very long to mature and contrasts it with rice that can be harvested in a six month period and stored in the house. She shares that before there was rice, people ate Tamai (millet). Especially in the cold season, older people who were unable to make sago because it's difficult to process and people who had many kids, would eat Tamai after grinding it and cooking it. These days, it's not eaten that way, but is used to make Apung from it. She also informs us of the seasons of sowing and harvest in the jhum cycle. Among the many vegetables and grains grown, rice, Tamai (finger millet) and maize ripen at the same time, along with Taape (legume). Mabuong, another food, ripens a little early. And Chapyo (maize) is of two kinds, she shares, one that ripens at the end of September and another that is harvested in August. Kachu (taro) is eaten at the end, after storing all other produce. Sometimes, if there's a surplus, farm products as forage vegetables may be sold in the town. Speaking of the Palm’s phenology and flowering, she consults her mother-in-law, Madak Kasuang, during the interview and shares that the Palm flowers in early August. She describes the colour of the flower as the colour of fire. She says it is consistent among the different varieties. After it fruits, she says some are red, while some are white. She also fondly remembers that when she was a child, she would chew the fruit as a chewing gum with her friends. It would hurt their teeth after a whole day of chewing. They chewed on the cover and threw it when it became tasteless by the end of the day. Within the grove, a suitable place to replant depends on the soil and presence of rocks, according to her. She suggests that a young sucker grows poorly in rocky places or places with many other trees. It is better to plant it in a plain area, where the soil is good, black and red in colour. She describes the depth at which it should be replanted and how far from another cluster. She shares that while typically replanted vegetatively, a shoot that germinates from the seed is called Machyong. However, it takes too long to grow from the seed. For it to grow faster, they need to take a sucker from the cluster and replant it. She also comments on the sunlight or shade requirement of the Palm and how it may survive in a storm. She also shares that the Puroik people feel a lot of affection looking at Metchi because, she says, “We have lived from Metchi. When we see it, we keep feeling that we want to eat Bey (sago).” She also shares about which other animals consume the Palm and which parts they eat. When asked if she uses the leaves of the Palm, she remembered her childhood when she and her friends would play a lot with the petiole and make it like Metchi and use it. In the past, she says, people made slippers from the stem covering. In slippery places, it was worn. She shares how kids would make a car with tyres from the Palm stem to roam around and play with. The first rachis that comes up, called Sapakpree, kids would make it like hair and connect it with a thread and play with it. She recollects many times when she and her friends would play on top of the Metchi stem and run after each other. She says she herself has fallen from the stem two times but remembers getting up right after and running after her brothers. She fondly remembers how kids mischievously would make a bridge between two Metchi stems by the rachis of two leaves. If there was something to hold on to, they would jump. She remembers how the parents would ask kids to fetch water, or firewood and forage plants, but they would keep playing and be tired by the end of the day and not do any work. She thinks of how children today don’t play this way. If Metchi was nearby, they would have played this way. Shenya speaks about shamanism and the shift to Christianity and describes how life was in the past. When asked about any songs related to the Palm, she says there is a song on the other side of the Kameng river, not on the East side. She remembers how her mother used to tell her the tale of past life and how the Puroik people lived with difficulty. She also shares about exchange with spirits and the practice of shamans in the past. Time-stamped section headings OH-008-20-2a (00:00:27) Background of the speaker. (00:03:22) Plants of forage, farming and raising the Palm. The process of extracting sago, replanting the suckers and cultivating the Palm. (00:13:34) Varieties of the Palm, growing rice in jhum fields and making Marung from Micha variety of bamboo. (00:27:07) Comparing sago and rice cultivation, use of millets in the past and present and seasonal cycle of jhum farming. [00:28:40 to 00:28:56 Restricted access. Contact archives@ncbs.res.in] (00:32:31) Phenology of the Palm, replanting young suckers, suitable growing environment of the Palm and interactions with other animals. (00:43:25) Use of different parts of the Palm and childhood memories of playing with and on the Palms. (00:50:58) Maintenance of a Palm grove by a family and its inheritance among the children. (00:56:38) About the practice of shamans in the past and the recent shift to Christianity. [00:58:45 to 01:02:08 Restricted access. Contact archives@ncbs.res.in] OH-008-20-2b [00:00:00 to 00:01:11, and 00:03:10 to 00:03:16 Restricted access. Contact archives@ncbs.res.in] (00:04:16) About an exchange with the spirits and practice of the shamans in the past.