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In the morning Tashi Tshering and his friend Ramesh showed us the process of wheat pounding and separating the wheat from the chafe, while Aiela Sangay Doma was explaining the whole process. First audio-recording in the field done!
Agya Chemi explained how he made a grinding stone (another sound recording).
Tashi Tshering and Ramesh used the stone to grind some maize while Agya Chemi was commenting on the process.
Then the boys showed us the whole farm: animals, plants, vines, roots…everything seems to grow here! And every square inch of land is used! It is truly amazing how much these young guys know about agriculture. Tashi Tshering is Bhutia, and Ramesh is Nepali; they seem to be getting along just fine. They speak Nepali to each other.
In the afternoon we walked to the nearby Mangbrue gompa. A few chortens stood sentinel as we approached it. A kind old caretaker let us in. The gompa was built in 2002 on the site of the old one. The murals are quite impressive. As we found out later, a painter from Gangtok made them. Outside there is a huge prayer wheel next to a smaller one.
The sun was already setting down when we left the gompa but Wanchuk decided to hike down the hill to visit Doma and Nima's family. They are Sherpas, and the father looks as I always imagined a Sherpa would look. Lakhi (Doma's younger sister) used to live with Wanchuk's family but then suddenly decided to come back. A son (Nima's younger brother) is a lama at the Mangbrue gompa.
Having spent some time with the family, we returned home long after the sunset. Fortunately, the moon was shining brightly. The scenery was simply breathtaking. Before getting to the house—unpleasant but honest and necessary conversation.
Aiela Sangay Doma has left for Gangtok: their daughter was taken to a hospital there. Agya Chemi said that “a ghost has gotten into her”. Bath: several buckets of boiling-hot water to be mixed with the cold one from the tap. I feel like a new man!
Late evening: regaining psychological balance by listening to the Schubert's “Unfinished” (with Karl Böhm). His interpretation is reserved and kind of dry—but indeed powerful. I still prefer Mravinsky's though.
Check out Wanchuk's blog entry for the same day.
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