Tracing back my roots

SUHI LEPCHA AND AFLENG LEPCHA

Suhi Lepcha is most probably from Lingdong or Barfok. He was a boongthing. He was short in height. He is also known to be a good orator/ debator sort of. It is known that the ladies from Lingthem gathered together to debate against him and they always lost. He was very articulate and was probably the first person in Leek to learn Nepali (Nepalis had just started coming in Dzongu) It is said that he used to be a translator/mediator because of articulation skills in the village. 

Afleng Lepcha, his wife is from Linko, she is a very renowned ‘mun’ She used to be called by people to take care of dead sprits and lead them to the promised land, and in one of such visit she happened to come across a small girl child whose mother had passed away giving birth to her (Mika Lepcha’s Mother) She after the last rite decided to take care of the child and brought her to Leek. [She later gave the child to Tangdeng Lepcha and his wife (Payelmoo Nikung)] Payelmoo Nikung is from RUHUBONG, SINGHIK.

Since Suhi Lepcha and Afleng Nikung had no children of their own, they had adopted Tangdeng Lepcha.

They had a daughter who got married in Karhyok ( lower lingthem ) her daughter got married in Sakvong ( Chong famtam – Between Phensong and Phodong ) and her daughter got married and is settled in present day Chandey.

They also had an adopted daughter who is in Lingdong. She is married to Rungdokchen. She is almost the age of Mika Lepcha’s real mother. Rungdokchen is no more though and their present day house is slightly above Agya Dubu’s house in Lingdong.

AFAR ( DOWRY )

Getting married in Lepcha tradition involved the son family to adhere to rigorous rules to win the trust of the daughter's parents and herself. This system was called AFAR. The son in law had to request the parents for the girls hand along with many gifts ( dokos of brewed millet, dumvuns for the ladies, an entire pig, arok and many other customary gifts ) Besides the son in law had to spend the next 2-3 years in the girls house and help the family in their work.

This custom proved too expensive for most Lepchas and therefore a lot of boys and girls never married. The widows and spinsters had the opportunity of remarrying again, but by now the equation would have changed and therefore wouldn't require all that AFAR for it to happen. They therefore either married each other or the boys and girls who couldn't because of the AFAR system. This also meant that most of them would have already crossed their re-productive age. Due to this system they, to continue their family would adopt sons from elsewhere or their married brothers and sisters who would carry forward their heritage and property.

This story is from a place called Tumprong which is an hour's walk from Leek. Most of the Land there belongs to people from Tingvong, they come during the makkai (maize) plantation time, plant the makkais and go back to Tingvong.
An old couple used to live there at the time. Every Makkai season the land owner [(Dawa and Ugen) brothers] from Tingvong used to find their makkai being eaten, when asked to the couple, they shrugged it off blaming the bear who comes down to eat makkai during the season. This happened for a long time.
The brothers were unconvinced with that story and decided to stay back and check who was the real culprit. They prepared their bows and arrows for the night, warned the old couple not to venture into that area. The old man decided to go and steal makkai anyways, so he wore his bear skin and went to the fields. Dawa realizing that there was someone there gives a first warning ordering if it were human to move away to which the old man replied with a loud roar. Ugen then gives a second similar warning to which he meets the same reply. After an initial discussion between the brothers, Dawa decides to shoot a warning arrow towards the creature. It goes straight and lands on the knee of the old man.
After a loud roar...the old man keeps going about filling his sack with makkais. Seeing this Ugen shoots another one, this one flies straight to the heart of the old man. The old man by now finished with his makkai business flees the scene and goes home bleeding profusely from the heart and his knee.
After arriving home he gently opens his bear suit, removes the arrow from his knee and tells his wife to make makkai soup, his favorite. Thereafter he removes the arrow from his heart, the heart comes out with it...he keeps it beside the fire and goes to sleep forever.
Legend has it that whenever travelers pass through that area they experience a pain in their knee and their heart.

The Lepcha name for this caterpillar is called 'Pachek - bu'.
Pachek means an individual who wanders and eats.
It also means 'Almost' for example if you use it in a sentence - I almost got killed!!

Apparently Pachek-bu used to be eaten by hunters strolling by, whenever anyone comes by they start waggin their lower part of the body vigorously.
Legend says that they made negotiations with the hunters that whenever they moved their body like that they spoke to the hunters convincing them that they should leave them this time and should come tomorrow when they would be fatter and juicier as they are voracious eaters, only for the hunters to realize that they were fooled as they would never be seen in the same spot twice.

Why ??

From the jungles...haven’t the remotest idea as to why I am here...a three hour walk from the road takes you to a place called ‘Leek’,  on the hill opposite Lingthem...born and brought up there, companionship could only be expected from the trees of the dense surrounding forests and the wild animals inhabiting it.

love the smell of the leaves (...better when burning)...going into the forest with the constant buzz of the insects in my ear...with a catapult in my hand, my aim is getting better by the day...glued beside the fire,with a mug of salted black tea. i wonder what to do...wish i had somebody to talk to...scared of the evil spirits i prayed regularly...offering the freezing water of the morning and some incense is my duty everyday...the nights are long and cold...sleeping beside grandpa and cuddling him up is the only thing i remember...stealing the biscuits from his cupboard was fun (ate the whole thing) he didn’t even complain...i wonder how my grandma looked............

was away from home at an early age (cursed my luck for it)...little did i know what was to follow...days were lonely and short, wished i could see his face again...the wait was long but it paid off...too dumb to be there,yes, life sucked. the misery ended after years of suffering.

now i could smell the grass and run after the butterflies...forgot to thank...that was where i grew up to be who i am today. Learnt a lil and wasted my time,but it was fun...friends, food, books, sports...all fascinated me.... hated when substituted...ate like there was no tomorrow.

slept through the lessons...slaps, kicks, punches made no difference...i all ended it with an average performance...

happy to see where i am today (i know i have a long way to go)....long....really long!

My Stupid Mom !!

...zzzzzzzz !!!

waaah !!!

not the cold water...

She has to take me for a bath everyday... she doesn't have anything else to do!

I don't think i smell too much either. People can be so so jobless!

oh God save me!!

          

The package which was suppose to be here long time back but due to some silly circumstances it got stuck and took a while.As soon as i got it in the evening i ran to my sister's place the next morning without wasting much time.

People were still recovering from their sleepy hangover.

They recovered very soon when i told them about the parcel.

It created such a hungama there after, it was unbelieaveble...

It was a set of clothes sent by Atula all the way from Pune to this corner of the world for Denree.

He didnt get a clue of it in the begining but he got it later and was very very happy about it.He sent this message back to Atula with a big big thank you!

His parents sends their love and regards to her....

Cheers!!