Occasional
get-together(s) remain incomplete if there’s no beer on the menu. This comes as no surprise because in Bhutan we
have a culture of letting alcohol take precedence over any undertaking. I am not sure whether anybody has heard of ‘the beer festival’. Well I certainly have
and blessed rainy day coincides with the international beer festival. This year
it’s being celebrated and observed in Munich, Germany. Gallons and gallons of
beer will be drunk this week by millions of people in and around Germany. Can
you imagine, this week alone?
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| The troupe but not everyone is pictured |
Our Blessed
Rainy Day troupe cannot afford gallons but at least by our standards, we made
ourselves proud. We bet that we can leave ‘chilips’
awestruck with our ability. Try us and you too will be amazed. You will be
surprised if I disclosed the boxes of beer we managed to gobble down in 2
nights and 3 days. Coming back to our tiny circle of friends during the blessed
rainy day, it was one of our friends Tharaz
who told me to write the Version 2 of
Vegetable friends (My earlier post).
This years’
bash came during the blessed rainy day. It took away some serious planning and
preparation. The big day approached as we were all set in. All friends (except
two) made it to the said event. We took four cars and lots of edibles along
with pots and pans. We were told to bring some fire wood as every blade of
grass was wet.
Getting
things ready for the night tested our patience. All tents were pitched and
there was one in particular which nobody could fix it. It ate up our evening
time into the dusk. After much trial and error we managed to keep it shaped.
Then we went for dinner at the fireplace. It was me and sexy-bona fide sharchops in the group. The curry reminded
that we were sharchops. Draks prepared
the curry but the potatoes were all swimming in the curry. I told them, “Today you reminded me that I belong to the
east”, “Thank you Draks”. Everybody shared a heads-out laugh and then
Draks, “naba ley, tshoem choe zo may”
which gave us another moment of heads off laugh.
Singing went
well into the night. After getting high on beer, it was Kinley and Acho Bom who
instigated me to take a ride to the nearest town. The rest of the troupe was
sleeping. After much hustle, we secretly took the car out and then disaster!
The eldest in out troupe, Acho came
out of his tent and declared, “Choe gara
nga ley za woong mey, me nyey ga”-All of you will get beaten up, why don’t
you sleep? Then in instant, every one jumped into their respective tents and
silence followed. Some giggled of course. Then sleep took us to the next
morning.
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| Our Cool recess in the stream nearby |
It was
blessed rainy day the next morning and we started the day with porridge cooked
in beef bones. No sooner did we finish drinking porridge than we started to
grab the bottles. Everyone had a task at hand. Dishwashing, cutting veggies and
other greens and I got to do everything with the fish. I can cook pretty well.
After getting everything ready for the midday feast, we went to the nearest
stream and gave ourselves a refreshingly cold treat. All of us then went for a
game of basket ball. We had dinner already, the left over from the lunch. And
into the night, it was my turn to get crazy. I had drunk more that what my body
was supposed to handle then, the ejection of what I took as my dinner. All that
I put in my belly for dinner had to be forced out….eeeeehhhhhh! In the midst of
I moving sideways with no balance, Tharaz
was busy singing to the karaoke, yes singing to because, the music was after
his lyrics-he was singing off beat.
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| The Camp Site |
Then I
hastily went into the tent, took out my pillow, quilt and computer. Got into
the back seat of my car and then called the night off. I was told that, it
rained during the night and rain sipped into the tent. My friends had miserable
time draining water out but for me I was fast asleep in the car.
The next
morning, we did the same chores all over again. Everyone got one task at hand
and one was expected to complete it. Enter Sexy.
He is a little slow and he was supposed to prepare egg curry for us. Ashim had already finished with her
share of the curry. Acho, by now told
Sexy and me, “In the next season two of you will be out” and to this everybody
laughed their heads off. Whether be it funny, embarrassing, annoying or
enjoying, we were never short of three things-Handycam-ing, photography and beer.
We ate our
lunch that afternoon and packed everything that came with us into our cars.
Even the left over curry was packed. We drove towards our homes and on the way
we halted thrice for some beer and fried fish. Sexy and I think that we
will be in for the next season, as Acho
mentioned of us. Whether be rules or promises, it is meant to be broken.
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