Rajdeep Bhowmik

Suhash Bhattacharjee

Deep Roy

Adarsh Ray

Photographs

Amit Kumar Nath

Priti David

Editor

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“At the time of Biju [new year festival], all of us wake up
early and go out to pluck flowers. We then set the flowers afloat in the river
and take a dip. We visit each house in the village afterwards, meet and greet
them,” says Jaya. More than half a century has gone by, but her memory of the
day has not dimmed. 

“We gift a handful of rice grain [as a show of good
fortune], and in return each house offers us langi [rice beer]. Only a few sips in each house, but we visit so
many that we are quite drunk by the end of it,” she says. Also, “on that day,
the young adults of the village bathe the elders with water from the river as a
show of respect.” Jaya’s face glows with recollections of the annual
celebrations. 

Now, across an international border and hundreds of
kilometres from that home, what has survived is langi – it’s the thread that binds many refugees to the rituals and
customs of their Chakma community. “It is integral to our culture,” says Jaya
who grew up in Rangamati in Bangladesh. Other tribes in this region also use langi in rituals and offerings.

“I learnt to make this [langi]
by watching my parents. After I got married, my husband Suren and I started
doing it together,” she adds. The couple knows how to make three other kinds of
beer – langi, mod and jogora. 


The preparations for
jogora, also made from rice, begin on the first day of Chaitra (the last
month of the year in the Bengali calendar). “We use biroin chal [a finer quality sticky rice grain] and ferment it in
bamboo for weeks before distilling it. We no longer frequently make jogora,” says Jaya as it takes at least
a month to brew and the rice has also become too expensive. “Earlier we used to
grow this rice in jhum [hill
cultivation], but there is not much land that it is cultivated on now.”

The couple’s home is in Tripura’s Unakoti district. The state, the second smallest in
the country, is almost two thirds forest. Agriculture is the main occupation
and many rely on non-timber forest produce (NTFP) for additional incomes.  

“I was just a few years old when I had to leave
home. The entire community was displaced,” says Jaya. Their homes were pushed
aside for a dam on the Karnaphuli river in Chittagong in erstwhile East
Pakistan (now Bangladesh). “We had no food, no money. We took refuge in
Arunachal Pradesh in a camp…we moved to Tripura after a few years,” adds Jaya.
Later she would marry Suren, a resident of Tripura.

Langi is a popular drink and fuels a
thriving market with hundreds of tribal women engaged in production and sale of
the brew, an essential part of all social and religious events among these
tribes. The ‘illicit’ tag however leads to harassment and humiliation of
processor-traders, all women, by the law enforcing personnel.

Jaya says it takes two-three days to make one batch. “It is
not an easy job. I don’t even get time to do daily household chores,” she says
sitting in her shop, momentarily shielded from the scorching hot noon sun,
occasionally drawing smoke through her hookah.

The ingredients used for making langi remain diverse, resulting in distinct flavours in the final
product based on the community, says a 2016 issue of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.001">Journal</a> of Ethnic Foods. “Every community
has their own recipe for langi. The
one that we make is much stronger [higher alcohol content] than that of [say]
the Reang community,” adds Suren. Reangs are the <a href="https://tripura.gov.in/different-tribes-oftripura1">second largest </a>tribal community in Tripura. 

The couple start the brewing process with
coarsely-ground rice grains. “For every batch, we boil 8-10 kilos of Siddho chaal [a small grain sticky rice] in a degchi [large metal cooking vessel]. It
should not be overcooked,” says Jaya.

They can make two litres of langi or a little more of mod
from a five-kilo bag of rice. They sell in 350 ml bottles or by glass (90 ml).
At Rs.10 for a glass, langi is half
the price of mod which sells for Rs.
20 a glass. 

Suren points out, “prices for everything have gone up. The
price for one quintal [100 kilos] of rice used to be around 1,600 rupees, 10
years ago. It has now gone up to 3,300 rupees.” Not just rice but he says
prices of basic commodities have also shot up over the years. 

We settle down as Jaya begins to describe in detail the
process of making their prized beverage. The cooked rice is spread out (on a
mat to dry), and once cooled, mooli
is added and it is allowed to ferment for two-three days depending on the
weather. “During hot summers, fermenting it overnight is fine. But in winter it
may take a few days,” she says. 

Once fermented, “we add water and give it one last boil. We
then drain out the water and once cool, that’s your langi” she adds. Mod on
the other hand needs to be distilled – three dishes are stacked on top of each
other for the method of chain evaporation. No artificial fermenting agent or
yeast is added to facilitate fermentation.

For both, they add several herbs like pathar dagar (<a href="https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/parmotrema-perlatum">Parmotrema perlatum</a>), a flowering plant usually found
at an elevation, aagchi leaves,
flowers from a green plant named jin jin,
wheat flour, garlic and green pepper. “These are all mixed to make small moolis – usually made in advance and
stored,” adds Jaya.

“It has a distinct sourness without the burning effect of
many of the other alcoholic beverages. In the summer it is very soothing and
has a pleasant aroma,” says a happy customer who prefers to remain unnamed. All
the customers PARI met were unwilling to be photographed or interact freely,
possibly fearing the law.

Langi makers say that brewing this drink
is becoming more and more difficult. Beverage derived from fermented rice has
been banned by the Tripura Excise <a href="https://law.tripura.gov.in/sites/default/files/The_Tripura_Excise_Act_1987.pdf">Act </a>of 1987. 

“How can one survive here? There is no industry or
opportunity...what is one supposed to do? Just look around and see how people
are surviving here.”

Brewing larger quantities of the drink are simply not
possible. Jaya says she can only brew 8-10 kilos of rice each time as she has
just five pots, and then access to water is limited and worsens during the
summer. Further, “we use only firewood for making it and it takes a lot of wood
– each month we spend 5,000 rupees,” she adds. The steep hike in prices of gas
cylinders has made that a non-option. 

“We opened the [langi]
shop nearly 10 years ago. Education of our children would not have been
possible otherwise,” says Jaya. “We also had a hotel, but many customers would
eat there and not clear their dues, so we had to close it.”

Another brewer Lata (name changed) says everyone around are
Buddhists and “we use langi the most
during Puja [festival] and new year’s. Some of the rituals require offering the
brewed alcohol to the Gods.” In the last few years, Lata has stopped brewing,
citing low profit margins.

Low incomes worry Jaya and Suren too, who, as they grow
older, have to finance their growing health-related issues. “I have poor
eyesight and I occasionally suffer from joint ache. My feet get swollen quite
frequently.” 

To address this and other concerns they choose to travel to
hospitals in Assam as there is a long waiting time to access state healthcare
in Tripura. Although the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) scheme gives
Rs. 5 lakh cover to poor families like theirs, they chose to travel to Assam as
they lack confidence in the state healthcare. “The travel itself costs 5,000
rupees both ways,” points out Jaya. Medical tests also eat into their savings. 

It’s time for us to leave and Jaya begins tidying up the
kitchen while Suren stacks the firewood for the next morning and the next batch
of langi.



This story is supported by
a fellowship from Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation (MMF).

In Tripura: brewing langi, recalling home

تریپورہ کی لانگی اور گھر کی یادیں

త్రిపురలో: లాంగి కాస్తూ, ఇంటిని గుర్తుచేసుకుంటూ

பூர்விக நினைவில் லங்கி காய்ச்சுதல்

ਤ੍ਰਿਪੁਰਾ ਰਹਿੰਦਿਆਂ ਚੇਤਿਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਤੈਰਦਾ ਘਰ ਤੇ ਲੰਗੀ ਵੀ

ତ୍ରିପୁରାରେ : ଲାଙ୍ଗି ମଦ ପ୍ରସ୍ତୁତି ବେଳେ ଘର କଥା ମନେ ପଡ଼େ

त्रिपुराची लांगी आणि आठवणींचा दरवळ

ത്രിപുരയിൽ: ലംഗി വാറ്റുന്നു, നാടിനെ ഓർമ്മിക്കുന്നു

ತ್ರಿಪುರಾ: ಲಾಂಗಿಯ ಸವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮನೆಯ ನೆನಪು

लांगी बियर के बहाने अपने देस की याद संजोती त्रिपुरा की दंपति

ત્રિપુરામાં: લાંગી બનાવતા બનાવતા તાજી થતી ઘરની યાદો

गाँव-घर, देंवता-धामी, रीत-रिवाज ले जोड़त लंगी

आपन देस-रिवाज से बान्ह के रखे वाला लांगी

ত্ৰিপুৰাত লাংগি বুলিলে খোল খায় স্মৃতিৰ সঁফুৰা

ত্রিপুরা: লাঙ্গির পাকে ফুটে ওঠে ফেলে-আসা ঘরের স্মৃতি

Unakoti

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In Tripura: brewing langi, recalling home

A rice-based alcoholic drink travels miles, based on a memory

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