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A Night in Aalo

Arunachal Pradesh’s hidden gem uncovered

On my last trip to Arunachal Pradesh, this was my first night halt.

Temge Ete lives in a place called Aalo and he belongs to the Walo tribe.

He was very hospitable and so was his wife. They offered me rice husk brew; it tasted like a heady, sweet wine but was black in colour!

His wife gave me “touchings” (snacks) with the wine — roasted tapioca and a spicy chutney made of just chillies, garlic and ginger.

                                Roasted tapioca and the wine

My guide who was accompanying me, had decided not to reveal that I was on a recconnaisance trip so the owners of the homestays I stayed in, wouldn’t go all out to treat me well. It was essential for me to understand what their “regular” hospitality would look like.

After a few refills of the brew, Temge was very concerned about me. He couldn’t, for the life of him, fathom why I was travelling alone in these parts, where tourists don’t come!

I told him that I wanted to explore Arunachal Pradesh, but he wasn’t convinced.

When I got up to go for a loo break, he apparently told the guide (who shared this with me the next day) that he suspected I was a government spy who’d come to check if all government policies were being implemented 🙂

                                                My Host

After a comfortable night in his daughter’s room, we had breakfast of maggi noodles and black tea and bid them goodbye.

As I sat in the car to explore another part of this gorgeous State, I kept thinking, “This IS India. This is MY India!”

                            A typical village home in Aalo

Interesting trivia: All Temge’s children’s names begin with “Ge”, the last two letters of his name. That’s the culture in his tribe.

This post was first published on Travel Shots

Ritu July 07, 2022