Entry 13: Field: Day 5: Great Grandma and Saiha Bound

14th June 2011, Tuesday

Lawngtlai.

I woke up to my KingKong cousin lying next to me and giving me a toothless smile. That made my day already. But the intense heavy heat of the sunrise stopped me on my tracks to sheer blissdom. I never knew Lawngtlai would have such heavy heat!!

After brunch, I went to meet my Great Grandmother. Yes! The one from whom I got my cheekbones from. My Great grandma, my mother’s maternal grandma, is 102 years old according to record and she is literally blind. I was told that she hardly comes out of her room to meet visitors, and when she does, she sits in the exact same place every single time, she drinks from the same water bottle every day and would ask my aunt to rinse it if anyone else even do as much as hold the bottle. She speaks Lai language with a fluent Khuafo dialect, one of the very few who does, yet she prays in Mizo language.

My Great Grandma doesn’t know me by face. When I told her my mother’s name, she touched my face and told me I looked like my mother. She also quickly added that my face is way too round to look as good as my mother. I laughed.  She wasn’t the first to tell me that. This was only the second time that I’ve met her. The first time I met her, two years ago, she prayed for me and when I told her I wanted to take a picture with her, she rushed to change into her traditional clothing and went to wash her face!! This time when I told her I want to take a picture with her, she told me that it should only be me in the picture and not my other cousins. I gladly obliged.

My Great Grandma and I

And after my aunt clicked our picture, she turned to me and, out of the blue, said, “ Who are you?”. My heart broke as I told her my mother's name again. 

After I left my greatgrandma’s place, I went to collect my luggage from my cousin’s place and bade goodbye to Arama and his brother. I also made a quick stop at my cousin’s shop and later went to wait for my dad in the car.

We left Lawngtlai at 4:30 PM and reached Saiha at 7:30 PM. The 70 kilometre journey from Lawngtlai to Saiha with the brief rain was beautiful. At one point, a double rainbow shot through with the setting sun. Overwhelmed, I reach for my camera only to realize that my batteries were down.

Kawlchaw village, en route to Saiha. I should have saved my batteries for the double rainbow! :(

Need I say I got roadsick again???? Whatever became of me and my iron-lined stomach!!