The Elusive U-Morok

Although I do not relish the typical “Spicy” food, I do like my food with a pinch of salt and pepper. Chilies and those too green chillies in particular- are a favourite and I cannot do without them while having food. Any food I take seem to be incomplete without some form of chilies. Being in the service that I’m in, I need to travel a lot, stay at odd places, sometimes far off from civilized world and more often than not the comforts of “compatible food” is a far cry, not that I’m choosy about food, but it is simply that I like my food to be prepared in a certain way. I can adjust to other ways of preparation and menu, but the effort is much more easier if I have my two best companions – green chilies and garlic. Most of our rest houses are well equipped especially on official tours and the staff do make extra effort to make the “sahib’s” stay as comfortable and as homely as possible. Sometimes, despite the best of efforts, there seems to be less salt in the dal, the mixed vegetable a little too spicy, and the paneer – how do I explain that even though I’m a strict vegetarian, I do not like paneer at all. And that’s when the chilies and garlic come in handy.

Being an avid lover of “shingju – bora” , I try to maintain a steady supply of the major ingredients, especially the aromatic grasses or “maroi”. Unlike Delhi and other places where there is a sizable population of meiteis, and every visitor brings the “shoibums, ngaris, kanglayens,” etc, my places of postings are in areas which are rather off the usual circuit of common Manipuris or chinkis. So, Wherever I’m posted, I ( rather, my wife), maintain a kitchen garden wherein we try to grow all our native vegetables – nakuppi, napakpi, tokningkok, phadigom, phakphai, khongjai napi…and in most cases, quite successfully. However, one of my favourites, the u-morok, the king of all chillies has been an elusive entity. I have been posted in several biogeographic places like the fertile plains of Patiala and Amritsar to the arid sandy areas of Muktsar and Ferozepur. In all these places, I tried growing the u-morok, both on the ground and in pots, and even though they survive and grow well in all these places, they never flower and produce the chillies. So it was just as routine and without much expectation when we planted u-moroks after moving to Chandigarh some two years ago.

And what a surprise it was to see a true u-morok hanging out from the branches, one fine morning while I was watering the plants in my garden. The problem still persists in the sense that of the many plants, only one was bearing fruits and that one plant was bearing only four u-moroks. Anyway, it was such a pleasure to see them there dangling in all their glory and we watch it grow each day, not even dreaming of eating even after it matures!!