Lemon Lolly

Lemon Lolly, originally uploaded by Maya Mem.

Post nap and still waiting for the replacement jeep, Ban, my photographer friend and colleague, suggested that we may be missing an opportunity to make lemonade. Kachai, we discover, is home to the famous Kachai Lemon and is the largest producer of lemons in the North East. "Travel story" Ban says, ever the businessman, his eyes shining; "interesting stories to tell from the rural North East are rare .... and consider all the great food here!".

We met Mr V. Tuime Lolly in a small roadside chai shop. Over oily pooris and chana masala he tells us of his life as a bank employee in Bombay in the 1980s. "I couldnt survive there. When you grow up in the hills, the city is a place where you yearn to breathe. My wife and I came back but my children love living in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore." Mr and Mrs Lolly are now run a small rural agri-business training young people to be lemon farmers like themselves. They sell lemons and they make pickles and preserves as well. Here, Lolly shows us around an orchard, the late afternoon sun working its magic, the air heavy with the aroma of lemontree bark.