When the paddy crops start growing, it used to be time for different varieties of goñchi (dragonflies) to flitter around. The beautiful lañchañ goñchi, agile byago takho, proud yaju piikho and the king of all, the magnificent apañ kemañ. There was then the itu pumiñ, the smallest of all but so light-footed that it was a big challenge to catch any of them, and the dui goñchi with its characteristic black stripe. Jijiñ tayiñ - hordes of them: a swipe of bamboo stick would bring down a dozen of them. Apart from occasional byago takho, none of them can be seen today at Ziro. Some groups of jijiñ tayiñ can still be seen, but they are so much higher up than I can recall.
These days, there are lots of plums. Truckloads of them are being taken down to Itanagar as there is no market at Ziro. It is time somebody start some productive project to tap all such local resources here.
As any monsoon, it is wet. Since the roads are better everywhere, it is pleasant, though.
Very interesting. Is the word "byago takho" related to "byago" (front verandah)?
ReplyDeletePB, I would guess so. When we were children, we used to collect dragonflies with a kind of gum (payu) stuck at the end of a stick. Byago takhos were very active flies and could be very commonly seen on the simbyas and riibiis of byago. I am sure it got its name from there.
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