When things got a little intense for Phuphee and she needed a breather, she would drop what she was doing and go for a walk. She would throw on her keep (upper section of a Kashmiri burka ), grab a small basket and knife, and walk into the nearby forest. At the door, before she said goodbye, she would say, ‘Z angan chem beqaraeri [my legs have anxiety]’.
We would see her a couple of hours later, a little flushed but brighter and cheerful. I have been told by other members of the family that when she got married, and started taking these ‘solo’ trips, her in-laws became very concerned and sent for her grandmother (her mother had passed away when she was young). It is said that Aapa told them that Tahira’s spirit needed rest away from humans and that they should never think about interfering with it.
And so, it was never brought up again. Phuphee would go off and spend the time she needed with the fairies, and what made it more acceptable, though somewhat inconvenient (as everything stopped functioning when she left the house), was that she always came back with a basket full of treats. She would bring back gucchhi mushrooms, berries, seeds, nuts and wild vegetables.
One day, she brought back wild turnips. ‘ Sessar gogji ranov [let’s make slow-cooked turnips with red kidney beans]’. This is a dish that takes three days to prepare.
First the kidney beans are slow-cooked for a couple of days and then the turnips are added and left to cook on the embers for another.