‘Look before
you leap’… that’s what they told you while you were growing up. And you listened to them, as
though programmed to do so. Simply put, not many people manage to make life
decisions without thinking of where they are really headed.
Imli Ati Aier did.
This is her story from a village in Nagaland to Dona Paula via Delhi… one of
language translations and making magic with meat. She’s a foodie who loves to
feed as much as her love for pork. Say the four letter word and her eyes light
up. From a fun experiment to now selling out from wherever she’s available,
this is a story of what love, passion and dedication can really do. Oya’s Umami
is Ati’s recent creation and she still pinches herself when people call her to
tell her that they are carrying her pickles to the US and the UK.
‘Goa is not a place
to be romanticised. It is a good place to go for a vacation but not if you want
to make money,’ she remembers her uncle telling her when she broke the news to
her family that she’s moving to Goa without any concrete plan on what she’s
going to do there for a living.
Having lived in Delhi
for 7 years with her pet dog, working as a translator/interpreter, she had quit
her 9-to-5 job and spent six clueless months not knowing what to do next. She
says that she felt worn down by the rat race that she felt exists in the big
cities and the increasing pollution level only added to her turmoil. Going back
home to Nagaland was not an option either after experiencing the fast paced
city life and lack of job opportunities.
One day, she decided
to leave it all behind and move out of Delhi, looking for a better quality of
life, if not greener pastures. Moving was not easy, she recollects. Having to
say goodbye to a place she had learned to call home and the people she had met
over the years who eventually became her family was heartbreaking.
She packed up her
belongings and booked tickets for herself and her dog and decided to take a
leap of faith and move to Goa with no plan but a passion that has always been a
part of her since the time she was young and used to help her father chop
onions in the kitchen – Cooking.
Sitting on the plane,
she thought of the time she had invited a friend over for dinner for the first
time. This friend of hers happens to be a huge fan of soccer, loves dogs, and
would die for pork any day. She had cooked Naga food for them that special
evening. As he came home, he was greeted by Leo, the lovely German Shepherd,
who brings his football with an invitation to play and a delicious Naga food
spread waiting for
him at the table, one that made him whimper. She thought to
herself that may be this was her calling after all.
Arriving in Goa, she experienced a new form of culture shock after
experiencing the aggressive part of Delhi for many years. But slowly, the pace,
the friendly people and the constant feeling of ‘susegado’ in the air became an
essential part of her daily routine, one that gave her comfort.
“Arriving in Goa was like putting on the best pair of shoes
you’ve ever worn. I have always felt at home here. I had little to no idea what
I wanted to do here but Goa gave me an opportunity to turn my hobby into my
career,” she says.
With encouraging
friends around her, who would swear by anything she ever cooked, Goa became a
nice experiment for her. She found great meat, interesting plants and
vegetables
around her and started spending more and more time in the
kitchen. Beef pickles happened first, then the chicken and the pork. The prawn
experiment didn’t really work. From sending a little box over to her friends to
now selling close to a hundred packs a week, Oya’s Umami is a product that was
in Ati’s head until a few months back.
Now every month, there’s a box of authentic Naga spices that she
receives at the Dona Paula post office. Every box has a little handwritten
message from her mommy; sometimes a secret recipe and sometimes life lessons
for her daughter far away. Ati is loving life right now. She cooks, takes her
dog for long walks to the valley and visits her neighbours for a cup of coffee
often. “Goa does this to you,” she smiles.
Follow
her and her excellent food on Instagram @ oyas_umami
