Looking for autumn scent - Dak Lak Electronic Newspaper

16:29, 09/28/2023

Because we cannot take the initiative in irrigation water sources, my hometown only grows rice in the 10th crop (harvested in October) and not in the summer-autumn crop like many other localities.

I remember clearly, when the cool breeze blew, the weather changed dramatically. A new day began with a thick morning mist. In that chill, we went to school wearing a raincoat that my mother had patched together.

The thick fog obscured all vision, covered the eyelids and hair, and made the cheeks wet and red. The young hands were clenched, not numb to the point of numbness, but still made the first strokes of the day more scribbled.

Around 9 o'clock, when the sun rose high, the sunlight was strong enough to dispel the misty morning mist. Then the weather gradually got hotter and at its peak at noon, the hot, sultry heat of autumn still made people restless and uncomfortable. When the clouds at the end of the sky grew larger, enough to make the sunlight fade, it was also the time when the dry, cold autumn winds rushed in...

Illustration: Internet

After school, we kids helped with the housework according to our assignments and abilities. Some carried a shoulder pole to the fields to cut grass for the buffalo. Others followed the edge of the large fields, digging up plump, dark red worms to “improve the fishy quality” so that the ducks would lay eggs more easily. The scent of autumn was the scent of freshly cut grass wafting in the breeze.

The strong fishy smell of worms dug out of the soil. That scent is also the scent of young rice in the process of blooming. When the sun sets, the evening mist spreads across the fields, it is also the time when schools of fish in the fields go out to feed at night. They follow the water in the fields, going to the ditches and puddles in the middle of the fields. The fish this season are soft and fat because their food is the rice flowers that have just bloomed, falling and floating on the water surface.

The feeling of encountering perch and snakehead fish lying lazily under the water surface, hiding under the grass along the ditch bank and being hypnotized by the light is truly joyful! The result is the plump, firm fish that are also the food for the whole family the next day. The perch is grilled over charcoal, my mother marinates it with soy sauce and sprinkles of sour star fruit on top.

Under the simmering fire, my mother's pot of braised fish with star fruit exuded a fragrant aroma. Just listening to the sound of the fish boiling, I could already imagine a warm, family-friendly meal. There weren't many spices, my mother even intentionally added salt to make it salty "to save for tomorrow's meal", but perhaps that was the best pot of braised fish I've ever eaten. It contained so many flavors. It was the scent of the earth and sky turning to autumn, the scent of young rice sprouting, or the scent of love, protection amidst worries and struggles...

I walked back to the rice fields in front of the village. The large rice fields of the past have now been built into fish bone roads running across the rice fields, helping farmers pull carts of manure into their fields, mothers and sisters no longer have to carry baskets of manure on their shoulders. During harvest time, young men no longer have to use poles to carry rice, struggling along the undulating rice fields to gather rice on the road.

The economy developed, irrigation was invested, people switched to the summer-autumn crop. The rice season in October became a thing of the past. Standing alone in the vast breeze, where the rice fields were still bare of stubble, I took a deep breath to find the scent of that year. It still lingered somewhere in the youthful memories of my young friends, the pure flavors and sounds of my homeland...

Phan Chung

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