"Blooming Manipur" Project Inauguration
- European Manipuri Association, United Kingdom -

05-Dec-2011, London *

European Manipuri association would like to thank and appreciate everyone who have help in making the initial implementation of 'blooming Manipur ' Project an inspiring success.

We are very thankful to the government of Manipur who have all the way supported and given the necessary permission.

Ema Keithel, the 300 year old traditional and ingenious women's market of Manipur, which centers right in the heart of the state, continues to inspire many people across the world especially with it being the largest only-women market in the world, the symbol of empowerment of the woman, the place where the woman of Manipur rose against the might of the British Empire.

We would like to share our words of gratitude again to Respected Ema and Ebens who have given us the opportunity to be associated in some ways with this historic place of the world.

View of the flower pots at Night

As part of the blooming Manipur project, EMA along with our kind and ever helpful volunteers would like to share as a gift, the 'flower basket' that has been installed across the wall of our historic Ema Keithel to our Ema and Ebens as part of our first phase of 'Blooming Manipur '.

We would like to share our sincere words of gratitude to Mr. Elangbam Satyajit, Mr. Khumanthem Khelen, Mr. Laishram Pari, Mr. RK Robindro, Mr. Haobijam Surjit, Mr. Wangkheirakpam Ramananda and Mr. James Vaiphei, the wonderful organizing team at Manipur, who not only shared our common vision of Blooming Manipur but have put in every effort for this project to become an inspiring concept.

Blooming Manipur is inspired by the Britain in bloom concept, a campaign which has made Britain one of the most beautiful island Nations .And beyond the beautiful flowers and gardens of Britain, the campaign has done wonders for community cohesion. The campaign has managed to get communities to participate in keeping the towns and cities beautiful, increasing civic sense of pride and truly creating a sense of belongingness to their streets and neighborhoods.

View of the flower pots at day

EMA is hoping to make ‘Blooming Manipur’, a campaign beyond a Beautiful Keithel with Beautiful flowers!

With our beloved Emas/Eben and our selfless volunteers, we would give our best efforts to make significant changes with small steps with the help of the beautiful flowers of Manipur and develop this wonderful trading place into the 300 year old charming historical place it deserves to be.

We are very thankful to our beloved Ema and Ebens who have kindly agreed to help in nurturing and maintaining these beautiful flowers, thus fulfilling one of our main aims of encouraging local community participation and working towards a common shared aim to make this blooming Manipur project successful

We believed shared activities such as daily watering and pruning would bring our Ema/Ebens even more together. It would also be an opportunity for our volunteers and members of EMA to interact and understand our Ema/Eben’s indomitable spirit.

Just like what Britain in bloom has done for the British public, we believe these beautiful flowers and the hopefully positive impact they will make will help in improving the appearance and therefore transmit positive vibes in the immediate vicinity allowing a connection to the lost natural environment.

We believe the beautiful displays have truly given life and colour to this part of the street of Ema keithel and we hope visitors would have the same vastly increased sense of pride felt by us.

We at EMA hope blooming Manipur will help the people to re-evaluate their relationship with the city and realise that through small efforts, it is actually possible to exert some very favorable control over the shape of our neighbourhood.

We would like to share a report on Britain in bloom prepared by the Royal British horticulture society to the chairperson of Manipur planning commission, commissioner of MAHUD and respected Journalist of Manipur and request to consider the feasibility of such a campaign in Manipur.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Community-gardening/pdf/Britain-in-Bloom-Impact-Report

James Vaiphei - fixing the flower pot frame on the pillar

We would like to encourage our local traders, business premises and others with premises in the town to consider providing hanging baskets, window boxes and planters etc and encourage local residents to work together to brighten up their area through gardening and other environmental improvements.

We would to request our civil society and concerned governmental bodies to work towards bringing communities together to create stunning streets filled with seasonal plants and flowers and change the landscape of our streets forever.

Regards,
Tiken Laishram
Information Secretary, EMA
London, United Kingdom