In my rediscovery of the inner gem of the Sadar Baptist Association (SBA) with its head office located within the compound of the Manipur Baptist Convention (MBC), Imphal, the long march it took to reach the present stage of development is marvellous and boundless.

The fresh air of progress the association has attained is now much more encouraging than I had at first discovered it thirty years ago, realizing that it is more than a Christian religious body, but is also definitely an integrating forum of communities of varied backgrounds in Sadar Hills.

Yet, it cannot be taken as a flattening process of assimilation of communities but equality accompanied by cultural diversity in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance.

Those communities, say Phurups in Meiteilon are Kukis, Tangkhuls, Liangmais, Rongmeis, Koirengs and Kharams mixing together in the homely association without hatreds, prejudices and ill-wills as the flowers mingle together to form a blaze of colours in a sprawling garden. It is possible due to good leadership. And the only valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead spontaneously and vigorously.

Every community is well-pleased in the decorum of the association which is a role model of Christian movement in the whole of Manipur. Unfortunately, the Vaipheis in their first organized effort left the association en masse to float their own in 1981, to be followed later by the Thangals (Koiraos) in 1984. Even a Meitei Baptist Church was in it which is now extinct.

Even without the supports of these break away groups, the association is still vigorous enough, expanding rapidly and rising once again with the affiliation of more churches to it. It is for a meaningful and effective cultural and emotional integration of communities in Sadar Hills.

The objective is fulfilled, and what is felt is now rewarding. It is the positive outcome of Christian endeavour from the SBA’s side. This sectoral achievement will help bring peace, love and understanding in Manipur.

Attending the Golden Jubilee of the Women’s Union of the SBA on January 20, 2008 at the Makhan foothill of a beautiful landscape of Koubru range, a wanderlust that I am, I have my own way to tell about it.

The union is said to have been founded by late Mrs.Akim Angnal in 1958. On my arrival at the venue of the celebration, several women teams of different tribes, all in their respective colourful traditional attires got ready to take part in the song competition. The song is selectively called “Israel Dedication”.

Every woman participant tried hard to overcome the strange situation and took great care to be as confident as she should look to be a fresh-looking-face -- singing in seductive baritone before a huge gathering in the hall.

The spectacular scene was not without the participation of new entrants in the competition for the first time. It was all for a great amusement to share the moment with everyone to watch the performances of the new faces who were not acquainted with alto or soprano.

Naturally, they mattered little in such a stiff competition. To quote Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, “There are many wonders in the universe, but the greater wonder is music”. In my childhood, I was unable to solve the riddle as to how music was the greater wonder of all things. His words are of urgent relevance to the present musical upsurge in Manipur.

In my case, I am quite ignorant of alto, tenor, bass and soprano which are essential for a group song competition. When I looked up for these words in my dictionary, I found that alto is a singing voice with a lower range than that of a soprano, the singing voice with the highest range for a woman or boy, tenor is a man’s singing voice with a range just below the lowest women’s voice and bass is a man’s singing voice with a low range, and so on.

The jubilee venue, Makhan Liangmai village having more than a hundred house-holds, boasts of a magnificent church building with an impressive guest house. Now, Manipur has tens of hundreds of such a glittering church to teach moral lessons to the youngsters to keep away from violence.

The village, situated to the west of Kanglatongbi on national highway 39, is only two Kms away from it. It is about 500 feets up from the plains.

According to Mr. Ngamang Malangmei, ex-district councillor, “A fierce fight took place between the Manipuri king and Makhan villagers in 1656 AD. The forces led by the king were defeated. The Burmese too attacked the village around 1826-27 AD. The attack was repulsed. Once, the village had 1000 houses, but was reduced to only seven houses in 1890 AD as per Touzi book.”

Perhaps, till 1940s, the precious Kanglatongbi valley was a no man’s land. Or it was woodland filled with bushes all around. How the Liangmais, and the Thadous who are mainly Haokips, Kipgens and Sithlou Lhouvums, did not occupy it for a comfortable valley life with a good climate and a big serpentine river that provides water to the paddy fields is all strange.

Beyond the single fact of this great “miss” to preserve historical accuracy of saying no man’s land and also keeping in mind that an essay for a weighty purpose should not hurt or blame others, I don’t have any bias against a particular community which is progressing in economies and lifestyles by dint of sheer hard-work.

Today, Kanglatongbi is fast growing into an enterprising domestic market, and no street market in Manipur is as lengthy and advantageous as it is. It is nearly a half of the length of Imphal city of the fuming traders and vendors. It will not be too long to wait for it to turn to a town, then an urban sprawl of the hard-working Nepali community.

Even a telephone exchange has been made operational only from there for many years, being the strategic location of both the foothills and the valley. With a mini cinema hall, a plywood factory, a petrol pump and a gas bottling plant constructed on the south and a Seminary set up on the south-western fringe of Kanglatongbi, it is going to be the most coveted commercial hub in Sadar Hills west in a few years.

Besides, it has five high schools, competing with one another nip and tuck to produce good students. While the government high school is placing stress on Hindi, the other four are emphasizing on English to gain a certain level of competence in it.

To be continued ...