Tamu, window to Myanmar

S Balakrishnan *

'Kang Chingba' Festival at Moreh and Tamu (India-Myanmar Border town) :: July 06, 2015 :: Pix - Sagolsem Sanjoy Singh

The cultural linkage between Manipur and Myanmar was quite visible by the mythical dragons guarding the portal of the Buddhist Pagoda in Tamu, akin to the Kangla-sha statues found in Kangla Fort in Imphal.

The small town of Tamu just across Moreh in Manipur is a window to Myanmar (Burma), that helps a quick peek and back to India. As the front wheels of our Innova touched the yellow-painted half portion of the steel bridge across Chindwin (Ningthee) river, we felt exalted. Visiting a foreign country is indeed a dream-come-true for a middle-class family, especially without passport and visa hustles. Once you cross the bridge into Myanmar, the hurdle of 'Keep Right' traffic rule for vehicles is implemented., which indeed is a tough going for 'Keep Left' Indians.

The town is a neatly arranged habitation in the north-west Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is the administrative seat for Tamu Township. In contrast, the clumsy & dusty Moreh town sits across in Manipur on the Indian side. With a free flow of goods from China and Thailand across Myanmar border, Tamu's fame is because of the Indo-Myanmar cross-border trade & traffic.

But actual shopping in Tamu was discouraged by our guide Krishna because of language barrier and tough bargaining. However, exchange rate is very much in India's favour – 100 Indian Rupees = 1200 Myanmar Kyats! Depending on your bargaining and vocabulary power, you can even succeed in getting more, we were told. Only if Krishna had allowed us to shop …!

ASEAN Highway 1 (AH -1) passes through these border towns across to other South-East Asian countries like Vietnam, Thailand, and further on. It is a big dream of interlinking various countries. By 2018, Indian Railway also proposes to connect this Moreh point with the rest of the Indian railway network; this target date, however, is taken with a pinch of salt only because of various deadlocks and slow progress.

As a result of the Look East / Act East Policy of India, old bond between the people of Myanmar on one side and Manipur and Assam on the Indian side has been revitalized. The socio-cultural bond of many centuries has been revived. From Imphal, Manipur's capital, Moreh is 106 kms. (4-hour drive) and Tamu is just another 5 kms. across.

While driving this distance, there is a 31 kilometre up-hill drive between Pallen and Tengnoupal peak; this sector, once dreaded for fear of extortion, is now free, thanks to the strict vigil by the security forces, we were told.

In Tamu, a traditionally-designed Buddhist Pagoda was our only agenda, as shopping had been banned by Krishna. Maybe Krishna had some ulterior motive … to save time and join the Yaoshang celebrations in his Aribam Leikai. The Buddhist Paogda complex has a tower with spiraling steps.

Upon climbing the 40-foot-high tower with loss of breath, one gets a breath-taking view of Tamu town. A bhumi-sparisa Lord in shiny gold paint sits atop the tower, as if overseeing the town and watching its people. The bird's eye view of the town gives an impression of a planned town. The tin-roofed structures on either side of the neatly laid roads are in different hues of colour – turquoise blue & green, gleaming new white, and rusted brown and red.

Climbing down, we circumambulate a golden-coloured stupa with images all around its outer wall. In all, there are seven images of Lord Buddha, each for a day of the week. Close-by is a 50-ft. standing image of the Lord in blessing posture with the free left hand almost touching His knee. As we proceed to the Pagoda, there is a coiled snake with a Buddha sitting atop and the hood of the snake providing cool shade to Him. You see, the heat was really oppressive on the day of our visit.

The pagoda is guarded by a pair of mythical dragons on either side of the entrance. We were struck by the similarity to the what-is-called the kangla-sha in Manipur. This proves the centuries-old bond between Myanmar and India. Inside the pagoda, there are again seven images around the circumambulatory path, one for each day. The idols are in different postures and with different attire & decoration.

Buddhist devotees, especially girls and women, are seen with sandal paste on their face; in circular fashion on forehead and cheeks, and tilak-like from nose upwards, similar to Manipuri Vaishnavites.

More than a mere religious symbol, this seems to be for protection from the tropical heat. And so, only the fair sex was using it and not the men! There are quarters for the Buddhist Bhikus (monks), but we did not want to disturb their Dharma practice and avoided even going nearby, leaving them in peace.

As we were returning unable to bear the heat, we noticed a golden stupa on the way by the side of the bazaar. The peculiarity was a tall post with a serpent winding around it, while statues of four men with palms held together in praying posture were seen at its base, one for each direction. Discouraged from buying in Myanmar market, we just half-heartedly passed by a few shops selling Buddhist icons and other handicraft items.

We had a darshan of Aung San Suu Kyi in a rare poster in that town. Even before I could confirm and decide to take a snap, our vehicle had swiftly passed by it. I could not help wondering what would have been the scene back home in Tamil Nadu for such a hero – the whole city would be awash with posters & banners! But just only one in Tamu!

Through the other gate near the Moreh market, we just walked across into Myanmar's Namphalong through a friendship gate; we strolled for 100 mtrs. through a street-side market selling fruits and vegetables unique to that region. But no cameras, please, only mobile cameras – what a funny restriction!. With only a basic mobile, I was deprived of the pleasure of taking snaps there; instead, I had to direct my daughter to take this and that with her mobile camera, but it is all copy righted by her!

From the shady grove of the pagoda complex we picked up a few mangoes, tiny ones that had fallen off the tree. They were fresh, crispy and tasted good, reminding us of the 'vadu mankai' pickle we prepare in Tamil Nadu with such small, whole mangoes. They were perfect for that pickle, we appreciated. The hot summer was apt for their growth, it seemed.

Whereas Buddha asked us to give up desire, we were thinking and desiring of mango pickle right in His Pagoda. What a shame!

We realized that a 'mankai' even across our border would taste as good or even better. By the by, the root word for mango is the Tamil word 'mankai'. Therefore, being Tamils, I suppose we can be forgiven for having such a 'tasty' indulgence of thought in the sacred ambience of the Buddhist Pagoda!

After all, it was not as great a sin as Eve plucking and tasting the apple in the Eden, no? Mind you, we did not pluck them; they were just lying on the ground, tempting us to pick them up. And we could not simply resist the temptation. After all, we are mortals, not destined to be immortal like the Buddha; thinking so, we dug our teeth deep into the crispy little 'mankai'.