Even the clouds in the airspace above my homeland, Manipur, semed to be better than anywhere else in the world. As the Jet Airways flight slowly descended towards the Tulihal airport, seeing the Loktak Lake or the Singda Dam from the sky gave one a sense of nostalgia.

The clock turned back to those days, of New Year picnics and the merry making on these beautiful spots. Even the charming smile of the airhostess failed to distract one from admiring the beauty of ones own land.

"Welcome to Imphal," the announcement came. To a curious passenger like me it was really pleasing to hear "the outside temperature is 20 degrees celcius".

Winter in Manipur has always been fabulous. The warmth of the mild December sun seemed to be better than anywhere else, Europe or any other place I had the chance to travel. The winter afternoon breeze, "devoid of pollution", was refreshing when one thought about the air in metros. Afterall, home is home, everything there has a value and apparently better!

So what if one cannot find a road devoid of potholes in Imphal? The very experience of driving the Maruti Zen, as if one is participating in a cross country rally, negotiating the huge holes was fun. But one have to admit it was easier in those days riding a bicycle, be it while going for morning tutions or to school, to negotiate the potholes.

The stretch from Raj Bhavan to Khoyathong was the only exception, but not for the fifth gear driving, as the traffic volume on Imphal roads seemed to have multiplied n times. Karizmas, CBZs, Pulsars...Altos, Santros, Zens, one or two Getzs...boy oh boy who says our land is poor?

The famous BT Road has added a new dimension to itself--the cordoned off construction of the flyover , which apparently "have been shortened to meet the financial demands (read extortion if you like) of UGs". You drive through Paona Bazaar to go to BT Road, bang you hit the "tin wall", on the narrow pedestrian way on either site of which one can find all those Biharis and Assamese selling second hand clothes (remember Henry, as we used to call them?). Also the cheap electronics goods, from radios to toys to everything.

I haven't seen it in Imphal before. Progress, you see progress. Even the space in front of Imphal Talkies, which may soon become a world heritage site for the screening only adult English movies, have turned into a vegetable market. So much to buy from.

Thanks to the flyover construction, the Ema Keithel is about give her uniquness way to the new symbol of development, so is the Nupa keithel. See, we are progressing. A shopping trip there is an experience to remember till eternity, amongst all those Echeys, Echens, Ema-ebens from near and far, trying to find an elbow space was like trying to get a foothold at a Bryan Adams concert or trying to get into the Premadasa Stadium for the India-Sri Lanka Asia Cup Final.

"The population of Manipur seemed to have increased," I said to my elder sister, who was with me trying to find maru tonglaba yongchak. On hearing that, one Eney, who was also struggling like me to find a way to the Ngari yonfam, retorted, "It is because the LAMBI is narrow, not because the population has increased.

The way people are killed day in and out, there is no way the population can increase. Your Ibobi and Co don't walk on these LAMBI and they have no idea what common people like us have to go through." I smiled to her in agreement, but MY IBOBI? No way!

The innovations by the state government to make Manipuris more responsible citizens have to be admired! For instance, the government employees have to submit their no due certificate from electricity dept to get their salaries cleared. The process of which is something only the Manipuris can innovate.

You pay the bill, get the payment reciept, fill the No Due Certificate form, get a signature from the Assistant Engineer--who comes to office at 11 am and goes back by 2 pm and getting to meet him is like winning a jackpot--from the Lamphel DC office then take the form to the head office opposite RIIMS, get the final sign from the Executive Engineer. Then go to the office clerk and beg him or her to process the salary.

That's the ritual the government servants have to undergo every month to get their salaries. It is a different matter that considering the unemployment and how many people light their homes by just illegal connection, how many Manipuris have actually become "responsible citizens".

And to top it, the power goes off at night and comes only in the morning! On lucky days from 5 pm to 12 midnight. So the "Moreh Invertors" are a BIG HIT. I am sure I am telling the old facts!

Then the latest FAD in the Manipur is something, which would put even the Columbians at shame. Kidnapping for ransom. Students are kidnapped, PHED engineers are held hostage and the taps run dry for days due to employees strike. But hey the kidnappers have a reason for it and they clarify it through none other than ISTV, Manipur's own BBC. "Setting public order in place and driving corruption out of the society" are the reasons most of the times.

All the while, though families who have UG connections have built palatial buildings, that seems to be the general view. Thanks to ISTV the Manipuri social fabric is changing. News which have no fixed time limitations, sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes 45, tell has happened in the day. Rallies and concerts are telecast live on its two channels.

Manipur is really fast developing and changing!!! One thing that hasn't changed, however, is the taste of hangam kangsoi and yongchak singju. Nowhere else you can get it except in Manipur!