My maiden sojourn of enchanting North-east
- Part 2 -

Kajal Chatterjee *

Dances from North East India at Manipur Sangai Festival on November 24 2016 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

The speciality of Kohima was perhaps the supreme dominance of the youth brigade. In my 45 years of existence till date and travel across almost all corners of India and few neighbouring nations as well, I am yet to experience any city which is as youthful as Kohima. While many young men were seen to be playing football in an open stadium with utmost enthusiasm, others were zooming on bikes with their partners and enjoying themselves in series of cafes and restaurants along the street playing Western music. Indeed Kohima had an unique charm and speciality of its own!

However another unique experience was waiting to happen! Before fall of dusk, we returned to our Hotel for a bit of rest. We had planned to go out for dinner at about 8 PM as our Hotel had lodging facility only. As we stepped out of the hotel, a strange silence and desolateness awaited us. Though we were near the heart of the city itself with the main bus terminus close by, yet the street was absolutely lifeless!

Not a single person walking by, not a single shop or restaurant open! Does the city retire so early? Where would we have dinner? As we were passing through dimly-lit pavements, two trucks full of armed security personnel passed by. Suddenly the hard reality of grievance, guns and call of homeland and its resistance dawned upon us! We got a bit apprehensive of the environment and immediately returned to our Hotel without exploring more.

Few pieces of bread and biscuits, which we were carrying, were utilised to have a working "dinner"! After all it was the matter of one and only night in Kohima as we would be in Imphal the following noon! How could we envisage that destiny was perhaps laughing as it had other ideas for us!

Woke up in the Sunday morning. My father left for the bus stand to purchase tickets for Imphal, only to return a bit dejected after coming to know that no bus would be plying towards the Manipur capital for being a holiday! Again another novel experience! That means we would be stranded in Kohima itself for another 24 hours! No antipathy towards Kohima; but we are bound by constraints of time, reservations and tickets.

We were scheduled to fly for Kolkata from Imphal on Tuesday evening. So our Imphal tour was planned from Sunday noon to Tuesday noon (maximum 48 hours). If the full Sunday gets spent in Kohima again, we can't allot more than 24 hours for Imphal and surrounding areas! No option but to resign to our fate! So we spent the whole day by revising the Kohima streets and churches and returned to our Hotel before dusk, of course after purchasing necessary food items so that we don't have to almost starve as in previous night!

Next morning we confidently headed to the bus terminus to avail an Imphal-bound bus as early as possible so as to make up the lost time a bit. But after waiting a couple of hours, we got hold of tickets for Imphal and at last the bus started indeed! As soon as we crossed over the Nagaland-Manipur border to reach a sleepy hamlet named Mao, our bus came to an abrupt stop. It was learnt that a mechanical defect has cropped up. So we will have to disembark as the bus will return to Kohima and again come back after necessary repairs!

Hours continue to pass by, yet no sign of the bus's return! Meanwhile I have criss-crossed the habitation countless number of times to kill time! However, Mao was no doubt beautiful! Surrounded by lofty ranges on all sides, it housed few eateries and a post office perched high on a hill top. We took a bird's eye view of Mao and the scenic surroundings from there. Not only had we taken our lunch there, my father bought few post cards also and started writing letters to his relatives revolving our tour and Durga Puja greetings! At last the bus reached from Kohima and onward journey started.

But one thing is sure, again a whole day has got lost as we can't reach Imphal before evening! That means we can spare only the morning to noon hours for our Manipur tour next day as our flight is scheduled at evening! Now let's enjoy the path to Imphal! Through the dense green cover of Senapati district and negotiating rains and slippery narrow roads, our bus came down from the hills to the valley and reached Imphal as the sun was setting.

I can't remember the location of the Hotel, but probably it was Thangal Bazar. Now I desire to narrate an amusing feeling. Right from our entry in Manipur at Mao, what struck me is the similarity between Bengali and Manipuri scripts. The script was similar in Assam also.

But I fully understood the words written over there as differences between Bengali and Assamese languages are negligible. But in Manipur, I could easily read what is written in banners, advertisements or hoardings thanks to the familiar script; but couldn't decipher its meaning a bit as Bengali and Manipuri languages are absolutely alien to each other! What a Himalayan contrast despite absolute similarities!

Since we were short on time next morning, my father planned for the Moirang trip only. There was a constant drizzle in Imphal that day. But by braving the rains, we boarded a bus for Moirang. And what to speak of Imphal city, it is reign of the fairer sex all around! Women are running markets. The streets are invaded by bikes, majority of them being young girls or women!

What I had witnessed in Imphal 1989 do not get reflected in "glamorous" "developed" overhyped Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi or Hyderabad of even today as well; the roads of which are still overwhelmingly dominated by men! No wonder Manipur was the land of Mahabharat's brave princess Chitrangada (daughter of a Manipuri king and married to Arjuna) and now get recognised by lion-hearted 'Iron Lady' Irom Sharmila, the undying spirit of Thangjam Manorama, Mary Kom, Kunjarani Devi and Sarita Devi! Hats off to my indomitable Manipuri sisters!

Over to Moirang where we reached by relishing the lush green Manipuri countryside with hillocks here and there. And at last the holy place of Moirang where Colonel Shaukat Malik of the INA, along with fellow Manipuris like Mairembam Koireng Singh and other warriors, won the battle against British forces and unfurled the Indian tricolour on 14th April of 1944. After going through the war-time relics and pictures in the well-maintained INA Memorial Complex, it was time to pay respect to Netaji whose awe-inspiring life-size statue stood high on the entrance.

Now we have to rush towards Imphal, pack our luggage and leave for the airport. Waiting at the small but cute airport with a heavy heart as we could not explore Manipur satisfactorily. We could not take glimpse of the world's unique Loktak Lake with its floating phumdis. But even after the scheduled time of departure, no announcement of the whereabouts of our aircraft! After a long wait, came a declaration that due to adverse weather, our Kolkata-bound flight has been cancelled and it has been scheduled to depart next morning!

Oh what a matter of delight, we will stay in Imphal tonight! The very next thing I realised that still it would not serve our tourism purpose as dusk has already set in and it is not possible to explore Keibul Lamjao National Park at this hour to get awestruck by the Sangai deer! The airlines management arranged our overnight stay in a high-end Hotel. I was wondering about the ironical situation as far as our tour of Manipur was concerned.

Sunday we got stranded at Kohima for absolute paralysis of transportation on a holiday! The whole of Monday got spent in the journey towards Imphal only due to the delay following mechanical snag in the bus! After a short stint at Moirang in Tuesday morning, we rushed for the airport on afternoon! But destiny saw to it that we had to stay that night in Imphal only, but without any fruitful result!

As the flight ascended from Imphal next morning, I took a last glimpse of the city and the adjoining rural areas below. Next we were flying over Bangladesh, Padma River and green paddy cultivations. The scenes were out of this world no doubt, but I was a bit depressed for our missed opportunities in Manipur. As we landed at Kolkata, I took a vow to make a long trip to Manipur again so as to explore it to my full satisfaction. Meanwhile I had visited North-East again after 22 years, but it was limited to Assam and Meghalaya only. 5 years later ie in October 2016, we went to meet the fifth sister ie Arunachal Pradesh.

Though my dream revisit to Manipur is yet to bear fruit, but I am sure destiny will certainly take me there in this lifetime only and this journey would be turned to reality through my sheer will-power only. Will it be Manipur along with Tripura and Mizoram!

In the mean time, I will continue to relish the fragrance of Manipur through the pages of one and only SANGAI EXPRESS. Let this esteemed daily be my link or invisible chord with Manipur. Ending my "epic" (actually my humble tribute to the enchanting North-East) by wishing a very Happy and prosperous New Year 2017 to all of my dear brothers and sisters of the seven jewels of India, Manipur.

(Concluded)