Scenic Serou, a praise worthy village

Sahil Jain *

It was my first visit to Serou, a village in Thoubal district inhabited by the Meities, the Nepalese and the Bengalis.

It is about 70 km away from Imphal. All around the village are beautiful hills that belong to Chandel and Churachandpur districts. The village is just like an island surrounded by Chakpi river and Imphal river.

It is really Mauritius of Manipur.

Almost all the villagers are farmers who grow mainly rice and other seasonal fruits and vegetables. They are the people having the nature like simple living and high thinking. They eat very simple, fresh and healthy food.

Their staple food is rice with dal and sabji. They are not in the habit of eating junk foods like dosa, pizza, noodles etc.

I haven't seen a single villager having hump like belly. They seem to be physically fit. But they have sunburnt skin which is quite common among the people who work hard in the field in the scorching sun. But they are contented with their condition and with what they have. They rear animals like cow, goat, sheep, hen, duck etc to support their needs.

Here, the people are really very hard working. They work hard in their fields and send their wards either to Imphal or outside the State for their further studies. There is a Government high school and a private high school. Almost all the children of the village and surrounding villages make their foundation from these schools.

The schools have well qualified teachers and the students are very competitive and can face every challenge of life. Every family has educated children who work and earn just like the children of a well-to-do family. The Government has also plan to establish a big residential school at the present area of the Serou Practical High School.

There is no problem for drinking water as every household has hand pump which can draw underground water whenever they need. People all over the State are talking about drought like situation in the State.

But in Serou, the paddy fields and other crops are so good that farmers can expect good harvest. Just like Egypt, the gift of Nile, Serou is also the gift of Chakpi river. The water from the Chakpi river is diverted to the fields by constructing wooden dam. The canals around the village are filled with water and the villagers are busy in catching fish. There is greenery everywhere.

My visit was during Durga Puja festival. People were busy celebrating the festival. I haven't seen a place in Manipur where Durga Puja is celebrated like that of Serou.

Here, in this small village there are five temples of Durga where Durga Puja is celebrated. People from Sugnu, Wangpokpi, Tangjeng, Wangoo, Khorsanthabi, Imphal and other surrounding villages visit the place during Durga Puja. The village really looks like a town of West Bengal during this festival.

There is peace at every nook and corner of the village. All the three communities live like brethrens of same communities and celebrate every festival together. Members of every community can speak and understand the languages of the three communities.

But one thing is quite deplorable. I felt quite unhappy to see a single boat which is provided for the villagers to cross the speedy Chakpi river. Our bus dropped us at 3:00 pm on the river bank.

But it took almost 4 hours for us to cross the river because thousands of people were already waiting for their turn to cross the river. There was a system of first come first serve. The boat can carry maximum 20 persons at a time and it took almost half an hour for the boat man to drop a trip and the boat fare was Rs 20 for each person.

But I haven't seen a single villager unhappy at such situation. I think it becomes their everyday's routine. The Government is planning to construct a bridge over the river and the construction work has already started. When the bridge is completed, it will become the longest bridge of the State and the village will further develop into a modern village.

Let it be anything, one more I would like to say that Serou is a very beautiful, scenic and praise worthy village.

Every citizen of Manipur should visit the village once in their life so that they can have a glimpse of beauty and simplicity of the village—Wangbren Lainingthou, Meeting place of Chakpi and Imphal rivers, the Durga temples etc.

My visit was really filled with full of adventures.

I have seen and faced many things which are first time in my life. In my next visit, I have a plan to visit Sajik Tampak, an adventurous place via Serou and Chakpikarong.

My visit to Serou is still incomplete because I could not visit Wangbren Lainingthou due to rain fed rivers. The stones of different shapes and sizes could not be seen due to high rise river water.

I would like to draw the attention of the Government to make Serou a tourist spot so that both the Government and the citizens could be benefited.