State food, Thai jewels crowd pullers
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, December 15 2009: Manipur food and Thai jewellery are apparently the main crowd pullers of the ongoing Manipur Tourism festival at Hapta Kangjebung.

The Chinzak or food stalls positioned just at the main entrance of the Manipur Tourism festival main venue witnessed crowds of both young and old jostling for traditional food items and light snacks - the crowd starting from midday and increasing as the evening grows.

While youngsters could be seen biting into chunks of fried pork and chicken, sampling boiled pork, fried kongreng and spicy beef salad, and washing them down with locally made juices, couples and middle-aged groups could be seen eating macaroni, noodles, bora and singju at the many stalls.

Crowds admiring thai jewelley

"It feels good able to drink a cup of tea and eat some snack after the tiring trip around the stalls here," said a middle-aged woman Leimanganbi from Wangkhei who had come with her office women friends after work to see the mela.

On the other hand, both young and old meanwhile jostled for breathing space and a view of exclusive range of jewellery, dried flowers, bags and other items at the stalls from Thailand.

"My items are selling well," reported 54-year old Jesdda Jirapantawee from Chiangmai, Thailand who is selling hand-made scented candles and clay jewellery at the mela at Hapta Kangjeibung.

"I like Manipur, the people here are very kind," he said, while stating that however his delicate disposition prefers less spicy food like chicken tandoori.

However, some of the Manipur handloom and handicrafts stalls are not so happy.

"I haven't sold anything today," says Anita from Thangmeiband who is selling traditional Meitei phanek, phi and other handloom items.

"Perhaps it is because there are so many stalls, we are thinking of asking of shifting our stall at a more favourable spot," she adds.

There are around 400 stalls at the ongoing festival.

However, a dampener to the Tourism Festival are the many strings of non-local packaged food items like Lays, Kurkuree, as well as many items of biscuits and drinks like Amul Cool decorating some of the food stalls claiming to sell local fast food.

Some of the local handloom and handicrafts stalls could be seen selling plastic toys, shawls, tops and salwars brought from Delhi or Kolkata, alongside their own wares.

Also, the labyrinthine maze-like manner in which the Thai stalls are located makes both entry and exits a hassle especially due to the huge crowd gathered in these stalls as well as the lack of multiple exits and entry points.

On the other hand, in reaction to the report published in the paper about the toilet facilities at the mela site, two new toilets have been newly constructed.

While the pits for the new toilets are covered with bamboo mats, one of the toilet pits is yet to be covered and another toilet which has been blocked up for the past few days is yet to be cleared.

On the plus side, there are now signs stating "Gents" and "Ladies" on the toilets.

A funny sight however was the pasting of the sign "Way to Toilet" on one of the toilets, though there were no other such signs at either the entrance points to the area where the toilets are located or any of the other toilets.