Thursday, May 12, 2016

Manipur - 2


Magical Manipur (Part II)
Krishna, our friend, philosopher & guide
                                                                                                . . . S. Balakrishnan
            Krishna was the first Manipuri we officially met after landing at the quaint little Tulihal International Airport in Imphal on 22nd March. Ultimately, he turned out to be like Lord Krishna to Partha (Arjun). Mr. Krishna Kanta Sharma, our guide during the six-day trip in Manipur; turned out to be our friend and philosopher as well.  Like Lord Krishna who helped Arjun to course through the confused battleground, this Krishna helped us to smoothly traverse through the unfamiliar Manipur.
            But throughout those six days we were drilling him with questions and questions - about the language, the social customs, traditions, culture, religion, functions & festivities, beliefs, food habit, and what not!  We even probed him of his personal life to know more about the Manipuri way of life. Maybe he felt a bit discomfort, but did not show it outwardly. He was a cool guy, tall & handsome.
            But Krishna's charming ways did not work with an Ima (mother) who was selling handicrafts near Govindajee Temple. His haggling power proved futile and we had to shell out whatever she demanded. Better Krishna improved his haggling skill; this would come handy post marriage.
            Maybe he had a hearty laugh about silly tourists like us who nagged him with questions, like investigating officials. We were unlike the routine tourists who visit like dumb & beautiful dolls, more interested in taking selfies than observing, and then packing off! It was because of our continued persistence that he also came to know of the olden day temple of Bishnupur built of small bricks, probably influenced by the Chinese style.  He must have become wiser now to avoid such tourists henceforth!
            Our visit to Kangla Fort was a testing ground for his limit of patience. For more than two hours he patiently took us around the fort complex, explaining the monuments and the pre-Hindu temple and the high reverence it holds among Manipuris. He seems to be a pious person, generously offering money at places of worship.
            Thanks to Krishna Kanta, our knowledge of Manipuri has improved; now we know the meaning of at least a dozen Manipuri words - achouba=big, pukhri=pond, macha=small, etc. I hope to write a handy Manipuri-English-Tamil dictionary for tourists!
            We would not have had darshan of Sangai, the mystic dancing deer, but for him. He had thoughtfully brought a pair of binoculars to the Floating National Park. He identified a few Sangai deers for us, almost a kilometer afar, crossing from one patch of overgrown grass to another patch.

            Krishna Kanta is 30, belying his looks. In fact, among us three we had a bet - me on one side and my wife & daughter on the other side. I said he must be only 25, he looks so boyish. But my wife & daughter said people in Manipur actually look younger than their actual age and so he must be minimum 30. They were right and I had to bear the cost of a Kanglasha (the State Emblem) model, costing Rs. 480/-
            They were again right in identifying his first younger brother who was taking part in the group dance at their Aribam leikai (locality). My wife initially thought that Krishna had taken the avatar of a dancer. Luckily this time I did not wage any bet, else I would have lost another 500 rupees. His second younger brother competed in another team. Krishna said he was not very comfortable in shaking his legs & hip.  To our great discomfort, Krishna made us sit on the dais during the cultural competition. Unused to such VIP treatment, I and my daughter sneaked out in the pretext of taking photographs. My wife was forced to enjoy her VIP status. She must have cursed herself for not listening to my advice (it is another thing that she never does) of taking to photography.

            Brahmins do not till the land, we learnt from him. Hence their land near Moirang is on annual lease, out of which they get enough rice for the whole year for the family of five. As the field is at a higher level, irrigating it was a problem, hence only one yield per year, he added.

            'What do Manipuris generally have for breakfast?', we were curious to know. So we probed him gently one morning if he had had his breakfast and what was the menu. Puri & subji is the staple menu for breakfast, he said. For noon, light snacks, and heavy dinner early in the night, he added. Mustard oil is used widely and also refined oil to a lesser extent.  We found it difficult to get curd in Manipur and so we asked him if curd was not a main item in the menu. We saw so many herds of cattle roaming the fields of Manipur plains, but his answer was a big NO.
            At least to cool down the digestive system after such a spicy cuisine, Manipuris ought to take curd or butter milk, its watered version. For South Indians, this forms a part of the main course. When we remarked that Manipuri cuisine was too spicy, to our horror he simply munched one green chilly after another along with boiled channa! But to our surprise, he does not take tea or coffee. What a good boy!
            It was from him we learnt the amazing fact of prohibition in Manipur.  Well, people do manage to get it from military & police canteens, he admitted, besides the local brew, the preparation of which he promised to show at Kakching (I suppose), but could not, due to Yaoshang (Holi) holidays.

            Though nowadays Manipuri youngsters prefer nucleus families, yet they live nearby and the subji prepared is shared among close relatives, adding variety to the menu, Krishna went on. We did not dare to ask him if he would set up his own nucleus family or continue to live in the joint family setup. That would be too impolite, no?

            He leads a Batman & Superman life - working in the night in the local language daily Sanaleibak and assisting his uncle, Shri R.K. Sharma, in running the affairs of  the travel & tour agency Seven Sisters Holidays, during day time. In fact, it was thanks to this agency that we came into contact with each other. Besides looking after accounts, he is an all-rounder there, it appeared.  As elsewhere, drivers played the cheating game while filling up petrol for vehicles and were not very punctual and reliable. Hence he availed leave from the daily newspaper and took up the challenging task of driving the Innova for us, which challenge he must have regretted later!

            Krishna explained the nuances of Naka Theng, the practice of collecting money on the roadside, mostly by girls of all ages and, rarely, by boys. The cool guy lost his temper when there were series of Naka Theng and shouted 'tha-kho' ('down' with the rope). Immediately after Holika dahan, girls would rush out for house to house collection, he pointed out.
            We were excited to know that Krishna Kanta has travelled widely in India, except J&K & Gujarat. Has touched Tamil Nadu, but not visited. Now that we have extended an invite to him, hope he will set his foot on TN soil also. Hence he has a fair knowledge of Hindi and English. Besides, he is a B.A. (Arts) graduate from a Shillong College.  As I am averse to road travel, I was shocked to know that it takes about 16 hours to traverse the 600 km. road distance between Imphal and Shillong! I would be dead by then, vomiting (throwing up) all the way. I was scared even to cover the 106 km. Imphal-Moreh distance and came from Chennai fully armed with Avomin tablets and ginger morappa.
            Our fear of extremism or terrorism in Manipur was unfounded, he assured.  We are Hindustanis (Indians) by heart, though screening of Hindi films continued to be banned, he laughed.  The incidents of terrorism or extremism (whatever one calls it) has drastically come down in the past few years, though differences between the hill-living Christian Nagas and the plain-living Hindu Manipuris in four districts continue to some extent, he explained.  Thus we learnt the geography of Manipur and the societal life also.
            As we returned from the dol jatra celebration at Lord Govindajee temple, he detailed the procedure for the bhajan teams - wherever from in Manipur, each and every bhajan team has to first visit this temple and perform Holi /dol jatra and only then they are allowed to perform bhajan at their respective village / locality.
            We are waiting for an invitation for Krishna Kanta's wedding scheduled in 2018. By then I hope my dream of travelling by train straight from Chennai to Imphal would also materialise. You see, I would be soon turning 60 years and can claim senior citizen concession in railways but not in airlines!   But the front-page news item in The Sangai Express on 29th gives a bleak picture of this project. 
            We did not leave even the dead in peace. 'Do you bury or cremate the dead?' was our rather   awkward question posed to Krishna. He must have squirmed in his seat and the dead must have squirmed in their resting places. "Cremate" was his curt reply. Not to be cowed down by such short replies, I shot my next awkward question about whether he would get fat dowry or he has to pay it to the girl. As elsewhere in India, it is the girl's side which provides furniture, kitchen items, jewels, etc., he said.  Then we can find a suitable girl for our son, we joked. Wedding expenses are sometimes shared by both the sides. Feasts are held in community halls, if the house is not big enough, he went on.
            We still have a few packets of the sweet and sour toffees stored in our fridge. He had bought them for him at the border town of Moreh but gave them to us as we liked the taste. We almost seized it from him. To our disappointment, we could not find it in Imphal shops.
            It was a great learning experience to travel with him, but how Krishna Kanta really felt, we do not know. As he dropped at the airport, he simply smiled and drove off. Probably he had had enough of us! Like Lord Krishna who played the role of Parthasarathy (Partha's charioteer), the modern-day Krishna Kanta drove us around in the Magical Manipur.  Thanks to his knowledgeable and friendly guidance, we learnt a slice of many interesting aspects of Manipur society.  May his tribe thrive! 
                                                                                   …. krishnanbala2004@yahoo.co.in



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