Spring Festival, Dimapur

DIMAPUR, THE GREAT LAND ON THE BANK OF A RIVER.


My flight schedules between Imphal Tulihal Airport and Dimapur Airport were rudely interrupted by a delay of few hours. I was told that it was to be expected in one of the worst sectors of Indian Aviation destinations. Notwithstanding the ill maintained state of both the Airports, I was rather mystified by the degree of stoic silence and indifference shown by leaders of both the States of Manipur and Nagaland.
My visit to Dimapur had a purpose this time. I was to attend the Spring Festival organized by the North East Zone Cultural Centre. It was a tempting invitation I could not resist, merely by virtue of the event itself, the invitee and the chance of a home-stay experience that was more worthwhile than travelling great distance.
I was struck by the beauty of the Stage decoration which was an art in itself, designed by a naga sculptor in an inimitable naga style. The performance by artists from different parts of India, accompanied by live folk musicians made an excellent array of cultural synthesis that one rarely sees in India.
The book stalls were limited and so were the book lovers. The dwindling number of booklovers across the world could perhaps be attributed for the shortfall in the sale and quality of the book stalls itself. However, it was an expected call and nothing could be done to assuage this limitation. One could only hope optimistically for a pragmatic compromise between paperback and digital technology in future.
For those who relish native delicacies, it was also a venue to try their taste buds. Beside the more popular momos and chinese cuisines, Rice wine (mystically written as Zoutho!), smoked pork, akhuni, anishi (?), etc. were available on the few food stalls put up for the food lovers.
I realized that my chance visit to the forgotten land on the bank of River Dhansiri, presently known as Dimapur, was once inhabited by the Kacharis around A.D. 10. They built forts and left their heritage of monoliths in the heart of the city, and now, preserved in a dilapidated state with a fence. The monoliths, which came in different designs, shapes, and sizes were also the silent spectators to the phenomenon of continuity and change of history of this place.
Dimapur, the city resembled any of the growing small cities of India with evidences of few open drains, narrow roads with potholes, few affluent homes, impressive malls, busy shopping centres, etc. Only the grandeur of the omnipresent Churches visible in most places could be the testimony to the monolithic role they play in Naga society and politics - perhaps much akin to the once flourishing monoliths of the Kacharis once upon a time.

10 days Vacation at Karnataka & Kerala

Saturday, the 4th Dec. 2010: Our Vacation started with a direct flight from Tulihal Airport, Imphal to Bengalaru Airport, Bangalore. We landed a few minutes ahead of schedule and B'lore airport turned out to be really brand new one (only 3 years old), very impressive and built like any other international airport. I could see how much development had taken place since the last time I was here in the year 2000. A middle aged malayali driver came to pick us up in a brand new Xylo and he spoke good english. Originally from Kochi but working at Bangalore, he drove slowly towards the city. We discussed our plans for the next day trip to Mysore on our way to the hotel. He wasn't very confident with the driving, or perhaps, he was just too apprehensive of his new car!
The hotel was named Dew drop, close to Majestic Rd, just opposite "Mantrin Mall," supposedly the biggest mall in B'nglore. It was a new one and quite comfortable. After leaving Ima, aunt and cousin sis, I took Somorjit to Brigade Rd., with the intention of taking him to a pub/bar and then, a nostalgic meal at my favourite restaurant, Hotel Imperial. I had forgotten the name but I knew the place and so, I found it with ease once the Auto dropped us near the St. Patrick Church, my old landmark. I felt a pang of nostalgia as we got into the joint, Guzzler, as others were too crowded... The music was still good after all these years. I had my favourite kerala paratha and kababs at hotel imperial to end the day.
5th Dec: After a hearty complimentary breakfast, we moved on to Mysore for sightseeing at about 8.30 a.m. We crossed Ramnagar, famous for its role in the film Sholay, Mandya, the sugar town, toy town and silk town... It was a beautiful drive with few stopover to buy toys and souvenirs. It took us about 3 hours to reach our destination. We drove across the town, seeing the governor's residence, to Mysore Palace and then, to Brindavan Garden. Our driver, Gokul was well versed with the history and the place. There were two parts of the palace, one owned by the Govt. and the other, under the royalty's care. I made use of my Guide book to the max to learn about the palace and what a palace! It was huge and filled with treasures, paintings and antiques.
On our return journey after an uninspiring view of Brindavan Garden, I called up Kheda and we made plans for him to pick me up from Forum Mall for a night stay at his place. I wanted to see Forum mall and buy a pair of chappals for my beach wear. The place was crowded and after a hectic window shopping, I did buy one and drove with Kheda, behind his Kinetic honda. He took me to his and Surchand's joint, named Misty, the sweet chain. It was fun, meeting old friends again. There was a very convenient beverage shop next to theirs and we bought vodka for the night. Balan came and picked us up and winded at Kheda's place. Met Ritu and her bro. too. It was fun. We slept at about 2 a.m.!

6th Dec:My friend dropped me at the hotel in his Aveo, on his way to the office. We were flying to Kochi after our complimentary breakfast. It was a one hour flight from B'lore to Kochi and the temperature was 31 C. Hot! For a winter standard but normal for Southeners. Another Malayali from Kochi, Veeju met us at the Airport in a new Xylo. He spoke Hindi but understood english too. He would drive us across Kerala but he wasn't too bright either. If you ask him about the places to visit, he would say, 'yaha kuch bi nahin hain!' most of the time and because I forgot to read my Guide book, we missed two important places at Kochi - The Dutch Palace and the Synagogue at Old Fort town, because it was already closed. But we enjoyed the beach, the fishing sights and the first church built by the Portuguese. For dinner, we tried Kerala dishes at our hotel's roof restaurant at the Ernakulam commercial area. The beer was good!

7th Dec: The next destination was Thekaddy (Perriyar), where they grow coffee, tea and famous for spice. It was a hill station up in the mountains and our drive was one of the best, because we crossed such beautiful villages and small towns filled with colorful and well maintained villas amidst a vast greenery, a waterfall and a view point, in the jungle which resembled Arunachal Pradesh or anywhere in the north east. We were promised a great deal at this place and our hotel, named Abad, was one of the most beautiful ones. I went for their Ayurvedic Full body massage as soon as we reached and it cost me Rs. 1100/- for an hour. We missed the Wildlife sanctuary by a few seconds and we decided to see it the next day. We went to see their martial arts performance of Karla and then, shopping for spice and tea, coffee etc. Early the next morning at about 6 am, we drove to the Perriyar Tiger Reserve and we waited a long line for our much anticipated safari. Turned out our anticipation was not worth it because we didn't see any tigers, but saw wild buffaloes, a deer, some exotic birds and wild boars. My mouth was watering of course... the boat ride in the morning was an exceptional one though.

8th Dec: After the safari, we moved on for the next destination to Kumarakom, another bird sanctuary. It was only about 3 hours drive and not a good drive, rather disappointed with Thekaddy. We were wrong! Kumarakom hotel was brand new, only a month old and named, Royal Riviera for a reason. It was marvelous. They had their own cruise that we rented for our group of five only. The boating turned out to be the best in our Trip. Kumarakom Backwaters was a bit off tourist map and not too many boats. Our boatride was such an exhilarating one that we were all ecstatic at our experience. The weather was magic as it had rained in the morning and we experienced the best cruise ever and witnessed the sunset in one of the most beautiful backwaters of Kerala. A place not to be missed!

9th Dec. We drove further into south, to Alleppey, also described as the Venice of India. It was the most famous backwaters of Kerala. Our hotel was a disappointment, named Arcadia Regency. We took a smaller boat along with our driver and it was a long and expensive boat ride across the Alleppey backwaters. We tried fresh grilled fish at a stopover with coconut milk. We came back just around 6 pm, as we were meant to, as all the boats must return by 6 pm because the fishermen of Travancore starts netting their chinese fish nets by that time. It was a rule that everyone must follow. The traffic in the backwaters was really busy and we saw a great number of boathouses. At night, Somorjit and I tried one of their Halal dhabas and had a wonderful meal.

10th, 11th Dec: Another long journey of 4 hours to Kovalam and we decided to take the city road and miss the by-pass in order to see the city of Thiruvananthapuram or Trivandrum, the State Capital. We crossed the famous towns of Kollam or Quillon, Kottayam, etc. It was a beautiful drive and we decided that Kerala was indeed the cleanest state by far, after witnessing their villages and towns which were kept neat and clean. Other Indians ought to learn from them and the only disappointment were the tourists, who have left their indelible mark of environmental disregard with empty mineral water bottles and junk food plastics in the backwaters. Shame on Indians and the antipathy of the tourists who remains indiferent to environmental protection or preservation!

Our Hotel Samudra, supposedly one of the oldest amongst the premier hotels of Kovallam had its own private beach, a swimming pool and a view to die for. I loved swimming in the aftermath of our dip in the ocean and in the morning after a long walk, during my photo shoot. We all loved it and relished the fact that our trip was coming to its cool end. Kovallam, famous for its beaches and one does not need to wonder why. The Keela beach, next to ours was open to public and the hawa beach, the light house beach was filled with foreign tourist, hotels and sea food restaurants. The beach was one of the best joints I have visited in India. We loved it as much as we loved trying out sea food delicacies of tuna fish, sear fish, king fish, snapper, tiger prawns, mutton, paneer, kerala rice, beef, butter naan, kerala paranthas,etc, etc... It was funny about the newspaper covered beer bottles which was supposedly banned huh! What a spoilsport rule for such a cool place... Anyways, rules are made to be broken, right? Who can resist a chilled beer of kingfisher premium in such an ambience. I couldn't...

It drizzled a bit early in the morning of 11th as we headed for the Southern most tip of India, Kanyakumari. Our hired vehicle needed to take a permit as we entered Tamil lands and it was a long drive of about 3 hours. Kanyakumari was another experience and I found that the confluence of the three oceans of Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Seas was distinctly visible by the color of the Sea, which had three different colors, Amazing! The short boatride to the Vivekananda Rock, and its twin rock, statue of saint Veeruvalur was achieved after standing in a long line of pilgrims. I became friends with a White lone Canadian Traveller from Vancouver, who told me of his amazing stay in India for 6 months. He had travelled from North to South after flying out to Andaman and Thailand for a short while. Awesome!

12th Dec: We got up late at the Kovallam beach hotel and headed for Trivandrum Airport. We bade farewell to our patient driver, Veeju or Vaijju. We were flying to Kolkata via Mumbai. I did some shopping at Mumbai Airport. It was fun. A night stay at Kolkata Manipur Bhavan where we finally faced the bitter fact - Our Bhavan must be the worst bhavan in India! A dirty, smelly room supposedly given to officers was our fate for the night before heading for home the next day via Agartala.

13th Dec, 2010: Reached Home safe and sound with no current, no water, no fuel and no gas. The story of comfort level in Manipur, the bejewelled land of the damned!

An Immigrants Tale.

So, my friend, your predictions did come true. My plane from Delhi to Brussels had many Punjabees even though the seat next to me remained empty. I could only thank God that there were no crying babies and no harassed mothers sitting next to me!
Then, at the Brussels airport, I almost lost my watch at the security check-in where they literally abused our bodies, removed our shoes and checked our wallets, I was lucky enough to get it back from one of their offices after I went back searching for it. I thought somebody had snitched it, having suffered the agony of more than 8 hours journey, 3 hours wait at the Delhi airport and scepticism borne of being brought up in India. I really sweated it out there because it was my late father's watch I was wearing!
My journey from Brussels to Toronto took another 9 hours or so but it was memorable. I had a 79 year old half Belgian, half Canadian White villager sitting next to me and he simply entertained me throughout with some interesting quotes and stories about his countries. Again, I thanked God that it was not some old senile lady but a fairly wise old man who enlightened me with old wisdom!
As soon as we landed in Pearson International Airport after an agonizing few moments of turbulence and memories of the ill fated Air India Flight flying from Canada, as we flew over a vast lake Ontario, I was glad to be on ground. It was announced that the airport was voted as the best one in the world by some authority. I was amazed to see very few planes and a deserted looking airport. It gave me a sense of deja vu. It reminded me of a thought I had when I went to Chandigarh for my IELTS test. I had imagined Canada to resemble the empty and impersonal streets and buildings of Chandigarh and my nightmares were finally confirmed. It really looked empty, spaced out and impersonal as hell. I knew my clocks were ticking for my return journey.
My new experiences continued as I passed through a sterile protocol of security and custom check by smartly dressed police personals, mostly women of different origins and men who dressed like soldiers in some PC games. I began to feel like an immigrant and was treated as one. However, I had joined a fraternity of immigrant insecurities with one of my back seat passengers, a young chap who was also suffering the same agony as I, a first time immigrant and a first time travelling to West from Faridabad. We became friends and held on to each other like lifeline with a sense of Indian brotherhood, made stronger only when we are out of our own country.
Fortunately, my friend did turn up and drove me away from the massive airport and I remained seated in her Honda, with a sense of uninspiring awe and apprehension, because I did not see a single soul walking on the roads, even after we left the Highway. From that moment till now, I have seen, eaten and mixed only with Chinese and Asian people and I have seen, perhaps only 10/15 white people here in Canada. What a turn off!
So, you can expect me back soon enough and you will not miss me much even though, I have decided to complete my paperwork and join a three day tour as a tourist before heading back to my crowded, dirty, poor but very real India. Jai Hind!
Anand.

How an officer celebrate Indian Republic Day in Imphal?

Today is 25th January, 2009. It is 10.40 p.m. and just few hours away from India remembering its Republic Day. Few hours from now on, another day will dawn as one of the most auspicious day for every Indian. 26th January, 2009 will be celebrated as the Republic Day of India like every year. Or is it so for every Indian?
The big question is, " Who is every Indian?" or rather Who is a true Indian? Behind the glorious facade of India and its magnificience, its unity in diversity is being questioned in the remote areas of North East and also in the Northern tip.
For a district government officer, it acquires a whole new perspective. Every year on this day, the whole of North East insurgents declare a public bandh. As a result, for lesser souls who are not provided safety and security, the only alternative is to stay the 25th January night in the office. All the arrangements are made by each individual for their own comfort. They bring their warm clothes and other necessities to spend the night so that they are able to attend the State Function, failing which they are warned of dire consequences through various types of government orders. The celebration is another case! No civilians attend except the officials and the security people in almost all the places. The irony of the situation is such that just the day before the Republic Day, Imphal becomes like a fortress, with barricades and police frisking in almost every corner of the city. This is how we celebrate our Republic Day of India in Imphal, Manipur.