Manipur Trip

From the sky, Imphal seemed to sprawl out on a vast plain surrounded by mountains all around. Another feature that caught my attention while viewing Imphal from above was the long, straight and seemingly endless state highway that ran through the city and out of it towards the distant hills. The approach to Imphal is over mountains with ghat roads winding up the slopes. These mountains have to be crossed to reach any other state or city like Gauhati in Assam or Kohima/Dimapur in Nagaland. Thus Manipur is naturally secluded from the rest of India.

The weather is cool during the day and extremely cold at night. The sun sets very early in Imphal. After Arunachal Pradesh, this is arguably the most Eastern latitude in the Indian sub-continent. Thus technically Indian Standard Time may not work here. Imphal would be easily an hour and a half ahead of IST. So when it is 5:30 PM by my watch it is absolutely dark with the full moon shining bright here in Imphal. It seems more like 7:00 PM! Bangladesh which is West of Imphal is one and a half hours ahead of IST! But Manipur follows IST as it is part of India! Go figure!

The men are dressed in western style. But most women wear a wrap aroud garment called Fanek which is similar to the Kerala Mundu or Sarong. The Lungi-type garment is wrapped around the hip and tied together by a knot. Girls wear plain Faneks with zari or color borders. These are just lengths of cloth that are simply wound around. Married women and brides wear striped Faneks with elaborate knit work borders. These Faneks have their edges stitched together up to the middle with a slit thereafter. A swaeter or pull-over is worn above the Fanek and a dupatta or pallu is draped over it. The logic of this costume is obvious considering the cold climatic conditions. This dress allows women to wear comfortable warm sweaters while still maintain the traditional hindu dress.

I must mention that Manipuri women are fair and quite attractive. I did not see much obesity even among senior matrons, possibly because of their active lifestyle. The sino-mongoloid features of the Manipuris is due to the fact that the Maitheyi group claim to be descended from Thailand out of a set of Thais who migrated here via Burma.

The entire place is desolated after 7:00 PM. This is partly due to the weather and partly duew to the ever-present threat of insurgents. In fact every problem in Manipur is traced to insurgency and consequent disruption of normal life. The BSF soldiers standing silently at every street corner reminded me of my visit to Srinagar in September 09. The whole place resembles Nazi occupied France in WW II.

There is no supply in Imphal almost throughout the day. For example, there are areas where power is on for two hours in the morning and four hours in the evening on alternate days!

But amidst all this fear and uncertainty the local Manipuris are a carefree insouciant lot who go about their life with energy and verve.

The men are engaged in the national pursuit of idling and sunning themselves in street corners and in front of the houses. The women work constantly and are the mainstay of this community. So much so that the Thangal Bazaar and Paowna Bazaar (so named after local freedom fighters are actually called Ima Bazaar or Mother Market acknowledging the important position that women hold in Manipuri society. I bought a nice Naga shawl and Faneks for my wife and daughter in the Thangal Bazaar.

Manipur, a beautiful state set in a verdant valley in the midst of mountains should attract more international and domestic tourists. But this is not happening at all inspite of the extraordinary amount of money being pumped into the state by the Indian Government.