MEMOIRS OF MARALAND

MEMOIRS OF MARALAND

Its been two years to be precise when my boss told me that my job location would be Siaha aka Maraland. One look at map speaks it all. Its at remote corner of Mizoram. I laughed to myself. From south India to extreme south of North east India (Maraland) , that’s a helluva journey.  Many wondered how long would I last in such far off land esp with my background of being hopelessly choosy and pampered.

But two years down the lane, I can say with sure confidence that this is the best place I ve been and best moments stacked into two years of my life time. Every day, every moment was nothing short of jaw dropping awesome. I just enjoyed every experience that Maraland has to offer.

FIRST SIGHT OF MIZORAM: LENGPUI AIRPORT

As I looked at my transfer order . I foolishly thought it will never come and good times in Maraland will go forever. But here it is , in my hands. I hardly hoarded any personal belongings except lots of books and memories. I decide to write down my PERSONAL experiences (nothing official about it J) n dedicate it to all  my friends of maraland who made my life absolutely beautiful . The following blog will not be linear , is not any political anthropological economical historical educative narrative. It will be just my amateur observations on myriad topics which caught my attention. This blog is just a gossip from outsider point of view.

Like I said this blog is no linear narrative. I will crisscross across time and space from my mental memory touching the few out of millions of topics that touched me.

Dedicated to my close chums and colleagues ..n several nameless people who has touched me,who kept me day dreaming in dead of nights.

Abhinav,akhil,benji,jerry(n his cute daughter Hilma),Gracey (gentle ssoul and awesome singer),mary, Mc D (Fantastic family), atlua (Smile that reaches his eyes), vijay(NE Expert),mango (Cutest),Andy (JFK of Mizoram),Lodu (My strongest connection), NaughtyNaku,Ngolee(no way related to bruce-lee;)), lovelyFlo n many govt officials whose name I cant take for obvious reasons. There are tons of other names I didnt include for some reason or the other, be it strategic reasons or memory lapse at the time of blogging. I seek their apologies.

Maraland is land of tribe called Maras. They are spread across India and Myanmar. In Mizoram , maraland is quite distinct in culture language,dress habits etc I believe mostly this unique distinct identity is attributed to kolodyne river which cuts off maraland from main Mizoram..Unique feature of mizoram is concept of Tlawmngaihna . Well I cant pronounce it but it cant be literally translated into English. It can be said as code of ethics which knit the society. Its like dharma of tribe which puts welfare of society above others

What did I do in Mizoram?

In brief I can say I made great life long friendships, enjoyed wonderful experiences. I befriended almost everyone in my town. Everyone , from Important to Insignificant. From chai walla to Churches to Cops. bureaucrats to Burmese to  beautiful females to battle hardened army wallas to autorickshaw wallas. Some of friendships will endure forever. Some relationships will be surreal memory for all time to come. I climbed tallest mountain of Mizoram(Blue mountain), swam in rushing streams in valleys, trekked in dense jungles, learnt many skills, read tons of books, enjoyed local culture, lived life to the peak.

Terrain: 

CALL OF MYSTICAL MOUNTAIN

Mizoram is blessed with tons of virgin forests and all major cities and towns are on top of hills. I used to wonder why cities are built on top of hills when its common for civilizations to form around rivers streams in valleys. I guess in ancient days tribes built dwelling on top of hills for strategic reasons. Before advent of Christianity, inter tribe wars were rampant. Probably its easier to keep an eye on coming enemies from top of hills.

Tata SUMOS: 

Tata Sumos are most popular four wheeler vehicles in state of Mizoram , others being Mahindra Bolero and its variants SUVs. Sumos are lifelines of Mizoram just like in delhi its Metro railway. They connect all remote corners of Mizoram. There was time I used to think that Tatas must have kept Mizoram in mind when designing Sumo suvs. Sumos not just ferry passengers to all ends , but also goods and services. They act as super fast post men collecting packages and depositing to waiting recipient. Also I saw them collecting money from rural business men to give it to main wholeseller in bigger towns. If only we know the language , travel in sumo would be great experience. Drivers are dollops of gossip and their driving skills in negotiating the circuitous roads are worth the experience.

CAPITAL AIZAWL

CHURCH: 

Mizoram and Nagaland are Christian states : meaning all natives are Christian. Another most common thing we would get to see in Mizoram are churches. There is a church in each and every locality. We can say there are more churches than schools in Mizoram. Church dominates every mizo life, no wonder mizos r devoted. Churches keep buzzing with activity all day viz Sunday attendance, tithing, youth clubs, choirs, youth groups almost daily..

BLUE MOUNT SUMMIT: HIGHEST MOUNT OF MIZORAM

Women: North east women are most beautiful in India. And Mizoram houses awesome women. Women in Mizoram are not only hyper beautiful but they are also very hardworking compared to men. One peculiar sight I witnessed was most of shops are manned by women. You seldom find a guy there. Beunknownst to men of Mizoram, several local ladies confessed to me that their men are utterly lazy, good only for hunting and boozing around. Despite of all, Mizoram culture like any place else is Male dominated. I observed, often my lady friends hesitate to have booze with me in presence of mizo man. The reason they say is that women are made to believe that they all should be in good books of men.

IF NOT FOR MY PALS, LIFE WUD NEVER BE THE SAME

Inner Line Permit(ILP): For any outsider to enter Mizoram, they need ILP. Some colonial vestige but very contentious issue. Some people hate such system and some love to have it. For people coming from mainland , taking a visa-like-ILP in their own country to enter a state is like insult. Personally I don’t care as I don’t need it. But in my opinion such a small population (mere 10-11 lakh), its natural for natives to fear losing identity and inundation by outsiders either culturally or economically .

However how effective ILP is enforced , that’s matter of debate. Quite often NGOs use excuse of ILP for extortion of money. Despite of having ILP system, illegal migration of tons of Bangladeshis and Burmese into Mizoram is witnessed.

Cuisine :

Yes , Mizos like any other north eastern are heavily

Non-vegetarian. Yes they eat dog apart from pork beef etc. But no big deal! I remember an incident from my college days. A gentlemen asked my mizo pal, how can they eat dog when its mans best friend? To which he replied, you don’t say you love hen or goat when u slaughter it nor we do when it comes to dog. To my experience mizos don’t slaughter pet dogs.

I believe food and culture is decided by geography. Geography decides and dictates  colour, body , food,dress habits etc. Mizoram is hilly state and naturally agriculture was not viable option and ancient people had to depend more on meat for sustenance .

Mizos generally have heavy breakfast and slight snack for lunch and heavy dinner by 6 pm. I am of opinion (Which maybe wrong) that this habit are vestige from tribal days where they involve in heavy working in forests and walking in hilly terrain at crack of dawn only to return in evening. Food timings depending on natural light hence early breakfast and dinner.

The food which acted as energy muscle booster in past ,now appears to reason for diseases. Mizos now don’t do such labour though eating style is same. They chew kuwa(Betel nut/tamul), tobacco water, zarda , smoke all heavily and hopelessly addicted . No wonder diabetes and cancer is plaguing Mizoram unfortunately. Other problem is drug abuse. But for some farming/village communities opium is cultural. It acts as relaxant after hard day labour( This is true for most hill tribes of NE and Myanmar)

Communal harmony: Mizo people are highly endogamous. Rarely marry out of their tribe. (Guess their gene vitality must be coming down). Entire village remains highly united. Every one is related to everyone (almost). Once one high rank bureaucrat commented on my saving habit : Praveen, I really admire you mainlanders saving habit. We mizos never save. Iam trying to inculcate that habit among my staff but they refuse to comply. I replied : Sir, we save coz our future is insecure and we fear tomorrow . we fear no one will take care of us in time of need. Money is our security. Mizos never need to fear this. In any calamity , entire society will stand by and help each other. You folks dont have selfishness and cunningness of mainland and that’s really worth emulation by us. You people live for today, celebrate today and enjoy your lives ..but we save for tomorrow which never comes.

Racism : Yes , Racism exists. Discrimination exists. Just like North East folk are subject to snide remark and few cases of assault in places like delhi Mumbai etc, even mainlanders (Non mizo)are often subject to some harassment. But my experience in north east made me more mature. Now I strongly believe that Humans always finds a reason to discriminate. Be it colour or tribe or nationality or sex or whatever, Humans discriminate. Its also amongst themselves. Like Main mizo tribe(lushai) consider themselves superior to Lai and Mara tribes and viceversa.

Once my mara friend remarked that mizos are cheap and spendthrifts And main mizo friend say Maras are thieves and unpatriotic. Most of mizos say mainlanders are rogues etc. but again its perspective. Like one intelligent lovely looking Nurse I met telling to her friend who threw choicest racist slurs at me: “People are good and bad, its not their colour or region that decides. Some have good hormones n some bad””

Wow impressive. !!

Epilogue : I wrote this blog long ago but failed to upload due to million of reasons. Now sitting in mainland sometimes listening to mizo music or seeing through old pictures, Mind tend to get nostalgic ( which is never my strong point).

When I was studying in Hyderabad I used to have many mizo friends ,to whom I used to tell that I wanna visit Mizoram. Ten years down the lane when I visited Mizoram, surprisingly I met 06(Anthony nohro,VT,Momo,Phosa..Never knew they were maras when I was in hyd with them) of them at most unlikely places. Wow , Life took complete circle.

I , ME, MYSELF..!!

I wonder if I will ever visit these mystical mountains again which I have special bond. I guess next time if I come again , what all transformation will this place experience. Maybe more connection with mainland I hope and better facilities et al. Wonder when destiny will call me back to these Zo-Land(Land of Mountains )

Hopefully !!