As expressed by villagers, various products found in Tipaimukh like cane, bamboo, chillies etc were used to export up to Silchar after bringing the products in the place. For this, boat with motor engines is being used for the transaction. It is also learnt from them that at certain point of time many people from other areas shifted to Tipaimukh village knowing that the place has become a business centric zone. However, it could not be ascertained that from when the process of evacuation had taken place.
Now, I started realising the underlying meaning of “Sanaleibak”, titled conferred to our motherland. I mean it must have given the name considering the entire existing enchanting place filled with its natural essence and flavours. I guess, there will be many beautiful places yet to be discovered still lying under the beneath of our motherland.
Also, I have seen country’s gigantic rivers like Ganga, Yamuna and Brahmaputra. It seems that ours own Nambul, Imphal and Iril rivers stands short in front of all those big rivers. But nothing is stopping me in feeling proud after seeing the river which passed through the Tipaimukh village.
Enthralled by the beauty of it, I captured some sizzling shots after walking down on the bank of the river. As I also wanted to capture pictures of myself, I requested to one of my colleagues Mungyamba of ISTV to help in doing so. There, he happily accepted my request and take some shots of me. Just after reaching the river, dam activists were seen distributing pamphlet, sticking poster and giving awareness to villagers on why the public hearing was held. As the time for the meet arrive which was scheduled at 10 am, I also headed for the place which happened to be situated on top of a hill and attended the public hearing. Unfortunately during the hearing media persons were not allowed to query and pass comments with the dam activists by the organisers. Regarding this, I had mentioned in my news story.
As the team decided to visit the place where the dam is supposed to be constructed by boat, all the members headed along the river bank again. At there, everyone was reeling under warm temperature due to high humidity. Then, while waiting for the boat suddenly shower of rain held everyone. Due to the sudden rain, everyone was running here and there trying to find places to cover itself from the rain. Afterwards, everyone rush into a boat which was stationed nearby the river as it was found covered by roof. There, I captured some photos while remaining in the boat. Truly, I could not believe that those candid photos which I had clicked will later turn out to be very captivating.
Later back in Imphal when I uploaded the photos through Orkut, a social networking site, I receive overwhelm response from one of my friends. I regarded those particular photos as the best pictures which I have ever collected so far. For this, I had taken it from a Sony low megapixel camera.
After raining for quite some time, the sky became all clear again. At this time everyone was having a chit-chat saying that the rain had showered unexpectedly. For me, it was a blessed one as I could capture some memorable clips.
As witnessed, those boats run with motor engines helps in connecting with the neighbouring State Assam through Tipaimukh. After returning from the village, some reporters were seen talking about going to Tipaimukh through boat where they went on to say that the boat journey from Silchar to Tipaimukh was like the one in “Anaconda” movie where it came across vast acres of water bodies. Their conversations on about the topic lighten me up and I am still longing for a boat journey from Silchar to Tipaimukh.
Amidst of all the euphoria, the rumour of coming back to Imphal from Tipaimukh by boat started going viral among the members of the team. At first, I believe in it but later found that it was just a joke made by one of the members. After a while when the boat arrived, the team started heading up to the dam construction site. There, after exploring and taking pictures, the team started packaging each items and clothes for the journey back home. For the journey, we came across Mizoram where we stayed for one night then reached Silchar and Jiribam and returned through New Cachar road.
My second trip to Tipaimukh was in April, 2010. On this journey, I along with other colleagues had a good time enjoying bath at Tipaimukh River. Interestingly, I also able to learnt some Hmar languages like “Bu fak ta?” (Had food?), “Idam mo?” (How are you doing?) and “Ka sangai che” (I love you). For this certain phrases to remember, I along with other reporters while having leisure time had learnt it hardly after putting much efforts. I am saying ‘hardly’ because majority people of Tipaimukh village do not know Manipuri language. They usually communicate each other through Hmar, Mizo and Hindi languages.
More Photos
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Concluded
Translated by Rakesh Lourembam @ Manipurtimes
