December 23, 2019 Journey to the center of the Loktak- Dipen Thakkar My thesis began in the winters of 2019. With an underlying desire to travel the seven sisters, I skilfully chose the topic that allowed me to travel to such an exotic and underexplored region. Loktak lake is the heart of Manipur, a town far east, not just geographically but is also one of the core elements that makes up the culture and traditions of Manipur. The state of Manipur, in the east end of India shares international borders with Myanmar and is an amalgamation of hill districts and valley settlements Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India and is famous for the phumdis (heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil and organic matter at various stages of decomposition) floating over it. The largest of all the phumdis covers an area of 40 km2 (15 sq. mi) and is situated on the south eastern shore of the lake. Located on this phumdi, Keibul Lamjao National Park is the only floating national park in the world. LOK = Stream + TAK =The End Thus, LOKTAK is called as A place were all streams come to an end. The journey started with some basic research from travel videos and blogs. Soon I was flying over the phumdis of Loktak. The only way to reach this green paradise is a flight to Imphal from Guwahati since there is no rail connectivity to the state. To my relief, I was told that the condition of CAA protests and other political tensions had been under control since the past week. Well, the task was to reach Moirang village before the sunset as advised by the locals to ensure safely. Like most eastern states, the days here started around 5:30am and ended around the same time in the evening with the sun turning red and the sky a darker mix of pink, purple and blue. Manipur is among those unfortunate states that have faced the adversities of the Naxals and the low lying tension could still be felt among the locals. So I quickly took refuge in the closest hotel. After gathering some preliminary information about the lake in the remaining sun time I decided to call it a day. In contrast with the other wars forming the Insurgency in Northeast India, Manipuri rebels are characterised by a low level of defections and a well organised intelligence network. The rebels have also avoided targeting local police personnel, thus aiming to secure popular support. Since the days were shorter, I had limited effective work hours. My next day began at dawn around 5am, with an agenda of finding a proper accommodation in the village Ithing for the night. Heading towards the lake, the villages Ithing, Thanga 1, 2 and Karang were my destinations. They were essentially islands floating on the lake. An hour into the walk, to my delight I met with a diligent pump operator on his way to the pump room. Simon was a local of a village 10 km from Moirang. His family lived in the village while he was given a quarters behind the pump station by the government. His job was to regulate the water filtration pump built on the hilltop that provided for drinking water in the region. The indigenous language is Manipuri and very few can speak Hindi or English. The language barrier was broken by the help of Simon’s sister who could converse in broken English. The generous family invited me to spend the night with them on the outskirts of Moirang. The house was a typical north eastern construction with bamboo and thatch roof. Being a vegetarian, I was given the liberty of preparing my own meal as they prepared for a nice fish curry and rice dinner. After a comfortable night at Simon’s I headed out early on his bike to explore the group of islands leading up to the lake. Thanga is essentially an island and is divided into Thanga 1 and 2 by a hill range. The temperatures dropped down to 0 degrees at night and went up to roughly 12 degrees in the day time, but the dew made the weather quite pleasant. A 2 hour drive around the islands made me familiar with the area and I could sense the hustle bustle of morning chores. Google guided me to the first ever homestay of Manipur, ‘Maipakchao homestay’ run by a man of around 50. Mr. Maipakchao is the president of the tourism department of Loktak lake and is responsible for the recent awareness created regarding tourism and hospitality as a profession in these towns. On return, I thanked Simon for his bike and started on with my luggage to my new home for the night. Maipakchao homestay was a humble but authentic scene that created a lasting impression in my mind. His lovely wife, although couldn’t communicate well was very welcoming in her traditional attire called Phanek. Twenty-eight-year-old Leiyawon Awungshi Rumthao has come a long way from stitching bags for herself to applying to showcase her collection at the next Lakme Fashion Week. Leiyawon, who belongs to the Ukhrul district in Manipur, started making dresses for herself back home when she quite young. Mirroring her family and friends, she too took an interest in styling and fashion, and stitching her own clothes. "My mother used to make garments, and she was quite encouraging towards me. When I was in class 6, I took apart an old bag of hers and came up with a new piece all together," she says. https://www.indiatoday.in/lifestyle/fashion/story/young-designers-northeast-india-leiyawonawungshi-rumthao-tamie-may-payal-oshan-goswami-lifest-1101316-2017-12-06 Like all traditional homes, this home had a special place for the women of the house, adjacent to the courtyard, who ran the looms and produced handicrafts in cottage industries. In the culture of Manipur, women have always remained an equal half of the man. The markets here are majorly run by women and are called ‘ima markets’ (mother’s market). Imphal has the biggest imma market in Manipur. The backyard was a small kitchen garden looking out to the lake. That evening over a cup of special green tea produced locally, I grabbed the opportunity to converse about the culture and people of Manipur with Mr. Maipakchao and a few other guests, party of 4 from Kolkata. He told me that having a place in imma markets were a possession, inherited by daughters from their mothers. Traditionally, the men go fishing all day while the women weave cloths, produce bamboo handicrafts, process and dry they fish for sale in the imam market. With a sense of loss he told me about how the younger generation was moving out of the villages in search of better incomes and lifestyle and the older generation remained in the islands. Fellow travelers staying from Kolkata gave me a detailed account of their trip they had finished around making it easier for me to plan my journey ahead. The following day, Mr. Maipakchao introduced me to the chief executive officer of Loktak development authority, Mr. Sibade was as it turned out my most important resource person. He took me around the remote parts of the islands where the phumadi had grown excessively and had blocked the waterway to Karang Island. His team was working on removing this encroachment. Phumdis:-Floating weed mats, heterogeneous mass of soil, vegetation and matter. Phumdis are used by the local people for constructing huts, for fishing and other livelihood uses. The villagers create artificial circular enclosures out of phumids for fish farming. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/05/floating-phumdis-of-loktak-lake-india.html After an informative session with Mr. Sibade, wandering in search of food I reached a floating restaurant constructed on a phumdi. It was around 330 and the sky was clear, it was impossible to click a bad picture of this secluded hut. They could arrange for a simple vegetarian daal and rice for me. With an aim to walk around the village for mere exploration, I started out on a loop towards the homestay. My wanderings met me with yet another man of around 35, who quit his job in the town to carry on with the ancestral practice of fishing and weaving. After the small detour to the hill top Shiva temple with him, i reached the homestay around 5. By then, new travelers had just checked in and I was looking forward to a little chit chat with them also. These new group of people belonged to an elite family of Manipur, a couple of professors at Manipur state university with their young sons, were here for a vacation. Their stories spoke about the nostalgic reminiscence of Manipur since the couple was born and brought up in here. The music of Manipur uses vernacular instruments made out of bamboo and has now been regenerated in the modern schools and instruments of music. This music as I was told is inspired from Korean music and the quality of music production and videography based on the stories of the locals exceeded my expectations. The musical accompaniment for Manipuri dance comes from a percussion instrument called the Pung (a barrel drum), a singer, small kartals (cymbals), sembong, harmonium, a stringed instrument called the pena and wind instrument such as a flute. New trends in the state are rock bands making some great music. https://www.reverbnation.com/rockmusicmanipur1/songs That evening went ahead with a hiking trip to another hilltop with the men. The breathtaking sunset was our reward of our quite simple 15mins trek. Back home, a bowl of rice and curry was the winding up of the day. Next morning I reached Moirang by 8 and visited some religious destinations along with Simon. The religious background of majority demographics was Hinduism. A trip to the handicrafts museum named “LOKTAK FOLKLORE MUSEUM” was technically a crash course on the culture and localities of the state. From hookahs made of bamboo to shading Hats to traditional instruments of leather and bamboo. Evening was about the farthest hilltop of Thanga, and the highest point of the lake that is 847m above the sea level. This was a military surveillance base camp that is now made accessible to tourists. The hill gave a 360 view of the entire expanse of the lake. 30th Dec, was sadly my last evening in the heart of Loktak. After a quick evening tea with Mr. Maipakchao and his family, I left for Imphal’s youth hostel that evening itself. The youth hostel was my last night in Imphal, Manipur and the year 2019, where I celebrated my new years with a football team from the neighboring state of Meghalaya. We wished each other a Happy New with a Hot coffee and cake. 1st Jan, the next day was my flight back to Ahmedabad. And the trip ended with the terrific experiences that will be the memory of my first solo trip to the center of Loktak.
