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The DayAfter
Launched with Rupees Five Hundred
Painting the Portal to Mizoram High Price of Environmental Pollution Power: The Infrastructure Muddle |
| Painting the Portal to Mizoram | |
by Avijit Chakraborty |
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I met Lalmanswama or Manswama, as he prefers to be called, in New Delhi. He had come for a week as the lone representative of Mizo artists who were part of the Art Panorama North East 2001 held in New Delhi. It takes more than two days, in a combination of train and bus, to reach Delhi from Aizwal. Regrettably, no painting of his sold. Out of the 44 works by 22 Mizo artists, six were sold. As soon as one entered the Mizo section one was into the nature of landscapes. Mainland Indians hardly every get to see even a photograph of Mizoram unless specially sought for. These paintings of villages, hills, valleys, lakes, waterfalls, bamboo groves, forests and even legendary figures, immediately transported one to Mizoram. One such painting is L. T. Zohranga’s Lianchhiari. Lianchhiari, the daughter of a chief, is sitting on a spectacular rocky ledge above the valley and looking at the village of her lover whom she is not allowed to marry because of his commoner status. This is a popular tale, dating back to pre-Christian days, among the Mizos. The Mizos include several clans like Lusei, Pawi, Lakher, Hmar, Ralte, etc. They speak about a dozen mutually intelligible dialects. Mizo ka ni, or ‘I am a Mizo’, they say in their language. About half of the Mizos stay in Myanmar (Burma) though. During the insurgency from 1966 till 1986 lots of Mizos fled across the border to Myanmar. Most are back now. The border is but arbitrary. The mountains and valleys and even the common language are same on either side. Many Mizo legends lead to places in the Burmese side of the border. There is a Mizo version of the Garden of Eden, a beautiful meadow surrounded by virgin forest 25 miles into Myanmar, where the soul goes after a person dies. To reach the place, one has to cross the river Tiang, which defines the border of present-day India and Myanmar, and proceed to Buammel at 9000 feet. Hullock Gibbons and partridges are aplenty on the way. This eastward journey of the soul bears testimony to the fact that back in history the Mizo people migrated from East Asia. The border is virtually open to the locals, and with a local friend as well as a little bit of goodwill from the Burmese Border Guards, any enthusiast can attempt a sneak preview to the Mizo parts of Burma. There is a fantastic lake, 5 miles into the Burmese side, where the fairy Changtiuliri resides. But even within the border there are equally enchanting places. Places like Tamdil Lake have already been put on the tourist map. Over the years, the road network has improved and jeeps will take one to places. Insurgency though has been replaced by a new kind of problem. Proximity to Burma, a major post of international drugs trafficking, has its flip side too. Heroin, known locally as number four, and pain-killing tablets are increasingly abused. The sharing of needles has also led to an AIDS problem. Previously, the insurgent groups would also act as social and moral guardians. Incidents like beating up people for even alcohol abuse were common. My discipline-hating friend Manswama was not averse to the idea of a little bit of social disciplining though. The Presbyterian church to which he, as well as most of the Mizos, belongs organises regular Gospel Campaigns where they try to eradicate various social evils. But the moral system, Manswama says, has to be supported by economic pillars too. Even though a stroll through the streets of Aizwal might give one what one journalist called ‘a deceptive look of richness’, the economy hasn’t been given a chance to prosper. There is virtually no industry and even 70 per cent of the local rice consumption has to be imported from other States. There is an enormous potential for small-scale hydroelectric power generation with lots of fast-flowing rivers and waterfalls. But then these were not visible in the paintings. The artists know that their clients want a little piece of Mizo magic in their drawing rooms. And going by the paintings it indeed looked like a land of magical enchantment. |
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Lalmanswama used to work for the
Ministry of Information in Aizwal, the capital of Mizoram. That was
after he dabbled in journalism. He is on the other side of 40 now and
ten years ago realised that he abhors discipline. He is an artist,
capturing the khams and tlangs, that is the hills and valleys of
Mizoram, in watercolour. Mizoram is a relative haven of peace nowadays
amidst the tension of its neighbour, Manipur. In 1986 a treaty was
signed between the Government of India and the Mizo National Front (MNF),
which agreed to Indian statehood instead of seceding from India.
Interestingly, the MNF started as an NGO, Mizo National Famine Front,
doing relief work in the wake of the devastating famine that blighted
Mizoram in the late Fifties.