The Best Co-operator

RAJKUMAR IRABOT SINGH

 

 RK Irabot speaking at a function

The concept of co-operative is working together or helping each other for a common goal. This is the idea that got struck in the heart of Rajkumar Irabot Singh. He relentlessly fought for it and recognising his tireless efforts and contributions towards the movement, the state Co-operative Department with Manipur State Co-operative Union (MSCU) recently bestowed on him the prestigious ‘Best Co-operator Award’.

Born on December 13, 1912 at Ningthoukhong, eighty-three long years have since rolled on. The period has witnessed many ups and downs in his life. In 1938 he joined Nikhil Manipuri Hindu Mahasabha and thereafter joined the Congress party. The founder president of the Moirang Large Size Co-operative Society Ltd., Shri Irabot is related to other social works also like organization of schools/colleges etc. In 1963, he became a Member of Legislative Assembly.

In 1985 he became the vice-chairman of Planning and Development Authority (PDA). The year 1992 saw him as a council member of the prestigious National Co-operative Union of India (NCUI), New Delhi. In 1993 he was appointed the chairman of the Institute of Co-operative Management (ICM), Imphal. The ICM is one of the eighteen such institutions in the country under the tutelage of National Council for Co-operative Training (NCCT), New Delhi controlled by the NCUI of the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operation, Government of India.

He donated a piece of his own land for construction of a primary agricultural credit co-operative society (PACS). The Associated Progressive Gram Panchayat Level Multipurpose Co-operative Society Ltd., Ningthoukhong, is now thriving well on the said patta land. He has been closely connected with the PACS for the last several years in various capacities.

Bishnupur District Supply & Marketing Co-operative, Manipur State Co-operative Union, Manipur Apex Co-operative Marketing Society Ltd etc., are some prominent organizations with which this grand old man of co-operative movement is associated with. Besides them he became the chairman of C.I. College, Bishnupur and Mangolnganbi College, Ningthoukhong in 1971 and 1980 respectively.

In spite of his being an active social worker and   co-operator he has his share of critics also who do not miss a chance to pass scathing remarks on him. They used to label him sobriquets ranging from ‘co-operative baron’ to ‘drum major of a comic opera’ etc. But the simplicity and integrity of this man who literally begged to survive during a sojourn at Silchar in Assam is such that he swallowed the remarks without a pinch of salt. Clad in snow-white dhoti and kurta, this old man of the co-operative sea is not losing his sense of wits.

Konjengbam Kameshore

(Courtesy: North East Sun, New Delhi, February 15-29, 1996)

Chirus Celebrate the Cupid

LAMBAKA FESTIVAL

Lambaka festival at Waithou Chiru village

 photo by Angir Chiru

The state of Manipur is inhabited by many tribes who are broadly divided into two – the Naga and the Kuki. The Chiru tribal belong to the Naga fraternity and have a Mongolian type of countenance. Dolang, Waithou, Charoi Khulen, Bungte, Nungsai, Kangchup, Lamdangmei, Thangjing, Sadu and Ural are Chiru inhabited villages with a total population of about seven thousand only. It is believed that they are originally from Tamenglong district.

Like some of the Naga tribes, the Chirus have a recognized house called Sher where unmarried young men at night keep in ready weapons of attack and defence like licenced guns, spear, daos, and shields etc. Females are strictly prohibited to enter it. It is the hub of village polity and events ranging from festivals to group clashes are discussed and decided here first.

Lambaka – the festival of merry-making is held every year in the month of Wakching (December-January) in front of the Sher for three or four days consecutively. The village elders including the chief come to the Sher for morning obligation and discourse. Dance items and songs are frequently interrupted with liberal supplies of yu (rice beer) and pork cooked in ginger and chilli sauce.  Girls of marriageable age called Sangpi come to the Sher with head loads of yu brewed in their homes. Before the liquor is served it is customary on the part of the Sangpi to enact a dance by rounding the Sher three times. Boys of marriageable age, Reibak Derkai, dance opposite the Sangpi.

During the dance, a peculiar dholak made from hollowed tree trunk and skin of Serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) is used. Mouth organs consisting of gourds and small bamboo tubes and also horns of either a buffalo or a mithun (bos frontalis) are other musical instruments.

The Lambaka festival is an ideal occasion for the young boys and girls to meet. The elopement, Sungkung Moiloi, follows the festival. Mangkat (bride price) consisting of three bronze saucers, a strong and coarse cloth, Ponrobo, and rupees three hundred are inspected and agreed by the Tangba, the henchmen of the village chief, before the marriage is solemnized. After the formalities, the boy and girl are declared engaged.

The boy has first to stay for three years at the residence of the girl’s father helping him in his work. The system is called Leng lo and if anyone breaches it the punishment is either a big pig or a cow for community feast and the offender has to pay the bill. During this period of three years no physical intimacy is allowed.

Konjengbam Kameshore

(Courtesy: North East Sun, New Delhi, February 26-March 4, 1994)

The Cup That Cheers

 TAMENGLONG TEA

Tea plants growing wild 

at Tamenglong Khunjao

Tea is a popular beverage and everybody loves to drink it. Tea drinking in the cold afternoons became so good a tradition in England since 1744 that George Berkeley, the Irish bishop, declared it fit for consumption as “the cup that cheers, but not inebriates”.

Drinking tea regularly can replace the bad habit of Bacchus worshipping. Arup Kumar Dutta of Assam in his famed book “Cha Garam – the tea story” says that from an early period Chinese society had tried to use tea to fight the evils of alcoholism and the immoderate use of wine. He further says that though there is no etymological evidence to prove it, the word ‘teetotaller’ or a person who abstains himself from drinking alcoholic beverages is a phonetic derivation of ‘tea-total’ or a total drinker of tea.

When Sir James Johnstone, the British political agent in Manipur (1877-1886) once approached the king, Chandrakriti Maharaja, for permission to grow tea for his own consumption, the latter sent an official and told the agent, “The Maharaja will supply you with all the tea you want free of cost, but begs not to think of growing it”. The fear of being annexed had prompted the Maharaja to prevent the political agent from growing it.

Tamenglong district shares a common boundary line with Cachar district (Assam) where tea was introduced long time back. And it is natural that the plantation came from the neighbouring area. However, it is believed tea plants have been growing wild in the hills of Tamenglong since time immemorial. Unknown to the outside world, it has been an essential item for the tribals. 

Tea is so popular in the region that there is not a single village in the entire district where at least some plants are not grown. It is planted as boundary fencing of homestead land also. Tender leaves are plucked and dried either in the sun or in the fire according to the taste of the villagers. Then the dried tea leaves with stems are hand-crushed and packed for the morning market. They sold it at Rs. 35 a kg.

Another popular way of drinking it is to wash down the meals with liberal dose of it which neither has sugar nor milk in it. They prefer sipping it seated around a fire and visitors are welcomed over a cup of this tea that cheers the mood and is so mild and benign that it does not inebriate at all.

There is a likelihood of pesticide residue in the company marketed tea that will affect the health of consumers whereas the organically grown tea of Tamenglong is hundred percent chemical free and perfectly safe for drinking. Manipur Plantation Crops Corporation Ltd., established in 1981-82 as a government company under Company Act 1956 to promote tea and coffee plantation could not extend desired credit facilities to the poor tribal villagers. Big players like Brooke Bond, Lipton and Duncan Agro etc., may not like to extend their hands for plantation in the district though they may have different schemes in neighbouring Assam.

Anyway, when someone says about Tata Tea ( or for that matter any tea company) I would say my Tamenglong Tea because it is not only cheaper and tastier and free from possible chemical residue but also organically grown, clean, healthy and what not.

Konjengbam Kameshore 

(Courtesy: North East Sun, New Delhi, October 15-31, 1998)

Orchids Paradise

  

file photo of a dendrobium

Come April – the deep and dark jungles of Manipur are alive and vibrant with exotic and colourful orchids of different shapes and sizes, though other equally beautiful species also flower in autumn and winter. Grown in the wilderness of the emerald green forests, these exotic flowers are in a class by themselves and an irresistible temptation to orchidomaniacs.

It is estimated that more than five hundred species in about eighty genera are growing in the state. A beautiful and popular species of epiphyte genera called khongunmellei (dendrobium chrysotoxum) which is fragrant and golden yellow in colour flowers in February-April. It is customary for the Manipuris to offer this flower with prayer to the Sanamahi deity on the Manipuri New Year day called Sajibu Cheiraoba in April. Another distinct species, Samjirei (rhynchostylis retusa) is very much in demand for its cosmetic quality. A beautiful lady’s hair-style is said to be incomplete without this flower. Available in July-August only, it has pendulous cylindrical racemes and petals dotted with magenta.

Kwaklei (vanda coerulea), also known as blue vanda, is another beautiful and exotic flower that blooms in autumn. Its petals are pale blue with dark reticulating markings. Kwaklei Angangba (renanthera imschootiana), also called red vanda, is scarlet red in colour and long lasting. A rare species, its flowering time is May-July.

Khonguplei (paphiopedilum spicerianum), also called lady’s slipper, is a terrestrial genera and found mainly in the Tipaimukh area of Churachandpur district. Its petals are pale green stripped and spotted with purple, lip with brownish purple. The flowering season of khonguplei is during October-December. Cymbidium eburneum is another type of flower found in the region and it is one of the finest of the genus. Ivory white in colour, the species is found in Tamenglong area and the flowering time is February-March.

In the Siroi hills of Ukhrul, coelogyne corymbosa is grown. It has creamy white lips with two bright yellow eyes surrounded by brown margins. These exotic flowers have their season during June-July. Dendrobium arachnites is cinna-bar red in colour and is a rare species found in Chandel area and blooms in spring season.

The forests of Manipur are classified into six categories namely wet temperate, pine, wet hill, semi-evergreen, teak gurjan and bamboo brakes etc. Orchids which belong to monocotyledons group of plants thrive in these forests. The areas of Jiri-Barak, Ukhrul and jungles bordering Myanmar are specially known as being the home of these beautiful and exotic orchids of both epiphyte and terrestrial genera.

Konjengbam Kameshore

(Courtesy: North East Sun, July 1-7, 1995)