The Statehood in 1972 saw Manipur
divided into five districts, simply called CENTRAL, WEST, EAST, NORTH and SOUTH
Districts. The Central District comprised of the whole of the Imphal Valley
and Jiribam Sub-Division, which in the 1980s was further divided into the three
valley districts of Imphal , Bishenupur and Thoubal.
The East, West, North and South Districts later became the hill districts
of Ukhrul, Tamenglong, Senapati and Churachandpur, respectively. A fifth hill
district, Chandel, was carved out from the erstwhile East and South Districts.
These five are home to twenty-nine (29) recognised Scheduled Tribes of Manipur.
Among the hill districts, the fastest growing district headquaters and hill-town
is that of Churachandpur. It is truly an island of peace, tranquility, prosperity
and progress. Here all the communities of Manipur, nay the whole of India,
live happily in small but noticeable sizes amongst the more populous tribal
folk belonging to Chin, Kuki, Mizo, Naga and Zomi ethnic groups - a mosaic
of tribes, well laid out and glowing with life.
Enthralling it is to see Assamis, Bengalis, Biharis, Keralites, Malayalis,
Marwaris, Nepalis, Punjabis and Tamilians rubbing shoulders, inter-marrying
and bargaining in the markets in one of the local tribal dialects ! Churachandpur,
which the locals call "Lamka" - meaning 'roads meeting at a mouth'
- possesses an air of fledging cosmopolitanism and can appropriately be dubbed
'The Cosmopolitan Hill Town of Manipur.'
Churachandpur / Lamka was and is a mini-India : living, thriving yet trying
to find its feet. It is colourful, dynamic and vibrant; a well laid out mosaic,
bright and attractive; a beautifully woven and patterned fabric of a God-fearing
society. Even the two ethnic clashes that rocked Manipur - the Kuki-Naga(1992)
and Kuki-Zomi(1997) - turned out to be but aberrations. True these clashes tore
at the long and painstakingly-woven fabric of tribal co-existence. But with
changing times and advent of the new millennium, and the rips in the fabric
is being mended in the able and loving hands of weaver-craftsfolk, the tribal
themselves who have learnt through pain.
This, notwithstanding the fact that, in Churachandpur, there are about 15 of
the 29 different tribes and about ten other communities from the rest of India,
each with their different dialects and languages. Go to a town committee meeting,
observe a students' union meeting, participate in a condolence meeting, and
so on, and the amazing thing is that every individual will speak in one's turn
in one's own dialect ! The lingua franca is each one's own dialect ! With no
one complaining, we all get by. This is the beauty of the place. Where else
can we have such harmony ? Where else can we have equal importance, and respect,
given to others not of your own community ?
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