Mesmerising Mizoram

Mesmerising Mizoram

Out of all my North East India tours, my trips to Mizoram are fresh in my memory. As I have already written in one of my earlier articles, Mizoram is considered Switzerland of India for its beauty, with Aizawl as its capital, situated in the middle of lot of very beautiful mountains on a good height, away from land. This State is the hanging portion of India on the right side with Burma and Bangladesh bordering on each side. The tip of this State touches Bay of Bengal and it is more or less an isolated State geographically.
My connection with Mizoram dates back to 1993 when this North East Indian State also was considered as a fearful State with the people there feeling any outsider as an enemy. I had even read in my school days that the people here were called Mizo mice and that they would fight from behind these high mountains. I learnt that some decades back, when Indira Gandhi was in power, the people here were treating themselves as a separate identity and their place as a separate country. They did not obey the Central Government and the then Prime Minister took some bold steps to get these people to the mainstream. She had made their living better. She made them come out of their tribal way of living and gave them lot of comforts. She arranged hundreds of Maruti cars to this hilly city to ply as Taxis. Even today, the mode of transport here, apart from the local buses, is taxis. There are no autos or rikshaws or any other vehicles available here for public movement. This is also due to the fact that Aizawl (earlier called Aizwal) is atop the mountains, with very steep roads with lot of curves. In these roads, only experienced Mizo drivers can drive. I was surprised to see these Taxi drivers halting their vehicles in curves at such steep roads, giving way to the opposite vehicle. These drivers are very strict in traffic rules and there are no overtakings beyond the centre line and vehicles go one by one which is strange for an Indian who has visited all States in India. We would feel like being in a foreign country when the driver will say Good morning while getting into the taxi and say "have a good day" while alighting. Though most of the Mizo people do not know English, they would look like foreigners by their dress and way of moving. While most of the gents come out in nice pants and shirts tugged and with shoes, ladies wear pants, tops and shoes. The main reason I found out for this was that this is the only 100% Christian State in India.
Aizawl is easily accessible today, thanks to our present Governments who have started eyeing North Eastern States. Today, we have direct flights to Aizawl by Indian (Airlines) with a very good Airport. Of course, the Airport can be reached by travelling for 2 hours through mountains by cabs. In earlier days, say before 12 years, there was a little airport, far away from the city, and only one Dakota plane was being operated. It would be funny to see the pilot getting into the plane or alighting with the help of a stool. Passengers would have a small ladder for climbing. Since the plane would fly through mountains, we would feel lot of jerks from within, and the flying time to this very high mountain top would be about 2 hours and we would be crossing Bangladesh en route. At some places, while nearing Aizawl, the plane would be flying very close to mountains and the landing area of the plane with a short runway would be amidst thick forests. There won't be thick security in and around this airport since there was no militancy in this State. Since only some 20 seats would be available in this Dakota plane, availability of tickets was unreliable. I used to reach Silchar of Assam by Indian Airlines plane which is at the bottom of the Mizo mountains and would proceed to Aizawl by steep roads covering a distance of 140 kms with lots and lots of bends by hired jeeps. Local people of Aizawl and the locals would be our co-passengers.
It was a very nice experience to reach Aizawl by road. After travelling 30 kms in the State of Assam in plain lands, we would reach the foot of the great Mizo mountains. Of course, we have to take an Interstate Visa from the Mizo local office at Silchar. Our identity would be verified at the entry point to Mizoram, Wairangate, at the foot of the mountains by army personnel. Then throughout the route, it would be full of thrill. For every 20 kms, there would be a small settlement of some 15 to 20 houses, all built with either wood or bamboo. Bamboo trees are aplenty in these mountains and we can see them on the side of these tall mountains. We can also find very huge teak wood trees of great height very wide in circumference. When we take big curves, we can find these very tall trees standing from the lower road till the upper road. Mountains are so steep that when we see from the top, the bottom area of these mountains would not be visible at all and we can find very beautiful valleys in between. During winter seasons, we can find the peaks fully clouded with fog. At times, the road itself would not be visible beyond certain feet but the experienced Assam drivers take the challenge and drive very nicely. Even within Aizawl, we can see clouds crossing above our head during winter and the windy, drizzling atmosphere would be very much enjoyable. There would be pigs in cages in most of these houses and, yes, pig meat is the second famous dish for Mizo people. The first sought after dish is Dog meat. Mizo people are fond of dog meat and during festivals, this is a main dish. Even in some hotels, dog meat is permanently available. During celebration times, dogs would be bought from Assam in lot at even Rs.800 each. So nothing would go to dogs(!) for Mizo people.
I had a good official in Mizoram who was interested in researches about his own State. He used to tell me about how this dog eating habit came in handy to Mizo people. Mizo forests have plenty of bamboo trees and these trees would flower once in fifty years. And whenever bamboos flower, there would be the worst drought in the area. Likely, Mizo had the worst drought in the late 50s and at that time, people there could not find anything for eating and at that time that this eating habit came to them. Some years back, I was astonished to hear that a leopard which strayed into these Mizoram forests was killed and taken as food. There are no stray dogs on Aizawl Streets. Roads will be very neat without any rubbish thrown and people cross the roads only in stipulated places. Police is very strict on offenders and we rarely find law breakers here. Some years back, poor Mizo girls were exploited by the travellers but police came down heavily with iron hands on these travellers and once I saw an outsider caught by the Police for such offence was kept in a bamboo cage in a public place.
There are rows of shops selling different foreign goods like Electronic and showpiece items, mostly from China. Even today I am surprised about Chinese trade practices since even in US, most of the items are from China. Then, all the shops would have both Mizo men and women nicely dressed like foreigners but once you approach them for anything would you find that they neither know English nor Hindi. By actions, we make purchases. Mizo language does not have any script and their local news paper will have local news in English letters but with Mizo wordings. kMizo people do not allow outsiders to do business in their place and if you find any non-Mizo person as owner of a shop, he would have married a Mizo girl. There is also a market place with around 100 tiny shops selling foreign items mostly from Burma which is next to China in certain items. There are very good hotels, six to eight storeyed buildings built on the slope of the mountains, nicely maintained Government offices and even massage parlours. One of the Governors was from Tamilnadu also. It is a 100% liquor free State, of course, with some illicit trade going on through these other State travellers but that too is heavily punishable once Police catch them. There is one mosque built by some Muslims of that area and one Krishna temple in the campus of Assam Rifles. Some small cinema theatres are there where Hindi and English films are screened. In spite of so many tall buildings, there was not a single lift till three years back and the first lift was introduced in the Secretariat building which has 5 floors. Rarely can we see a fan since the place is mostly cool throughout the year.
Some years back, on the streets, we used to see gents carrying children on their backs in a cradle like cloth piece and women going for job. In many Government departments (jobs means only Government job since no private establishment or factory was allowed in Mizoram) we could see lot of women also working and during heavy winter, they would keep charcoal lit stoves beneath their chairs for warming up which would be a funny thing to look at. Remember, most of these women or men of clerical jobs would not know spoken English but they can communicate in writing.
There are mini buses for people's transportation and mostly they would be full. There are buses going upto Guwahati also running for nearly 28 hours. It will be interesting to go from an upper road to a lower road on the next curve through narrow steps built. There are more middle-class people than rich ones who have their bungalows built on the outskirts atop some hills. Ministers mingle with people in their offices freely and there are some top-level Mizo IAS officers who are easily accessible for grievances.
There are lots and lots of memories that are still fresh in my mind. I would like to visit this unforgettable heaven on earth again when a chance comes