A Hot - Sweet Travelogue - Part I

Rebati Mohan Sinha


Traveling is always a tiresome; but even then people perform it, as tourists, as pilgrims and professionals. Some are traveling on a compassionate ground to native place to fulfill their commitments, such as meeting of old parents, attending their family or social functions like marriages and birthday parties. My last journey to native place was not an exception.

My outward journey commenced at Mumbai Airport with an invitation in hand to take part in a function where a Senior Cabinet Minister was to lay foundation stone for a Holi Cross School at Kabuganj, Cachar; but it was my bad luck as I could not reach the venue due to delayed flight.

This ceremony would have been a memorable one for me to remember because the school is coming up on a controversial plot of land for which the Bishnupriya Manipuri people of Narsingpur Porgona (consisting of nine villages), are up in arms against the Holi Cross School, Silchar to set up its branch at Kabuganj and as a result they (Brishnupriya Manipuri people)socially boycotted the land lord who sold the plot for this noble cause, thinking that, this gentleman is promoting Christianity to these villages.

I was whole-heartedly supporting this land-lord for his untiring social works, one of them is this school, where our poor village students are getting chance to enroll their names in a village convent school. This whole episode made me to think that in this twenty first century also people are still leaving in tiny village wells and refused to come out of them.

Because of that delayed flight as mentioned earlier, I straightway headed for GANESH PUJA at my sister in law’s place at Tarapur, Silchar, where I could noticed, a group of singers from Bhakatpur rendering Aarti in front of the deity. Really, it had inspired me to join them for the rest of the program. At the end, I requested them to build a strong team to continue rendering such religious songs, thus keeping the taboo of our Bishnupriya Manipuri community.

The day next, on my reaching home, I had to attend a death anniversary of Narsingpur porgonas Gaagrar Senakhoia. His both sons cordially received the invitees with their folded hands; but after a while, I could see a section of gathering leaving the venue just prior to prosad lokorani.

On query I came to know that the supporters of the socially boycotted gentleman of Holi cross episode also were invited for the feast. The departed party never thought of the trouble taken for the preparation of prosadi and its wastage in the event of their refusal to sit together. Anyway, on host further request, party came back and sat together. I could see, the gathering was full of people retired from State/Central Govt.doing full time job of dola doli.

After a fort night, it so happened that the entire village would not be taking part in our Rakhal Raas celebration, unless I disassociate with the socially boycotted gentle man. It is to mention here that my father of 98 years old was also a victim of village doladoli as he happened to go to a feast in his car.I challenged their decision and went forward with the celebration by inviting the people from other villages. Of course, the transports were made available to them for attending the Raas Yatra.

We are, nowadays, socially so irresponsible that we never bother to reach at the venue in time, rather we take our own time, doing every possible job at home .In our community no function can start before 12 o clock, even though the feast is arranged in time. Can we say, it is a community living?



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