Manipuri pineapples from Kuki-Meitei couple

IN June 2001, when the Union Government extended the Naga ceasefire to Naga-inhabited areas beyond Nagaland, all hell broke loose in Manipur. Non-Naga communities protested, even as the state machinery collapsed. This led to the deployment of the Army in Manipur.

Advertisement

My battalion was sent to a far-flung area in Chandel district. A few days after the protests started, a friend posted at Dimapur asked if I could help a family in urgent need of medical attention. We brought the patient, an elderly woman, from a nearby Kuki village to our medical room. She quickly responded to our doctor’s treatment. Before returning to their village, her daughter Paula came to my office and thanked me and our doctor profusely.

‘Isn’t Paula an unusual name for a Kuki tribal woman? Don’t you prefer your tribal names?’ I asked.

She smiled and said, ‘Yes and no, sir. While naming me, my late father chose our religious identity over the tribal one. In any case, the choice was not mine. And I am married to a Meitei, who was my choice, of course.’ She laughed as she took our leave.

After her education, Paula had got a government job in the Transport Department in Imphal, where she was attracted to K Kishor Singh, her Meitei senior. Soon, they were married, and had a daughter who was three when I met Paula.

‘Do you need a driving licence, sir?’ Paula had asked me once. ‘No, I already have one,’ I replied.

‘What about your children?’ Paula persisted. ‘They are not yet 18. But why did you ask?’ I enquired.

‘My husband is now the signing authority, and he can issue licences. You have done so much for us. I can do only this in return,’ Paula answered in a feeble tone.

Two months later, when I was proceeding on leave, Paula and her husband surprised me at the airport. Handing me a cardboard box, she said, ‘Sir, these are the sweetest pineapples in the world from Pallel. Your children will like them.’

Pallel is a small town in the foothills at the Meitei-tribal boundary east of Imphal. The majority of the Meitei population lives to the west of the town, and the tribals, including Kukis and Nagas, inhabit the eastern side.

Long after I left Manipur, I continued to receive consignments of pineapples. We spoke to each other once every few months. Kishor and Paula met us in Delhi in 2015 while on their way to Kota to drop their daughter Luxmi for coaching for a medical college entrance exam. Luxmi graduated as a doctor and is working in a private hospital in Imphal.

Following the Meitei-Kuki clashes, I hear that there are no Meiteis in the hills and no Kukis in the Imphal plains. Pallel is like a border post. Communication is not possible. Where are Paula and Kishor? The pineapple season is around the corner. Who will deftly peel off the thorns and share with me the sweet, juicy slices? I cannot help but wonder with fondness and sadness.