Women from Manipur enjoying their national integration tour as they travel East of India

When a bunch of women travellers, some 15-odd, alighted from a train in Kolkata, they were all excited. The women from the Meitei community from all age groups, were travelling outside Manipur for the first time in their life. Naturally, they were taken in by the crowded stations and the large mass of people thronging tourist destinations. But, no one minded that, as they were in Kolkata, the City of Joy they had heard so much about.

The women headed to prominent landmarks of Kolkata, including the iconic Victoria Memorial and the expansive Eco Park, which uniquely showcases replicas of the Seven Wonders of the World. The trip was part of Assam Rifles ongoing civic action programme, where it is conducting a National Integration Tour for members of Jiri Ima Meira Paibi Apunba Lup (JIMPAL), an NGO from Jiribam district of Manipur. The group arrived in Kolkata as a key leg of the tour, aimed at fostering national integration and promoting cultural understanding.

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It is also designed to strengthen people-to-people connect, broaden perspectives, and highlight the shared cultural ethos that binds the nation together, while also showcasing the rich traditions of the Northeast, said army sources, adding the visits provided the participants with an enriching exposure to India’s diverse cultural and historical heritage. The team was travelling from Jiribam, Manipur-Silchar, Assam-Guwahati-Kolkata-Bhubaneswar, Odisha -Puri, Odisha -Shillong, Meghalaya and back. From Kolkata, the JIMPAL delegation went to Bhubaneswar, continuing their journey of cultural exchange and reinforcing the spirit of unity and national integration championed by Assam Rifles. Sources said that since many of the women in the trip were aged, they preferred to travel to the religious places in Bhubaneswar.

They enjoyed visiting the Konark temple, Lingaraj Temple and Nandankanan Zoological park in the vicinity. The conducting officer, who was accompanying the team said: “The idea behind this exercise is to integrate them with the cultural and national diversity and showcase what is happening outside Manipur. In Bhubaneswar, they met the Governor, visited temples and were happy to see ‘another’ India. Assam Rifles has been conducting such trips, and few earlier trips included children from the state of Manipur and North East India.” Saroda Devi, one of the delegates, said the trip has been extremely enriching for the women travelling together. “This is for the first time we have got such an opportunity to come out of Manipur and visit other states. I’m really thankful to the Director General Assam Rifles for organising this trip.

They got an opportunity to learn about India’s other states through these programmes. We enjoyed going to various tourist and religious places in Bhubaneswar and also enjoyed the local cuisine of the places we visited. We also tasted local Bengali thali here and the famous Ilish (hilsa fish). We loved it, said Saroda Devi. Saroda, who runs her own business of making traditional Manipuri clothes and selling them, said one of the striking features of the trip was learning how to travel and handle crowds, which they do not experience at their place. “In Manipur, we do not see such a huge population.

Travelling by train has also given us an experience in itself. During our journey by train, we interacted with the local fellow passengers, though language is a problem. At Konarak, Odisha, we interacted with local traders outside the Sun Temple and learnt how they do their trade,” said Saroda Devi. That the trip was possible in the wake of recent strife within the state speaks volumes of the will to overcome hurdles towards furthering national integration.