Tokalo: Day Twenty One

Day Twenty One is about returning

I wake up with an urge to be at Saiha soon. Tea is followed by discussing the options of getting to Saiha. The road route that goes via Phura is a clear NO for some of us for the road is bad and getting a vehicle is both – costly and difficult. So we will go by the river on speed boats and dug outs that ply from Burma. They will take us to a point in neighbouring district of Lawngtlai. From this point we will proceed to the district headquarters and then finally to Saiha.

I take a walk and meet a young man who had applied to work with us. He is from Tokalo and works as a temporary teacher here. He tells me that the school has yet to begin after Christmas holidays. We are in March.

We have a meeting with the MTP, VC and Burmese underground to discuss the Wildlife Sanctuary. I talk of (on being asked to) hunting being an issue and that it is prohibited both inside and outside the Wildlife Sanctuary and if they continue to hunt and trap as they are doing they make the creation of Wildlife Sanctuary redundant. After meeting we have food together.

The leader of the Burmese underground visits us; a young Mara speaking person from the other side of the border. He limped as he came with a colleague who had a Burmese hat on. Like his colleagues who had come in the morning he was smartly dressed. They informed that can visit Lomasu when they want to but have to be off uniform and without weapons I was told. I wondered how they got the sped-boat and weapons when Burma’s parts neighbouring India were much poorer.

I visit the local shop for a soft drink (Burma) and also get a packet of biscuits (India). They tell us that 3 Burmese and one speed boat from the village ply on the route. I see a sick boy in the shop and a school teacher, with the look of boredom led tiredness on his face, lying alongside.

We wait for the speed boats. We have also left a message for this. The speed boats are heard and we get ready. But as we await the shout of the messenger calling us we hear the distant roar of the speed boat engine moving further. Both the speed boats were loaded with pigs. There is a huge demand for pork in India – India in turn sends jarda. We courtesy the more important fellows are still in Lomasu today and I recall Churchill, "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."

I was at that point irritated with all around me going slow or nowhere. But, something inside told me this is also what some time down the line I would yearn for.

Day Twenty Two here.