I am very filmy. I keep going back to that line from Om
Shanti Om that means if you want something with all your heart, the entire
kaynaat comes together to help you attain it.
We reached Aizawl yesterday and checked into a hotel room
with pista green walls. We hadn’t had any food all day. So we had some food and
stepped out to check out the city. It became dark by 4.30 and we headed back to
the room and rested. We still did not have any news on the school. Later in the
evening, our contact, Chris (many thanks to Lara Jesani for putting us in touch
with him) called with news that we cannot visit the school he’d contacted for
us as they now have their study camp and it would be unfair to disrupt the
activities they have lined up to prepare for the exams.
I sat up and left messages to random Mizo people on Facebook
introducing the project and asking them if they could put us in touch with
their own school. I wrote to a gospel rock band called Magdalene asking if we
could collaborate with them. No replies yet, which is alright. It would be a
surprise if they replied.
So we looked ‘Things to do in Aizawl’ and jotted down a few
places we had to visit. First on the list was KV Paradise.
Here’s how the Lonely Planet website describes the place:
“The KV Paradise site
is 8km from Zarkawt, 1km off the Aizawl–Silchar road via an improbably narrow
dirt lane. V is for Varte who died in a 2001 motor accident. K is for her
husband Khawlhring who has since lavished his entire savings and energy
creating a three-storey mausoleum to her memory. The marble fountain-patio has
wonderful panoramic views. Inside and downstairs is Varte’s grave and upstairs
an odd collection displays her wardrobe and shoe collection, including the
clothes (neatly laundered) she died in.”
I wonder if this reminds you of a certain Pixar film about an
old man and his dream to fulfill his wife’s promise?
A grand flight of stairs lead you to KV Paradise. The view of
top would’ve been breathtaking if it wasn’t too foggy.
The ground floor is V’s grave with pictures of KV on their
wedding day and a full size picture of V. The first floor has V’s wardrobe
along with the clothes she had worn when she met with the fatal accident.
There is also a note to her from her students.
The second floor is a circular dome with a place to sit in
the centre. The quiet there could lull you to sleep if you haven’t slept well
the night before you visit.
All around this marble structure are carefully planted flower
shrubs that invite butterflies. One could say K’s efforts to make the place
paradise are working.
We met K and asked if we could talk to his students and plant
with them. He said the kids have their exams and the season is just not right
to plant. Which is true.
So we promised to stay in touch and left.
Meanwhile, Kaushik Bhattacharya (friend of a friend of Sandip
Shetty) called up with good news. He said I could get in touch with the
secretary of the education department with the reference of his predecessor.
So we ambled on to the education department but got to meet
the Jt. Secretary instead. We were thinking he was doing his own work when he
was actually writing this letter for us!
We took the letter to the school headmaster who wasn’t there.
We went to meet the Principal but he wasn’t there either. So we went to the
Vice Principal who told us tomorrow will be a holiday. Drat, it’s Saturday
already?! But school didn’t shut till 3.15 and it was only 2 then.
For the first time on the trip, we did not have the laptop or
the projector or the pen drive (with films in it) with us. All we had was the
box with Changu and Mangu in it.
So I did an improv session! After telling them what we are
doing and we are doing it, I asked them to write three environmental issues in
Mizoram. Next, I asked them to write solutions to these problems.
The result is brilliant! It’s heartening to see that a lot of
students as young as 16 years old understand the problems they face and the
solutions they have. All they need now is a platform to make these things
happen!
Details of the issues here is another big story.
So yes, the Aizawl leg of Project 35 Trees has gone off well.
It is sorry that we couldn’t plant even one tree here but we move on, glad that
we got more than fifty students in Class XI thinking about what’s wrong with
their part of the country and what they could do about it.
Tomorrow, we make our way to Silchar in Assam, which is the
only point that connects Aizawl to Agartala. I hear there’s a sizeable Bengali
population there (read – I can’t wait to use my Bengali powers!)
