Our Mizoram Story

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!)