Mo goes bollywood

And now for some guest blogging from my Mum who is India at the moment......

As we came over to land in Imphal, flew over mountain ranges & hills with large bald patches where logging had stripped all vegetation. Frequently these parts of the hillsides had then collapsed in a landslide. Immigration officials were courteous & friendly & already knew my name.

Taken for lunch in a house belonging to some relative of Tao’s, smiley, friendly ladies who cooked a delicious meal reminding me of food I had eaten in Cambodia more than Indian food (no curry involved here...Praise God!)The water tasted strongly of mud and I drank little of it.

Drove up through the valley (2hrs though only 75km) on atrocious road but through interesting scenery...almost alpine mountains but fallow rice paddies lining every niche of the valley floor. Later, I learned that we left early in the afternoon to avoid passing through the section ruled by bandits & rebels too late in the day.

Senapati reminds me of a largish West African town (Azove) sunken into a valley floor with 2 huge mountain ranges on either side. The ‘main’ street is dirt but lined closely with shops (that were all open by 5.30am!)Reached ‘the best hotel in town’, indeed there could be a lot worse & met on the first floor verandah with other men from Senapati who are interested in starting a drug rehab initiative in this town; one is a local shop-keeper, two had already lost brothers from heroin overdoses and a retired headmaster of a local high school.

They are all university educated men (2 COTR graduates) who speak good English but none really have an understanding of addiction and recovery. Our discussions are wide-ranging from politics to governance to the situation of the extremely poor roads in northern Manipur. As we talk into the evening a crowd of drunken youths assembles below us on the street, shouting & brawling. Our task is laid out right in front of our eyes.

These are the people who are blamed for the degeneration of their highly prized tribal society; those who are causing incredible hardship amongst the women and children. Next to the brawling drunkards is a group of pre-teen boys playing & laughing happily. I tell the men that our task is to figure out how such happy, care-free children become addicted teens and young adults. What goes wrong?

More from 'Mo-pant's' adventures in India to come.....