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Six months from now, a village near the Indo-Myanmar border will celebrate an annual ritual Indians aren’t prepared to hear about. The village is Mimi, and it is home to three clans of the Longpfurii Yimchunger tribe. Nearby is the Sukhayap or “Lover’s Paradise” cliff, the 200 ft high Wawade waterfalls, and a spectacular complex of limestone caves. The Bommr people, one of Mimi’s three clans, are the sole custodians of these caves. They flock here every October for the ritual at least seven generations old, one that was established to appease ancestral spirits.
It starts with the blocking of …
Roshni is a features writer and former editor of The Morning Context's Chaos team. Her career spans The Ken, Reuters, the Hindustan Times and DNA. She is a recipient of the UNFPA Laadli award and was shortlisted for the RedInk Awards 2016 for her story on Mumbai’s leprosy colonies. Her far-flung ideas would sometimes drive our editor-in-chief Ashish up the wall, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way (even if he didn’t admit it).
roshni@mailtmc.com