Jajo is part of the 17-strong group of community elders in Ukhrul district in Manipur, who have come to town thanks to an initiative taken by the Army to help bridge the gap between the North East states and urban centres.
Many had not even travelled to the state capital, Imphal. Comprising 13 women and four men, the group spent three days taking in the sights and sounds of different places of tourist interest in the city.
But what fascinated each one of them was the experience of traveling in the Kolkata Metro Railways.
“This is really a novel experience for us. Luckily, the weather’s very pleasant — not too hot or cold. It’s always cold where we come from. The Metro ride was a lot of fun as the concept of trains traveling under the roads is new to us,” said Jajo.
The group also had the chance to be taken to the city’s most majestic monuments, including the evergreen Victoria Memorial, the Botanical Gardens and the Citizen’s Park and Birla Planetarium.
“We went to Nicco Park the second day. The environment here is so much better than the insurgency-ridden situation back home. We also visited the Armenian Church,” said an excited Ashang (50).
He added that contrary to the reports back home, they found Kolkata to be surprisingly clean and well maintained.
Some of them, like Mercy, have been only as far as Shillong and Guwahati. “The only regret is there was too little time to see everything to my heart’s content,” she said.
However, some had fewer regrets, like P Chonchon, who was bowled over by the shops loaded with a variety of goods and apparel. “There is so much to buy in this city that I don’t know where to start from,” he added.