One week in Manipur & Nagaland
As I grow older, I realize how sparse my acquaintance is with the North East states of India. Our history and geography is somehow shorn of the lands, cultures, customs and history of these peoples. Two such states of which I knew only the geographical location are Manipur and Nagaland. Since I had already covered Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh earlier, I decided way back in March 2021 to plan a trip to these two states in end-August 2021. The trip was centered around an excursion to Loktak Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake in India, near Imphal, Manipur and a trek to Dzukou Valley, just across the border to Nagaland. I also planned a visit to the beautiful villages of Nagaland, Khonoma and Dzuleke, and a day each for the capital cities of Imphal and Kohima. Both Manipur and Nagaland are Inner Line Permit (ILP) states. That means even though they are part of the Union of India, they need any Indian to take special permission to travel, rather like a Visa. Thankfully, both...