Keeping Tamil culture intact

Battling for survival in changed scenario

People living in Manipur-Myanmar border town relish south Indian dish

At dawn in Moreh, the town bordering India and Myanmar, visitors will be surprised to see men in half lungis and women in colourful sarees with flowers tied to neatly combed plait. Most of them head for Andala Parameshwari temple, the only Dravidian temple in the Northeast after the Balaji temple at Guwahati.

They go and offer prayers and set out on their job, a typical culture in south India, more so in rural Tamil Nadu. Some of them are seen conversing in Tamil also and that is good enough to kindle curiosity in the minds of visitors. They pray for good cross border business and for the long life of the multi-cultural diaspora of Moreh. Their forefathers had moved to the then Burma and later repatriated to India. But they still follow their culture.

Muhammad Usuf Salam, 73, still dreams of his childhood in Rangoon (now Yangon), the capital of the erstwhile Burma (now Myanmar). He was among thousands of people of Indian origin who were born and brought up in Myanmar and later repatriated to India.
“I am a Tamil. In those days Tamils and other Indians used to rule the roost in Burma but geo-political changes led to a situation where people of Indian origin could not sustain themselves there. The Indian government assured us all facilities, but when we, the Burmese refugees, returned to our native states, we were isolated, ill-treated and left to fend for ourselves,” laments Salam as tears trickle down his eyes.

In 1966, he was repatriated to India, he was taken to Madras (now Chennai) but he could not stay there. He always had the urge of return to Myanmar. “I thought to myself that if I can go to Moreh, may be I will be able to stay connected to Myanmar, meet people and may be some day return to Yangon,” Salam narrates.

Thus, Salam came in 1968 to Moreh, a 110-km drive from Manipur’s capital Imphal. He was among the first few people of Tamil origin who had come and settled in Moreh. “Initially, 40-odd Tamil families, who were all refugees from Myanmar, settled. Soon, every family started bringing in their relatives. Moreh in two decades turned into a stronghold of the Myanmar repatriated Tamils. While in Myanmar, we

followed our own culture and food; even now you would find Tamil temples in Yangon. Moreh is no different. We have preserved our Tamilian culture here, Moreh is more like Myanmar and less like India, we found it easy to survive,” Salam said.

Today, in Moreh Bazar, the Tamil domination is evident. There are eating joints selling idlis, dosas and sambar. The other communities living there relish the South Indian dish.

Pongal and Diwali

celebrations in Moreh are as big as in any town in Southern India. The Tamil girls have their own Bharatnatyam and Odissi dance troupes that perform across Manipur.

The Tamil culture has been kept alive by the Tamil Sangam, the apex body of Tamils in Moreh. “We can speak Burmese; we also speak Meitei and Kuki languages. Some people from other communities can also speak Tamil very fluently. We are trying hard to preserve this cultural mix of Moreh,” said 46-year-old M Mahendran, born and brought up in Moreh. His parents have roots in Thanjavur.

The Tamils came to Moreh, a small village dominated by Kuki tribe, after military junta
declared Indians as foreigners after the coup in 1962. All their businesses and properties were seized, they had to return to India.

“In our native states we found it difficult to adjust. Some tried to sneak into Myanmar through Moreh but were caught and handed over to the Indian authorities. Initially, the local authorities did not allow them to settle in Moreh. After much persuasion, families settled by 1966-98,” said 57-year-old KBS Muniam, the Principal the Netaji Memorial High School, the first school set up by the Tamils in 1967. “In Myanmar, the Indian diaspora was much influenced by Netaji and his long march into India through the Indo-Myanmar border in Moreh, thus they named the school in his memory. I came here through a relative to teach,” Muniam, who hails from the suburbs of Chennai, adds.

The trade was illegal but it was the lifeline of the Moreh. For everything, people of Moreh went to the Myanmar border town of Tamu.

“For some of the Tamils, it has been a story of rags to riches. They soon got into smuggling. The border is porous and the Myanmarese authorities were corrupt. They would smuggle in Indian goods to Tamu and bring back foreign goods, mostly

Chinese and other South Asian products in bulk from Myanmar. They would then sell them for high profits. The illegal trade ran into crores of rupees. Soon, some Tamils got into drugs smuggling,” revealed a Tamil elder who has a utensil shop in Moreh Bazar.

By 1995, the Tamil population rose to 15,000 in Moreh and that’s when the good fortunes for the Tamils ran out. India and Myanmar legalised border trade in Moreh in 1995, Myanmar came up with a border trade market at Namphalong near Moreh. This hit the Tamil businessmen.

By that time, the Tamils had turned Moreh into an amazing melting pot of cultures. Many families from other communities like the Sikhs, the Oriyas, the Telugus, the Malayalees and the Bengalis came and settled down at Moreh.

“The new trade regime was bad for Indian goods and traders. It allowed the Chinese products to take over the Tamu market. Conflicts within Manipur and bandhs, blockades crippled our supply chain within India. The Chinese started making almost everything that we used to carry and sell inside Myanmar,” says Muhammad Tikka Khan, who sells Madras lungis. He has his roots in  Shivamogga in Karnataka.

To make matter worst, in the mid 90s Moreh saw ethnic clashes between the Kuki tribals and Tamil settlers. This resulted in yet another exodus. “In 1995, we were a majority community in Moreh. Now,  about 3,000 are people left. Many have left fearing for life and losing their business,” said K B Subramaniam, 41, who also is the General Secretary of th­e Moreh Border Trade Chamber of Commerce.

Ratnadip Choudhury in Moreh (Manipur).