My Hero

I still vividly remember my first trip to Churachandpur in January, 1955. Together with my brother-in-law Rev. H. Daia, his eldest son Hrangchunghnung (H.C. Hrangate) and others, we left Pherzawl on foot in early January to attend the General Assembly of Independent Church held at Saidan. We traversed the mule’s road up and down the hilly terrain from dawn to dusk with bruised feet for three days carrying a load of dried chilly on our back for sale on arrival to meet our expenses during our stay at Saidan and a proposed visit to Imphal. It was my first encounter with the so-called a civilized world. Though I already had finished Class VIII and enrolled for Class IX, I had not seen a real bus or a bicycle except their pictures from books as these inventions were yet to reach the interior hills. Naturally, I was excited beyond words.

Pu H. Thanglora, the first Hmar graduate in Manipur came to establish Pherzawl High School at my village in 1951 where I studied till matriculation. It’s the first ever high school in the Manipur hills. The following year, Pu Thianlam Vaiphei also started Churachandpur High School at Compounder Thangzam’s Hill Town which later came to be known as Chiengkonpang. The two pioneering souls, Thanglora and Thianlam who, had they opted, could have become members of the coveted elite Indian civil service but they instead had wisely and farsightedly dedicated their lives with a missionary zeal to the noble task of transforming their area of darkness into a land of enlightenment and development by planting high schools. They were no more with us to-day but the indelible footprints they left behind are everywhere to be seen. My generation and those who followed us holding important positions at national and state levels, as also at various political and religious institutions, are the living testimony of their selfless contributions.

Now let me come back to where I began. I still vividly remember that twilight evening when we entered Chiengkonpang and came across a huge building with silvery roof which housed the high school set up by Pu Thianlam. Our first reaction with my nephew was: if given a chance to study in this high school, how proud and good students we could have become! It’s a boyhood elation,- innocent, pure and simple. We had never before, seen a building as imposing as this one.

But that was not the only thing that played and swayed our imagination. We often heard someone saying how good Pu Thianlam was in English ‘grammar’. They used to compare him with Pu Sangliana (1914-1989), a renowned grammarian who was Headmaster of Mizo High School in Aizawl and much later, a Member of Parliament. Those days, as a manner of speaking, someone proficient in English language was described as a person “good in grammar” which is no longer appropriate in modern parlance. One has to learn and have a basic knowledge of any language first before learning its grammatical pattern.

Whatever be the case, much before I met Pu Thianlam in person, he became my hero. I dreamt to be like him: good in ‘English grammar’. After two frightful flops in Matriculation Examination in 1957 & 1958, I joined D.M. College in 1959. To turn my dream into reality, I offered English as Additional Subject in Intermediate of Arts (IA) and English (Honors) in B.A. In a span of four years, my knowledge of ‘English grammar’ had increased manifold. By my own standard, I had become a man! All because of my efforts to emulate my hero, Pu Thianlam. This dramatic change subsequently catapulted me to the apex service of the Government of India and on retirement to a much higher and challenging service: Translator of the Holy Bible in Hmar.

The first time I met Pu Thianlam was after my graduation and involvement in cultural activities as Chairman of the Hmar Cultural Society which I took over in 1963 and held for 18 years and also as the election agent of Pu L. Rokung in the Manipur Legislative Assembly elections in 1967. Pu Rokung and I visited him at his quarters near Churachandpur soccer field to seek his advice and support on several matters. Though outwardly looked stern, reticent and intimidating, under his exterior veneer, I found him to be shy, kind and gracious, a pleasant and discerning soul blessed with deep knowledge and understanding. Like a good prophet, he told me with mystical confidence that I would soon crack Civil Services Examination conducted by the UPSC. That uncanny trust reposed on me by him really made my day! I never had the opportunity of studying under him but I owed him immense gratitude as my hero. He never knew how happy and satisfied I had been when, by the grace of God, I was able to honor his expectation of me.

Lives of great men all remind us,
We can make our life sublime;
And, departing, leave behind us,
Footprints on the sands of time.
- H.W. Longfellow (1807-1882).

Note: Not to be published and distributed without the prior permission of the author.

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