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ZAWLKHAWPUIIN SENMEI A CHAN NI KHA(The Day Aizawl City Went Up in Flames)Dr. Laltanpuii
‘That little thing they say has bombed Aizawl, and me I’m lost and so helpless’.
The only city the Mizo people called their own, loved by every Mizo child born of Chhinlung
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 ‘Aizawl City’ the name on every Mizo lip- the city burning on March 5, 1966will forever be a living memory for me.I believe it was February 26, 1966 while sitting in the Class VII room of Govt. HighSchool when my dearest friend Kimteii said to me, “My Dear, my Dad said that the MNFVolunteers are apparently attempting to seize the Aizawl Assam Rifles and U Tlana hasalso gone with some others towards the Chite river” that my young heart of fourteenyears was filled with joy, excitement and apprehension. All the more so because theautumn of the previous year,
 
I had bunked my classes at Saitual ME School to help out atthe feast on the setting up of an MNF Volunteer Battalion.Then from the night of February 28, 1966, Aizawl began to be filled with the sounds of gunfire and bomb blasts. Everyone stayed put in their houses, looking for a haven of safety and the hazardous and difficult process of relocation had already begun. There wasno longer any thought of School so along with my friends Kimi and Vani, we set out tohelp the volunteers in any we could. We went over to our assigned task of cooking for them at Govt. Boys M.E. School and found grown men, young men and women there.While we busied ourselves with our task, there were some who were happily singing withtheir guitars and dancing in joy. Words cannot adequately express the emotions of joy andanxiety
 
mixed in our hearts during those precarious times. The time had apparently comefor us, like it had for others in the outside world to find and identify ourselves with a political movement.While we young people were busy with our assigned task, there was another timeevolving, a more hazardous and perilous one. A powerful Fighter (F 104 Phantom Z) hadreached the Aizawl skies and was hovering above us. After a few turns above, they began pelting those places they believed housed volunteers with bombs and other ammunition,with absolutely no restraint. Everyone ran amok in fear, looking for a place where theymight be safe- I also found myself in a few life-threatening situations! As they werefleeing, my uncle/grandfather 
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called for me to follow but I said, “ You run on to safety, Iwill follow with my friends at the end, but do find a way of letting me know where yougo.”There were hordes of people fleeing Aizawl from then on. We somehow found ourselvesgoing towards Dawrpui from Tuikual side to find my family had already left. They hadleft a letter saying, “Tante, We are going down to Chite and will go on to Saitual from
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‘Chhinlung’ is a crevice on the earth
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the word used here is ‘Pu’, a word used both for a grandfather and a maternal uncle.
 
Zokhawsang and Seling. Follow us as quickly as you can.” I then knew how I was tofollow them. My friend Kimteii’s family had also left but they had gone down south totheir families there. All this while Aizawl was already groaning in fear and trepidation,with her people abandoning her for safety. It was then that it happened, thisZawlkhawpui
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we loved was burning, there was nothing to see but flames all around. Myonly lot was to cry ‘
That little thing they say has bombed Aizawl, and me I’m lost and sohelpless’. Burning Flames! Dead Bodies! Kimteii Passed Away!
With My Dear-i (Kimteii), my dearest friend in this whole world, I got ready toflee Aizawl with the rest to find us a sanctuary from this madness. On the road towardsBazar, we did see a few corpses on the way and all this time, the Fighter was hailingdown fire at everyone and everything on land. At Tuithiang, we saw the dead bodies of cows and pigs and decided that we would avoid the Dawrpui road and walk on towardsthe west of Aizawl because the fighter frequented the eastern parts of town more than theothers. When we saw the corpses of two teenaged girls lying together on the steps between two houses, we were filled with pity and touched to our cores. But knowing thatthis could be our fate too in another minute, I covered the bodies with one of my ‘puan’s(a type of sarong, the traditional wear of a Mizo woman) and we moved on.As we were passing over the western road, we saw the body of a young man lying atop asmall mound. Tired, we hurriedly lay down on a lowland. Then Kimteii, in an attempt tocover the body of that young man with her puan crawled towards the mound. There was asudden machine gun fire from the A.R. compound and Kimteii cried out just as shecovered the dead man’s body. When I turned at the sound of her cry, I saw the gun hadcaught her right below her breast, the bullet had come out through the back. Blood wascoming out in splashes. She was tossing and turning on the ground. With all her strengthshe was shouting, “Tante, my dear, I’m going to die, I’m going to die. Run quickly,they’ll shoot you too…” I held her in my arms and cried, “O, my dear, Kimte, Kimte,how can I go on without you…? Never fear, I will die here with you…” And with her dying breath, “Tante, Tante, I’m now going to give my life for our land.Mother..Mother…Father…Father.the pain..” I prayed so that she might feel comforted,and that I might die there with her. In between her cries of agony, “Tante, take mynotebook too and please continue to study…fulfill the dream we both had of becominglady doctors” and soon after that “Mother…Mother…My King, take me into your arms…Dear God..I’m coming to you..” My Dear-i’s face began to change. She moved in fits, shestretched in pain, she groaned, and then she was no more. She was no longer there tospeak to me. “My Dear, Kimte, open your eyes, speak to me” I repeated myself over andover again but she did not answer again nor did she move.
O my dear, Kimte, Kimte,You have now given your life for our land and our people;My friend, my friend, my love, my greatest love!Your parting words..my misery..but Kimte,
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‘Zawl’- Aizawl, ‘khawpui’- city or capital.
 
When will my soul come to be with you..?O Kimte, goodbye…goodbye…”
were the only words I could cry out. But even then, I was strangely comforted. In theautumn of 1965, Pu Lalchungnunga had held a Salvation Camping at Saitual and we bothhad offered ourselves up to God in prayer then. That is why Kimteii had cried out to her Saviour with her dying breath.! The God of Grace would surely have embraced her andwelcomed her into his loving arms. Also, Kimteii had fought for our land and our people.A person with so much love, she had seen an unattended corpse and had gone ahead tocover it with her soft puan, knowing it was dangerous to move out. She was not afraid todie in fulfilling our traditional show of love and concern! As long as the Mizo peoplelive, we shall remember Kimteii. Kimteii has died, but she continues to live.Then I covered her body with my best puan, the Ngotekherh and laid her beside the bodyof the young man she had covered. A young man came by just then and shouted to me,“Why are you still here? Run quickly”. Then over the body of my best friend, the friendI’d been with since I was a kid, the one I always studied with and one I would never forget, over Kimteii’s body I prayed. Having ruled by the Creator of heaven and earth thatwe must part, I had to bid her farewell even against my will.
O my dearKimte, from whom I never wished to part, But fate has ruled that I live, aimless in my loss! I cannot accept, I do not know how toTill when we find complete and everlasting rest Goodbye…goodbye
…so crying I picked up her notebook and all her clothes in a bundle and ran off in a hurrywith the young man towards the west.After a while we teamed up with a family that was fleeing and somehow managedto cross Aizawl from the south. I had become so tired and hungry that I often stumbledand fell on the way. The young man would pick me up and hold my hand and he gave meall the remains of his bread. He then went on to Muallungthu while I stayed the night atZokhawsang where my family had been. Then with some others, I moved up to join themat Saitual. At that time, Aizawl was no longer a city- it was just a big fire. With flamesand smoke, with corpses on the streets, it had become a battleground like other places inthe world.
From my trials to victory
My father (Thangvula, Arunachal Sub-Inspector for Education) came over fromManipur to Saitual to take me and we left for Manipur after two weeks at Saitual. Mytrials may have been a pittance compared to what others went through, but for me, itcreated a sense of victory in my heart. That also became the core of my life’s purpose. Iwent through life in health by the grace of God, doing well in my studies but my belovedKimteii was no longer with me. I felt alone and forlorn many times. But she had gone onto the Saviour she had accepted, to a place where she did not have to study nor toil inhard work. I shall also join her and rest with her some day soon. The dream I had shared
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tochh.shrugged

hahaha...inah ka awm..scribd hi ka lo theihnghilh daih a ka lo lut ngai reng2 lo mawle!!!

reply09 / 24 / 2009
Chhurliana

Khawnge i awm? I fel hmel riau mai.

reply02 / 05 / 2009
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