We arrived at Moreh, the border town with Myanmar, and checked in for an overnight stay. We met with a local Tamil leader, “Moreh Mani”, introduced beforehand by a common acquaintance. Moreh Mani was keen to take us around the city to introduce us to his leader and give a tour of some of the accomplishments by the Tamil community. The Tamils settled in here were originally refugees evicted from Myanmar when the military nationalized and took over their businesses. Since then, Tamils seem to have rooted well in this community, leveraging their connection within India and Myanmar to thrive on the border trade. As a customary gesture, we started off by first visiting the local Tamil leader in a setup that could resemble a movie set. The Boss and his retinue of 8 people stood out, clear giveaways of body language of the boss and subordinates. Apparently, the Boss was instrumental in building the Tamil and the larger local community.
We started on a ‘tour of Moreh’. First whistle stop was at the Hindu Temple, the largest in North East India. The local leaders (school principal, youth wing president, priest, and other significant figures) were assembled and chit chatting in the temple premise. A snap shot of their daily ritual. We joined in for a brief chat and went about visiting the temple. To cater to the local community, the Hindu temple had a wing with Budha statue within the temple premise – a not so common practice. The community has built a mosque and church. We briefly stopped by at the Mosque, adorned with green lights, probably brightened by the just passed Eid.
The Tamil society in Moreh reminded me of Tamil Nadu state back in 80s when the culture preceded the religious affiliations. While the Moreh town itself was small, one could spot the Tamil enclaves with ubiquitous Tamil insignias. Based on the ‘tour’, it seems the Tamils have done well for themselves and have taken a leadership role in the society and been instrumental in building a number of communal programs and developments. While there is a sense of strong unity among Tamils, one could feel the communal pockets and not a strong inter-mingling among various communities.
