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READ OUR STORIES |
Lazarus of the Iril Banks
A shawl is a refuge when fabric fails—
Haophee, wrapped at the waist, warm as a mother's palm,
a substitute for the soft fall of a phanek over her lap.
And a hanging cloth, a flag of slight defiance—
Phadi, dangling like a comma of a flag over her flat breasts.
A she-symbol improvised from poverty’s silent wave.
A rag, yes, but a pronoun she could wear.
The Roads We Cannot Take
What does it mean to travel? Is it as simple as going from point A to point B? For some, it’s just movement - a mundane act, a means to an end. But for others, it is a quiet, relentless struggle. A reminder that displacement is not always about exile; sometimes, it’s about the invisible lines that turn familiar paths into battlegrounds.
For the Kuki-Zo people of Manipur, movement itself has become an act of survival. Since the escalation of ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities in May of 2023, the Imphal airport has remained inhospitable ground for the Kuki Zo population. This is not a legal order or a political mandate, but it is common knowledge for all of us from the community. For us, the Imphal airport is a risk.