Newmai News Network ‘A village called Nbena’ is an interesting book presented with lucidity about a typical Liangmai Naga village. This small and yet remarkable book contains so much of everything that provides important insights to social dynamism and the characters of the Liangmai village. In other words, the book contains so many threads, which blend the social practices of the villagers and challenges of the day with vision for the community welfare. The author of the book, Anna Sireiliu Charenamei harps on the vulnerable and the source of strength of a progressing village. At the same time, the author makes it loud and clear that tradition, culture and belief system were strictly adhered to by the villagers in those days. They are these lucidity, rich insights and aliveness of the villagers which make this small book so remarkable. Another unique aspect of the book is that, the aliveness of the presentation by the author makes readers feel as though a lived experience as the author traces the root of the village. The author of the book also captures rich natural resources of Nbena village. In fact, the book takes readers on a journey of various stages of Nbena village from ancient to modern, too. Nbena village is now put under Kangpokpi district of Manipur. The book foreword is done by Dr Kamei Aphun, Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. The author of the book, Anna Sireiliu Charenamai beautifully presents so many aspects of the general ways of life of the villagers, and in the same time, she also throws light on the villagers’ belief system, situation of their surroundings, food habits and their social engagements. In the book introduction, the author says, “This book is a humble endeavour to record oral history of her village in a literary form.” Anna Sireiliu Charenamei, a product of Lady Shri Ram College (Delhi University), also says, “The interest was culminated through the stories told to me by my father and grandfather with much passion and nostalgia, and subsequently the need and desire to have a written history was realized…” The author further says that her “main aim in writing this book is to encourage people to write or make effort, small yet significant, for preservation of our culture…” The book gives important insights on why the people of Makuilongdi village had to desert their grand village of 7777 (seven thousand, seven hundred and seventy seven) households. The book then dwells extensively on how Nbena village was founded by a group of people after coming out from Makuilongdi. The group was led by one Nbebou, and thus, the village was named after him. The book based on the narratives of the elders claims that Nbena village is about 1000 years now. The village is located along the present IT Road. The book gives important information to the readers on how “some Kukis came in search of land in the Liangmai territories”. According to the book, some of the Kuki people were “permitted” to settle in “Nbena territories”. The book also heavily presents ‘mysteries’ surrounding the early life of Nbena village. The book dwells on the myth of Chingpui, the goddess of wealth. “Every creek, stream, hillock, valley, meadow, cliff, monolith, range and ridges are not without names. Some of the mysterious natural monuments are the Charapa Chakuipa, meaning the footprint of man, god and tiger imprinted on a stone…” mentions the book. Somewhere in the middle of the book, the author narrates about the heroic or legendary figures and their activities in one of the chapters. One notable story the book cites is about two orphan brothers---Namphung and his younger brother Marinang who went on to become symbols of admiration and savior. One interesting story in the book was about the adventure of Chakungbou of Nagaonamai clan who travelled to a far off place bordering non-tribals. “The people of Nbena believed that the location could be somewhere beyond Mizoram and bordering Bangladesh,” says the book, adding, “It is also told that on his expedition in search of the border Chakungbou went on erecting monoliths and setting up villages in the western horizon beyond the hill ranges of Manipur and Mizoram.” The book also narrates about mysticism surrounding the birth of Prince Khewang by an aged and widowed queen of Nbena. In the other half of the book, the author presents readers the rich life of flora and fauna that was found in Nbena area. The author passionately describes it complete with names of animals, birds and the types of vegetation/forest. The book also talks of food and festivals of Nbena village. In the later parts of the book, the author highlights on the coming of Christianity and its impact in the life of Nbena villagers. The author then presents us about the mystic Zaimeng Lake of Nbena. “The most unique character of the lake is that, not a single leaf (dry or otherwise) is found floating on the lake as there is a bird (not identified yet) which always swoop down to remove any floating leaf,” the book claims. According to the book, a greater part of Zaimeng lake is a “marshy mass” of thick grass-like weeds, combined with reeds and green mosses. Literally translated into English from Liangmai, Zaimeng means “lake puzzle” or “lake perplex”. The book narrates that the name of the lake was believed to have been given by forefathers of Nbena village who passed by the lake but they could not find their way out as they kept returning to the same spot around the lake. ‘A village called Nbena’ is one book that is many-in-one. The book is an unmissable read of the time.
