Samaw.com

Anirban Datta-Roy and his team did forest survey on Mara inhabited areas around Phura and Tokalo (Tawngkalawng), their report appeared in PDF format in late 2007. Recently Anirban published the story, it was picked up by Misual.com and comments made by users reflect their shortsightedness once again.

Anirban used words like, “Finding Maraland”, “Maraland development” and others related to Mara district as Maraland. It is a historical fact that Mara people live in Maraland which is part of Mizoram state under Union India.

Mara people do not like to be addressed as ‘Lakher’, however time and again someone like Aryan has been repeatedly using the same word. This is irresponsible and immature on his part. And someone like Vangchhia denied the existence of the very word, ‘Maraland’. One commenter at Maraland.net said that it is better for others to call us as they like. Those indicate we are different. I do not agree with that term completely. How different are we!!

If any Duhlian speaking brethren will continue to address Maras as Lakher, Maras too will not mind using ‘Tlaikao’ to refer them which is a derogative, disgusting word and will lead us nowhere to come together.

However, I must admit that those attitudes reflect the mindless and careless attitudes some Duhlian speaking guys have towards other minorities.

Once again, I want to tell everyone that Maraland is a reality in terms of expression. There may not be a district in this name, or a UT or a State or a country. Mara Autonomous District Council of course was not name Maraland Autonomous District Council either. It is in the heart of every Maras who called their land as Maraland. We have the most patriotic songs like, “Maraland ei pina ei laiseihna’, and many other expression that cannot be compared to Tuikukland, an ironic comparison made by user Aryan – perhaps a Duhlian speaking guy in Australia.

The word ‘Maraland’ is therefore, a reality. Duhlian speaking friends never thought if Maras did not protect their land from the time of their forefathers, this area could well belong to Rakhine or any other tribals and it might not have fallen within today’s Mizoram. We’d better appreciate one another’s existence before we destroy our land and our people by ourselves.

These friends are simply annoyed and frustrated every time they see such expressions (Maraland), Lairam, etc, because they think these people are trying to carve out a new territory out of Mizoram. Ignorance is a bliss. Therefore, they enjoy poking funs at those terms and ideas. If Duhlian speaking people have not dominated today’s Mizoram to this extend, I guess they will not go to such extreme views. Mizoram was not created by Duhlian speaking people either, it was a collective participation of all the Zo or Chin tribes living in Lushai Hills and Chin Hills. It is a good time we expand our thinking a little bit more. Tomorrow, in order for all the closely related tribes living in this region want to become one, they may use Mizoram or may not use Mizoram. They may use Zoland or Zoram. There is a possibility that they may use a complete different names like Chinram, Chinland. Many of our scholars and intellectuals are still exploring those options and how it is going to evolve further. So, when we see those narrow minded comments made by few guys, it is unfortunate.

Let us be careful the way we deal each other. We, Maras protected our land and it is in our own free will that we participate in forming this very state. This will also have an impact on our participation in the future political development and desire that we may have. We all must work towards unification of various tribes living within a bigger NATION that we all aspire to. Let us look at a bigger picture. We are not just a few hundreds living in Mizoram. Let us wake up and enlarge our thinking for the betterment of our people and land.

But at the end of the day, they can say whatever they want like I just did!

God bless Maraland!

Links: Anirban article | misual.com’s article on Maraland (Link updated, and also a lot of grammatical mistakes were corrected.)