Enigma Of Arrival

"Are you Geeta Pandey?"
Yes.
"Where's your team?"
I'm alone.
"Which hotel will you be staying at?"
Anand Continental.
"How long will you be staying?"
Don't know....three, four days.
"What's your room number?"
How can I answer that? I haven't even checked in yet!
"Ok, your ID card please..."
But why? Who are you?
"We are from the intelligence."

Now if spooks come to receive journalists at airports, this is just one indication of how serious the situation is. Perhaps there's something the authorities want to hide from the world? Even so the local people are desperate for their story to be told. The fact that the BBC had come to cover the agitation made front-page news in Manipur's leading dailies.

During my week-long stay in Imphal, not one day passed without an incident. The city has been under night curfew for more than a month now. Four of the eight days I was there, everything was shut down because there was a bandh or a boycott. And once it grew dark, hundreds of people spilled out on to the streets, carrying torches and banners that read 'Indian Army go back'.