Smell of Inaphi, Joypra & Alstonia scholaris

I remember my childhood days. Christmas brings good tidings and fond memories. It's not unusual for the hill people of Manipur to visit the faraway Imphal Bazaar for a shopping trip - a spree worth a life-time. We take along with us savings of the year. Those not so fortunate take along with them chicken, dried fish or any collections from the forest and so on - sell them at any price they could fetch and take back with them clothes for the eagerly awaited family members.

Until I became a part of the Meetei family, I did not know what a joypra means or the symbolic significance it carries for Yaoshang. My mother-in-law says, a yaoshang is incomplete without a joypra given as gift to the young ones, who wear them and go for nakatheng or collection of freebies from relatives, friends and well wishers. The well starched muslin clothes have a peculiar odor which no other clothes carry. The fragrance says yaoshang is around; and its time for celebration.

When I was in Bungpa Khunou, a faraway village in Ukhrul district, during my childhood, grandma used to narrate her adventures, a trip to Imphal, the foremost amongst them. She narrated how she fooled her image on the mirror (the first time she saw a mirror in Litan, she thought the person in the mirror looked familiar) or about the vitamin pills which she thought were seeds of pulses or else about the crowded noise or how people avoided to buy away her chickens until she had to slash down the prices lest the last bus would leave her behind in the crowded and noisy Imphal! But most important, how she treasured the Meetei inaphis, the most prized gifts she took along with her as Christmas gifts for her loving daughters. She used to tell me, she hugged them to her bosoms, smelled the fresh smell of the clothes and proclaim ‘Christmas is never complete without the fresh smell of the inaphis’. I used to wonder, what can a smell enhance the celebration of a festival or the coming of a new season.

I've grown up married and settled down with a loving son. Few days back I was walking down the lanes inside the JNU campus. We're in the final stage of autumn and to me the stinging fragrance of the flowers of Alstonia scholaris (commonly known as Indian Devil tree or Pala tree or Milky pine) reminded me that winter is not far away. Humid days shall be over and colourful Christmas shall embrace us soon. Thick mysterious fog will envelope as if challenging us mortals to unravel the secret of life and how warm relationships can thaw away the cold of the winter. These thoughts and the fragrance of Alstonia scholaris took me back to my childhood days. How we used to smell the inaphis and grandma’s connection of a particular smell to Christmas. The smell lingers just as we fondly remember the odors of our loved ones.

Inaphis and Christmas, joyprapa and yaoshang. These are not just materials – they are symbols of our celebrations.