Ancient Markets To War Memorials: A Journey Through Imphal

The chubby, sweet-faced ima at Imphal's sprawling Ima Market is talking in singsong Hindi, its inflections new and charming to my ears, rapidly countering all my objections. I say I don't have space in my bag for her shawls. She says, I'll give you a polythene bag. I say, your shawls are actually too thick for Bangalore. She says, take a look at these thinner ones. I say, I'll come around later, and she says, oh no, you won't. I drift past the other equally self-possessed and sharp-eyed imas calling out from beside their towering stacks of handwoven phaneks and shawls. Another, more cacophonous, wing is devoted to fresh produce.