Chepa Lemchan

There are coverages of it on YouTube as I found out later but up till I was posted in Hnahthial, I had never heard of it. But once I heard of it, I was obsessed with attending. So my sisters and I made plans to attend it. We combined this with scaling Phawngpui Peak so it was a two birds one stone situation, us three for the Season Holidays, packing everything we can in one holiday package.

It, being, of course, Chepa Lemchan. To the uninitiated, this is an annual January 2nd Event in Darzo Village in Hnahthial district.

People dress up in the wackiest ways they can think of. Not just as its namesake which is basically to pretend to be a Chepa. Google says this is a Malay tree shrew. I thought it was a squirrel. Whatever the English word for the animal, a chepa in Mizo.

So! Bottom line is, people dress up. Evidently there was no gatekeeping with the costumes. I saw a lot of men and boys in drag. I saw people paint their whole bodies red, fluorescent green, black (from soot, no less!) There were people who came in couple-wear, like a bride and groom. Or like a two person drum set. Or a couple of police-men who had fun arresting people. I even saw a Hulk. There were also people who came dressed as what I can only assume, animals. They’d painted their bodies black or red and wore elaborate masks and/or real animal skulls. One of them looked like he had two heads, one at the front, one at the back. It was a lot of fun!

If kids found you on the streets with a clean face and no costume on (the horror!), they chase you down and paint your face black. Grand fun! We paraded across the town on the street, stopping every now and then to dance and meet up with others. Or to catch candy that people throw at the crowd from their rooftops. Lots of revelry. And so early in the day so you don’t even have to be drunk to partay! Today’s parade started at around 10:30. The locals said it was late.

It reminded me of Mardi Gras and Halloween and Comic Con Cosplay and Day of the Dead. Or Holi. 

Because you can't be allowed on the street during parade time and not participate. But it's like that thing with bees and their equivalency to humans. You just need to get past the Gate. Apparently in a beehive, if a hornet can stealth past the guards and enter a hive, the bees literally let their guard down and let it do whatever it wants. Same way, if you can get past a Security Gate in a human building, you can pretty much do your thing. People stop treating you as different and just accept you as their own, even if they are not sure about you and your intentions. Like bees. 

And like Chepa Lemchan. 

You go out in the street during Parade Time, you will get stares and calculated glances. But once someone attacks you and your face is suitably soot-ed up, you're in! You could be in a Polar Suit or a random everyday jacket it's OK, you have been deemed costumed up, you were a Chepa, you were part of the Hive! 

I’m afraid I don’t know its origin. Or why a Chepa, of all animals! But it didn’t really matter. It was fun, all the same. I went to the parade with a little ginger kitten. I hope more people come and attend this.

January 2nd. You know when and where now.

Phawngpui

I’ll make this short. Mostly because I was playing with the dog and I don’t really have a lot to offer in terms of directions.

So what you do is, if you’re not from Hnahthial, you spend your night in South Vanlaiphai. That's about 2 hours South-East from Hnahthial. There’s a Tourist Lodge there. And there’s a nice man called John who will take care of you. Granted I haven’t spent the night there but I plan to soon. If I do, I’ll let you know. (And if you want to book your stay there, get in touch with me and I’ll see if I can get you Pu John’s contact details.)

I’m not talking about scaling the heights of the Blue Mountain. I just have plans for the picnic style route. From South Vanlaiphai, you leave after breakfast and you’ll reach Sangau after about half an hour’s drive. From there, you push on ahead to Thaltlang. About a half hour again because the road sucks. At Thaltlang, you need to rent a 4-wheel drive. And when I say you need a 4x4, I mean that you should not drive your own 4x4 up the hill but that you make sure you hire one. The drive up is very challenging and you really need someone who knows the road. And knows it well. Be safe.

So! The Pick-Up truck will drive you to Far Pak. That will be about 3000 INR. The drive up is not pleasant but good for experience. The meadow there is to die for. The view is breath-taking. The air is gorgeous. Your IG will be flooded.

You can leave when the air gets a bit nippy. Or when your tuck supply runs out. Then drive back to South Vanlaiphai and have your dinner and rest for the night there. I think Pu John will be able to arrange a bonfire if you ask nicely. He makes really good fish curry, by the by, so make sure you tell him to prepare that. I don’t joke about food much and in my old age have gotten pretty persnickety over food so you know I’m good for my word when I say someone made good food. The chow in South Vanlaiphai town, however, is nothing to write home about. As in it is not good. And the boiled egg sweats beads because they put it in a fridge otherwise. But the fish curry in the Tourist Lodge is good.

Spend some time in the paddy fields of South Vanlaiphai before you leave the next day. The brook that runs there has fishes in it is how clean and healthy the water is. You can also make a pitstop at Darzo Peak for the history of it. It was where Fort Treager was before it burned down.

Not a bad way to spend a weekend.

P.s.: Unmanned veggie vendors are a big thing in this route. Come with change. Make sure you buy a bunch of the tiny bananas. Very tasty.