Kachai Lunch Home

Kachai Lunch Home, originally uploaded by Maya Mem.

A photographer friend & colleague, Anirban, calls me one day and says 'do you want to go to Manipur?'
Of course, I say, always up for an adventure. There is very very little I know about the North East (and the money is good).
Day 1. Even before we begin our work, we break down in Kachai, a mere 10-15 km from where we have to go, but a journey that eventually takes too many hours up steep gradients on non-existent roads in a battered replacement jeep. We had to kill about four hours before the replacement showed up. It was unexpected, and only to be expected. An entirely charming afternoon sans cellphone signals. The local pastor and his family kindly invited us to a lunch of jungle fowl curry, sticky rice, and lightly steamed mustard leaves in their dark kitchen lit up by the afternoon sun.