Manipuri students at Fort William in Calcutta on Friday. Picture by Sanjay Chattopadhyay

Calcutta, Aug. 18: Sunnyboss Mutum is in Calcutta for the first time. In fact, this is the first time he has ever stepped out of Manipur.

And this trip, the 15-year-old says, is just the beginning of his outward journey.

A part of the 25-strong group of students who are in Calcutta on an educational trip organised by the army, Mutum is the face of a generation which is fast losing patience with the endless parade of bandhs and curfew which define his state for the outside world today.

So, while their home state reeled under yet another bandh today, these 25 boys and girls from 32 Assam Rifles School in Imphal took pride in the fact that their school opens its gates for regular classes even during strikes. “We cycle all the way to school when there is no other transport,” said Rahul Elamgbam. “Once on campus, there is little to fear.”

And while his friends got ready for a three-day tour of Calcutta — which began at the Eastern Command headquarters at Fort William — G. Kabichandra Sh, who harbours ambitions of joining the army, could not have enough of the military accoutrements.

“I love the uniform,” he beamed. But it was the security that his army-run school provided in the insurgency-ridden state that made him want to be an armyman, he clarified.

But if guns and artillery was what interested the youngsters, the uniformed men themselves seemed a trifle uncomfortable.

A group of enthusiastic students had flocked to the display board of rifles at the Command Museum. Photographers promptly took position to capture this army-civilian interaction when Maj. Aiyappa, who accompanied the group from Manipur, said: “We are trying to take them away from the guns, aren’t we? Let’s look at the other things first,” veering the team to a gallery of tribal artefacts collected by the army from the Northeast.