Vote for Change: A Rock Event—For Those Who Want to Give Change a Chance!

How long can you endure the bullshit that lies at your shumaang? Would you wait for it to become dry or simply wait to be eaten up by worms further spoiling the shumaang? Would you ask your neighbour to clean it up for you? Or would you personally shovel it away to a nearby khongbaan? If you belong to the fourth guild, maybe you are among the sensible Manipuris who at least dream of seeing a better Manipur—one such Mani-pur where callous politicians do not indulge in mindless political tricks, one such Manipur where there is no unwanted chaos or social unrest, where economic blockade becomes history and price rise is a gone case. Sounds pretty enticing, right? But to turn it into action, we need to get involved and start fighting from the scratch—don’t you think so?

For many, I know that it would sound boring (not challenging) and the obvious ‘oiroidaba, kaanaroidaba’ reactions may strike the chord of most of their unused brains. That is very natural. Cynicism has always been an achievement amongst us. We are very much prone to negativism. But if you dare (yes I said DARE) to break that cocoon of cynicism and at least lend a helping hand to reconstruct and reform our society, trust me you would forever feel proud to tag yourself a Manipuri. A change is desperately sought in our State. If this change doesn’t happen, let us happily share a ‘paangdaba’ as a suffix or prefix with our names. Let us also sell our self-respect and morale at the keithel at a price much cheaper than onion or potatoes. If we want to win the battle, we have to fight at the cost of anything. Superheroes are mythological, they suit better only in comics and will never ever turn up to fight on our behalf. Let us get real, let us get acquainted with the issues and find means to let the wind of change blow in Kangleipaak.

If you are still cynical and not yet ready for this change, you need not waste your time reading this article to the end. Give up, and tag yourself a loser and go to hell. For those who believe in change and are ready to be a meaningful part of it let us share this affinity, find means to connect one another and YES, voice our grievances together. Enough is enough! Let us stop being a prey of mindless politics, let us also stop playing the blame-games. Let us together sow the seed of ‘Change’ for a better Manipur.

The Assembly Elections 2012 is knocking on the door. It is a decisive time when we will get the opportunity to make our representatives accountable for the nature of our collective life that we lead in Manipur. It is the right time to raise our voices to fight for our well being and dignity. It is the right time to spread awareness in our families, leikais and kendras, and not to get carried away by the buttered talks of candidates or political parties—not to buy their votes and not to support proxy voting. Our issues should also be their issues, if not then they should not contest for the elections. I know it sounds challenging to generate awareness amongst the hoi polloi. But need we worry when there are various means to do so? Music is a lingua franca that connects all of us across the world. Why not use it as a principle means to sow the seed of change in our State? We have a good taste of music. Why don’t we fine-tune this taste and spread awareness amongst ourselves to bring a change in our society? In Manipur, for all these years, rock music has always been misconstrued and tagged with drug and sex. Let us evolve ourselves from that mentality. Let it be rock, let it be pop, let it be any genre—why don’t we make music a common thread to connect and reconnect with one another?

Vote for Change: A rock concert is on its way this 10th November. If you think it’s just another musical concert, you are hopelessly WRONG. Starting with this event, if we make the most of concerts like this, themed on a common cause, the push-button to take our common cause to the next level is as easy as learning ABC. Phoenix, Brothers featuring Jagdish, Fringes, The Dirty Strike, The Wishess featuring Basav Dutta etc are the performing bands of this musical solidarity show.

If you abhor violence, if you detest bomb blasts and killing of innocents, if you hate callous politics and economic blockades in the State—SPEAK OUT, BE A PART OF THE CHANGE. Let us work it out together. We can start dreaming of a better Manipur without the bl-oodsheds, without the hatred, without the mindlessness amongst politicians. We just need to unite and create a common cause. Let us make a collective pledge to avoid leading wretched lives, let us also make this rock concert a means to voice our grievances. Come be a part of the change, be a part of the musical solidarity. Cheers!

This article was published on 5 Nov 2011

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