Waiting for Gorobi

“We wait. We are bored. (He throws up his hand.) No, don’t protest, we are bored to death, there’s no denying it. Good. A diversion comes along and what do we do? We let it go to waste... In an instant all will vanish and we’ll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness!”

An excerpt from one of Samuel Beckett’s plays, ‘Waiting for Godot’ 

Sometimes, I wonder if the situation in our State is more or less similar to the tragicomedy of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ in which the two protagonists, Vladimir and Estragon keep waiting for a person called Godot, who is not much familiar to any of them and whose presence or arrival is going to make zero impact in their lives. The ironical note with which the story ends is that Godot never turned up and the two protagonists annoyingly gave up sans any other choice. The overall plot of Beckett’s play would be totally irrelevant as far as the scenario at Manipur is concerned so, ‘Waiting for Gorobi’ would perhaps be the ideal way of impersonating a not so important character like Godot whom we think is going to be an ideal ‘Lamyanba’ for us, one who would be probably sent from ‘Soraren’ (as they say/believe so).

Well, my dearest Kangleichas, can any of you let me know what would be the value of nothingness, infinitely multiplied for innumerable number of times? One hell of a stupid question, right? But quite ironically, all of us try to do this multiplication most of the time. We generally know it is sheer stupidity to talk or discuss about certain problems that only keep increasing, meanwhile, we do not have even a single solution for any of them. And even if we have any probable solution, we cannot implement it because of another problem. Tapta’s ‘Problem ni Problem’ already explains it all so far.

At times, I seriously cannot help myself getting amused to come across the endless number of unwanted incidents that are incessantly happening in our state. Bandhs interrupt blockades, while curfews are still in the waiting list to interrupt the bandhs and general strikes. Que sera sera, there has to be something happening around in the state, if not, it would not sound so Manipuristic.

The problems seem to be burgeoning day by day in the state without any clue. However, life has to go on, so we adhere to our daily routines, continuously worship Lainingthou Laimaren every morning and evening wholeheartedly and with ardent devotion that our family and relatives be protected from any ill-incident and also ensure that each and every member of the family is home safe and sound by dusk. And that’s what matters. (Eigi eigi emung amadi echa eshu soidradi yaare).

Over the years, we have come across many a problem. Many months were meaninglessly wasted for school kids, many innocent lives were lost during various unpredicted incidents, prices of various commodities were/are sky rocketing and the list doesn’t end. None of us has ever come up with a solid solution during all these years; we were always used to waiting for something/someone till who knows? We eventually became bored in due course of time, didn’t feel like sticking to the same cause or reason and eventually started looking for other causes and means and the cookies keep crumbling like this for all these years...

My humblest question here is: ‘What/Who were/are we waiting for?’ A Lamyanba named ‘Gorobi’ or perhaps a magician who can spell his miraculous tricks and promise us a wind of change in the state? Now some additional questions are: Who is this Lamyanba going to be? Is he someone who is really going to solve all our problems? Is he someone who knows the solution to all the riddles? I have the biggest doubt under the sun over the existence of this so-called Lamyanba. It is so lame for us to actually keep waiting for something or someone, who would never ever turn up. Though the hope is endearing and sparks up our spirit, it is but sheer idiocy to dream about something that is next to impossible. Whether we digest it or not, the biting truth is ‘Manipur will always be Money Poor and a Blockaded Crippled State at the flick of anyone’s finger.’

If I have sounded pretty discouraging so far, I am extremely sorry. And do let me assure you all that ‘Everything is going to be OK’ (a white lie). After all, many meetings are in the pipeline, our respected political delegates are going to discuss every problem in detail amongst themselves and also with the Central Government; the blockades will come to an end soon very soon... etc etc. And if none of these ever happens, our ‘Gorobi’ is on his way. So, ‘Waiting for Gorobi’ is yet another ideal solution for all our problems. Please bear with what is happening around in the state for the time being (as if there is another means).

This article was published on 27 Aug 2011