“Nokminnasi”: A Humble Attempt to Revive Yesteryear’s Epom

“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.”
— Audrey Hepburn

Laughter can be used to overcome challenges and enhance our lives. A playful communication to a great extent strengthens our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection among us. A positive bond is easily created when we laugh together, regardless of the silliness of a joke! This bond further acts as a strong buffer for us against stress, disappointment, disagreements or other petty tit-bits of life.

Research studies have always shown that shared joke and laughter are one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. Sharing laughter adds joy, vitality and resilience. It is better to laugh out loud than to become the classic tight-jawed sourpuss who takes everything seriously and never laughs at anything. However, laughing alone is lesser fun. This has inspired me to come up with the theme of “Nokminnasi”, the first ever stand-up comedy show in Manipur. A first part of the series was recently held successfully at the MDU Hall a week ago.

The inspiration behind Nokminnasi

Back in the old days, Epom used to be one of the few means of entertainment for us. And it was indeed a level above the rest. I still have fond memories about watching Epom right in my leikai, but the cycle of time has drastically changed the landscape of entertainment in the neighbourhood.

I thoroughly enjoyed the satire in many of the Epom series. The inimitable legends like Mayang Imphal Tombi, Takhellembam Chaoba, and Oinam Babu, also popular as the ‘Yotsabi Makhong’ of Manipuri faagi used to rock the crowd in their best hilarious and comic ways. A particular Epom programme meant hours of laughter riot. Manipuri faagi had its hallmark during their days.

At present, the legacy of faagi has been passed on to some very gifted artistes. Faagi, at present, is still considered an important machal for any movie, leela or drama at present. Faagi is indeed an important mathel of our lives. Imagine a life sans faagi. It would be like a platter of nga-thongba sans salt eh?

Over the years, Epom has been seeing a gradual death especially after the demise of oja Tombi, Chaoba and Babu. Well, I cannot help appreciating Oja Ruhinikumar and his artistes for the Nokfade series, which can be considered as a replica of Epom for all these years and has kept back the charms of local humour and entertainment in this age of YouTubes and Vimeos.

In a society like ours where insurgency and social unrest set the norm, faagi should be an important part of our lives, not only to take a break but also to keep the mercury of sanity at a tolerable level.

“Nokminnasi” is a humble attempt to revive the delight of Epom with a contemporary touch. Also created as a platform for all the young comedians across the state to showcase their skill, “Nokminnasi” wants to reach out to each and every budding artistes who loves to culture Manipuri faagi in the truest, hilarious sense. If laughter is the best medicine, “Nokminnasi” is a complete dose.

Well, I was a little unsure to give a try in an unpredictable society like ours. So, I and my team organised the Nokminnasi Season One with a limited number of artistes while targeting a limited audience for the beginning. An overwhelming support and encouragement from the audience and artistes have encouraged us to present “Nokminnasi” to a larger audience.

Nokminnasi Season One showcased the skills of nine artistes namely. The masters of Manipuri humour got down in style—Pabung Manglem, Rajen, Joseph and Rangilal knew exactly what the audience expected from them. Then a crop of talented artistes including Herojit, Naobi, Raja, Ambika and Ajoy set the stage on fire with their ranging lights of humour. So now, we are trying our best to present Nokminnasi Season Two with a different flavour of faagi.

Auditions for Nokminnasi Season 2 are going to start in a few days. So, if you know any comedian in your keirol-leikai, emung-manung or saagei-naatei, please contact me personally. Let us keep up the spirit of ‘Epom’ in whatsoever way we can. Nokminnasi and we can work together to add more energy and happiness while unleashing all the frustrations from our lives.

This article was published on 27 April 2014

A Yaoshang to Remember

A tug of war showdown at a park in New Delhi

A festival is celebrated for its essence. So, sometimes it does not matter where and how you celebrate a festival as long as we keep up the essence. This year, we celebrated Yaoshang, coinciding with the last day of the festival, in our traditional style but with a typical quintessence in New Delhi.

We organized typical games like chafu thugaibi and thouri chingnabi. The best part of the event was the tambola housie. We had gathered at a popular park, as we scratched and shouted for the quick fives, stars, the lines and the like.

For a while, we felt so closer at home. It was indeed a typical spring evening. The only sad part was time restraint. Sundays are always precious for working professionals. We had to spare our Sunday afternoon to catch up with one another. The event, which was supposed to start hours earlier, began a little late. Yet, we make it up with unrestrained fun and frolic. I am sure, as a side note, we managed to redefine the concept of ‘Meitei pung’ here in Delhi.

Well, I do not intend to bore you all with my personal experience of how awesome my Yaoshang festival was. Still, I would like to stress on how important it is for us to catch up and celebrate every festival together, whether we stay back home or elsewhere across the world.

I have observed in all these years that our folks in Delhi do not have a unifying factor. Most of the diasporas and expatriates rely heavily on internet, and social media to be precise, to connect with their friends and families. I consider it that there is always a strong undercurrent of nostalgia among us. Most of us are homesick during many occasions. In fact, festivals fuel up our nostalgia meter.

Beyond the Yaoshang play-field

Quite contrary to my over-expressive opinion, I have also come across many Manipuris in the city who get pissed off with the smell of ngaari, soibum or hawaijaar. They, in my opinion, are the chanafam khangdraba kaangbu.

Ngari, soibum and hawaijaar are a few of the distinguishing factors of our community. The smell of ngari or soibum while crossing a building or ally makes most of us nostalgically hungry. And that’s a unique specialty of our community. Correct me if I am wrong.

No doubt, we have students’ associations here but in my opinion, I think we need a body that unifies both the students and working professionals in the city. Don’t you think we are quite used to community living? Besides, we get more ideas that further grow when we interact with one another. I used to crack jokes about a demand for a greater Manipur in the capital. I hope this does not sound like a step to launch a demanding crusade, like a homeland — a concept that we find it hard to resist.

Back at the Yaoshang arena

Nevertheless, I missed the original flavour of Yaoshang back at home — those countless games and sports at the leikai lampak, many chaak chanaba programs, getting pampered by mom’s delicious insaangs and the list is endless. I do miss all my leikai friends and cousins, with whom I grew up together celebrating Yaoshang and many festivals to the fullest.

We do celebrate Yaoshang here but we celebrate it paying a due homage to all the best memories about the festival we have. I had wished many a times to celebrate Yaoshang in the city. I randomly shared my plans then but never had any support from anyone in particular.

This time, we managed to make a difference with the help of some very good friends. We wore colourful phanek on that day as a reminiscence of good old Yaoshang days. Nothing can beat that.

We do have terrific plans for celebrating the forthcoming Cheiraoba in yet another compensatory attempt to lessen the degree of missing home. No matter, how and why we celebrate it, what makes us feel good is the feeling of being together with our own folks in the city. We come from different leikais; most of us did not even know one another but then the nostalgia factor, like a strong yubi thouri, binds all of us together.

I am glad to share that a Yaoshang, Cheiraoba or Chakouba in Delhi will never be the same again. Thanks to all my friends who have supported me and chanura marup (a group of exported Meitei chanuras) in pioneering this endeavour. We hope we can repay our gratitude with a scrumptious Cheiraoba meal soon. You might even want to join us. Cheers!

This appeared in 7 April 2013 edition of the Sangai Express