We, The People (With No Country)

The exodus of North Eastern students and professionals from various Indian cities has thrown up many unanswered questions. It has made us doubt ourselves, quite uncomfortably, of our own nationality. It has made us wonder if the country has never been ours in the true sense of the word. Had it been, we would not have been scared or rushing for home — now the situation is like we have to show our passports for proofs of our citizenship, not anywhere else but in our own country. This is not the first time.

I personally feel extremely sorry for all those students and professionals, especially in Bangalore, who have to go through such trying times. I equally feel sorry for the Indian system that cannot bring any solution to such brouhaha. The nation seems to have been engulfed by chaos from all its directions. It would be apt to say, from the number of people in the exodus, that it resembles the re-partition of the nation. As a North Easterner and as a Manipuri, I have my own concerns about my brethren who are frightened, which the government and its law-enforcing agencies say, is only a result of rumours. Would they care to read between the lines of the exodus of more than 20 thousand people? Quite ironically, the India that once annexed us, promising our fundamental rights now fails to protect us from mere threats. The India that boasts itself as one of the biggest democratic nations has repeatedly failed to uphold its spirit.

We always had/have our own share of grievances against the system but we never imagined that our existence would be threatened by some miscreants who perhaps share the same nationality with us. Perhaps, it’s time for a serious introspection among all of us. India, are you really our country? Why has such a question cropped up?

From the context of Manipur, many deliberations are to be discussed — and like open wounds, the more we discuss about them, the worse our emotional pain gets. But it is now more than being emotional or getting excited. Let us admit the very fact that Manipur’s merger with India has aggravated the problems.

We were gifted with the AFSPA — the most unwanted law that arms the effeminate military and affects the people. The very mention of AFSPA brings along many bitter memories. There was a time when any impending combing operation used to scare the hell out of us. The sound of hammered electric posts leaves trails of those nightmares. We were scared of getting raped, we were so helpless when our brothers, fathers and uncles were beaten black and blue right in our courtyards. Some of them were arrested without any warrant or on grounds of mere suspicion. Many of them never returned home. Later we would hear about how their lifeless bodies were found at nearby turel or paathi-komthi. Fear psychosis is still the order of the day, thanks to the power which has been passed over to the state police these days. It is ironical how fear takes different shapes and roles in our society and hinders us from leading a life of dignity, all in all living in the biggest democracy of the world.

The dilemma between written democracy and practiced democracy needs to be solved among the leingaak-pathap holders. They have tried to polish the spirit of democracy but ended only in polluting it; they talk so loud about the achievements in various fields, ignoring the remotest problems at its nooks and corners. They too boast of a hollow republic concept that ensures each and every citizen to lead a free and fair life without even the ability to protect the lives of innocents. Have they realized how many of us are dying every day right in our own land? Have they ever tried to put themselves in our shoes?

I am equally amazed by our own political leaders and representatives, who hardly pay any heed to most of our grievances. But what to do, we have done the favour ourselves by electing them. And there are our honourable rebels, the motherland lovers- the so called sons of the soil- who leave no stone unturned to add more salt on the wounds of the people. Baah, Kangleipak! What have they turned you into?

If this is the norm of democracy, sorry but we would rather prefer a dictatorship by a sensible leader, who would at least be concerned about the grievances of its citizens. India, please let us have a choice. Are you really our country? Stop all these step-motherly treatments. Need I remind you again that we are not children of the lesser god; we are neither born to spend our lives with fear. Please restore us our dignity, please make us proud to introduce ourselves as the citizen of this country and if you can’t, it is better we call ourselves and take ourselves as the people with no country.

This article was published on 19 Aug 2012

Racism versus Irresponsibility of Our Political Leaders

You can lead a horse to water but can’t make it drink. You can talk and discuss relentlessly on racism but it is next to impossible to cure mainlanders from the chronic disease of racism. In India, the land of gobber and achaar, racism is never ever a personal experience. It runs deep in the vein of each one of us YES I repeat each one of us. Racism is a systematic practice in Indian society that does not exclude any community, region or state. Let us not be surprised to find out that North Indians are racial to South Indians and vice versa. Racism on grounds of look and skin-colour, and racism on grounds of ethnicity are consistently prevailed across the country. If we broadly study on racism as a wide chapter, we will come across many funny observations. To cite a few, most Indian pop icons have light-near- white skin. Most of the Indian stars and celebrities promote skin-bleaching creams that promise to improve one’s look. Even the matrimonial ads stress on fairness as one additional quality for a to-be bride. Need we be surprised about the general mindset of mainland Indians then? Even we Manipuris are prone to address North Indians as mayaangs and we even tease a black skinned girl or boy at our very leikai as ‘Negro tombi or tomba’. It begins right there. We are equally infected by racism. So, it’s better to keep aside this topic for the time being and focus on a more serious problem perhaps a more boring issue than racism?

Let me begin with quite a simple and relevant example from our day to day lives. When there is a fight among kids at a locality, their parents intervene, scold/console them and settle things. Let us (citizens of Manipur) put ourselves in the shoes of those kids and consider the political leaders as our parents. Where do we stand? I suppose we stand nowhere. We are impoverished and the neglected lots. Need I cite one more example on how our political leaders are so ruthlessly reckless? No beating the bush let me come to the straight point. Guess what? It took him (no wild guess on who is this ‘him’) more than two weeks to probe into the matter of the dead of Richard Loitam. By the time he was partially involved in the cause, the rituals were over and the issue had already gained momentum with thousands of people supporting it across the country. I am afraid whether he was even aware about the news of Richard’s death, I am afraid if he is least bothered about this issue. I am quite ashamed to admit that (starting from our CM) most of our political leaders are so callously irresponsible in many matters of social or political issues though they are too responsible in financial matters. Forget the ruling party; even the opposition party hasn’t played its part. Sometimes, I wonder if I should insinuate the opposition party to raise many issues that could be strong political tools for them to accuse the ruling party. None of my business I know so forget it.

Whatsoever, I seriously OBJECT the lack of sensibility and responsibility among most of the political leaders in our state. And I consider it a much grave situation that racism. Power is addictive to them. They are more treacherous than drug addicts when it comes to power. Their lives are powerfully smooth and hassle free; there isn’t a single room for any kind of problem in their lives. Everything is picture perfect for them …really? I not only despise but pity them too. They have power, they have money so what? Money and power can never buy peace of mind. Trust me; they will forever be alien to mental solace when they become old and feeble. God bless them!

No citizen wants to decry, no citizen wants to fetch complains on Governance but as far as Manipur is concerned are we left with any other choice? Why do we never avail of the chance to adore our own Chief Minister or any of the political parties? Why do we always succumb to their dirty political tricks? Why we are not governed but ruled? Many questions perturb me from time to time and I am tired of finding the answers myself. I seriously find racism a minute issue as compared to the deep rooted problems our society has been facing for all these decades.

Well, with or without the support of our (not at all) adorable political leaders, the campaign for Justice for Richard is making news across the country. And it is also worth to note that a verdict which time has come to be passed cannot be put on halt. This time, it is a strong conviction among us irrespective of which community we belong, which faith we follow. We have been united like never before. But as I humbly requested earlier, let us not restrict the issue of our dear brother Richard to racism alone. From my perspective, the problem is not just racism in our society. It is something graver than racism. This is not the right time to point fingers at mainlanders. Before accusing them of racism, let us first sort out our domestic problem which to me is a more gruesome and disheartening. By and by, let us fight for this cause till JUSTICE is sought!

This appeared on 6 May 2012

The 26th Column — Age No Bar

It struck my mind on a late January evening while lazily sipping a cup of tejpata flavoured chaangang at the balcony of my sojourn here in the capital city of India. As usual, I was pretty confused about a decent topic to write on for next week. I gave a second thought about the first thought and decided it should be something I must write on no matter what, why or how. So, here I am with the 26th Column.

This time I have nothing to talk about our Cheap Minister. I do not have any grudge against the Maiba who sold away Manipur to Hawaimaan. I would not bother to talk anymore on any social networking site and its popularity. I don’t even have to talk much on elections or on any other social or political fundas. Let all these topics be cast aside. I have something else to share this time. Something not surreal or fictional but what we often call the reality bytes, especially from the perspective of a girl/lady.

On a self-introductory note, let me simply introduce myself as a regular girl (read lady) with not so expensive dreams. My dreams are pretty affordable and anyone would find them very mundane. When it comes to the real me I must be honest enough to say that (sans the age factor) I love to flaunt as a kid in the heart.

Like my friends, I still hate to admit my real age. The very thought of turning thirty scares me to hell. I am still on the safer side of thirty but it doesn’t mean I am never going to turn thirty. No matter how much I hide my age, no matter how much carefree or damn care I get along with my friends, the reality byte is that I am old enough to be childish and mature enough to be dyed-in-the-wool to my obligations and of course consider of marriage as one of the social norms to be followed (did I really type all these?)

Though I haven’t yet tried Olay cream or thought about a facial beautification therapy either, I know it would not be far when I really have to start worrying about aging and its various syndromes. Most of us are used to consoling one another with encouraging filmy quotes or remarks such as ‘Sweet sixteen forever’, ‘Young at heart’ ‘We live in deeds not in ages’ etc. At the end of the day, however, the mirror never lies. Should I call it the first reality byte?

For the second realty byte, there is no surprise factor. It is about the wedding phobia that most of us have. Many jokes have been cracked on it, many hilarious opinions have been shared, many remarks have also been heard but the phobia is pretty infectious among those who are not yet ready to tie the knot.

Fairy tales have always encouraged us to believe in those whims and fancies. We (girls) have always loved dreaming about our own ‘Knight (s) in shining armour’ who would one day come to rescue us from the dungeon of solitude and all those stupid exaggerated anticipations. Well, it’s sheer stupidity to really expect a filmy or fairy tale like sequence in our lives. Films are to entertain us and fairy tales are sweet when they are told to kids (I wish I could attach a smiley here).

The reality has always a different facet and we get hooked to it knowingly or unknowingly.

It is pretty obvious that many of us have an emotional hangover of the past, many of us get stuck at a snail snarling traffic jam of life clueless of which way to head and many of us are busy working on tight professional schedules. The only seasoned habit which is common among each one of us is whining on petty issues. But in the middle of all this brouhaha, we are gradually aging, our youthfulness is slowly dwindling away and the gusto is also becoming feeble. Perhaps this is the norm of life, perhaps this is how things go on.

Well, we cannot deny the truth any more than we have been denying it already. In some good years, everyone’s life would be changed. Many of us would willingly or unwillingly tie the knots. Many of us would finally consider of making the next move. Many of us would win a lot of laurels in our careers. Change will be one common thread that will tie us all in the next few years.

I am not going to tell anything new when I would talk about how it is significant to value time, value relations, value the moments from all the three tenses. But even if it sounds stale, let me conclude my 26th column assuring you all that the past was as beautiful as the present and the future is going to be more beautiful. Let us shoo the ghosts away and be more real and enjoy life to the fullest living it queen size. After all tomorrow is not just another day.

This article was published on 29 Jan 2011

A Few Reasons Why I Adore Our Cheap Minister

Sometimes hillocks of problems cannot be solved by bullocks of strategies. Sometimes it is hard to digest a fat lie with hajmola pills, sometimes things are out of our good control and we cannot simply blame an individual for all the uncontrolled state of affairs. I hereby in full consciousness admit some reasons why I adore our Cheap Minister despite his flaws in proper governance of the State of Manipur. He is the man, a true son of Kangleipak, who can do anything to rule and safeguard his State from enemies and trespassers. My heart goes out to him for his endless endeavour to become a struggling super-ruler in the State. Instead of ridiculing or rebuking his flaws, it’s time we support him and encourage him to take Manipur to a next level; competent enough to compete with other States in the world (forget just India).

Is it wrong supporting a struggling King? All he aspires to become is the King—The Ultimate Ningthou of democratic Manipur. Is it therefore erroneous to support his interest? So what, he doesn’t have a surname that reads RK or MK, so what he doesn’t act royal in his manners and diplomatic skill, we can still crown him the king of Kangleipak for many reasons more than one. All in all, a democratic king needs not bear a Royal Surname. So, he is more than eligible to become our ‘King’.

Another reason why I adore our Cheap Minister is his patience in dealing everything that happens in the State. He keeps his cool and tries to control every chaotic situation in a calm state of mind. Isn’t that an encouraging attribute? It is perhaps a high time he earns a sobriquet as the ‘coolest CM in the history of Manipur’. His endurance level and patience are beyond anyone’s good comparison. He surely has vicarious guts to resolve issues that other CMs could not afford to resolve during their time. Keeping a cool frame of mind is something that a genius can only do. So, from each and every angle he is a Genius. Maybe he is an aficionado of Parle G—g for genius. Maybe he has got a super-brain that can outwit anyone and come up with drastic, dramatic solutions from time to time.

We cannot blame him for the famine in the State. Unnatural, ghastly and deadly though the famine is we still cannot hold him responsible for the sorry state of affairs. This famine that is likely to take the shape of any issue will continue for a long time (has to continue). Blame-games are not ideal solutions to fight this famine. We should give him suggestions or instructions on how he can fight this ongoing famine instead of rebuking or ridiculing his every single step in State governance.

He is not the super-hero who can fly in the sky and reach out to the vulnerable individuals. He is not a magician who can wave his magic wand and let miracles happen. He is just a human being with all his akanba and asonba qualities. He leads a pretty normal life like us. He doesn’t have any extra power to transform the State and bring everything to normalcy. He is doing his best in handling every situation and issue. Though he seems a little laid-back in his approach and also in taking up measures, we all know that he is equally worried and disturbed like us. He doesn’t have a remote control to put everything in control at its place. He cannot even chant a mantra that can pacify burning issues. Had he known any, things would have been otherwise. He is just a mundane mortal being like you, like him/her, like everyone so why the heck should we blame him?

Let rumours and mills spread everywhere, let people call him names, I am always going to adore him because he is the only Cheap Minister who has the calibre to run the State machinery for all these years and thus deserves our attention and support. Whatever he is doing is for the welfare of the State to bring it up on a global platform. So, we cannot mar his spirit to conquer the whole of Manipur and step ahead towards a new world. Let us stop whining, let us also stop playing all these sickening blame-games. If we don’t support our ruler, who on earth is going to support him? If we don’t stand by him through thick and thin, who is going to motivate him? Let us start creating positive vibes and start supporting him in his humble cause. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us stand united for the sake of boosting our Cheap Minister’s morale.

PS: I herby admit that I wrote this write-up in a hallucinated state of mind.

This article was published on 28 Oct 2011.