An Anti-Stereotypical Thought Singju!

We worship Goddess Panthoibi piously for two weeks in the month of Mera and for the rest of the year we are ready to consider our womenfolk are like the do-they-even-exist types. Manipur Masala presents an anti-stereotypical thought singju to unravel a few funny cases of stereotyping, which are intricately fabricated and juggled in our society for all these years.

Behind the masquerade of patriarchy, stereotyping is observed as quite an ethical norm in our society. To cite the simplest example, we generally observe that a guy who occasionally cooks or indulges in a bit of household chores for his family is categorised under the section of ‘maram mokpa’ or ‘gyaan taaba type’. He becomes an adorable person in the keiroleikai. If that guy happens to be a Pakhang, a list of leisabis would go ga-ga after him.

Alright, I do admire the type of maram-mokpa Pakhang or any nupa who lends a helping hand in the domestic chores of the family. But given a thought on it, it smells to me, a syndrome of hard-core stereotype.

In our society, the female lots in every family are occupied in a hell lot of household chores on a daily basis. There is hardly any admiration for a particular girl who runs her family catering to all the needs of the members of her family.

There is a sole consolation that a girl receives from her relatives or keiroleikai: ‘Echagi maram khumoksidi hayengwai mouga oiradi manem makuna yam paamdoipotni’. This insinuates how a girl is born to look after a family for her entire life—regardless of mapaam or nupa mayum.

A leisabi, before tying the nuptial knot, is expected to learn all the emungi kupnom besides mastering the art of cooking niche insaangs such as chagem pomba, ooti thongba, sareng thongba etc. Leisabihood days are synonymous to pre-marriage training time during which a girl has to attain perfection in every single household work. When it comes to work, the list is endless: wai teiba, chaak thongba, fee suba, emung loisinba (rolling my eyes) and what not.

Imagine the roles were reversed. Imagine a Pakhang doing all these household activities on a daily basis just to become eligible as an ideal Yumgi Nupa after his marriage. I would not mind hosting an event in pursuit of the most maram mokpa nupa of the year simultaneously showering him with gifts and blessings. There would even be benedictions such as ‘afaba nupi fangjaro’.

Well, the ground reality is not so fascinating. Our society has so many funny hocus-pocuses about culturing the norm of stereotyping. We have tinctured many stereotyped beliefs on our mind. All of us are accustomed to the beliefs of shumaang matonda fanek fouba touheide; except u-rok sumjeet, guys are forbidden to touch the broom and the most interesting one: nupana eru ludana chaak thongbadi yai, nupinadi yaade.

I do not have the slightest intention of waging a gender war. But I honestly believe it’s high time that we change our mindsets on sexuality. So, in my Utopian Sanaleibaak, guys should cook on a daily basis; they should equally look after their homes like their better halves; and they should not mind if there is a Fanek hanging at the Polaangkhok right at the Shumang maton. Rather, mind the mess that is synonymous to Manipur today.

Until and unless we change our mindset, there is hardly any use of yelling at the streets or hammering the keyboards to speak out against injustice or crime against women that are continuously committed in our society.

‘Attempting to get at truth,’ to quote the acclaimed English journalist, Harold Evans, ‘means rejecting stereotypes and clichés’.

Can we attempt to come upon the truth? At least, try...?

Come on, it won’t be anything like rocket science. Let’s just do it. Let’s say ‘Goodbye to stereotyping’ and say ‘Hello to a free society’ where all the Leisha-Pakhang are categorised as Maram Mokpi/Mokpa and the ahal-laman enjoy themselves as audiences of ideal romantic nuances.

The world’s truly a stage. And I bet it will be a hit with equal improvisations from the two sexes, rather than just one. In so doing, I bet again that we will find more essence in singing paeans for Panthoibi Lairembi. The rest will follow automatically.

This article was published on 13 Oct 2013

A Tale of Two Melodramas of the Season

All the Sajibu, Kaalen, Inga and Ingen have their unique flavours. We create seasonal memories with specific occasions and stuffs that make the days special, or at least, memorable. I have come up with a different recipe for Manipur Masala, so that it adds a new tang to the ongoing seasonal melodramas (if I may call it so).

We have two dramas this season: first, the battery of bombs that are ready to explode anytime/anywhere in our state. The second performance is a sensitive national issue—the onion drama.

Who says the government cannot collapse because of tilhou? Food inflation can prove politically disastrous ahead of the next general election, scheduled next year. So, it will be unsurprising if the major political parties are harping on tilhou to make a point or two, inside and outside the talking shop of the Indian democracy.

Now let us see the happenings closer home, yet on the other side of India. I am not sure about the price of the cheap bombs that are available across the state but when it comes to Onion, it’s Rs 80 per kg.

The price is as apt as the thika commission for our babu sahebs. Unlike the spirit of the Manipuris, most of the stingy Delhites have almost decided to stop consuming tilhou entirely. Rupees 80 is such a big concern for the Delhites. The living standard and earning might be higher here in the capital but when it comes to generosity, no one can ever beat the Manipuris. And that’s something we should always be proud of.

The melodrama of tilhou is expected to continue for quite a few days. Meanwhile, the melodrama of bombs will perhaps continue for a few more months or even years depending on the shortage of sanity as far as our state and our folks are concerned. I must not forget to mention that the tilhou issue is not much of a shocking news for us. The recent years have been a sole witness how we, the Manipuris, do not mind even spending more than Rs 1,000 for a cylinder. Then, the petrol and diesel issue—all of us know they are available all the time; we just have to pay more!

According to a secret source of naap-chadaba pao, it has been reported that the recent bomb blasts are more of a reminder to the rest of the nation that this onion price inflation is nothing as compared to the daily inflation of human lives that continue in our state. As usual, our P.M Ji’s reaction to this information was ‘mute’. He has, however, shared his concern over the sarkaar kainam-namba tilhou price issue.

A few sources from Manipur have also reported that Nakuppi and Napaakpi-chaar will be sent in bulk to Bihar and Haryana by the end of this year. This is to prevent government-collapsing tilhou inflation in the coming future. Considering it as one opportunity of Kangleipakisation, our Ingkhol Minister has wished all the Nakuppi and Napaakpi karobaar people all the best for this venture.

Meanwhile, the secretary of ‘Ema Leibaakidamak Sen Niduna Lemjaa Chagani’ party, Mr. Thouleitaba has expressed his concerns through as-to-be-printed press release: “Among the many ‘isms’ we numbly follow in our society, one such remarkable ‘ism’ is Heinabism. We are so obsessed with this habit that we cannot give it up at any cost, which is in fact, a matter of pride for many of us. Coupled with Katan-ism, it’s a long way to go for us. Therefore, I cannot concur the idea of exporting nakuppi or napaakpi chaar to other Indian states. This is not a brilliant idea at all.’

Reality for us is like a chewing gum; we love chewing it but would never ever swallow it because it is indigestive. The consequence would be a little odd. Hence, the thou-waaa saabidaba praja-meeyam of our society are still reluctant to face it. They still purchase petrol at a double price and still do not mind spending lupa marfoo for a kilo of tilhou.

This article was published on 18 April 2013

A Stolen Page from High School Diary

Who does not miss school days? The very mention of school makes us nostalgic. It is not an abnormal wish for many of us to have a time machine, which would help us travel back to those amazing years of our lives.

Well, the invention of a time machine may take hundreds or thousands of years. So, it is not a smart idea to keep waiting for a time machine. The only possible option is to bicycle down the memory lane and recollect some of those wonderful moments of our school days, just as I am going to do through this column.

The more we remember those carefree school days, the more nostalgic we become. We, then, used to nag on many petty issues. Homework was the most boring thing next to the Employment News in between the weekend movies on Doorsarshan; class works were equally deadening. Exams made us sick. And the day the school management announced the peikha routine, we would start worrying about how much we are left to study. Who else had more to study?!

Presently, the hectic corporate schedules do not score higher mark than the then list of activities we used to indulge in. Morning and evening tuitions, reading together with friends (which indirectly refers to lesser study, more fun), mom’s braja-taarakpa like esou when you keep watching TV during exam time and of course, asking for more pocket money on the last day of exam to enjoy forbidden snacks or to go for a movie with friends, and the list goes on. The sad part is that there will not be a repeat telecast of all those moments. We can only thank memory lairembi for making us remember all these days. I hope this memory never ever fades away.

Well, many of us would not be reluctant to admit that we, the Manipuris, have this interesting habit of adding a local flavour to most of the Angrazi terms. Hence, we usually call a notebook as ‘boi’ and refer to an instrument box as ‘kompass’, so similar to ‘kompakk’. We even shorten a local term for school bag — ‘lairik khao’ to ‘laikhao’. I am sure this trend continues among the school kids these days.

We need not feign, though. Our typicality is something that makes us stand apart from others. When we say ‘hoten’ (instead of hotel) or ‘hospitaan’ (hospital), we must say it loud and with pride. For that matter, we had never seen the difference between ‘see’ and ‘she’. Alternatively, how would Pink Floyd even sing ‘We don’t need no education’, with a double negative? Grammar Nazis and language ‘oja’ might excuse my opinion in this regard, or take my view just as another opinionated brick in the wall of Manipur Masala.

It was right during our school days that we learned about the art of squandering. Does it sound so fancy a word?

Well, on a positive note, squandering is not at all bad if you squander something that makes you happy. For example, the art of squandering the last page of Hindustan ‘boi’ or any boi was one of the best ever fun we had. That is the page where we would play zero konbi, word building, bingo, name-place and what not. At times, we would simply tear it to write messages to one another or to make a paper plane or boat out of it. That rocket never flew in the sky, that paper boat never sailed in the river but the memories still make us feel good. That’s their beauty!

Life would be a mistress of distress, if we had no good memories to cherish. Equally, films and novels have illustrated how life would be a disaster if we can remember every bit of it. I am thankful to all my classmates, senior and junior friends with whom I share my wonderful memories of school days. Surely, life is an unpredictable odyssey. It is but a part of our fate that we will land up somewhere we earlier expected or never expected before.

We move on loading sacks and sacks of memories in our hearts. Before being wavered amid the humdrums of mortality, we must remember and cherish all the good things and moments we have lived in the past. Long live memory lairembi!

This article was published on 17 March 2013