Can We Let Injustice Brood?

“Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression! And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be?”

The above paragraph is an excerpt from the dialogues of a movie called V for Vendetta. Many of you might have watched the movie and for those who haven’t watched it yet, please watch it at least once. I want to relate this excerpt with an obedient consent that we have been often forced to follow in our society. Before I come to the point, let me cite another quote by Adolf Hitler-“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” Let us introspect and co-relate the quote with the most shocking moronic medical report of the century that has stated that Richard’s death was caused by a cardiac ailment. The medical practitioners have come up to such a conclusion that has left us shocked and baffled. Perhaps this is just an example rather an excuse of an obedient consent we are meant to blindly follow BUT only if we are the wisest fools to simply believe it, only if we are MORONS who do not have any thinking capability and only if we cannot act or react. They might have listened to many fairy tales; they might have considered JUSTICE as a myth for the very fact that the norm of democracy is a raucous joke in the country. However, we won’t blindly believe them. We will not call it a quit. We will never quit in fact. The cause should be dragged to courts, more medical researches should be done and most importantly it is high time for CBI to probe into the matter. This is not just for one Richard; this is for many Richards who were killed in the past and also for many Richards who will be succumbed to such inhumane killings. No institution, no medical practitioner should be exempted from any unfair dealing with the cause.

My humble suggestion, as of now, to every concerned Manipuri is to have a firm stand. Let us for the time being stop debating on racism or discrimination. A criminal is a criminal; he does not need a caste or creed to be differentiated from us. Richard’s murderer and any criminal in our community belong to the same league. If we say that it’s a sheer case of racial discrimination, we would be side tracked for the time being. As I mentioned in my previous column, we have graver issues than racism to be dealt with- the irresponsibility of our political leaders being the simplest example to cite. Has Richard’s issue been strongly addressed by our so called Government? Has anything been done so far to pressurize Karnataka Government to conduct a fair research on the medical examinations? No case has ever been filed because we were waiting for the evidence. What kind of evidence are we talking about? The PM report that states Richard probably had a hereditary cardiac ailment? Oh come on, if someone is beaten up black and blue, a cardiac arrest of the victim is pretty obvious. A case of suspect of murder or attempt to murder could have been already filed against the culprits but that is, so far, not done. We were/are raising our voices on social networking sites, we are noticed by National media channels and the issues of Richard & Dana Sangma have made news everywhere. Alright, if it was for the petty sake of making news, I will understand why the campaign of Justice almost successfully failed. I do not intend to discourage the spirit of campaigners but I earnestly believe that when we are fighting for a cause we should not be side tracked. Can’t there be a better time to fight for racism? Can’t we take help of another lawful means to raise our voice against racial discrimination of NE people? We do not provide any legitimacy to mainlanders to discriminate us on any ground but I strongly believe that the issue of racism should be addressed on another platform. This issue needs to gain momentum; we need support from the rest of the Nation. Let us wake up the whole Nation; let us indulge our political leaders; let us incite them up from their slumber. Let us not leave any stone unturned to fight for this cause.

Let us stop saying YES to an obedient consent framed only for political conveniences. If there is no fair court in this country, let us pledge to create one. I am not an activist (do not wish to become one too), I am not a strong voice that is worth to be heard among the hoi polloi; I am not even related to Richard. It’s nothing personal for me but I cannot take this issue lightly. Richard could be my own brother; Richard could be anyone’s brother. We cannot lose our brothers like this as if their lives are worth only a penny. We cannot let INJUSTICE brood, We WANT JUSTICE JUSTICE JUSTICE NOTHING ELSE MATTERS.

This article was published 20 May 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

Of Rock Music, Their Aficionados and the Mind-set of the Hoi Polloi

Ever since the last few months, my newsfeed on facebook has been continuously filled with updates from a group of enthusiastic rock music lovers from Manipur. The group’s primary aim is to help and promote all the rock musicians that hail from Manipur and North Eastern States. I am talking about none other than our very own Rock Music Community of Manipur. Yes they are the ones who recently spearheaded one of the historical events in our state- a never before held metal rock convention right in our home town. I missed the concert but thanks to facebook and thanks to all those friends/aficionados of rock music who had uploaded live photos and even enabled live streaming videos of the concert because of which I could nearly enjoy First Metal Convention in Imphal.

It was indeed a big day for many rock music fans in Manipur and also from the North East. This first ever metal convention in the state was headlined by none other than the God of Thrash Metal- POST MARK. Most of the metal heads claim POSTMARK as the first metal band of India. When the rest of the country was stuck to Bollywood with Baba Sehgal or Anu Malik, POSTMARK introduced a new taste of music that now runs in the vein of every rock music lover from our state. The formation of POSTMARK band in fact marked the beginning of the metal age era in the country as a whole. And after 18 long years, the band members were reunited on stage on that very day. Besides POSTMARK, other bands who participated in the convention include-

YONSAMPLE (KOLKATA)
AZURE DELUSION (NAGALAND)
CLEAVE (IMPHAL)
CHEM WEED FM (IMPHAL)
DEAD MOBSTER (IMPHAL)
SANDREMBEE (IMPHAL)

Despite the busy professional/personal schedules, sleepless nights, financial problems and heaps of unexpected issues every now and then they finally created history in the state with the recent ‘Metal Convention on 14th April 2012.

‘Rock touraga kei kaanadoino’ is a common mindset among maximum section of our society. Therefore, helping or promoting rock musicians in Manipur means facing lots of challenges- financial, personal, professional- you name it. It is also worth noting that most of the rock musicians and aficionados in our state are misconstrued on many grounds. For an individual who wants to culture or promote the taste of rock music, ‘Rock ta ngaorabani maadi’ is one hell of a discouraging feedback from a relative, friend or even a member of the family. I know many rock music fans would be able to empathise with me on this issue.

Well, from personal perspectives, as outsiders, most of us even think that rock musicians lead a pretty cool lifestyle. We do envy the way they carry themselves. However, what we see is not necessarily what we should believe. There are many established and budding rock bands that do not have enough financial sources to buy gadgets or musical equipments. But it is really commendable how they struggle to promote their keen interest in the field. They do not mind spending their pocket money or hard earned salary to culture their passion.

Night time is the right time to jam. However, in a state where load shedding is a gripe among the people, most of the rock bands jam with the help of power generators that cost them litres of Kerosene to run. By the way, I must not forget to mention that a litre of Kerosene in Imphal costs more than 100 rupees. So, if a band jams for 3 or 4 hours, they are spending at least 400 or 500 bucks per day just to jam. Besides their financial woes, most of their families do not understand them affected by the same ‘rock touraga kei kaana doino’ mindset. But they are not ready to give up. Their spirit is high. Some of them even self finance their own business not for any profit but to bring a change in the music world.

Dead Mobster, a budding death core metal band in Imphal is second to none when it comes to fighting against all the odds of surviving in the music world. This band composes and plays songs that reflect the issues in the society such as corruption, rape, gun culture etc. A few of their songs such as Killers Don’t Cry, Give me Strength – truly reflect their struggle to survive in the music world. The band members are currently working hard to release their new song 18th -themed on the 18th June massacre. Their number “Walk a little faster” is also a stirring song about HIV people, how they struggle in the society for survival. Hats off to many such bands that reflect our social and political issues through their songs!

I earnestly feel that it is the high time majority of the population understands the taste of rock music in our state. And most importantly those who have a taste of this genre of music should not be misconstrued on any ground. So, next time when a heavy metal fan at your/our very Leikai practices with his drum or guitar, ‘Jingha da noong thaaba toklasi’.

This article was published on 22 April 2012

What If It Was Adam-Teasing, Not Eve-Teasing?

‘Leisabi nasak fajeiko, eiga koinasiro’- It’s just one simplest example of nupi laknaba which is one of the popular chauvinistic trends rampantly practised in our society. It is usually with a funny motive when a group of guys indulge in the act of teasing a particular girl. From a general perspective, eve-teasing is sometimes referred to with a coy sugg-estion of innocent fun, making it appear guiltless with no resulting charge on the part of the perpetrator. With reference to the biblical Eve, the first woman on earth, the act of ‘eve-teasing’ implies that the woman is in some way responsible for the behaviour of the doers of this act. Nevertheless, many would find it just another unwanted creed introduced by a breed of chauvinistic males.

Without relying on any biblical source, we must agree that eve-teasing is an unbridled practice in our society that has been carried on since time immemorial. No wonder ours is a patriarchal society where most of the rules are made and also denounced by the so called chauvinistic males. Relating the universal theory of chauvinism with the practice of nupi laknaba, it is indeed considered cool for a gang of leiping famba guys at our respective localities to pass any kind of funny or rude remark or comment on a girl who coyly passes by at the leirak-khulak or lamjao-sorok. 

My cousins and friends are not even spared from the league of eve-teasers in our very locality. ‘Pakhangna leisabi laknadana kanada laknadoino’ –believe it or not but this is the general mindset among the elders. In my own personal opinion, eve-teasing is not an ill-practice as long as one does not cross the limit and if it is done only with a light motive. Nonetheless, using of indecent language or gesture while eve-teasing should not be encouraged at any cost.

Well, let us suppose and provide a whole new perspective to this very practice. What if it was Adam-teasing, not Eve-teasing? What if girls had to pass the same remarks on boys? What if ours was not a patriarchal society where there isn’t any chauvinistic norm? On a funny approbation, let us imagine all the probable situations if at all teasing the opposite gender were one such art aptly mastered by the fairer sex. Let us for a while suppose that it is Adam-teasing not Eve-teasing. Here are a few probable situations. (Guys kindly go through them with a light heart and do accelerate your humour-metre).

Situation No. 1- A guy is planning to move out of home for any personal or professional reason. He has to really worry about which route or leirak would be the best one to pass by and which lane should be avoided at any cost. ‘Oh damn! That leirak is frequented by Landhoni, Maloti and their group. What if they pass funny remarks about my hairstyle today? Am I looking ok in this dress? I don’t know what exactly is the problem with those girls, every time they see me they never spare a chance to pass on a remark, hingchabi singdo hmmm’- such would be the thought process of that pitiable guy. No comments on it (only a witty smile).

Situation No. 2- Suppose, the very guy has to compulsorily take that route where the same Landhoni, Maloti, Tababi etc make their ‘adda’ and where they are often found engrossed in some ‘serious leipung famba session’. Goosebumps, heartbeats, racing pulses etc. are few symptoms the poor guy would obviously have. Who knows he would even cross his fingers murmuring to himself ‘ngasidi laknabiraktradi fanida, thabak amta chatke thoklakpasida eidi ba beat ka tek ee seita’.

Situation No. 3 - Last but not the least, imagine one such situation in which the wannabe gang of girls do not spare a single chance and pass a rude comment or an abusive remark about the guy (something that’s indecent and really embarrassing). The poor guy doesn’t even have the guts to reply back as he is being dominated by the gang. Like a helpless kitten, he has to walk back home on the verge of crying. He reaches home, runs to his dad and relates what happened near the leikai lampaak and what kind of comments those notorious girls pass on him .His father would equally feel bad but quite helpless of the situation all he could tell his son is ‘Ebungo, next time take the other lane, don’t meddle with those girls. Takuri afaobi waarakpa ngamdrabi ngaaktani, echadi maram mokpani makhoiga maanarunuko’.

Well, I don’t want to visualize any more situations like the above mentions. If I were a guy, I have no idea whether I would be indulging in the act of eve-teasing girls or not. However, I would not mind propounding and professing Adam-teasing had it been a trend. What about you girls?

This article was published in the Sangai Express on 15 April 2012

Of Dark Nights, Generators and Moreh Lamps -- Pages from My Imphal Diary

On that very day I reached home, I was glad my loving family and a few good friends greeted me. Later when the afternoon transcended to evening, my sister informed me that it was a load shedding day, a privilege we enjoy only in Manipur. With an optimistic mood, I thought it was a fabulous excuse of enjoying a lamtaa evening with the thaabal lighting up our shumaang.

Of course I started enjoying one such evening until the sound of generator from one of our neighbours perturbed the serenity of the lovely calm evening that was later surpassed to a noisy night. I yawned and called that a day. Waking up to the chirps of early morning sendraangs or sembraangs has been an aesthetic experience for me every time I visit my hometown. But the first day I woke up, it was already 6 A.M. and quite sadly I wasn’t awakened by the chirpings of those sendraangs or sembaangs. A pestering sound of some machine perturbed my ear drums and on being asked I found out that it was the same generator from the previous night. It was a daily ritual for the family to put on the generator to make up for the energy, probably, that they need during the day. I swore something under my breath but could not make it audible for anyone. I had no choice but to reconcile my logic with my expectations out of the sabbatical. I murmured: ‘Welcome to Manipur where electricity is a luxury only among some sections of the hoi polloi’. 

Most of us consider it a ritual to buy generators (that come at a price range between 5 and 20 thousands INR) and inverters. We would never ponder on why we are deprived of getting regular power supply. We are like running around the problem rather than finding its permanent solution. In my earnest opinion, electricity should be one strong issue for which a wake-up call among the masses is a must. After all, the electricity bill is asked to be paid regularly if not ‘mei kakpa’, hey naa? (Guess whose habitual word it is.) 

Statistics may lie but this sounds interesting. Last week, in a meeting of the State Advisory Committee for Manipur of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Manipur and Mizoram, it was mentioned that out of a total 20 lakh population in Manipur’s valley districts, there are merely 1.5 lakh consumers. So in a leikai of 100 people, nearly seven to eight people consume electricity and these people never pay their bills on time. The other seventy-odd people either get their own electricity with a little help from the bamboo sticks, which are always available near a transformer. Or they don’t use electricity at all. 

By the way, I can’t understand one thing about the billing system on the consumption of electricity at each and every home. I asked one of the billing guys on what basis the bills are charged and also asked why the pay-per-metre system is not applicable in our state. He thought he was humorous when he replied, ‘Ebemma metre da paradee tha amada lising-gi mathakta adum laakani... akhoina saariba rate si yarabani’. I scratched my head in disbelief, halted the conversation but asked myself, ‘meibu kayaam laakladana akhoina sijinaba fangdoino’. Ridiculous! Right? Well, that’s the truth most of us are used to. Most of the homes in Manipur are charged with an electric bill though they hardly get the electricity. Now isn’t that ironic? Don’t you think? It’s like dark nights when you are paying your bill; and it’s a Moreh lamp when you have the inverter-charged tube lights switched off. (recalling Alanis Morisette’s ‘Ironic’) . Nevertheless, the Moreh lamps are a blessing in disguise for many families in Manipur. 

These lamps are available everywhere at the Kwairambandh Keithel or the International Moreh Market. The price of these Moreh lamps range between 100 and 600 INR and hence easily affordable. One can make the choice as per the budget and carry home any of the lamps with the brightest hope to light up the dark rooms. The Moreh karobaar-waalas have benefited a lot from this Moreh line of work. Every day you will find hundreds of customers swarming up at those tiny shops or roadside spreads of Moreh lamps that are available in many shapes and size and in any colour of your choice. I did get two lamps, one for my sister so that it could be of some help during her tuition hours and one for myself just to flaunt among my friends in Delhi that ‘this is the YO lamp which is damn popular in Manipur these days and guess what it lights up the entire room just like a small tube light’. Of course it would sound really stupid to flaunt about one such lamp in a city where power issue is a siki-anaah problem. Well, well, one of the good stale news is that Manipur may get 20 hours of electric supply soon, very soon. 

The concerned bodies are working hard (really?) on making this project a success (Hope it’s not another successfully failed attempt). 20 hours of electric supply on a single day? Let there be light!

This article was published on 1 Apr 2012