Day: December 27, 2014

By RK Lakhi Kant

There`s clarity now in my vision
of the world moving around me.
The instance is an old man
coming out of the jungle with
his load of firewood for the day
and placing it on the sidewalk
to rest for a while with some
friends, also chatting and
resting there.
The juxtaposition of life
speeding by on the freeway
and another at walking pace
shows how much Indian
conditions have deteriorated
over the last half century.
The economists are exclaiming
they are on top now, so much
is the economic upswing
in the country.
But those who look at life
otherwise know how much
misery is being created when
fuel for cooking is
being equated in terms
of rupees and not with
the hard work required
in cutting wood and carrying it.
It makes me excited to think
how much better it would be
if everyone started living
at a pace the old man is walking at.
I feel instant ease
with everything around me
when I think this way,
and conclude – why
join this madness
they have created and
force us to live in.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/upfront/

By Deben Bachaspatimayum

From what has been going on it seems like three sets of people do not want AFSPA 1958 repealed in India and each of them do that for all sound reasons. In the first place, the Chief of the Army and the Defense Minister have been very clear and consistently against any move for repeal of the Act. They do it obviously for their own security on ground in the first place and justify that as national interests. Any elected members in the seat of defense minister and Chief of Army of a nation do not need any review on this Act as long as Govt wants them in counter-insurgency duty. There is a valid reason. The second set of people is Coutinho `“ British born NRI who reportedly have contacted an affair with Sharmila. Mr Coutinho`™s clearly wants court to drop the `attempted suicide case`™ on her and release her honourably so he may get married and settle somewhere else. The third sets of people are those within the state who are in power and positions in the Government and those who are drawing direct and indirect benefits from the ongoing violent situation. This set of people also clearly does not want to repeal AFSPA because they badly need the army for their own security within the state.

From the above observations, it is not difficult to surmise how these three sets of people work together in tandem to ensure that anti-AFSPA or for that matter, the anti-security struggles are demoralized and trivialized to insignificance in the international community which has taken serious note of the Act. It is difficult to find how Coutinho eavesdropped into the struggles for repeal of AFSPA in 2006 but it is becoming easier to make out how Coutinho `“ a foreign hand is apparently weakening the struggles for repeal of AFSPA by stealing Sharmila`™s heart on a diversionary tract. If Coutinho were from Pakistan or China I am sure New Delhi would have made him a threat to national security. How and why is that Coutinho whose background is dubious allowed to play so easily out on critical issue like `Right to Life` for the politically threatened and marginalized sections of people in Manipur for eight long years without any restrictions from the concerned ministries and intelligence?

This is the second time Coutinho has come to Manipur knowing very well how he will be treated after earning even more foes of the people than friends in Manipur through his own arrogance and provocative email communications. This man clearly and whole heartedly supports Sharmila with his own vested interests not the people for who Sharmila has been consistently fighting since 2000. For his own interests he even goes to the extent of alleging that Human rights activists, individuals and women groups who are supporting Sharmila to be working in collusion with police and intelligence for her death!? All that, he wants is Sharmila ends her fast and get married with her as soon as possible. Compare Coutinho with Michael Aris, the British Anthropologist and an authority in Tibetan and Bhutanese studies (who married Aun San Suu Kyi `“ a political leader fighting for democracy in our neighborhood). While anybody may have any judgment on how Coutinho impacts our struggles for life and dignity his feelings for Sharmila may also be honoured with dignity. Sharmila`™s tears for Coutinho while being whisk away from the Court campus on that fateful day must guide our community responses to him and the situation lest we should end up losing all: our child, bathwater and the tub. Possibly, Iron Sharmila became an easy and soft target for national security especially when she has been experiencing legal and social isolation for years together for the alleged crime of asking for `Right to Life`™ for ordinary people in India`™s own home grown insurgency ridden geo-strategic region. Coutinho owes the credit of filling in emotional, socio-psychological, intellectual vacuum and personal material requirements of Sharmila`™s prime time life in isolation.

However, any sensible person would not have meddled with the sensitive situation and Sharmila`™s life after the incident of burning and banning the Telegraph Newspaper by civil society organizations for reporting about Sharmila`™s personal life stories which was perceived as an act of sabotage in the struggles for repeal of AFSPA 1958. But Countinho braved to venture in Imphal by forcing himself to be part of the observation of decade old struggles of Sharmila way back in 2010. He even tried to sit close to Sharmila to the extreme displeasures of her support group staging Dharna. His act was considered blatant and lacked of traditionally approved gendered behavior in public. Resentment caused by his behavior triggered hostile behavior among women leaders sitting Dharna and created a contemptuous scene in public. But Coutinho did not learn any lesson and continued to be a romantic hero while acting as someone who represents the international solidarity for Sharmila. Not that, how he was treated by the women folk was any worthy behavior towards a foreigner Coutinho dared to challenge the social norms governing around how a man who wants to have a love affair with a woman should conduct in front of elders in the society and the consequences of not following the norms.

Knowing well how he will be treated again this time Coutinho not only dared to stay for longer time, met many times with Sharmila by taking legal help from the law court and also reportedly tried to influence Sharmila`™s opinion in the court proceedings but what was surprising most absence of any security arrangements for Coutinho `“ a foreigner who was an unwelcome guest!

Alongside Sharmila`™s unprecedented struggles for repeal of armed forces; civil society groups, coalition of legal and human rights activists in the state has been tirelessly sensitizing and mobilizing people across length and breadth of India through national network, and across countries and the international community to put pressure on Indian Govt to repeal the back on basis of Govt`™s review committee reports. AFSPA also figured in the election manifesto of national and regional political parties during the last General Assembly and Parliamentary elections in 2012 and 2014, respectively. However, the defense ministry under pressures from the chief of army has been stiffly against repeal of the Act as something that is not only against the national security and interests but immediate threats to it.

Given the context in which AFSPA is considered an essential instrument for keeping the politically disturbed regions in India it is easy to understand how a nondescript person like Coutinho `“ who, Dr Rebello, a medical doctor turned international peace activists once reported in a personal communication as having a mental condition `“ continued to be allowed to come to Imphal for his personal mission without any hindrance from the state Govt and making any security arrangements accorded to a foreigner on tourist visa, especially when his presence could infuriate Sharmila local support groups. The scene of manhandling Coutinho by Sharmila supporters and the ways he was allowed to be chased outside the court campus freely under the nose of police personnel and security arrangements was revealing of a plan. Coutinho is known as Sharmila`™s closest supporters in some quarters of Europe and social network. Surely, the news of manhandling Countinho in Imphal court complex through electronic and social media is expected to discredit the decade long struggles of the people for rule of law and democracy in this part of the world.

Reliably, Coutinho seemed to have won the hearts of Sharmila and succeeded to influence her deeply. Clearly, Sharmila is in love, and so also, the Defense Minister and the Chief of Army are in love with their own national interests. Love is blind. It is blind to the truth, democracy, reality of and justice to the people who struggle for it. But the struggles for right to life and dignity do not end here. Those who are against the repeal of AFSPA and take decisions to prolonged its operations against all democratic standards, norms, and practices of rule of law are also our own very powerful people who we dutifully elect every five years and strengthening their positions further, term after terms! The enemy is within and it is the most powerful and oppressive. Any amount of Leikai wayels, mobo-cratic and arbitrary actions cannot repeal a legislation of the Parliament rather it can only strengthen the prevailing lawlessness in the society to our own detriments. AFSPA is a political and legal act and it must be fought by the same means. While we may think our local action of manhandling a foreigner was legitimate for disrespecting local sentiments and violating social norms we must also ensure that our thoughts are in tune with the global community.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/people-who-dont-want-afspa-repealed-are-also-our-own/

By Ajay Moirangthem

The song played,
The book puzzled,
The mind set,
The light blushed,
Challenging the darkness.
This is how i stay in my room.

The aim determined,
The goal unseen,
Came to challenge the world
But failed to overcome myself.
Despite with a hope i live.
This is why i stay in the room.

Far from home
Came here with a vision
To fulfill mine and others will.
Instead juxtaposed between the two,
Confusing and overshadowing the goal.
Worrying for my future
With accord to the others.
This where you can find me in the room.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/the-room/

Malangba Bangormayum

I have known some wonderful women. One of them is clearly my grandmother who is no more. I saw in her something `“ a something that if a percentage of the human population follows would usher in unimagined peace and serenity. She used to tell me that one need not always try to prove that one is right. She used to tell me that let the other feel that they have won. If you throw stones at one another, there would never be dearth of stones. In the throwing you give ammunitions, you arm the other. Such is the nature of conflicts she told me. May be she had a point though one would suspect her to be naive. Whether she is right or wrong that is another thing, whether one accepts it or not is another thing but it was clear to me that she believed in this strategy of non-retaliation for the greater good. In the extended family situation, there are bound to be conflicts. When these happened she used to try persuasion, she used to reason and entreat. If she knew that these were not going to work, when she felt that temperatures were rising and heat was generated, she would remain silent and let the other feel good in the victory of words instead of letting the heat turn into a spark. I sometimes saw tear-glazed eyes in her smile of concession. She was hurt in such instances, for this unlettered grandmother of mine had a soul that was missed by icy rhetoric and logic.

In one of my cheeky moments, I remember asking my grandmother whether there were romance in her times. She narrated me then, how courting were done during her times. Any man, whether married or unmarried, would visit the house of the girl or woman he was interested in. This revelation came as shock to my system. She went on to say that the elders would welcome, albeit a guarded one, those who came for such visits. The girl in question would offer a smoke `“ and the way it was offered signalled whether she was interested in further visits from the one who was visiting. This story of courting which existed, before the Great War reached our land, was nothing short of a revelation in how it contradicted the censure against boys meeting girls in our times. It made me wonder how such a u-turn in our outlook towards the phenomena of courting happened. I remember asking my father for an answer. He was not very sure how it happened but he suspected that it had to do with the Great War.

During my teenage days I saw boys coming to court, banging the electric poles as signals for the girls to come out. I used to see girls peeping out when motorcycle passed by only to be chided by the elders for such show of indecency. But who can fight courting when nature is on its side. No matter the level and intensity of censure, courting somehow happened. Courting, nowadays, is helped by technology. The mobile phone and the internet seem to be on the side of courting. Long distance relations happened even before these technological marvels. We have heard about love across the salt desert, across the oceans and across the mountains. Who would contest that? What I contend here is that technological advances in communication and transport seem to have helped courtship across countries and nationalities a wee bit easier. It is now not unimaginable for someone from the other side of the globe, say Ireland, to come and court someone here or vice-versa to the chagrin of those who safeguards the modesty of their women.

At the end of the narration of how courting used to be in her times, I asked my grandmother whether she prepared smokes for suitors. She replied in a matter of fact tone that there were many suitors and she did prepare many a smoke but since she was already betrothed, in a sense, which I shall not go into the details here, she made it clear to them that she was not interested in further visitations.

How wonderful it all sounded to me, how civilized it all sounded. One could underscore `civil`™ in `civilized` in the previous sentence. My admiration was for those gentlemen who were not offended by the rejection. They were gentlemen if there ever were such a thing.

Grandmothers tell their grandchildren fairy tales and folk stories. I do not remember my grandmother telling me any bed-time stories or fairy tales. But this story of courting could very well pass off as a fairy tale because they sound too good to be true. And as all good things must come to an end, that magical time when people felt confident in their own skin did come to an end.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/grandmothers-tale/

By Khura Seraton

As usual, Tamoyai was in his usual shorts and jersey burgundy walking barefoot unwaveringly by the side of the road. He looked tired and old today. Winter has cracked his lips badly. The lines on his face were very much noticeable. Is it because the year is coming to an end that I saw Tamoyai in an appalling shape? What you had for lunch in the morning, Tamoyai, I asked. `I did not have lunch`, he replied. Why? Did you not eat at the Bijoygovinda? `No. There was no Ushop today`, Tamoyai replied with the same smile that he wear for most of the time, widening the cracks on his lips. And he went away, looking here and there. As if he was looking for something that he had lost in the morning; searching for it till evening.

With time Tamoyai have also changed. Comic books, Filmfare magazines and VHS cassettes were some of Tamoyai`™s favourites. Anyone who knows Tamoyai would give him happily of those things whenever he asks. Sometimes his demand would include old newspapers as well. But nobody knows what Tamoyai do with the VHS cassettes. Though, he can watch the images on the comic strips over and over. `Leishabi. Mashak yam phajeiko. Meenakshi maliko` (Girl. You look so beautiful. Just like Meenakshi), is Tamoyai`™s favourite line. He would use it when he sees a damsel of his fancy walking on the road. I am not sure of who is this Meeakshi in particular. But I know that Tamoyai have a fondness of the name. Tamoyai`™s compliment was always received well by the girls.

With the comic strips and cassettes on his hands, Tamoyai would navigate around so many Leikais within Sagolband area. I have never found him venturing out to far-away places other than Sagolband. During the spring month when Shumang Leelas are played in plenty, Tamoyai would get busier. He would somehow gather the news of Leelas to be played at specific places and timings. If it is eshei Leela Tamoyai would say `Eshei Leela ne. Gojen na mike khongni` (It is a Eshei Leela. Gojen will operate the mike). There was only one mike operator during those days. During the Leela show, Tamoyai always prefer to sit near Gojen and his mike. Precisely near the amplifier.

Nowadays Tamoyai has stopped giving compliments to the damsels. Does he consider himself too old to be giving compliment? Does he know his own age? He has also stopped asking for comic strips, newspapers or VHS cassettes. But at times, he would ask for old CDs. He will not accept new ones. He will simply not accept saying that he don`™t like them, always, with his cheerful smile. Tamoyai`™s smile has got that innocence of a small child. He has even stopped giving publicity about Leelas taking place in the Leikai.

But one thing that Tamoyai has not stopped till today is his visits to the families who have lost their near ones. He needs no invitations from anyone. He has a specific timing for his visits. He will show up just the day after the `Asthi`™. He would ask the family to give him a Heijrang (small kitchen knife). No other knife would do. With the knife, Tamoyai would start uprooting the grasses that are grown on the lawn of the house. He would say the grass looks dirty. Tamoyai next demand would be a broom to sweep off the grasses. He would meticulously gather the grasses and deposit at a corner. At that particular corner, Tamoyai would collect all kinds of litters scattered on the lawn of the house and deposit at that corner. Empty disposable plastic glasses, cigarette buds and discarded banana leaves.

Tamoyai knows well that it is important to keep the house and its surrounding clean when someone passes away. Visitors would pour in to share the grief with the family members until the day of Shradh. For the Meitei Vaisnav families, it is customary to hold Lairik Taaba rituals for the elders. This ceremony leaves behind quite a lot of litters around the house. And Tamoyai loves to clean the litters without anything in return. He will not accept any money or a free lunch. As a matter of fact, I have never seen Tamoyai seeking alms from anyone. You will also not find Tamoyai on any other occasions at someone`™s house. They may be those occasions like wedding, grand feast or celebration of a newly born.

I don`™t know why Tamoyai shuns all other occasions. Somebody once told me that when Tamoyai was young, it was the habit of his father to wake him up in the morning by thrashing him. That unthinking habit of his father must have hurt Tamoyai badly. That could be the reason why Tamoyai is in constant search of an unknown thing. It could be his lost childhood. But I do find that innocence in Tamoyai even with the lines getting prominent on his face at the fag end of the year.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/everyones-tamoyai/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

It is not too infrequent that we hear of President of the United States of America, Barak Obama, being in his legacy years. It is his second term in the office, the occupant of which is considered the most powerful man in the world. It is also an office which cannot have an occupant extend beyond two terms, each term lasting four years. In other words, this will be the last term Obama can be President of America. This being what it is, he does not have to worry of so many things politicians normally are bogged down with, most importantly, re-election, therefore the need to cater to demands of petty constituencies of his electorate, often sectarian in nature. He would therefore also be much more free to be himself and to rise above mundane pressures and exigencies of everyday politics.

Knowing in the technical sense he cannot be an election loser any more, for he no longer has an election to contest, he would be liberated in thought and spirit to seek objectives which can leave permanent policy legacies for his country, and his own name written in permanent ink in the annals of his country`™s history. Quite obviously, Obama is aware of this predicament, and many well wishers and observers around the world have the confidence in him that he will be able to live up to this onerous challenge of history, not just of his country, but of the entire world, for American policies do have profound impacts on the fate of the whole world. Conversely, he can also leave behind a bad legacy, which he cannot correct anymore once out of office. He cannot also but be acutely aware of this.

Americans are already beginning to weigh his achievements and failures in anticipation of the end of his Presidential term two years from now in November 2016. He fell short of his promise in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has not done much to improve the employment situation etc. His drones are controversial and criticised, his standing up against the policy of torture by the CIA, his stand on racism in his country, are praised. He is also praised for his role in the Myanmar`™s opening up and stopping a solo run by China in the country and other SE Asian countries… but his most outstanding achievement may yet be just unfolding, as the American media seems to be suggest. This has to do with the sizing up of Russia and its President, Vladimir Putin. The current drop in the international petrol price, from which countries like India are benefiting, some say may actually be a machination of the Americans to undermine the crude oil export dependent Russian economy. With a sliding Ruble, Putin is definitely under pressure, but whether he will collapse altogether, and retreat from his bellicose stance on Ukraine and East Europe, is yet to be seen.

Though on a much smaller scale and canvas, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi`™s predicament is similar. He has been in the most powerful office of the state for three terms of five years each now. He could get another term if he and his party wins in the next election in a few months after Obama bids farewell to the White House, but with his party no longer in power at the Centre, this will not be an easy task anymore. He has received the mandate of the electorate of the people of the state in three successive elections to lead them, and the confidence of the house of elected MLAs for an equal number of years. It is another matter what means he used to garner himself these mandates, but the fact that matters in the end is, he received them unambiguously. Fortune has been kind to him all along. Beginning from the middle of his first term, the toughened Anti-Defection Law made it practically impossible for political horse-trading in which supports of legislators were up for auction, and governments were made and brought down depending on who commanded the MLA auction market. Before this law came about, few or no chief ministers, especially in small states like Manipur, managed to hold out a full term. Most Chief Ministers therefore ended up spending much of their times, resources and energy, minding and culturing the loyalties of legislators, leaving little time for the serious business of governance. The Anti-Defection Law saved Ibobi of this worry, and obviously this would have strengthened his hands considerably. No doubt he would have had to have immense political artistry at his command to be able to stay in office for so many years even with this law, but the moot question is, can he, or should he do more now. Should his achievement be just about his ability to have lasted out three terms, and maybe more, for the Indian constitution does not restrict the number of terms a Chief Minister or a Prime Minister can be in office, unlike in the US. We would be disappointed if Ibobi thinks such an ambition is enough.

In very many ways, this third term can be considered Ibobi`™s legacy term. He is in his mid 60s now and even if he were to return another term when he is closing in on the septuagenarian years, he would probably lack the energy to push policy visions with any vigour. Like Obama, he should also be able to free himself from the pressures of petty politics and politicking and instead be on a path of pursuing dreams and visions `“ not just his, but of the entire state. He should be thinking in terms of leaving a permanent mark for himself in the history of the place too, and he is in a position to do so. He could for instance, leave Manipur with better road connectivity. Increase the mileage of roads in the state, connecting all population centres, but equally important, improve the quality of roads all over. Surely he does not need any more money for himself now, so he could end the contractor-engineer-politician nexus which has left this category of citizenry inordinately and opulently rich, but the roads and other public infrastructures in abysmal conditions. Even the small stretch of reinforced concrete road around the base of the only narrow flyover in Imphal today is beginning to wash away. The lifespan of such roads is generally considered to be at least 50 years, why then do they disintegrate much faster in Manipur?

Ibobi has done well to widen many Imphal roads, and he must now not abandon this project. Imphal city will become unliveable in a decade or so if nothing is done to its roads so that they are able to handle the ever increasing traffic volume. In these times, when the zeitgeist in the state is talks of increasing tourism potential, it is also very much essential for Imphal and district headquarters townships to be given major overhauls. Surely those in the government, and town planners would have read of visitors after visitors, both foreign and domestic, remarking Imphal is a city of ugly buildings and dusty roads, though it could have been one of the prettiest in the entire country. The cue should have been to initiate a fresh effort to overhaul and beautify the city. It would not be too far off the mark to even say private initiatives such as `Blooming Manipur` are doing much more in this regard.

It would be pertinent here to recall, most of the best planned cities in the world and the country are usually synonymous with the names of the architects and architectural firms which designed them. Lutyens`™ Delhi, Le Corbusier`™s Chandigarh etc, to name a few most of us are familiar with. Ibobi could think of a grand plan like these to reinvent Imphal and other townships. Instead look at how even his own hometown Thoubal is coming up, though visibly a lot of public money has been diverted towards its development. Our planners have not grown out of the box-shop, pan-dukan mentality in this age of plush malls, arcades and multiplexes. Even if it was not to be as grand as these latter city trends, at least some distinctive signatures of the township being different and state-of-art, giving it the confidence of preparedness for the future, could and should have been there. Sadly, there are none of these. Let his administration also think futuristic. Our road planners today seem to see only motor vehicles and have forgotten about pedestrians and cyclists. This is unbecoming, especially at a time when cities all over the world are increasingly looking at cycling and walking as the progressive future.

In this term, Ibobi should ensure Manipur does not fall behind in power availability. He must be happy that he is succeeding to a good extent in improving the situation in the past few years. Ten years of extreme power shortage the state has been living with would have killed off many burgeoning entrepreneurial spirits, besides making everyday life a struggle for the entire citizenry. Night life in Imphal and other townships, is virtually dead too today, partly because of the legacy of prolonged period of night curfews during the 1980s and 1990s, but mostly because unlike any other modern cities, nights are virtually pitch-dark in Imphal and other towns in the state. This first of all means shorter working hours, and equally important less time and leisure hours for relaxed evenings after a hard day`™s work. It also means a virtual death knell for a dream of a vibrant tourism industry too.

Another great landmark for Ibobi would be, as this column spelled out in the last edition, if his government manages to have the Kangla recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. It would be a pride for the state to think a part of it owns historical legacy is also what the world considers valuable as its own heritage. Such a status would be a boon for the upkeep of the Kangla too, for there would be more funds inflow for the purpose, and a booster for tourism in the state. This is especially after the recent development in which the Battle of Imphal and Kohima taken together, was voted in Britain as Britain`™s most hard-fought and important victory in all its history. Ibobi `s government should have already constituted a committee to chalk out plans to most effectively campaign for the recognition by now.

Often governments after governments have blamed insurgency as the dampener of their initiatives. This explanation when it persists for decades, cannot but be described as a diversionary tactics to cover non-performance and lack of vision. Insurgency in any case is unlikely to disappear overnight, so it is the responsibility of a tough leader to get things done despite insurgency. Ibobi in his legacy years should have this toughness to push dreams and visions regardless of the odds. He now has everything to gain, provided he has the will, but not very much to lose even if he falls short of the goal of these visions. He would have paved the way for future governments and raised the bars of performance standards for them at least, even if the destinations he set are not reached during his time. He must have the right team to spell out these dreams and visions for him, and then pursue them relentless now. Only such achievements will make the difference between a great and rich legacy he leaves behind and an ordinary nondescript one. It will also decide whether he has his name in gold letters in the history of the place.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/wish-list-in-ibobis-legacy-years/