Tag: Articles-Opinions

By RK Lakhi Kant

Expanding business only for profits,
without concern for people who
are not interested in business
or money making, is futile.

There are thousands and thousands
of those who cannot fit in the system,
so complicated it has become.

Industry never thinks how the social
dropouts will survive, at the cost of
many many things which
they are good at.

Art too does not like to be
created in stifling conditions;
and without a liberal society
the flourish of art is thwarted.
Dole is indispensable if
industry is to play fair.

And if the government thinks
the population is too large
to even think of dole, then,
conversely, superfluous
industries have to be
abolished so that people
feel safe from the threat of
extensive industrialization,
which in common tongue means
enslaving the masses with
temptation for money.

Dole can keep the unemployed
alive and thinking, with
practical freedom in
making small choices.

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

By Khura Seraton

“What nice poses these body builders of our motherland are displaying in this cold winter evening. As I need not say, how cold the weather is today. The kinds of heavy jackets that we have put on are to keep ourselves warm. But look at these contestants! With bare minimum clothes on their bodies they are right now giving us treat of a beautiful choreography of the human body and their muscles `¦` I heard this commentary during live telecast of a body building competition which was held at the Gandhi Memorial Hall many moons back. To watch a body building competition is always a treat, especially during winter season when you are wrapped with layers and layers of clothes. The athletes give you assurance that you can still be alive with the small piece of cloth covering only the trunk. They along with their different physical stances enlighten you that your body can be shaped into a beautiful organic engine rumbling with energy and strength. Pointless to say anything more about their muscles; each parts which look neatly baked with desired shape and sizes inside an oven, pasted on their bodies with Super Glue especially for the competition. But that is not the case, not at all.

You know how hard these athletes work to make their bodies muscularly visible even from the last row seats of an auditorium. Now, coming back to the commentary that I have mentioned in the beginning, it continued like this, `Have a look, everybody, have a look `¦ they are the sons of the soil, on the stage right in front of you, flexing each and every muscles of their body `“ to bring about an egalitarian society in the land.` I was the lone audience of the television in the room that day. I was not sure if I heard it correctly about the `egalitarian society`™ in the commentary. Post dinner, I confirmed it from one of the neighbours who never miss live programmes on local television network. He also heard the same about the `egalitarian society`™ in the commentary. Since then, I have been paying attention, as much as I can, to most of the commentaries during body building competitions held in the vicinity either on live TV shows or event held elsewhere. But much to my chagrin, I am not been able to listen to the same commentary made on that wintry evening by a lively commentator. More particularly about the `egalitarian society`™ part of the commentary, which have remained in my ears since that day.

I have not tried to think much about building an egalitarian society by building our bodies and flexing our muscles in front of a large audience wearing bare minimum clothes. Neither have I tried sharing the idea with anyone. But I like that man, that unknown commentator who believed that our society can be shaped by shaping our bodies. Or was the statement just an offhand ornamentation of words to add more spark to his firework of commentaries?

In a different occasion, some moons after, I happened to attend a poetry reading session, invited by a close friend. In fact, it was a sort of book launching function. The book was an anthology of poems written by a budding poet, who had developed a penchant of writing poetry early into his mid-fifties. You fall into the poetry or the poetry falls into you, age is not a factor. This budding poet takes out time to write poems from his high profile government job in the finance department. That day, he told us that poems visit him at odd hours, even during a crucial departmental meeting. And as a poet, he made them sit on any sheets of paper available around, through his pen.

Well-known poets and some faintly-known poets were invited to speak on the book, more precisely on the poems written by the budding poet. The poets spoke, one after another. Meanwhile, I had gone for a while to the washroom. On my return, the newly released book which was distributed to every one of us present on the day was missing. I mean, the book that I got as one of the invitees was missing which I had left on my seat. I thought, I will request the organiser or the poet himself to hand me another copy, if I fail to find the book after the function. An invited-well-known poet was on the microphone. He was reading out some of the poems from the book. He appreciated the effort of the budding poet for his determination of writing beautiful poetries. He said, pointing to the some of the folded pages of the book `the folded pages are the selected poems of this book, which I think is striking to me. I have folded them the previous night`. He went on to speak for about ten minutes more. Next speaker was called out. After a while, the poet who just spoke came to me handed a book to me and said `don`™t mind that I have folded some pages of the book`, and he left with a smile.

I thought I have found the lost commentator.

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

By Tinky Ningombam

As I was sitting balled up with a shawl on my balcony, my cat majestically stretches up the ledge of the railing and looks up at the pigeons fluttering in the branches that spread across my apartment. And as she disinterestedly turns away with half closed eyes, she freezes poised there and stares into the abyss. The amount of calm and royal smugness that she displays making me question if she is my pet or I hers. For, as always, she makes me feel like I stand for her cue, to give her attention when she commands, to play fetch when she allows. And so my evening passes with blank thoughts and staring at nothing, noticing birds fly past and watching kids run in the park. And my cat and I having nothing better to do than trying to outdo each other in doing nothing.

The joy of doing nothing is a joy like no other. Don`™t you think so?

When I was a kid, we would just sit out in the sun and pluck flowers off in the garden. And just do that for hours. We used to call it exploring. It`™s a pity, children of today. Between classes, home tutors, home work and video games, I wonder if they even have time to daydream, leave alone enjoy some unscheduled pleasures. Everything with a time table, we urge, they can`™t just lie on the grass of an open playground and look at the evening stars plucking grass and kicking in the air. And it is not just them that we regiment, it is also us. We don`™t have time to lay around. So busy we have become with inconsequential things. And so devoid of free time.

We do not have the luxury of doing nothing as we used to. We cannot sit and stare in space anymore. Lest be considered mad. We have come to judge our lives by the pace that we move on to our next mission.

There is a famous Italian saying, it goes as `dolce far niente,` translated as the `sweetness of doing nothing`. Made popular by the famous movie on Elizabeth Gilbert`™s book – `Eat, Pray, Love.` This idea that there can be great bliss in mastering the art of doing nothing. No, it does not mean being idle, but in doing things impromptu, carrying out unplanned acts of leisure just for the pleasure of it. That we let in time for little contentment, that we don`™t lament time spent in small pleasures and telling it of as wasting time.

The art of doing nothing is about finding happiness in small acts of personal pleasure. This comes with letting go of the guilt of always looking for some pending task to accomplish. The only productivity that one needs to worry who follow this art being a healthy state of mind. Most of the time, we save up all our efforts for the time when we take a holiday, when we take some `alone` time away from work or home. But the simple crux of this idea is that we do not need to run away from our normal setting to be able to acknowledge and take in small pleasures. It is in the relaxation that comes with knowing that we are living in the present moment. I believe it is in bringing in our inner child whose bliss in seeing a shiny new toy is no different from seeing a feather drifting in the breeze. It is about letting in our moments of bliss throughout the day and taking out time for it like any other task.

We do experience our occasions of il dolce far niente, believe it or not. It is only unfortunate when it escapes us before we realise it. I recall one of my better mornings some years past. On the beach of the river Ganga, I woke up to the chant of an old man walking up and down the waters. All I could hear was a low hum of his old voice and the slow flapping of water as he strolled casually. As I walked out on the sands and sat down with the camera to capture the morning scenery, I felt a sense of atonement and peace beyond one`™s measure. What had started out as a task to get a photograph, became my moment of dolce far niente. And as I lie there doing nothing for the next half an hour, just staring at the slowly rising crimson sun, listening to the old man chanting and the slow babbling of the water flowing in the river, my friends join me one by one noiselessly and just sat by. For that was their moment too.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/the-sweetness-of-doing-nothing/

By Pradip Phanjoubam

Lezlee Brown Halper and Stephan Halper`™s new book, `Tibet: An Unfinished Story`, takes the reader on a tour of a twilight zone which once many analysts referred to as another periphery of the Cold War. But more than the mystery and religious energy associated with the frozen land of Tibet, what is gripping about this book is also its portrayal of the Cold War era and how this undeclared war between the Western and Eastern Bloc countries, resulted in grievous injuries caused to little known societies and countries away from the focus of the vicious mind game. Tibet is one of these.

The book, which hit the Indian market towards April this year, is intriguing and convincing as it is extensively based on recently declassified CIA files and Chinese government policy documents. Bearing testimony to the range and sweep of the references used in the book is the fact that nearly a quarter of the book is taken up by footnotes, many of which are interesting of their own accord, almost as much as the Halpers`™ expertly told story that they support. Also of particular interest for readers in India would be, especially so in these times marked by the ascendency of the BJP and its star Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, when the politics of India`™s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru is being questioned, is that out of the book emerges a unique portrait of Nehru. The authors see him as moody, egoistic, self absorbed… But the picture of Nehru, unintended by the authors, that also comes across is more akin to a Sophoclean tragic hero. True he did not do enough for Tibet at those crucial years, at least not as much as the US wanted him to, but he had other grand and historic interests, not necessarily of India alone, to protect.

The story is not about Nehru, but he is certainly one of the important dramatis personae, and it could not have been otherwise. After all, can any truthful story of Tibet, be it spiritual or temporal, be told without reference to India, and Tibet`™s most traumatic history is undoubtedly the post WWII, Cold War years, which is also when Nehru stepped into the centre stage of world politics. What is also interesting about the book is, Nehru`™s personality is allowed to develop not against the familiar backdrop of India`™s independence struggle, therefore also the towering figures of this momentous movement for decolonisation, but on another stage with leaders like his counterpart in China, Premier Chao En Lai, American Presidents, Harry Truman and David Eisenhower as foils.

The Cold War began, as we now know, even before the WWII concluded. The race to control Germany and Japan by the winners, by then clearly divided between the Communist and Non-Communist Blocs, is now well known. As a matter of fact, many counterfactual studies exist today that if the Allied landing at Normandy in June 1944 had not succeeded, as it almost did not, and the Western Bloc nations did not have a foothold in Continental Europe when Hitler lost the war, the two atom bombs which landed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, may well have had Moscow and Stalingrad as the targets. The course of history would have been very different had this been the case, but it was not. And by 1949, Stalin`™s USSR detonated a nuclear bomb, shocking the West and taking the Cold War to a new height.

When Truman, the then Vice President of America took over charge in 1945 after the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, America was a very religious nation and one which saw Communism and atheism as evil. President Truman, though a practising Christian did not push religion into politics to hard, and his chief concern was to prevent a Third World War, and this he saw was to be by checking the spread of Communism. There is merit in this, for it was not only the Capitalist world which saw Communism as enemy, but the Communist, especially under leaders like Stalin and Mao, too saw Capitalism as antithetical to the Communist movement and an ideology which would by necessity be erased in the course Communism`™s arrival determined by historical materialism. Under the circumstance, in the event of the rise of Mao`™s Communist revolution in China under the umbrage of Stalin`™s USSR, the long forgotten Tibetan plateau suddenly came to acquire new prominence in the West. President Truman`™s strategy for containing the spread of Communism was first and foremost to not allow a Communist victory in China, therefore to extend support to Chiang Kai-shek`™s ruling nationalist party, the Kuomintang in Nanking. India also came to be seen as an important countervailing power, and America was indeed eager to befriend this democratic country, as an ally against Communism.

Truman`™s policy outlook not only continued under his successor, Eisenhower, but it was given a stronger religious hue as well. Under him, the Cold War was also sought to be projected as a conflict between the world of God, therefore freedom, and the Godless world of Communism loyal only to `their sickle and hammer`, therefore tyranny. In this campaign, even the motto, `In God We Trust` was introduced in the Dollar bill, Halper notes. China under Chiang Kai-shek, himself a staunch Methodist Christian, was therefore a strong US ally opposing the Communist onslaught of Mao and his lieutenant, Chou En Lai. When Communist victory in China became only a matter of time towards the latter part of the 1940s, Tibet`™s spirituality, though not Christian, gain added prominence in American administration`™s eyes.

In 1949 USSR backed North Korean Communists attacked South Korea nearly sweeping it, but the UN troops at the behest of the US intervened pushing the North Koreans back not just beyond the 38th Parallel, but right up to Pyongyang, and at this Mao`™s China sent 300,000 troops in aid of their Communist compatriots and assisted them to regain control up to the 38th Parallel.

It was at this juncture that Nehru was approached by the US to be an ally in this war. He was invited to the US by Truman in 1949, but the visit was a disaster. Nehru who was in the midst of building up the Non Aligned Movement, refused to join, and instead offered to mediate in the Korean conflict, much to the annoyance of the Americans. After Truman, Eisenhower was also not lost on the importance of India, the `biggest free nation` in the Asian region and indeed the world, to be on the side of the West, and tried to woe Nehru on many occasion. He invited Nehru to the US in 1956 too. But to the agnostic and secularist Nehru, aligning with any party in the Cold War, not the least Western Bloc, was an attractive idea. He kept insisting on neutrality and the Non Aligned Movement. He was even suspicious of the religious inclination of America of the time, even ridiculing in one of his notes, US secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, an ardent anti-Communist, as an Evangelist missionary.

In reciprocation, it is interesting that both Truman and more so Eisenhower, saw neutralism as not just as cowardice, but as implicit support for their enemy. Reflected in their attitude is the famous public statement of a much more recent American President, George W. Bush, who in the wake of his `War Against Terror` on the eve of his invasion of Iraq, that `you are either with us or against us.` Nehru`™s neutrality, then would soon be translated as being against the Western Bloc.

Nehru`™s position was clear. He was not for Communism but he wanted to deal with Communism in his own terms, and not by becoming a vassal or proxy of the West. His struggle was to remain independent of the control of the powers fighting the Cold War, for he saw dignity only in this independence for him, for India and for the recently decolonised Third World. But, as history will see, his struggle was to prove disastrous in many ways, especially his falsely held belief Communist China would always remain a friendly neighbour and can be accommodated in the neutral camp.

Nehru`™s neutrality would also drive the Eisenhower administer to lean towards Pakistan, for America at the time felt the desperate need to have a non Communist anchor in South Asia. When India was unwilling to take this role, it had to, without alienating India, look for another partner, and it found a willing one in Pakistan. But this decision would have a spiralling consequence. India`™s reaction was beyond the Eisenhower administration`™s expectation, and Nehru too drew closer to Moscow and indeed Peking, putting another nail on Tibet`™s coffin, the harshest of which is his Panchsheel Agreement of 1954 with China. In retrospect, many American analysts today see Eisenhower`™s Pakistan tilt as an unparalleled blunder in American diplomacy. If not for it, South Asia`™s current history, the issue of terrorism etc would have been substantially different, they say.

To do our own bit of counterfactual speculation, had Sadar Patel been at the helm of India`™s affair at this period, Indian history probably would have been very different too. Patel`™s November 6, 1950 lengthy letter to Nehru, which advised the Prime Minister to, among others, be wary of China and instead befriend the Western nations for there is a natural affinity of national ideology with the latter countries, is an indicator this speculation is not farfetched. This letter, it will be recalled, is infamous especially amongst scholars in the Northeast, for it also expressed doubts of the loyalty of the mongoloid races of the region `east of Kalimpong`. This apart, Patel`™s hard-nosed assessment of China`™s cold approach in its dealing with India proved prophetic in 1962. But the rather sceptical question remains, would India have been better off as a non-neutral nation to the Cold War, and be in Pakistan`™s predicament as a US military ally today?

Also interesting is the foil Chou En Lai provides for Nehru in the book. Chou is undoubtedly a brilliant diplomat, able to size up even the flamboyant and much more popular Nehru on the world stage. Unassuming and uncaring for publicity unlike Nehru, he is shown as playing on Nehru`™s vulnerability, dwelling on their shared anti-imperialist sentiments when necessary, flattering and stoking Nehru`™s ego at other times, and then when he felt the time was ripe for China, bearing down on the latter`™s helplessness. In 1950 when Nehru pointed out to Chou through a note that Chinese maps were showing Indian territories as China`™s, Chou promptly replied these were old maps and China would take time to correct them, indicating there was no boundary conflict. But in 1958, after India came to know China had built the Aksai Chin Road connecting Sinkiang and Tibet, and Nehru once again protested, Chou coldly replied the boundary dispute between the two countries were still to be settled, and suggested India and China maintain status quo on where either have physical control and hold dialogues to settle the issue.

Chou`™s `charm and guile` and his diplomatic brilliance, it comes across clearly from Halper`™s accounts and interpretations of declassified files, outmatched Nehru`™s. Chou would not acknowledge the existence of a problem when China`™s hands were weak, but once China has established its strength in these areas and attained de facto physical dominance, it would then ask for de jure status of what it has de facto authority over. The Tibet story proved this. The boundary dispute between India and China is also another unfolding example of such diplomacy.

The peculiar thing about the Tibet policy of the US at the time was, as Halper`™s book brings out quite clearly, is that though sworn to oppose Communist China, it was not willing to support Tibet openly. There was still a strong China Lobby in the US, led by among others, Time-Life publisher, Henry Luce, whose parents were once missionaries in China, and whose wife was a close friend of Chiang Kai-shek`™s wife and influential men like John Foster Dulles, which would have nothing to do with Tibetan independence, and insisted the opposition to Communist China should be with the view to reinstalling Chiang Kai-shek`™s Nationalist government in China.

When China`™s invasion of Tibet became imminent in 1949, Tibet did appeal to the UN, but all the major Western Bloc players, including the US, Britain and France refused to sponsor Tibet`™s appeal. India too, did not volunteer, in spite of the US trying its best to make it do so. All had their reasons, but India`™s was the most forthright: `Nobody`™s is going to war with China on Tibet`. Ironically, it did end up going to war with China on a closely related issue in 1962. The US did not want to anger its China Lobby, Britan and France, were in no position to support any freedom movement as they were still imperial powers with colonies still under them. In the end, it was El Salvador which sponsored the move, but it was a foregone conclusion that it would not make much headway for the lack of support.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/book-review-how-tibet-showed-nehru-as-a-tragic-figure/

By Ajay Moirangthem

The fan walks,
The lights out,
The scent farts.
My frnd in a deep-deep sleep.

The beast of the night,
Born in the dark
Rises talkatively to feed.
And my friend in a deep-deep sleep.

He boast of the dark,
Came out proudly
Rushes towards my friend.
But my friend in a deep-deep sleep.

Despite something unusual seems to happen
The beast fell down on the ground,and
Many ,his kind seems to be in a deep sleep.
My friend again in a deep-deep sleep.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/my-friend-in-a-deep-sleep/

By Amar Yumnam

Contemporary Manipur is a wonderfully interesting arena for the live examples of what should happen as the outcomes of the processes under way. It covers the sectors of community to the character of governance.

Let us start from the character and quality of governance. The government has been the only significant employer of people in the formal sector. This employment has not been for directly productive activities but in the expectation that their services should induce primarily productive activities among the people outside the employment under the government. In other words, this is a situation where the government should lead the people and society by example. This entails three conditions to be satisfied. First, the people in the government should have been relatively more competent than those who had attempted to enter that service; it is different story for those who never thought of joining employment under the government sector. Second, the society being in a very preliminary stage of development trajectory calls for these people, who had entered the government based on competence, to perform their governmental functions with dedication and fully conscientious of the social responsibilities. Third, the collective manifestation of the functioning of the people in the government should instil a spirit of collaboration and cooperation among the general populace.

Now let us examine if these conditions have been satisfied in the case of Manipur. The society of Manipur has experienced and knows pretty well that entrance into the employment under the government has not been based on competency. This has caused the divide we now see between governance and the governed. Effective governance requires the prevalence of a trust between the government and the governed. But in the case of Manipur this is simply non-existent. This has been coupled by a phenomenon of transfer of income and wealth from those who are outside the government sector to those who are employed in the government sector. This is a very disturbing process in an economy where the growth process is both weak and non-widening. As this is the wider social scenario, those employed in the government sector see and exploit the period of employment in the government sector as the period for accumulation of personal wealth. The capability to exploit this condition is not equally distributed among those who are in the government sector. Those in the decision-making levels are the ones best-positioned to take advantage of this scope. The transfer of wealth in favour of these groups of people have been socially most damaging both in terms of social lessons and encouragement of widely based productive activities. This being the character of the functioning in the office, there is no scope for instilling a spirit of dedication and cooperation among those in the lower rungs of the hierarchy in the governance. This is why we observe no coordination and cooperation among the various branches of the government in their various manifestations of functioning even if there are communications and understanding at the decision-making levels; the percolation of the understanding at the decision-levels to the lower levels is not spontaneous and has always to be accompanied by identification of the persons and directly instructing them to follow suit.

The living example of the quality of governance is vividly visible in the current road-widening project from Keishampat to Malom. By the standard of Manipur, this is not a small project; it requires the cooperation of the general population and, above all, an absolutely coordinated functioning among the various wings of the government. In other words, this is not a project to be treated solely as the responsibility of the works department of the government. This is a project which can show-case the character and capability of the government in a wonderfully positive way as it happens in a relatively crowded space. The telephone lines in this section have been killed since May of this year. If the wing of the government responsible for the revival of the telephone lines is responsive and rises to the occasion to restore the lines in the shortest possible time, it would at least have two spill-over effects. First, it would make the people feel that the various wings of the government are working in tandem. Second, this feeling would generate a spirit of goodwill and collaboration among the people for the road-widening project. The case of the telephone applies to the power sector as well. While the road-widening project would be highly facilitated with a ready goodwill and collaboration from the general populace, the general public now curse the road-widening as responsible for both telephone and power failures. This is where the character of governance comes out to the full. Any function performed by any wing of the government cannot and should never be treated as isolationist and exclusive domain of the wing in particular. The perfection of the road-widening project cannot be the sole function of the works department of the government. In fact, generating goodwill for the project depends on the functioning of the power, telecom and public health wings of the government and hardly on the works wing. The visibility of collective commitment and cooperative effort among the wings of the government is sorely absent.

Now from the government let us move to what is happening among the communities in Manipur. Very recently, a grade six student of the Mega Manipur School proved one core strength of the people in the valley. This boy took part in an all-India competition in Mathematics, and he participated in the competition meant for students of grade ninth and tenth. Lo, this boy stood first at the all-India level for the Silver category. Remember, this boy is already at the Eight Rank at the global level in the Wushu sports of his age group. Such news of excellence in competency in one area of high competition is relatively more common among the valley population. Now the challenge and urgency is the imperative to generate competence based efficiency among the mountain population. With the Act East Policy increasingly getting unfolded, this is paramount. Among the mountain population too, we now observe a deepening unequal distribution of wealth which is not based on the relative competence of individuals, as in the case of the valley. The greater danger among the mountains is that the scope for the poorer individuals to question the situation and rise is very limited; in fact, they largely have to allow themselves as political tools. This naturally has the effect of accentuating the unequal distribution forever, the ultimate outcome of which can never be good.

Well in fine, Manipur today is in a very precarious situation.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/contemporary-manipur-as-data-for-experimental-economics-from-noncompetencybased-to-mutually-exclusive-governance/

By Paonam Thoibi

`Anxiety helps one get the best out of oneself; it motivates a person towards performance and sometimes even facilitates creativity`

Q: Madam, I have high anxiety about anything. It gets crippling at times and I have been told not to think too much, overdo or worry much. I have some friends who are psychologist themselves and they have once told me that Anxiety is not always bad. I want to know what some of its good points are. I know I can Google it up but I want some convincing notes from an expert. -Byron

Ans: Dear Byron, firstly, I am humbled to be considered an expert; that is very encouraging.

I see in you someone who is winning over anxiety and trying to see the upside of anxiety. This is quite a positive attitude. Anxiety is something which everyone has but differs in level from one person to another making it least comfortable with people who has a high degree of it.

It can be crippling, but studies and experiences have to conclude that it does have some unexpected positive sides of it.

Anxiety helps one get the best out of oneself. It motivates a person towards performance and sometimes even facilitates creativity. I often give examples of students who read and perform better during exams because they are anxious in nature. People tend to know someone is more anxious and is quick to rely on them because they see in them someone who would not be laidback, procrastinate and fail a task. An acceptable amount of anxiety often avoids one from fatal accidents which are mostly caused by callousness. It has been accepted that intelligence and other mental faculties are developed further when people makes decisions, re-run over different case scenarios and theories which are sometimes a result of anxiety and trying to meet expectations and demands. Worry may cause a person to avoid dangerous situations. Having said all of these, I would again say that anxiety to an acceptable degree, which may be different from person to person, is healthy and comfortably motivating; while, some people can suffer a lot due to this. I would rather give a message to all to understand your level of stress and anxiety and be prompt to seek help if you feel it is stopping you from optimally functioning in your daily routine.

Q: I argue a lot with my husband over small things and I need help for that. I tend to get very angry too often over little stuff such as not flushing the toilet, leaving the wet towels behind etc. I am scared that part of my personality is copied from my parents who argued openly in front of me. My mother used to pick up fights with my father quite often and I think I have become like that. I want to stop this behavior of mine as my daughter is also growing up. I think I need to learn how to control myself and I just don`t know how. This has been happening for the last 4 years. – Name withheld

Ans: Dear Reader, it`™s quite encouraging that you have done much introspection to figure out yourself. You feel that your anger is learned from observation of your parents who used to pick up fights quite a lot of time. This is true as they are role models from whom you learn a lot as you grew. Arguing over small things, confrontations and conflicts are some ways of expressions which you have seen and learned from them which again could have been learned by them from their parents.

Therefore, it was very true when you were worried about modeling the same for your daughter too. Since you know that it is not the best way to deal with things, I believe you will put in all efforts to break this cycle modeled through generations and start to learn healthy coping means.

You have stated your complain with possible cause and the willingness to change too. I would still want you to consult a psychologist so that any other possible factors of your emotional liability can be addressed and a healthy coping strategy can be worked out together in therapy.

Q: Dear Madam, my 7 years old daughter comes home from school most days, crying and pointing to her legs. When we ask her if she`s in pain she nods her head. We would be all worried and check properly if there`™s any bruise or any injury but there was not any. When we ask her what happened at school she just shrugs her shoulders and won`t answer. She does stop after some attention, but it is really distressing. How can we tell if she really feels pains in her legs? – Anjarani

Ans: Dear Anjarani, your daughter is expressing her pain as a younger child would, by crying and physical gestures. Patiently, encourage her to describe her pain in words. Reassure her that you know her pain is real and that ways can be found to help her. Try to ascertain if there are situations at home or at school that may be stressful for her. It is advisable you try to talk with her teachers at school to know what actually happened at school. Regular fights or bullying can also be a factor for such behaviors. A visit to the doctor may also help to pinpoint properly the cause of her distress.

Readers are requested to send in their queries at mindmifp@gmail.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/mind-matters/

By Ananya S Guha

There is a lot in human nature to complain. In school we read a poem : “ The Plaint Of The Camel“, But that was an imaginary “ complaint“ it was facetious as well. In some way I think the alter ego of humans are animals. Humans write stories about them, compose poetry right from Enid Blyton`s mythic rabbits and animals, to the Orwellian myth of animals viewing men and women not only warily but with insouciance and a kind of contemptuous nonchalance. Then there are the rollicking ` animal ` stories of Gerard Durell. Again we have in the novels of William Golding a mythic vision of man, the thralldom he has created for himself, the warring in him between flesh and body – in fact the shearing away of ` innocence. And, what is its polarity, experience of course in the terms of William Blake. Aldous Huxley once said caustically that if William Wordsworth lived in the Tropics, he would not have established his credo of Pantheism in a scale of euphoria. But cynics will always say something, the need to create a world which is fabulous as opposed to the ` real ` is an upsurge of creativity and radical thinking. The dream world and the real world become as tenuous as can be, the blurring insignificance of what is and what can be! Who cares? The creative impulse is motivated by a kind of subversion and even iconoclasm.

Carl Jung`s “ Memories, Dreams And Reflections“ is a brilliant exposition on the myth of dreams, but to him it was real, so real that he began to interpret every single dream of his- from dark nebulous to that of light, a fugitive resplendence. Is the the lit darkness which William Golding spoke of with coherence, the kind of coherence which made to see life not in wholes, but in complex shades of light and darkness.

Yet what is creativity? Jung was not writing fiction or poetry, but in trying to grapple with his undying dreams, he was trying to make the fleeting and the evanescence= permanent. Temporally and spatially creative artists transcend a blurring world of black and white. Freud`s interpretation of the child as artist with an inherent wish fulfillment gave to psychology a new dawn of truth. Where does the the line end and begin- for example when a child becomes an adult what happens to the child-likeness and when the superannuated faces death is there a regressive childhood?

Against this creative writing, painting, performing, the thespian`s world, philosophy we still dream of a superman. Nietzche did it, but I am not sure he was very confident as he was enslaved into abject decrepitude.

So the moral is: give free fictive imagination to your dreams. They will sustain you one day, and the day after, and the day after…Human civilization draws all its sustenance from them. And the Hegelian forces of antithesis will find themselves in the eternity of conflagration. Remember Hitler? The dreams of a megalomaniac and the dreams of the ordinary, aspiring to transform dreams into the extraordinary are substantively and qualitatively different. Some dreamers are myth makers, some are writers, some painters and some are social workers, troubled by a torn humanity. Dreamers question, the megalomaniac thinks he has all the answers, then he demolishes what he thinks are untruths. The other builds edifices, the megalomaniac destroys them. Often the word power is wrongly understood. Mother Teresa possessed indomitable power, the fount of which was inspired love. The power used by people who matter, is a power used to destroy not create. The sub continent should be euphoric that two dreamers were awarded the Nobel Prize for transforming dreams into veritable reality.

Freud`s essay on the artist, the child and the day dreamer makes valid generalizations on the day dreamer and the incipient artist. All social changers are dreamers, but the the rabid iconoclast is the destructive force. Dreams are born out of ruminations and are inherently prescient.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/reflections-and-dreams/

By Amar Yumnam

Let me start with an automatic and biased statement on the basis of the discipline on which I have concentrated my little academic capability and a miniscule of that to make my short existence in this planet meaningful and relevant. I am talking of Economics and Development Economics within that. The subject is now in a very exciting phase of expansion and with no restriction of territorial boundaries. It does not feel shy of borrowing ways of thinking and ideas from any discipline highly restrictive of trespassing; Economics today just adopts any approach and idea from any discipline to enrich herself. A friend of mine in a team of consultants for a World Bank Project used to term a Good Road as Sexy. To paraphrase him, we can say that Economics is absolutely Sexy today. A strong reflection of this can be found in the latest World Development Report of the World Bank titled Mind, Society, and Behaviour presented to the world only a few days back on 2 December. This Report symbolises the thinking among Economists and particularly among the development focused ones during the last two decades when it says: `Economics has thus come full circle. After a respite of about 40 years, an economics based on a more realistic understanding of human beings is being reinvented. But this time, it builds on a large body of empirical evidence`”microlevel evidence from across the behavioural and social sciences. The mind, unlike a computer, is psychological, not logical; malleable, not fixed. It is surely rational to treat identical problems identically, but often people do not; their choices change when the default option or the order of choices changes. People draw on mental models that depend on the situation and the culture to interpret experiences and make decisions. This Report shows that a more interdisciplinary perspective on human behaviour can improve the predictive power of economics and provide new tools for development policy.`

On the basis of this new characteristic of Economics, the Report states: `From the hundreds of empirical papers on human decision making that form the basis of this Report, three principles stand out as providing the direction for new approaches to understanding behaviour and designing and implementing development policy. First, people make most judgments and most choices automatically, not deliberatively: we call this `thinking automatically.` Second, how people act and think often depends on what others around them do and think: we call this `thinking socially.` Third, individuals in a given society share a common perspective on making sense of the world around them and understanding themselves: we call this `thinking with mental models.` Based on these principles, the latest World Development Report examines a wide range of issues relating to development, development policy, behaviour of development practitioners including poverty and corruption. In all these, the Report emphasises a contextualised appreciation of problems and evolution of policies.

It is exactly at this moment that we have just had a landmark judgement of the Manipur High Court in connection with the Malom Massacre of nearly a decade and a half back. As mentioned, the latest World Development Report on Mind, Society and Behaviour emphasises contextualised understanding of issues. One of the most dangerous trends in Manipur during the last four decades or so is the rising predominance of violence, whether by state or non-state agents, as a means to score on anything and as indicators of performance. This – resort to violence as a means of action for achieving anything and as symbol of performance `“ necessarily implies inculcating and spreading a culture of dishonouring the rule of law. This is exactly where the significance of the latest judgement lies inter alia. At one stroke the judgement signifies the emphasis on human values, imperative for understanding context of application of interventions and need for instilling the values of honouring the rules of law in any circumstance. However, let me hasten to add, it would be tremendously wrong if we assume that the significance of this judgement applies only to the army; the lesson is for every segment of the society.

Another area where we strongly need a social lesson for Manipur today relates to the widespread notion of inevitability of corruption and both wide and deep practice of corruption as acceptable social norms. Because of the widespread prevalence of it, it also needs an emphatic lesson like the recent one on violence and rule of law provided by the judgement of the High Court. An emphatic shock on this would go a long way in preparing Manipur and giving direction to the nature of character required for effectively joining the unfolding global race for development by getting closer to the economies of South East Asia.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/world-development-report-on-mind-society-and-behaviour-implications-of-the-judgement-on-malom-massacre/

By RK Lakhi Kant

Out for an early afternoon walk
I saw the man who operates
a septic tank cleaning vehicle;
his chin resting on his hand,
dejected, as the tanker
emptied at the roadside gutter.
Is there a less punishing
method to handle household
garbage and sewers?
They remain known to us
only for this need, when
we can`™t manage by ourselves.
The farmhouse fad `“ a nice
way to live; but why do
they run short of farmlands
for the common people.
Land for agriculture and
a home to live life by
nature`™s plan is a modest
askable need.
Manageable toilets
conveniently placed away
from the main building;
the simpler the better for
anyone in the family
to handle the localized
sewer within the farm complex;
and garbage taken care
by a fire lit in the
garbage dump; a source
for manure too.
No hiring of help for
menial works: the helpers
being free to take up
a vocation of their choice.
With a few cows and bulls
milk, grains and vegetables
can be produced;
fruit gardens only for
seasonal fruits with no
worries for off season
storage and sales is possible,
without a greed for more
as is happening with
genetically modified products.
Flourishing green lands
instead of scary houses
with high fences `“ seclusion.
The rich nations have more,
but every place has
magical moments and also
display stark animalism
like the A-bombing of Japan.
Be careful what you take
from them `™cause their
hearts respond not to
sincerity but only to recovering
the money you take from them.
Housing lots are climbing up
vertically instead of
spreading out proportionately
on the ground.
Its not safe too; avoid
the lifts and escalators;
we should need to climb
to a height reachable by
a common bamboo ladder,
nothing more.
Sizeable farmlands can provide
for us everything.
Electricity is a small
problem; we fear what
will happen if the
lights go out `“ cook
early, eat early before
dusk and sleep early
to wake up very early
the next morning `“
can`™t get healthier than this.
Candles or material for
wooden torches is
available in the villages
for odd jobs after dark.
Otherwise sunlight is there
long enough to finish any work.
The natural clock ticks by
without causing any anxiety.
Honey from the honeycombs
in the garden and the bright
sunshine is much healthier
than life otherwise.
Water too managed by digging
wells and reservoirs for
drinking and bathing
under an open sky.
Young people in their twenties
hair graying, with weak
eyesight, and blood lazy
and frozen without any
warmth in it`™s tracks.
In nature`™s system hardly
an eyesight problem and
graying only late in life.
You don`™t have to! Really!
There`™s no need to ascribe
to ways and values in the west.
There is more love and care
in the simplicity grandfather
lived in the previous age.
Aspire for less of matter, so
that less is also more than
sufficient for unshackling
a common man from the
blatant errors economists
and decision-makers
make at their ease.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/household-wisdom/

By Dr Khushboo Shah Sawant

Animals especially the domestic ones are probably one of the fewest sources of pure unconditional love. However sometimes these very animals can get the better of you and prove to be fatal, especially if the animal is unvaccinated. Today we shall have a look at the condition called as `Rabies`™ which unfortunately in our country still prevails as a source of over 50,000 deaths annually. And the victims often are people who belong to lower socio economic strata of the society. In our country unvaccinated and rabies infected stray dogs are the most common source of infection in humans. In other developed countries bats are more common even foxes, raccoons and coyotes are known to spread rabies.

Rabies is a deadly and incurable disease, which is mostly spread by the saliva of the infected animal. The most common type of transmission is through a bite. In humans rabies causes the inflammation of the brain and eventual death. Till date there is no known treatment to stop or slow down the progress of the disease once the symptoms begin to develop. So once a person is bitten by a non-vaccinated dog carrying the disease, and the person remains untreated then within a matter of time usually a couple of weeks and the symptoms begin to develop, and once that happens, death is almost always inevitable. Rabies infection is caused by a virus called the rabies virus. The infected animals can spread the infection by saliva which happens usually by biting. Rarely the saliva entering through broken skin, mucous membranes such as eyes and mouth etc are also known to spread the disease. For example if an infected animal licks a person`™s open wound, it could give a potential rabies infection.

Once bitten by an animal, it is best to visit a doctor within the first 48 hours of the injury to prevent rabies after the animal bite. Symptoms do not begin to develop immediately; it may even appear within a couple of months after the injury. As and when the symptoms appear they tend to be similar with the symptoms of a common fever or flu. Usually after infection, high fever occur along with increased sensations at the site of the injury; within a span of few days the person develops morbid symptoms of violence, hydrophobia which is fear of water. They are over-sensitive even to tactile sensation or the sound of water. When these symptoms occur the person must be immediately quarantined.

The infected person then deteriorates further and develops symptoms like paralysis; unable to eat food, urge to bite others, confusion, loss of consciousness, paranoia, hallucinations and most often leading to death in the end.

Preventive measures to be taken in case an animal bites you, the routine guidelines to go about it is to first wash your wound gently and thoroughly with soap and plenty of running water, it is preferable to keep the flow of water in the downward direction i.e. from the wound towards the floor rather than towards the body. This reduces the risk of infection. Keep a check on the animal that bit you. And visit a doctor who provides anti rabies vaccine immediately for vaccination. Be sure to tell the doctor correct details about the animal that bit you. If the animal is a pet, check with the owner about the details of the animal`™s vaccination. The doctor will check the site of the wound and decide about the treatment. The treatment often involves vaccination on the 0, 3, 7, 14 and 28th day after the bite with an anti-rabies vaccine. Also along with it a tetanus injection and medication for the wound may be given.

It is always best to keep pet animals regularly vaccinated. Equally, it is important to keep a check on the stray dogs in the locality, and watch out for signs of rabies in the dogs. Dogs infected with rabies usually show signs of restlessness, aggression, may become sensitive to light and may be hidden in dark corners, may attempt to bite people etc. It is advisable to notify the local administrative authorities about such animal. In spite of the vaccine treatment available as of now, there can be fatalities if timely treatment is not given, which also depends on the availability of the vaccine as well. Therefore, prevention is always the best option.

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

By M.C. Linthoingambee

There are law reforms almost every day and we can say that sati has been abolished; untouchability has lost its perks along the way. We believe what our mind wants them to, but our heart says otherwise. Slavery is one of the greatest diabolic turn of events in the history of mankind perhaps after its predecessors `“ war, genocide, etc. If we looked back in time, we have seen great battles succeeding into the extent of seeking liberty. Revolutions over the years gave great men and women honour from their versatile adoption of thoughts. There was Moses, for whom God chose as a messenger in order to bring liberty to more than a thousand slaves from the wrath of the Egyptian King (Pharaoh). Today, we are sometimes under the misconception that slavery exists no more but it goes on concealed behind closed doors in numerous ways than we know.

The Australian based Walk Free Foundation published to a more surprising effect, the first Global Slavery Index estimating that 13.3 to 14.7 million people are still prone to slavery even after sixty years of Independence. These results were estimated on the basis of certain factors like modern slavery, child marriage and human trafficking beyond the scope of the country`™s jurisdictions. To our astounding revelation there are still practices like debt bondage, forced marriage and sale or exploitation of children. There are more children employed in factories, restaurants, small shops as a result of the unchanged mindset. And most importantly there are differed thoughts on sending these same children for education where their parents feel it unimportant to make them literate. The world index names more than 29.6 million people engaged in the modern slavery. Countries like India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh account for 76% of the world`s modern slaves. India ranks fourth in terms of modern-day slaves as a percentage of the population, just after Mauritania, Haiti and Pakistan. In Mauritania, 4% of people are regarded as slaves largely because they inherit the status from their ancestors.

The formation of Panchayati Raj, Village Councils, etc has been doing considerable work of imparting legal awareness and sensitization programs in order to provide legal aid to people whose knowledge of their rights are limited to a certain extent. They don`™t even know there are entitled to payment for every work they do. There were times when people were paid differently for the same kind of work because they belonged to certain castes; and then we came up with the idea of equal pay for equal work thereby attaining it as fundamental principles of legislative standing.

The more surprising effect is the practice of the rich employing and exploiting the poor in the process of following traditions. There are more farmers and their children inheriting the line of debts that is owed to the Zamindars. India having not ratified to the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention but it owes its effect of modern day slavery mostly to debt bondage and bonded labour. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates the illicit profits of forced labour to be $150 billion a year.

The report says, “India`s modern slavery challenges are immense. Across India`s population of over 1.2 billion people, all forms of modern slavery, including inter-generational bonded labour, trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced marriage, exist. Evidence suggests that members of lower castes and tribes, religious minorities and migrant workers are disproportionately affected by modern slavery. Modern slavery occurs in brick kilns, carpet weaving, embroidery and other textile manufacturing, forced prostitution, agriculture, domestic servitude, mining, and organised begging rings. labour is particularly prevalent throughout India with families enslaved for generations.”

Child Labour although believed to have been eradicated, is still in practice. More than a thousand households in India still employ children as labourers, even the most literate of the lot. Every once in a while we also get phone calls offering jobs. Sometimes they don`™t always turn out to be real companies and hence, there are women and children from India being recruited with promises of non-existent jobs and sold for sexual exploitation, or forced into sham marriages. In some religious groups, pre-pubescent girls are sold for sexual servitude in temples. Recent reports suggest that one child goes missing every eight minutes; it is feared that some are sold into forced begging, domestic work, and commercial sexual exploitation.

Criminal justice reforms specific to human trafficking are the strongest component of India`s response to modern slavery. There were amendments during 2013 and 2014 by the Government to include specific anti trafficking provisions in the Indian Penal code and they also expanded the number of police anti-human trafficking units across the country to 215 units, aiming to establish a unit in 650 districts.

The judiciary and over 20,000 law enforcement have received training on victim identification, the new legal framework, and victim-centered investigations. Dalits for example are the least under social protections and are highly vulnerable to severe forms of exploitation and modern slavery.

They say people learn from punishments and hence, we need strong punitive measures to initiate protection for these common folks. We need rigorous imprisonment and question their authority. PETA is generously working to give a voice for those who cannot speak `“ that is for the animals. The inhuman treatments to both people and animals deserve to be spoken as well.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/modern-day-slavery/

By Kishalay Bhattarcharjee and Ashish Ranjan

(Fomer NDTC correspondent now heads a mission under Reachout Foundation, to study the underlying causes behind many disturbing social trends. As a start, he and his team came up with a fairly comprehensive report on the matter of racism and discrimination against people from the Northeast region residing in the National capital region. We are reproducing here a substantial portion of their findings in from their first survey.)

With frequent reports of alleged racist attacks in Delhi and the National Capital Region, Reachout Foundation perceived a lack of comprehensive data on the nature of alleged discrimination against people from Northeastern India in cities like Delhi. Our emphasis thus has been to generate comprehensive and defensible empirical data on the extent and variation of racist attitudes and experiences, in order that they could inspire or guide anti-discrimination policies.

The main objective of the present survey is to understand the extent and scope of ethnic/racial discrimination perceived by people from India`™s Northeast living in Delhi-NCR. The targeted population for the survey were people from all the eight north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura who are currently living in Delhi and the NCR (Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurgaon). The respondents were selected using mixed sampling techniques of probability and non-probability methods. The targeted sample was of 1000 respondents across thirty different locations in Delhi and the NCR.

Is discrimination a reality for those individuals from the Northeast who are living in Delhi? While we can`™t say for certain whether or not these individuals have been discriminated against, the study reveals that slightly more than half of respondents perceived as such.

What Are The Kinds Of Discrimination?

The study reveals that majority of respondents who felt discriminated said that they faced ethnic or racial discrimination. 67 per cent respondents said that they were the victims of ethnic/racial discrimination while 4 per cent claimed gender discrimination and 3 per cent said they were discriminated on basis of their religion. 11 per cent respondents did not express any opinion on this.

Males and females reported along similar lines when it came to the basis of discrimination. Both females and males identified their ethnicity as the greatest determinant of discrimination. Ethnic/ racial discrimination exist among 77 per cent of male as compared to 74 per cent female respondents who think that ethical/racial discrimination is what they have experienced in their stay in Delhi-NCR.

If we see the gender division for admission of facing discrimination we find that women are the worst victims of discrimination though the gender ratio is not much different.

If we look at the educational background of those who experienced discrimination, two aspects emerge. First, the achieved sample overwhelmed with the educated respondents and found such a small portion of individuals who received lower level of education.

Second, of those who endured discrimination, 90 per cent of them were either undergraduate or post-graduate and they claimed that they have faced discrimination of some sort. The table below indicates that how people from different levels of education have faced discrimination.

If we consider the profession of the respondents, students are more likely to report having experienced discrimination. Their proportion is very high as against other groups. Among those who have faced discrimination, 60 per cent were students followed by people engaged in private enterprises and private services. Government employees are the least who admitted to have faced discrimination.

Although the difference among the victims of discrimination are very different in terms of their profession which also depends on their number in Delhi, but across the various professions the opinion is more or less the same. The graph (Figure 6a) displays the percentage of individuals who reported experiencing discrimination by profession.

Of those individuals who were surveyed, the greatest percentage (60%) reported they had been discriminated against were between the ages of 22 and 30. Forty percent were below 22 years of age, and 11% were over the age of 40.

How Is The Situation In Delhi In Terms Of Discrimination?

The situation in Delhi regarding racial/ethnic discrimination is most worrying at least for the Northeast people. 74 per cent respondents said that Delhi is the most unsafe place in terms of ethnic discrimination. Only 8 per cent felt that it is the least worrying place regarding ethnic discrimination while 18 per cent did not express their opinion about it. The table below indicates the different opinions regarding this.

The survey reveals that both male and female respondents are on the same page when they talk about the issue of discrimination in Delhi. The graph below depicts that three fourth of male and female respondents said that the problem of discrimination in Delhi is most worrying. The number of female is little higher than the male.

Locations Where Respondents Reported Experiencing Discrimination:

Knowing where individuals reported having experienced discrimination can help us target advocacy work around those locations. The majority of respondents who reported experiencing discrimination experienced it either at a restaurant or sporting or public places (27%). These locations were followed by 24 per cent at the educational institutions and 23 per cent during buying or renting of houses.13 per cent of them said that they faced discrimination at their work place and 7 per cent people informed that even police did not treat them equally.

Response To Discrimination:

Most of the respondents who faced discrimination did not give any response on the question about what measures they took when they faced this problem. The worrying statistic is only 4 per cent of the victims of discrimination reported it to the police. While only 4 percent reported the discriminatory act to police, 24 percent shared their experience with a friend or family member. The experience of being discriminated is so embarrassing to them that only 18 per cent of them informed their friends but not their families while 12 per cent did not say anything to anyone. The graph below shows the people in Delhi who faced discrimination and the measures they took after experiencing a discriminatory act.

The findings of the survey reveal that more male are indifferent about this issue than female. However, the data suggests that more males decline to answer this question than females. 44 per cent of males did not respond as compared to 34 per cent females.

Most of the males just shared their experiences with their friends but not with their family. Far more females as compared to the males have discussed it with their family and friends. 35 per cent females have reported about being discriminated to their family and friends but haven`™t informed to the police as compared to 19 per cent of male respondents.

Rajya Sabha (Indian Parliament) on 19.02.2014 regarding `Discrimination against People from NER` the government provided number of cases registered in Delhi during the last three years by people from the Northeast. In 2011, 27 cases were registered against a total of 59249. In 2012 there were 50 cases against 60367 FIRs and in 2013, 73 cases were filed against the total number of 86564. Since there is no specific data on the number of people from Northeast India residing in Delhi, one cannot establish the population ratio and infer the proportion of cases registered by people from Northeast from this data.

Perception About Themselves

The main reason for discrimination against them was their ethnic origin. 63 per cent of the sampled respondents asserted that they faced discrimination due to their ethnic origin. Amongst them who asserted discrimination due to their ethnic origin, 15 per cent of them said that they faced it very often or many a times while 48 per cent said that they faced discrimination due to their ethnic origin only some times. While only 24 per cent said that they were never discriminated due to their ethnic origin. The graph below indicates this story.

One of the most worrying trends is that the respondents feel they are being looked upon with suspicion. Only 41 per cent said that people never treated them with mistrust. Most of the respondents said that there is trust deficit between them and other `Indian people`™. 12 per cent of them have very negative feelings about this issue and they claimed that often people do not trust them. 31 per cent of them said that people suspect them some times while 16 per cent of said that they hardly ever came across such kind of issue.

Identity is very important in our lives. But it can be humiliating if we are addressed by offensive names/ terms. 56 per cent respondents say that they were addressed by offensive names. Around 20 per cent claim that people used offensive words to identify them. While 37 per cent said they have faced such slur only sometimes.

They may be victims of discrimination themselves but they recognize that discrimination happens with others as well. The data suggests that when they came across ethnic groups being discriminated, most of them said that they did take measures to protest. More than 80 percent respondents say that they have gone out of their way to help others. Among them 54 per cent said that they helped them while 31 per cent claimed that they have spoken against the offence. 12 per cent respondents did not say anything on this issue while 3 per cent said they would walk away in such a situation.

The Causes Of Discrimination:

The major cause for discrimination that emerged from the survey was prejudice and lack of awareness about the Northeast people. 64 per cent respondents said the reason behind discrimination is the lack of understanding/ awareness about people from the Northeast. 13 per cent claimed that it is the indifference towards people from the Northeast by others that lead to discrimination against them. While 20 per cent said that the major cause of discrimination is lack of interaction among the people from Northeast and others.

There is not much difference between male and female respondents regarding their views on the causes of discrimination. Both male and female think that prejudices and lack of understanding against people from Northeast are the major causes for ethnic discrimination. Similarly there is not much difference between male and female who think that indifference and lack of interaction are the main causes of the discrimination.

Awareness About The Law And Procedure:

Only 40 per cent respondents know of a department set up by the government that can help the ethnic groups facing discrimination while rest 60 per cent do not have any idea about this kind of set up which could be of some help to them.

Way Forward:

The most positive response is that most people hope that discrimination will be eliminated. They feel that the government and social bodies will be integral in addressing the problem of discrimination. 35 per cent of them said that government would be the most important driver in this while 29 per cent think that social workers would be the best suited to solve the problems. 17 per cent respondents said that ethnic groups themselves have to play a part to reduce discrimination. 19 per cent people could not say anything on this.

What Would Be The Best Way To Handle The Problem Of Ethnic Discrimination?

The respondents think that education is the most preferred way to handle this problem.

68 per cent respondents chose education as most effective vehicle, while 18 per cent consider that only regulation and laws can solve it. 10 per cent said that setting up more social organization would be helpful to deal with this issue. Rest 4 per cent did not express their opinion.

What they think about Delhi?

Delhi can be free from discrimination. At least 47 per cent respondents have hope that this city can be free from discrimination in the future while 30 per cent have negative feelings regarding this and they think that it cannot be free from this attitude. 21 per cent do not have any concrete idea whether Delhi would be free from discrimination or not.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/is-discrimination-a-reality/

By: Paonam Thoibi

`With right guidance and knowledge the road to choosing the right career can also be paved`

Q: Madam, my son is just 12 years and he is doing very well in a private school here in Imphal. As a parent, I have been always worried if I would not be able to know what he likes and where his passion lies. He seems to like many things and I may be exaggerating but I believe he will be able to do anything. Now my concern is that even a parent who is doing quite well in a government service I don`™t feel quite satisfied with my work and sometimes I feel like I should have taken a totally different path. I don`™t want my son to be trapped like me. What are some of the points I should look out as he grows up and how do I help him in choosing the right career for himself? – Manikchand

Ans: Dear Reader, it is very true that choosing the right career is not as easy. But with right guidance and knowledge the road to choosing the right career can be paved.
Many people think they know the right way to go about picking an occupation, but they often wind up choosing a career that is unsatisfying and gets stressed out very soon. A career/ guidance counselor or expert can provide the much needed guidance and facilitate in the decision making but it is difficult to rely totally on.
Choosing a career demands a full involvement and enough time. It involves understanding oneself as one makes an informed decision towards his/ her goal. One needs to take into account his/her interests, values, and skills when choosing a career. Affordability is often an ignored area but this should also be taken into account. Just because an occupation looks and sound good, it doesn`t mean that occupation is right for you. Everyone is different and what works for one person won`t necessarily work for another, even if that other person is someone with whom you have a lot in common. And you know how money doesn`t necessarily lead to job satisfaction. For many people enjoying what they do at work is much more important. It is important that they don`™t feel stuck at their job. Try talking to your son to know more about his likes/dislikes dreams and desires. Make him read about, talk to and be inspired by his role models. Tell him success stories as well as ideas which have been sparked from major failures of individuals.
Lastly, you should inform your son that any point of time he is unsatisfied in his career, for any reason, he can always change it and should not be held back or make any fuss about it. His skills will never go waste and instead it will always help him in one way or the other. Give him all the encouragement and support which he needs the most.
I believe these tips would be of some help for your son as he grows up and strive towards his endeavors. Best of luck to him and give my wishes.

Q: Mam, what disturbs me the most is the prevailing system of our rotten society and corrupted establishment institution of our states. In such dilapidated state could the younger generation be saved from the sidetracked, corrupted minds and perception which they inherited from the older successive generation? What if a right thinking mind wanted to serve the state with utmost sincerity by streamlining himself or herself from the people whom he associate with fallout minded by justifying the system as “normal” and deeming the honest one as “fool”? The irony is that, is it possible to get some sense of dignity among the wolves or to be submissive oneself to the larger interest which is against the principle of the system in which they justified it as “normal?” By just oneself honesty couldn`t change the perception of the people. So, is there anything to overcome this nightmare or is it adapt` is the only possible word to survive in this failure institution? I kind of lost my best perspective. Can you give me a better idea? -Singsonsonlal

Ans: Dear Reader, I am glad that you are addressing your worry here. The issues raised by you which revolves around the crumbling down of our social structure and its components of course does affect the psychological make-up of an individual, and also the community at large. The younger generation who are being brought up to form opinions and perspectives are at a risky position in this society which according to you has lost its essence of normalcy and is rotten now. Well, to put it in another way, you have highlighted an anxiety which is being experienced by a lot of people now, especially the youths who have now learnt how things have been till now and how it can be transformed into; but then again hesitant , taken aback and often gives up. This is a social dilemma and would need a holistic intervention at different levels.
As a psychologist I may want to suggest you to perform your best in your daily activities and engage in a healthy dialogue with your friends to understand the kind of different perspectives your friends must be having, which I hope must not be as negative or pessimistic as we are quick to assume. Who knows you may come across friends who will encourage you with positivity and enthusiasm. It will be helpful if you can attend counseling sessions in group or individually to address your existential concerns. This does not mean that something is wrong with you but rather is an encouragement that it can provide to clear your doubts and have you form your opinion and perspectives.Readers are requested to send in their queries at mindmifp@gmail.com

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/12/mind-matter/

By Dr Khushboo Shah Sawant

Dsylexia is a reality which often goes unnoticed, untreated and often leaves the affected person with a low self worth and sometimes even a faced by many failures. In today`s times, where success is often measured according to rank a child achieves in class, their grades and percentages and in the long run by the amount of wealth a person acquires in his lifetime. In such times, if often becomes immensely difficult for children who are not able to cope up with the rest of the crowd to hold their head high and even consider the possibility of success if not academic. And so today we shall cover the topic of dyslexia which is a fairly common disorder in children.

So we begin with the first basic question, what is dyslexia? Dyslexia is a learning disorder or a reading disability, which is mainly a difficulty in reading caused mainly due to problems in identifying speech and sound and how to relate them to letters and words. Dyslexia is a disorder in children who have normal intelligence and vision. They have no obvious physical abnormality and do not have any mental retardation. The cause of dyslexia is known to be inherited and is passed in family history. The main disorder is that it affects the working of the brain making identifying letters and words difficult and also the children are unable to figure out the relation between the letters and the words they form. However children with dyslexia are very much able to succeed in schooling and further with the help of specialized tutoring and specialised study programmes.

We move on to the next obvious question, how does one know if their children are dyslexic? A child does not get dyslexia, but is born with the brain disorder. The signs and symptoms may not be obvious at the beginning. Sometimes dyslexia may go undiagnosed and untreated and may be discovered in adulthood. And so it is very essential on the part of the parents to pay attention during the early years of their children, and be keen observers and watch out for any signs of abnormality in the child. The symptoms may be difficult to identify before the child enters school. However, it is important for parents to watch out in toddlers and pre school kids for simple signs like learning to talk very late, difficulty in learning new words, slow learning of nursery rhymes, and inability of playing simple games like throwing and catching a ball. After the child enters school, and after reading and write begin in their syllabus, the symptoms begin to become obvious and usually the teacher may be one of the first people to notice the disability. As the reading skills of the child are well below the expected level of children of that age, difficulty in hearing and following commands, unable to follow rapid instructions, problem in remembering simple things, not able to remember or follow a sequence of events, difficulty in seeing and hearing similarities and differences in letters and numbers eg. No. 9 and 6 , alphabets N,S, B etc also commonly observed is the child writing in mirror image form. Difficulty in pronouncing new or tough words etc. If such symptoms are unnoticed in childhood they often are discovered in adulthood where the symptoms remain more or less the same, but are more pronounced as they face inability to understand jokes, puns, are unable to manage time, have poor memory, difficulty in mathematical calculations etc.

It is always better if such symptoms are noticed at a younger age and prompt treatment is given so that maximum progress can be made in the child and that he is able to attain his full potential.

As so it is extremely important on the part of the parents to be observant right from the beginning. And if you notice any below average reading or learning skills which are persistent without any other obvious reason, then parents must not hesitate to bring it to the notice of doctors.

If left untreated this condition continues to remain causing many difficulties and complications in the child`s life. It makes learning very difficult, they are unable to keep up with their school mates, and this can lead to social problems like a low self esteem, behavioural problems, anxiety, and aggression. And children are often unable to deal with this and often try to mask their inability by lying, hiding or becoming withdrawn from their peers, teachers and family.

If symptoms are noticed, it should be brought to the notice of a doctor who will check for and rule out any visual, hearing or other brain problems before confirming the diagnosis.

Dyslexia is a lifelong condition with no cure. But if timely detection is done then treatment can be given to cope with the disability and learning to live with it. A child with dyslexia goes through a lot of emotional turbulence which is very difficult for them to cope with. And so the child requires plenty of emotion support and confidence. Dyslexia can be treated with special techniques which involve hearing, vision and touch to improve reading skills. The school teacher may be requested to help the child accordingly. Also special tuitions may prove to be beneficial.

As parents it is firstly very important to watch for timely signals and seek help well in time. Also provide the child tremendous emotional support to deal with their low self esteem. It is advisable for parents to be touch with the school teacher and keep up with the child`s progress. And parents must praise every little improvement the child makes, and encourage them to read more. Also parents must take time off and spend time with the child and sit an read with them, often reading out aloud, and create a comfortable environment at home for the child. As the child grows, parents must explain to the child what dyslexia is and that it is not the child`s failure but the condition that makes reading challenging for them.

With sufficient help and support the children can grow up and flourish as well as the many famous personalities like Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison who were also born with the gift of dyslexia.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/dsylexia/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

We all need a little bit of help from time to time. There are several reasons why certain projects begin with the outlook into 50 years ahead of time and wondering if it would work. The idea of giving of legal aid is one of such perspective that might have worked out for better or for worse. Everything works for money now; there are no rooms for the poor anymore. There are no narrow escapes anymore to see whether all individuals are liable to receive equal opportunity in every aspect. The rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer. This is one the great ideology passed down for generations or somewhere in the deep wilderness but there are times when the statement goes in an opposite direction. But more than 70% of these people stand by their social and economic deprivation till today. In this world, we all hang by a thin line of justice. There are times when even innocents are even put behind bars at the incompetence of some.

There is a presiding rule of long litigation procedures with expensive cost schedule in India henceforth, the line of people who suffers most from this effect are the poor. They are grouped according to the reports provided by the National Sample Survey (NSS) and placed into different categories separated by the poverty line according to their respective Cost Basic Needs and Consumer Price Index. The Culture of Poverty has deprived millions and several growing generations from achieving their rightful right to develop as individuals. Once upon a time, we were even foolish enough to establish grounds of un-touchability. We were being selfish but human perceptions have changed today and people are fighting more and more to establish civilized conversations, settlement, etc.

In the concern of giving justice to these classes of citizens we are looking at bigger and better pictures now. The Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary have come under one common agreement and even established express provisions in the Constitution to give equal justice and free legal aid under Article 39A. In the hope of giving more authority to provisions of legal aid the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the Parliament in the hope of giving a voice of hope to the poor citizens. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to monitor and evaluate implementation of legal services available under the Act. Otherwise if we further expand our horizon we have seen measures of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) expanding at a rapid rate in the form of: Negotiation, Mediation, Conciliation, Arbitration and most importantly Lok Adalat in a way to developing the principle of natural justice. The establishing principles of Lok Adalat have achieved more than the principles it was set out for but we need more awareness on these issues specially when there are no fees given in a settlement negotiation of the People`™s Court. It has a far reaching effect with eligibility for such free legal services inclusive of Women and children; Members of SC/ST; Industrial workmen; Victims of mass disaster; violence, flood, drought, earthquake, industrial disaster; Disabled persons; Persons in custody; Persons whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 50,000/- Victims of Trafficking in Human beings. The network is widening and has expanded on to pending petitions that lies with the Women`™s Commissions, Labour Courts, Industrial Tribunal, etc.

Legal Aid Clinics are new innovations in establishing peace within our society. Legal Aid Clinics in all Gram Panchayats operate by engaging competent lawyers as legal consultants in the clinics thereby giving wide publicity about the clinics with the help of local Self-Government Institutions. There are also ways by which law colleges and law universities are encouraging students to adopt legal aid clinics and work in remote village areas as their area of operation. In its recorded achievement reports till about March 31, 2009 there are reports of 96.99 lakh people benefiting through legal aid and advice throughout the country in which about 13.83 lakh persons belonging to Scheduled Caste and 4.64 lakh people of Scheduled Tribe communities were beneficiaries. More than 10.22 lakh people were women and about 2.35 lakh people in custody were also benefited. About 7.25 lakh Lok Adalats have been held throughout the country in which more than 2.68 crore cases have been settled. In about 16.87 lakh Motor Accident Claim cases, more than Rs. 7593 crore has been awarded as compensation.

The Initiative that began under the supervision of some of the legal and diversifying assets in the country have taken a heavy toll and expanding till today. Every state in India has begun with the practicality of establishing their own respective state legal service authorities and has worked to their full capacity side by side with the rule makers and executioners of such rule. And that is the idea folks of delivering justice in their full capacity.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/legal-aid/

By M.C. Linthoingambee

We all need a little bit of help from time to time. There are several reasons why certain projects begin with the outlook into 50 years ahead of time and wondering if it would work. The idea of giving of legal aid is one of such perspective that might have worked out for better or for worse. Everything works for money now; there are no rooms for the poor anymore. There are no narrow escapes anymore to see whether all individuals are liable to receive equal opportunity in every aspect. The rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer. This is one the great ideology passed down for generations or somewhere in the deep wilderness but there are times when the statement goes in an opposite direction. But more than 70% of these people stand by their social and economic deprivation till today. In this world, we all hang by a thin line of justice. There are times when even innocents are even put behind bars at the incompetence of some.

There is a presiding rule of long litigation procedures with expensive cost schedule in India henceforth, the line of people who suffers most from this effect are the poor. They are grouped according to the reports provided by the National Sample Survey (NSS) and placed into different categories separated by the poverty line according to their respective Cost Basic Needs and Consumer Price Index. The Culture of Poverty has deprived millions and several growing generations from achieving their rightful right to develop as individuals. Once upon a time, we were even foolish enough to establish grounds of un-touchability. We were being selfish but human perceptions have changed today and people are fighting more and more to establish civilized conversations, settlement, etc.

In the concern of giving justice to these classes of citizens we are looking at bigger and better pictures now. The Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary have come under one common agreement and even established express provisions in the Constitution to give equal justice and free legal aid under Article 39A. In the hope of giving more authority to provisions of legal aid the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the Parliament in the hope of giving a voice of hope to the poor citizens. The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to monitor and evaluate implementation of legal services available under the Act. Otherwise if we further expand our horizon we have seen measures of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) expanding at a rapid rate in the form of: Negotiation, Mediation, Conciliation, Arbitration and most importantly Lok Adalat in a way to developing the principle of natural justice. The establishing principles of Lok Adalat have achieved more than the principles it was set out for but we need more awareness on these issues specially when there are no fees given in a settlement negotiation of the People`™s Court. It has a far reaching effect with eligibility for such free legal services inclusive of Women and children; Members of SC/ST; Industrial workmen; Victims of mass disaster; violence, flood, drought, earthquake, industrial disaster; Disabled persons; Persons in custody; Persons whose annual income does not exceed Rs. 50,000/- Victims of Trafficking in Human beings. The network is widening and has expanded on to pending petitions that lies with the Women`™s Commissions, Labour Courts, Industrial Tribunal, etc.

Legal Aid Clinics are new innovations in establishing peace within our society. Legal Aid Clinics in all Gram Panchayats operate by engaging competent lawyers as legal consultants in the clinics thereby giving wide publicity about the clinics with the help of local Self-Government Institutions. There are also ways by which law colleges and law universities are encouraging students to adopt legal aid clinics and work in remote village areas as their area of operation. In its recorded achievement reports till about March 31, 2009 there are reports of 96.99 lakh people benefiting through legal aid and advice throughout the country in which about 13.83 lakh persons belonging to Scheduled Caste and 4.64 lakh people of Scheduled Tribe communities were beneficiaries. More than 10.22 lakh people were women and about 2.35 lakh people in custody were also benefited. About 7.25 lakh Lok Adalats have been held throughout the country in which more than 2.68 crore cases have been settled. In about 16.87 lakh Motor Accident Claim cases, more than Rs. 7593 crore has been awarded as compensation.

The Initiative that began under the supervision of some of the legal and diversifying assets in the country have taken a heavy toll and expanding till today. Every state in India has begun with the practicality of establishing their own respective state legal service authorities and has worked to their full capacity side by side with the rule makers and executioners of such rule. And that is the idea folks of delivering justice in their full capacity.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/legal-aid/

By Khura Seraton

You open some paan dukans and eateries, and you call it some kind of festival. Yaare! Please take it away somewhere from here. We have enough of it`. Da Bung is an angry man these days. You know, he has been angry even before the festival had begun. He is someone who doesn`™t get upset so easily. Those who know him would agree. For most of the time, you will find Da Bung with a smile, but not this time. I told him that he should not be so harsh with his comments. `Ebungo Gyankumar. Don`™t feed me your gyan today`¦` But, Da Bung, I am not trying to `¦ He interrupted and continued, `Mr Speaker Sir, I have heard about something called House Arrest over the news channels sometimes `¦ the leader of so and so is under house arrest for his unwanted political activism against the establishment. But I am not a leader of any organisation. So are my family members. We are now under house arrest for committing the crime of residing at Palace Compound`. You can`™t call that a house arrest, Da Bung, I tried to reason. `Do you have a better word? Even if you have, keep it with yourself. You know what. We are given a Pass by the prabhu(s); a single Pass for the entire family members to move in and out from our own house. My children go to school. I go to work. My parents go to work. I too go to work. Tell me, should I distribute the Pass among us by cutting it into equal parts?`

What can we do about it, Da Bung? It`™s not only your family. There are other families in and around Palace Compound who have to take the same trouble as yours. The restrictions are just for ten days. `Ho Oya! Oya Gyankumaraa! I know what you are trying to say. Being a citizen I have to give cooperation to the organiser for successful conduct of the event. You mean to say that. Isn`™t it? Yes, I totally agree with it. Well, let me tell you one thing. Cooperation is something which you give voluntarily`. Da Bung, you are taking it too far. And I think our conversation will lead us to argument for the sake of it. I am just trying to point out that Da Bung is taking things personally. `Hold it right there, sir. I am not interested in any sort of argument. Nor do I have any intention to prove myself by demeaning you in an argument. As you have mentioned `personal`™, yes I do take things very personally`.

I realised our conversation was getting a bit heated. I could see Da Bung was getting excited. We have known each other for a long time. We often catch up and talk of so many things under the sun. Da Bung has been suffering from Migraine ever since I have known him. He had consulted with many doctors in the state to treat his Migraine. But the Migraine is still with him; giving him bad time when it pays its visit. Da Bung would try to bear the pain in his own way without any medicines. In fact, he has learned to live with the pain. But at times, the pain is unbearable to him. And I feel really helpless about it. Da Bung always tries forgetting his pain, or rather tries to keep it aside as if nothing is wrong with him. This is what I admire about him most. Besides, he is someone who always tries to light up the gathering with his ever pleasing persona. He is also techno-savvy, ready to be self-taught and also ready to experiment with assortment of electronic gadgets, lying around his bed and drawing room. I do take liberty to visit him when any of my gadgets go to sleep without any reasons. Da Bung will do the needful. Da Bung also administers a social network group which is especially for people who has Migraine like him. His group shares quite a lot of information besides their experiences of coping with Migraine and latest medical research finding on the subject. Thanks to the information technology.

Ever since the Sangai Festival had begun, Da Bung has not been able to connect with the internet, which means he has been cut off from his social media community since the last many days. To Da Bung and his group the social networking site has been a kind of Sanatorium. They take solace sharing their experiences of bearing pain induced by Migraine. This being the case, Da Bung has been grumpy, saying the festival has been the culprit causing cyber traffic jam.

He continued his talking, `I don`™t mind the noise, I don`™t mind the dust. You know, we are used to it. Bheigyachandra Open Air Theatre and the chains of public events that it has given space to have become almost a lullaby to us. What I really don`™t like is the security personnel searching the children`™s school bags when they go out for school`. They have to do it as part of their duty, Da Bung. They are just following orders. You know that. `Agreed, Gyankumar, agreed. But I always fail to explain to my children why their bags are checked when they asked after their return from school. That pain is more severe than Migraine`.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/da-bung-of-palace-compound/

By Khura Seraton

You open some paan dukans and eateries, and you call it some kind of festival. Yaare! Please take it away somewhere from here. We have enough of it`. Da Bung is an angry man these days. You know, he has been angry even before the festival had begun. He is someone who doesn`™t get upset so easily. Those who know him would agree. For most of the time, you will find Da Bung with a smile, but not this time. I told him that he should not be so harsh with his comments. `Ebungo Gyankumar. Don`™t feed me your gyan today`¦` But, Da Bung, I am not trying to `¦ He interrupted and continued, `Mr Speaker Sir, I have heard about something called House Arrest over the news channels sometimes `¦ the leader of so and so is under house arrest for his unwanted political activism against the establishment. But I am not a leader of any organisation. So are my family members. We are now under house arrest for committing the crime of residing at Palace Compound`. You can`™t call that a house arrest, Da Bung, I tried to reason. `Do you have a better word? Even if you have, keep it with yourself. You know what. We are given a Pass by the prabhu(s); a single Pass for the entire family members to move in and out from our own house. My children go to school. I go to work. My parents go to work. I too go to work. Tell me, should I distribute the Pass among us by cutting it into equal parts?`

What can we do about it, Da Bung? It`™s not only your family. There are other families in and around Palace Compound who have to take the same trouble as yours. The restrictions are just for ten days. `Ho Oya! Oya Gyankumaraa! I know what you are trying to say. Being a citizen I have to give cooperation to the organiser for successful conduct of the event. You mean to say that. Isn`™t it? Yes, I totally agree with it. Well, let me tell you one thing. Cooperation is something which you give voluntarily`. Da Bung, you are taking it too far. And I think our conversation will lead us to argument for the sake of it. I am just trying to point out that Da Bung is taking things personally. `Hold it right there, sir. I am not interested in any sort of argument. Nor do I have any intention to prove myself by demeaning you in an argument. As you have mentioned `personal`™, yes I do take things very personally`.

I realised our conversation was getting a bit heated. I could see Da Bung was getting excited. We have known each other for a long time. We often catch up and talk of so many things under the sun. Da Bung has been suffering from Migraine ever since I have known him. He had consulted with many doctors in the state to treat his Migraine. But the Migraine is still with him; giving him bad time when it pays its visit. Da Bung would try to bear the pain in his own way without any medicines. In fact, he has learned to live with the pain. But at times, the pain is unbearable to him. And I feel really helpless about it. Da Bung always tries forgetting his pain, or rather tries to keep it aside as if nothing is wrong with him. This is what I admire about him most. Besides, he is someone who always tries to light up the gathering with his ever pleasing persona. He is also techno-savvy, ready to be self-taught and also ready to experiment with assortment of electronic gadgets, lying around his bed and drawing room. I do take liberty to visit him when any of my gadgets go to sleep without any reasons. Da Bung will do the needful. Da Bung also administers a social network group which is especially for people who has Migraine like him. His group shares quite a lot of information besides their experiences of coping with Migraine and latest medical research finding on the subject. Thanks to the information technology.

Ever since the Sangai Festival had begun, Da Bung has not been able to connect with the internet, which means he has been cut off from his social media community since the last many days. To Da Bung and his group the social networking site has been a kind of Sanatorium. They take solace sharing their experiences of bearing pain induced by Migraine. This being the case, Da Bung has been grumpy, saying the festival has been the culprit causing cyber traffic jam.

He continued his talking, `I don`™t mind the noise, I don`™t mind the dust. You know, we are used to it. Bheigyachandra Open Air Theatre and the chains of public events that it has given space to have become almost a lullaby to us. What I really don`™t like is the security personnel searching the children`™s school bags when they go out for school`. They have to do it as part of their duty, Da Bung. They are just following orders. You know that. `Agreed, Gyankumar, agreed. But I always fail to explain to my children why their bags are checked when they asked after their return from school. That pain is more severe than Migraine`.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/da-bung-of-palace-compound/

By Malangba Bangormayum

I like people who like people whom I like. I like specially those people who like my son and tell things like, `he is so cute`, `he is so talented`… `he is very intelligent`. I like them anyways even if I know that what they say might not be true. Is it just me or is it a common phenomenon? My wife says it is common enough.

I like people who like Manipur. I met two such people on the same day last week. The first person`™s father was an IAS officer posted in different parts of Manipur – Chandel, Churachandpur, Ukhrul and Imphal. She grew up in Manipur. And more importantly she talks of Manipur with a certain unmistakable nostalgia. She conducts a children`™s choir. Her brother is none other than the conductor of The Shillong Chamber Choir. Circumstances had somehow brought the two of us together to adjudge very talented singers and instrumentalists from the NER. In fact, the talent and stature of one in particular put the two of us in a very discomforting position. We had to judge, one of the most identifiable singers from our region, who has attained iconic status. He was part of the Great Society and has a penchant for wearing really tight and really short jeans pants while performing. There are some people who are beyond any kind of formal judging `“ they have made a mark, they have contributed their bit. He is one of them. How do one judge persons like him? Simply because I happen to have a formal degree in the domain in which he functions, I am made a judge of him.

The director of the government agency where this business transpired, it so happens, was throwing a luncheon to celebrate his retirement in a few days. When I was making an exit from the premises, I was introduced to him. He was in high spirits. He smelled of fine spirits – literally. As soon as he came to know that I am from Manipur, he started to move his well-oiled wheels of eloquence. His father was the proprietor of Imphal Talkies. He grew up in Imphal. He talked of Imphal Talkies with pride and joy `“ even though Imphal Talkies is no longer theirs. His father made it a point that the finest Hollywood productions had its premiere shows, in the country, in Imphal Talkies. This was a big gamble. Distributors charge disproportionate fees for premieres. Though this made him lose money he didn`™t mind. Such was his passion to make Imphal Talkies a Cinema to talk about.

My Fair Lady, I was told by this gentleman, made its premier in India at Imphal Talkies. When one of the Warner Brothers came to Bombay as part of a victory lap for the phenomenal success, especially in terms of returns of this film, he was greeted by a bouquet of flowers with the card `For My Fair Lady from Imphal Talkies`. When the producer returned home, he sent a thank you card with the words – `To Imphal Talkies from My Fair Lady. No one had sent a lovelier gift`. These stories from another generation sounded fantastic. They enervated my tired nerves after a daylong affair of judging artistes`™s talents and capabilities, some of which were atrocious. The stories reaffirmed my belief about the part passions play in carving the world.

When I was about to leave, I asked the name of his father. The gentleman came close to my ears and whispered a name which sounded like an Islamic name. But the spirits had done its work by then. I could not get the name. Afraid that I might offend such a nice person, I did not have the courage to ask him to repeat the name. I thought `what`™s the point?` I know the person without knowing the name, without having seen his face. I felt I knew him, someone separated by time. What`™s in a name anyways?

I remember the big long fans inside Imphal Talkies. Who can forget the languorous whirring synchronicity they performed in those warm Imphal summer holidays. As a kid, I loved to look at them, more than the movies sometimes. Now, everyone knows the condition of Imphal Talkies. It has had its day. And what an amazing day it must have been.

On my way home, I silently reflected on whether the state`™s creative output in the area of films had anything to do with the passion of that gentleman. Perhaps, it might have. Some Manipuri friends of the gentleman`™s father jokingly told him that his father whetted the insurgency movements by bringing in films about rebellion, films about freedom and films about the wild, wild-west. Perhaps, this too might have some truth under the veneer of a joke. A far-fetched possibility in any case.

Every time I go by Imphal Talkies, I shall smile, knowing that it had a past, a wonderful past. I might also sigh at the condition that it has come to. Perhaps, I would then reflect on the transitory illusoriness of things. This reflection too, no doubt, shall be transitory.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/11/flowers-for-my-fair-lady/