Shoddy works

At least one eveninger headlined it. It said that Rapid Reaction Teams (RRTs) did not dig up deep enough pits for burying the culled birds. Around Thangmeiband-Chingmeirong areas rotten smells came out of the burial sites.

Later in the evening, I learnt that the RRTs are visiting the areas tomorrow again. Shoddy works there.

And I should not fail to note down a piece of insider news. In the afternoon a cheque of Rs 10 crores had just reached the Director, Vety Deptt. It was from Delhi. In absolute terms, it is not a huge amount of money (is it a little less than 1 million dollar?) but in a small place like Imphal and in the hands of fixed-salaried petty officials, it is a huge sum of money.

It is again to be noted here that it came direct to the Director empowering him to utilize it in whatever ways he thinks fit. It bypassed what they call the ‘proper channel’ of the State Government.

It is becoming clearer day by day that there is a lot of money in virus business

The return of the UAV

I did try to have a glimpse of it but it seemed that it flew above the clouds. It was unmistakable that it was a UAV.

The time was around 5.30 in the evening.

I could hear the sound of it flying around for about 20 minutes.

What it was looking for?

Govt departments:At cross purposes

This afternoon police parties at different places outside the 5 kms radius tried to close down selling chicken and related products. It was reported in the papers that all such shops in Bishenpur were also shut down.

So, what’s happening? Were some blood samples of birds outside the 5 kms tested positive for the virus?

The Deptt of Vety is emphatic there is no such case. Then? All they could say was that we should redirect our enquiries to the office of the respective Deputy Commissioners. But unlike the Deptt of Vety which have been maintaining a control room round the clock, the offices of the DCs were closed for the Sunday. So, people could not get any information why the police personnel were trying to close down the shops.

It’s very clear that different departments of the govt are functioning in cross purposes.

If they did not get any blood sample tested positive outside the 5 kms radius, they should have no plan to cull the birds there. But the birds in those farms need to be sold off, the farms cleaned and new flocks raised in quick successions. If these cycles are broken and older age flocks are forced (as was done by the police personnel today) to stay longer in the farms, they are more prone to be the virus hosts.

The ideal thing is to encourage people to buy and eat chicken outside the 5 kms radius.

But the opposite seems to be happening.

Come sunshine, bust all the aerosols!

Who would welcome sunshine on a balmy July day?

For once, I would!

Right now, my mood is –let the harsh July sunshine beat on us and bust all the aerosols in the air. Only for the purpose of busting the aerosols I would welcome a harsh July sunshine.

Did you know that virus hops around riding the aerosols in the air? Sometimes they can travel upto 80 feet in a single hop riding the aerosols.

For several days now, we have not been able to have a glimpse of the Sun in the sky. The sky has been always overcast and intermittent drizzles all throughout days and night. The humidity is intolerable.

It’s just the perfect setting for sprouting of aerosols all around us.

In the evening I went shopping. Trudging the muddy marketplace, I could still hear gay banters among the crowd, mainly recalling the previous night’s ‘chicken party’. Everybody seems to be well-informed. They know well-cooked chicken is fit for eating and the only tricky part is when they have to kill and dress the bird. It seems that everybody thinks letting the Govt cull the birds at the rate of Rs 30 a bird is a bad idea and worse economics! I bet ‘chicken parties’ are raging all around us. But they don’t take risk by buying chicken in the market and they are also not the taking the risk of letting fowls loitering around their yards.

That’s a great spirit! Keep it up!!

The virus and the farming community

Late into the evening, there was no report of any abnormal mortality of birds in and around Imphal. I wish the virus outbreak was contained.

But viewing from the side of farming community, there is total anarchy in their domain. As soon as the official announcement was made consumers of all hues suddenly avoid chicken in any from like a plague.

Abruptly, the demands of chicken in any form drop down to a big zero.

But there are a lot of farms outside the 5 kms radius where the culling is being in progress. They have to keep feeding their flocks with no prospect of selling their crops within the next 3 months.

3 months? It’s because it is mandatory to review the status of the outbreak only after a break of complete 3 months. Within this period, there should be active surveillance to make sure that the virus was completely wiped out.

Until and unless there is another official announcement to the effect that the outbreak is contained and it is safe to eat chicken, consumers will continue to avoid it. So, the demands for chickens will continue to be zero for the next 3 months.

And, it is not common knowledge but the chicken feeds are pricey. You cannot barter a kilo of rice, which is the staple food of people here, with a kilo of chicken feed. It is costlier than rice.

Will the farming community continue to invest in this pricey stuff for a crop which would have zero demand in the market for the next 3 months?

This government and ,even this society, appear to have no idea how to deal with the present plight of the farming community here.

Bad news

First, here is the bad news. Late in the afternoon, it was officially confirmed that the strain of bird flu virus detected here was H5N1. Previously, it was thought to be H5 strain. H5N1 is more virulent and is more likely to jump to human.

They say the norm for testing is that they look for the H strain first. Only after confirming the H strain would they go for further testing looking for N strain. That’s why it takes further two days to confirm the N1 strain.

But there is still something that greatly disturbs me.

The virus was detected almost two weeks back. But they did not declare that the State was hit by a bird flu outbreak. Here is my earlier post detailing it.

I thought finding the virus in a single and tiny farm was not a sufficient condition for declaring place as a zone of outbreak. I thought that it was necessary to conduct further testing on blood samples of the flocks of the surrounding areas.

So, when they declared Imphal as being a zone of outbreak, I thought that some more samples were tested positive for the virus.

But it was certain that it was not the case.

The virus was tested positive on the 7 blood samples of the 8 sent from the tiny farm in Thangmeiband (bordering Chingmeirong).

After this detection, more than 1000 blood samples from farms in and around Imphal were sent to Bhopal. AND ALL THE SAMPLES WERE TESTED NEGATIVE.

Are they following norms wasting those critical 15-20 days?

Bird flu outbreak

It’s official now—there is bird flu outbreak here.

In the afternoon, the Govt officially announced that culling of live birds would begin tomorrow. As the first step, all the live birds within the 5 kms radius of ground zero will be culled. Ground zero is the farm in Thangmeiband area. I’ve posted about the farm here.

All the live birds outside this 5 kms radius but within the 10 kms radius will be under constant surveillance.

They are giving Rs 10 for every small chick and Rs 30 for every grown up birds culled as compensation.

These rates are mandated by Govt of India based on the current price in some states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra. Here the rates are too low. Some of my friends told me that most farmers would be willing to let their birds culled if the compensation came to around Rs 90 per bird.

We all can understand that it is an emergency situation and the farming community should be ready to lose some portions of their investments. But it appears that pure chaos prevails in the field. There is still widespread shifting of birds outside the 5 kms radius. As I’m typing this right now, wholesale transportations of birds are still continuing. I got this news from some friends of mine who are reliable.

There is likelihood that they would not find any substantial numbers of birds within the immediate 5 kms radius.

Bird flu is a very serious public concern. But this government totally mismanages the initial response to contain the outbreak. We are indeed living in a very dangerous place.

Terrible things

It’s cold—COLD! Right now, I’m wearing a jacket. Jacket on a July night!

Today, right from the go in the first morning, it was actually cold. It might be a perfect day for a long walk. But if you stay put indoors, you feel like grabbing your jackets and woolen cloths. It was cloudy, with drizzles all day long and with the sun nowhere to be seen. But why is it to be so cold on a July day?

I think that there must be something terribly wrong with our planet. Global warming must be the culprit.

Coming to the next terrible thing, they said they would say something definite about the bird flu status in Imphal by 21st. Today is the 25th. Even if all the blood samples were tested negative, they have a duty to inform the public about it. Negative results are good news for everybody concerned. Good news are meant to be spread around.

Why should anybody try to suppress good news?

I’m still a bit uneasy about the whole affairs.

UAV show in Imphal!

The show started at around 5.30 in the evening!

I had just reached home with a pack of flavoured green tea by Tetley when I heard a very unnatural yet familiar sound.

It’s familiar because I spotted it flying around Imphal night sky several months ago. All of the previous sightings were during night times. Aside of the yellow and red lights, I could not see anything. So, I could not be sure if it was a UAV or just another turboprop plane.

But this evening, I could clearly see it. At 5 in the evening, the sunlight is low in intensity and there is no glare. Above that, it was cloudy—but not with blackish clouds. The clouds were more or less lighted by the rays of the setting sun and the UAV was flying beneath them. That makes a perfect viewing experience.

I was sure it was a UAV because it was so thin that there was no possibility of any people sitting inside it. It was comparatively slow moving flying machine.

But how do I connect with today’s one with those I sighted during night times several months ago? It is the sound. They all emitted the same sound.

The sound has the ring of toy plane in it but hugely louder.

As I first saw it, it was heading towards Churachandpur side, cutting the Imphal skyline right in the middle. After some minutes, it was just a speck of a flying object in the Southern horizon. Then, it returned, circling the Imphal in a clockwise direction.

It kept circling the Imphal valley for nearly 30 minutes, many times in smaller circles, covering the Eastern skyline and then, Northern. Several times it circled in large circles covering all of Imphal skyline. It did the circling always in a clockwise direction.

After about 30 minutes of making circles, it headed towards Churachnadpur.

Then, it was gone.

A must see video.

I feel a sorry for myself for getting to see this video this late.

See Jeff Han casts his magic to your computer screen.

Some moody thoughts

Today, in the afternoon, it was actually cold. What’s happening on a July afternoon? Sudden weather changes always make me feel a little shitty.

But I should not fail to note down the series of events of the last 7/8 days.

Let me start with today’s. Some student leaders went all the way to Delhi and demanded a separate university in the hills. If not a full-fledged university, they wanted at least a campus of a central university in the hills.

Yesterday, some students vandalized passenger buses parked in a place called Kangvai, which is right on the border of Churachandpur and Bishenpur districts. They were all buses plying in Churachandpur-Imphal routes but for that day they went as far as Kangvai only as the students of Churachandpur district were observing a bandh there. The bandh was something to do with the working of Public Distribution System in the District. But the students crossed over to the area which is clearly in Bishenpur district and vandalized the buses. The transporters retaliated by organizing a counter-bandh on the Churachandpur-Imphal route. The route was paralyzed for the second day today.

Two or three days back, Hmar student leaders tried to drag out the Parbung mass rape case by demanding that a report by the Naga Peoples’ Human Rights Movement should be made public. This Naga outfit is considered to be very closed to NSCN(IM), which again is very hostile to the Manipuri rebel group accused of perpetrating the mass rape.

Some days back, there was a large demonstration by the women folks in Churachandpur district headquarter. It appeared to be well organized and one of the largest gatherings of women folks in the district in recent times. They were supposed to demonstrate against the rape of a young mother by three deserters from a rebel outfit. But they did more to spread the idea that the valley people consider tribal girls as sex objects.

They are all legitimate demands. But I noticed a thread linking all these events going all the way to the rape of the young mother and the recent disturbances in Moreh. Somebody is really desperate that there should be communal clash between the Kukis and Meeteis.

The 'conflict' in picture.

The balding old man is Mr Ph Parijat, who is one of the most senior ministers in the present Government in Imphal. He is most probably the 3rd or the 4th man after the Chief Minister himself.

The lanky man on the right who is in his short pant is Major Nikhil Thakkar of the Indian army.

The scene was in front of the outpost near Sagang, of which the major is the post commander. The senior minister, who had to pass the outpost on his way to his official visits to rural health care centtres, was detained by the major and questioned.

This is the front page photo of the Poknapham, which it carried on its 19th July 2007 edition.

A fine conspiracy theory!

Tonight, it feels like a wintry night. It’s not as cold as in the winter but it is cold. You feel like winter is just around the corner.

Hmm..if winter comes, then end of the year is also in sight. Come to think of this—2007 coming to an end! This freaks me out—I’ve not yet done anything worthwhile during 2007.

Why should I feel like this? It’s now just past the middle of the year. May be, it’s because there is a feel of wintry ambience in the air.

Remember the friend of mine who gave me the details about this bird flu stuff? We kind of bumped into each other this afternoon on the road.

It seems that he has a lot of snippets of the bid flu affairs. This afternoon’s snippets have the ring of conspiracy theory all over them! He told me that there is an emergency funds of Rs 3 crores to tackle bird flu as it begins out breaking. A designated vet doc is empowered to utilize the funds without even the concurrence of the director of the Deptt in case the virus is detected. He told me that there was the possibility of the doc aiming for the Rs 3 crores fund. But what about the blood samples which were suspected to test positive?

He told me that the designated doc in question is an active member of Indo Myanmar Friendship Society and he had been traveling to Burma for most part of the year.

My friend actually told me that the farming community here still think that the good doc might have bring back a blood sample of suspected flocks from Burma and got it couriered to Bhopal for testing.

We can understand that the farming community might be in a denial mood right at the moment but this is a pure conspiracy theory.

It's official now: 'Possibility' bird flu in Imphal.

Now, it's out in the open. Most papers headlined it today--actually headlines screaming the possibility of bird flu virus running wild in Imphal.

We have to note the qualifying word--'possibilty'. Right at the moment, the official line is that there is no bird flu virus here. They would say it definitely by Saturday. A team of 10 vet docs have completed collecting blood samples within the 5 km radius of the suspected farm in Thangmeiband. The high security lab in Bhopal will give its verdict by Saturday.

So, we have to wait for the Sunday morning papers to hit the news stand.

Commissioner veterinary to Union Government is here in Imphal supervising the operations. He arrived here on the 15th.

That such a high ranking official is supervising the operation means that the blood samples from the Thangmeiband farm were positive for bird flu virus. But the farm happened to be a tiny one, having a flock size of less than 200 broilers. While they were waiting for the Bhopal test report, all the birds were culled and even the bamboo shed was burnt down.

So, they are checking the blood samples of all the farms within the 5 kms radius of the Tahngmeiband farm. There is also the possibility that all the blood samples might test negative.

Let's hope for the best.

Still intrigued

I'm still intrigued by the rape of the 9th. May be, I'm in a mood for cracking some mysterious codes embedded in that heinous act! Please see my last post.

But why should they be executed? Villagers around the place they were excuted knew for sure that they wanted to surrender to the police. They also knew that they were in fact keeping in touch with the police to start a new lives for themselves.

If all the three men got into the act of raping the young mother, is there a remote chance that they would be spared of that brutal execution?

I've got this uneasy feeling that they were executed because somebody wanted the truth not to come out. If they were not executed, there is real likelihood that we would find out who were the actual rapists and who was the person who declined to be a party to that heinous act.

Why someone wanted to put a lid on that possibilty?

Why is it so important that the third man should join in the heinous act?

I still think that somebody planned the rape. They calculated that if two of the three men went as far as raping a young woman in the presence of their friend, he would be so aroused that he had no chance for escaping from becoming an active participant in the horrible act.

But that did not happen. And, for that reason only, all three fo them had to die. I think like this because those who want to surrender are generally welcomed with open arms by the authority. So, why should there be a separate rule for these particular three rebels?

It's because one of them refused to rape a young woman of a particular community! It's totally sttrange, to say the least.

A bizarre rape case

Most of the time, rape is everything to do about violence. But the occasional cases of rapes by rebel cadres operating deep into the mountainous parts indicate pursuit of pure sexual gratification.

Still, we did have a rape case on the 9th of this month, which is nothing to do either with violence or sex.

Reading today’s papers made me strongly felt that the act of raping a young mother on the 9th was a part of a deal. They had to rape a woman of a particular community and only then, they would get something in return. Most probably they were promised safe passage but in the end they were betrayed and got executed.

Some days back, when the news of the rape came in the papers, they were uniformly accompanied by detailed report of the blow by blow account of how the heinous was committed from the very mouth of the rape victim. She told the media that on that day 3 men in battle fatigue, all carrying assault rifles came to her farm which was barely 3 kms away from her home. 2 of them went inside her make-shift hut and called her in. One of them had to hold her baby, just outside the hut while the 2 men took their turn to rape her inside. After they finished with their acts, the third man, who is still holding the baby was called in to have his turn as well. But he declined. The scene is a little tragic comic.

The rape victim is a young mother, barely 20 years old. The place is in Churachandpur district but just adjoining Wangoo, which is a meetei dominated area in the valley. She belongs to Kuki community.

The rape did happen. The rape victim belongs to a particular community. Then, why they were executed?

Most probably, they failed to follow the script to its letters. That is, they failed to get the third man involved in the heinous act.

Really?

Today’s papers revealed that they were all deserters. But the most interesting twist in the story is that not all of the three belong to the same rebel group. A rebel group, in a press statement, said that 2 of the three were their cadres who deserted their battalion. The third was a deserter from another rebel group, who had been taking shelter in their battalion since January this year.

Was the third man the man who was holding the baby outside the hut? Was the mainstay of the deal to get the third man involved in the heinous act?

Totally bizarre.

All three of them were executed by police commandos in Nambol yesterday.

Something fishy?

There is something fishy here.

Either there is willful covering up of news or there were some mix ups in the blood samples.

I would welcome the second scenario. Bird flu virus is the last thing we need here in Imphal. We have had enough problems in hand.

But it should be very clearly understood that we cannot tolerate a cover up. If there was an actual detection of the virus here, every citizen should have the right to know the status of the virus on hourly basis.

But today I could not find any news or any development. I thought of visiting my friend again. But he has enough shares of his own worries—looking at his face, I got the impression that he had just reached the end of this world! I phoned another friend asking him if he heard something. He phoned me back telling me that everything seemed to be normal.

I also forgot to mention something in my last post. My friend very clearly told me that Joint Secy(home) and Joint Secy(vety) of the Union Government would be visiting Imphal today itself. What had happened to that visit? I tried to find out in today’s eveningers here but there was nothing.

But we should also agree that premature announcement should also be bad enough, causing panic among the general population. And we should also take into account the proverbial inefficiency of the Government here to respond to any minor contingency, leave alone responding to vastly complicated case of a bird flu outbreak.

Let’s give them 2/3 days. Within that time frame if we don’t hear anything official, I’ll definitely start asking around.

This certainly calls for an investigation.

Bird flu in Imphal?

It’s not official yet but it’s almost confirmed that the virus was detected in a small poultry farm in Thangmeiband area.

I got the news this fast because I happened to just drop into the office of one of my friends who has a farm. It was dusk and I found him in his office extremely dejected. I asked him what’s the problem with me and he told me the story.

The story goes on like this. Blood samples of the said farm were couriered to the Bhopal lab by a veterinary doctor from the Vety Deptt, Government of Mnaipur. I don’t get the details but I suspect that if they took that trouble of couriering the samples with a vety doc, they might had some preliminary findings that the farm might just have the virus. The lab in Bhopal is the only lab in India which confirmative test on bird flu.

The Bhopal lab informed directly to the Union Government in Delhi about the test results. It’s because they learnt some lesson from the recent outbreak of the virus in Nasik. In Nasik, when they heard the confirmative results from Bhopal, all the poultry farmers actually shifted birds out of the 12 kms radius of the outbreak. It’s mandatory that all the birds within the 12 kms radius of the outbreak should be culled. Here, it means that all the birds within Imphal should be culled.

So, the joint secy in the deptt of agriculture of the Union Govt had telephoned the director, vety deptt here twice today enquiring about the preparations for the culling.

My friend told me that some culling equipments actually were transported to Imphal this evening by air.

I suspect that I might just the first person to put this news in black and white but I don’t doing this. It’s because some of the friends have farms and it’s almost certain their flocks have to be culled. This means they are out of the business for some months at least.

But I also think that if the virus is actually amidst us, everybody should chip in to restrict the virus from spreading further.

Finding theanswer

I’m kind of continuing from my last post.

For whatever reason the Indian military fail to finish off the rebels establishments along the Indo Burma borders, one possible way to explain it, is to assign it an inherent weakness in its setup. That said, the soft power of the Indian state is still tremendous. Can we think up of any modern State which military has to engage in a 3 hours gun battles with rebels? May be, Afghanistan, which is more or less a freakish state. In India’s case, its military has to fight a 3 hours long gun battles with its home grown rebels and still able to present a completely normal facet to the rest of the world. That’s a tremendous achievement.

Then, we can come to the question: Why don’t the Indian military advance right up to the rebel-held areas and finish off the rebels there? We have to remember here they enjoy huge numerical superiority and the much needed local supports in the forms of assistance provided by the cadres of KNA.

Going by the strategy deployed during the Kargil war, we know that Indian military is willing to suffer a disproportionate mortality to achieve a military target.

So, it appears that the field commanders of the Indian military deployed right now along the Indo Burma borders are being tied down by other considerations, which might not be essentially military in character.

For example, the recent Chinese diplomatic moves. For several years now, everybody knew that the border dispute between China and India was becoming a non-issue. Then, only some weeks back, the Chinese made a sudden volte-face and resumed its farcical claim that Arunachal Pradesh is their territory. They even refused to issue a visa for an IAS officer, who is a native of the said state.

The most consummate nature of the recent Chinese diplomatic offensive is their ability to position it as a countermove to an Indian diplomatic move.

A countermove to what Indian diplomatic move?

To my mind, it’s the Indian diplomatic move, cozying up with the Burmese military junta, even to the extent of supplying military hardware. International diplomatic community thinks that if Indians initiate a move in a Chinese backyard, it is legitimate for the Chinese to make a countermove.

So, right at the moment, the Indian State finds itself dragged down in an uncomfortable diplomatic mess.

This state of diplomatic mess demands that the Indian military should avoid at all cost a situation whereby it is forced to a military face off with the Burmese side. We have to remember here that if the Indian military initiates ‘operations’ against the rebels too near the border, it is very well possible that it might degenerate into a military face off with the Burmese side.

So, it’s fairly possible that the field commanders of the Indian military deployed along the Indo Burma border to fight the rebels are being prevented from executing their military duties by the twists and turns of international diplomacy. This might just be the reason why there is deafening silence along the Indo Burma border right at the moment.

WHY?

It is something that had happened on the morning of 8th of this month. It was reported by all the papers on the 9th.

Well, it is about a gun battle. But I’m not overly interested in gun battles or something to do with rebel activities. As a matter of fact, it was a 3 hours long gun battle with the rebels and Indian military.

But as private citizen, interested in happenings around him, the gun battle of the 8th sets me thinking.

As could be gleaned from the media reports, it appeared to be a fierce fighting, lasting as long as 3 hours. All the reports carried both the versions of the rebels and the Indian military.

The rebels admitted that 2 of its cadres were killed and claimed to have killed 2 soldiers of the Indian military. It said that after the 3hours long battle, it was deploying rocket launchers and heavy guns, waiting for the Indian military advance.

The Indian military spokesman based in Imphal said that they had killed as many as 3 rebels and admitted that one it’s NCO was seriously injured. He concluded by stating that the ‘operation’ was still continuing.

It’s interesting to note that the rebels were bringing in reinforcement in anticipation of an imminent advance by the Indian military. And the Indian military said the ‘operation’ was continuing.

Then, suddenly total silence descended on the Indo-Burma borders near Moreh, where the gun battles took place.

WHY?

In case the rebels had abandoned their positions, the Indian military would lose no time in trumpeting their achievement of ‘flushing out’ the rebels, forcing them to back down inside the safety net provided by the Burmese military. That this trumpeting does not happen would tell us that the rebels are waiting with their ‘rocket launchers and heavy guns’.

As a general rule, rebel army retreats when the military advances. Mostly, they refuse to be pinned down in a fixed territory. But the rebels appear to be pinned down within a well defined territory near the Indo-Burma border. And, this is very important, the Indian military appears to have extremely reliable intel and logistic support provided by the KNA. And, they have huge numerical superiority.

Then, why don’t they simply advance and finish the rebels?

WHY?

It's late, tonight.

I'm late tonight. I mean I'm late to try to type out a post, which I've been busy writing in my head!

When I booted my PC it was laready 11.30 pm. I want to post it before midnight. But I think I cannot do justice to what I've been toying up in my head under 30 minutes.

I'll do it tommorow.

A new link.

I've just added a new link under heading ' Now reading!' on my left bar.

It's about the ideology of development and I find the article very interesting.

Cell phone and UMPC--converged!

Here is a video to see how a cell phone and a UMPC got converged into a single, ultra portable device.

The guy in the video is Hugo Ortega, the tablet man of Australia and he has a blog here.

2nd day

Today is the 2nd of my time shift implementation!

In the morning, when I woke up, I felt fuller. That’s a good sign. Even I can say that I felt stronger!

The only part where I felt disheartened was when I had to let loose the whistles of the pressure cooker well past midnight. They sounded really unreal. What would my neighbours think when they heard the pressure whistles past midnight?

But right now, I have already finished making all the preparations for cooking my supper. I’ll start the actual cooking at around midnight again!

Besides the fruits, I had added some whole nuts, all of which I ate at around 7.30 in the evening. Then, I had my usual cup of green tea.

I’ll try out this new regiment for a week and see what happens.

Time shift!

Is it possible to eat something at around 2/3 in the morning?

People say if we have supper at the latest by 10 pm and breakfast at around 7/8 in the following morning, there is still a gap of at least 10 hours in between. They say it is bad to leave our stomach to fend for itself for even 6 hours without supplying it a refill! They say the trick is to eat something at around 2/3 in the morning. They say some biscuits and water are sufficient. This sounds reasonable to me and I know some people who actually do it regularly as habit.

I try to form that habit but so far, I fail to persuade myself to be awake at around that timing. For one thing I sleep like a log but if I can pull myself up to be awake for sometime to eat something at that hours, I still think I won’t be able to eat anything without first cleaning my tongue and all that things. I’m afraid that doing all that chores would effectively kill off my ‘sleepiness’.

So, tonight I am implementing a time shift!

Usually, I would have my lunch at around 2 in the afternoon. Today, at around 7.30 in the evening I ate a lot of fruits ie, 5/6 hours after my lunch. This means I should have my supper just after midnight, making a gap of 5/6 hours! Then I can have my breakfast around 7/8 the following morning, still maintaining the 5/6 hours gap in between.

Right now, I have already finished making all the preparations for cooking my supper but I’ll start the actual cooking at around 11.30!

Is this freaky?

But most people, most families here have their supper by 8 pm and most probably go to bed by 10/11. The earliest they could manage their breakfast is at around 6 in the following morning. So, there is the minimum of 8 hours gap in between. Is this a good practice?

Letters-3

This is, so far, the last of the series of letters published in the “letters to the editor” of Sangai Express. This was carried on the 28th June edition of the paper.
____

Rejoinder to UNLF’s version on Moreh incident.

Sir,

Kudos to the inevitable boomerang that came my way in response to my letter captioned “UNLF triggered Moreh fissure” which was published on 21-06-07 in the The Sangai Express.

At the outset, Tah-Chapa salute(the highest honorary salutation of the Kukis) to Ksh. Yoheiba, Senior Publicity Officer of UNLF, for reiterating his side of the story which is totally contradictory to the other side of the story aired by KNO/KNA. Need anything more be said. In a dilemma I whispered truth? Where art thou!

However, it was indeed a pleasure to hear his willingness and appreciation for open-disclosure with the masses on people-centric issues unlike Kuki and Naga nationalists.

At the same time, while acknowledging and praising for my “true-inner feelings” I wish that the Front uphold and cherish the heroic actions and contributions made by my Kuki forefathers and the Haokips(Chassads) in particular, during the Kamhao(Sukte) Lan, Ava Lan, the Kohima Expedition, the Anglo-Kuki War 1917-1919 et al, besides the guarding of Konung in protest against the signing away of “our freedom” by the Maharaja of Manipur. Because linkage to the past constitutes one of the most potent motivations for stepping into the future as a shaper of tomorrow’s history.

Here, it is believed in good faith that the views expressed are not mistaken as rebuttal with malicious contempt towards the Front.

That, as far as my letters are concerned, the Editor has the sole authority in supplying the appropriate title/heading on his own volition, which was and is beyond the reach of my pen.

Regarding the chronology of events leading to “Moreh Spark”, charges and counter-charges from the warring parties may flood the limited news-column, but to me it is an “unheroic landmarks in the struggle for freedom”.

Again, it rather sounds true and convincing regarding the identity of Mr Roshan Meetei, whom claimed innocent by the UNLF and Meira Paibees. On the other hand civil’student bodies like HTC, KSO, KWO and even the NSCN(IM) in their press statements clarified his true identity as a hardcore UNLF cadre, thereby resulted in retaliatory killings of Kukis.

In the context of Moreh Town, one has to note that, for any civil-related cases the task of compromise, reconcialition, understanding has been altruistically delivered by civil organizations like Hill Tribal Council and Meetei Council, Tamil Sangam etc. Unfortunately, it is very much doubtful why the traditional role assigned to civil bodies had been overtaken all of a sudden by UNLF in the case of “the innocent Roshan”. I humbly appeal to one and all to respect and preserve the sanctity of the role played by civil organizations.

Coming back to the death of AMSU President, I am urged by my conscience to state that, as per the news reports availed top the masses by the mass media, the President was annihilated by KNF(MC) for his alleged fraud gun running and not by KNA as alleged by UNLF.

On the question of the role of Security Forces, the British legacy of “Divide and Rule” remains the gaining strategy for any Nation, State, party or even in family affairs. Be it as it may, the history of Assam Rifles amply proved the heroic contributions of the Kukis in the form of Kuki-Levy.

In the present conflict situation, the “Friends of the Hill People” has been friendly disposed towards the Kuki Hill-men but not much to the valley-Meetei people. The reason—the Olive Branch offer by New Delhi.

All said and done,our hearts go out to our people in Kabaw Valley, who are denied their basic human rights—the right to survive as an ethnic community by the Burmese Military junta despite their tears and sweats for retoration of democracy. As such, any party or front found supporting, abetting, harbouring or in collaboration with the Burmese regime, is deserved to be called “enemy of the Kukis”.

As a citizen of Manipur, we also ought to share our grief and pain for those internally displaced people who were compelled to flee to Mizoram in the wake of alleged mass-rape and those innocent victims of the killer land-mine besides the untold miseries suffered by Tribal students on the streets of New Delhi.

Thus, I would like to conclude by asking myself—Is there any Government for redressing the plight of the Kuki people? Who cares? Nobody cares. The Kukis have been left uncared, neglected, subjugated for decades. External forces and situation has compelled them to fight and stand up for the rights. But I feel bravery without unity is futile.

So come, let us sit down together and there I assure you, we shall find that our differences are far more imaginary than real.

Yours faithfully,
Lenneo Haokip,
Former Editor,
Manmasi.

Letters-2

This letter is in response to Mr Lenneo Haokip’s letter to the editor of 21st June( See my last post—letters-1).

Today’s letter was on the 25th June edition of Sangai Express.

UNLF did not trigger Moreh fissure.

Sir,

We appreciate the positive views and constructive suggestions expressed in this column on 21-06-07 by Mr Lenneo Haokip, former editor of Manmasi. We feel reassured that people like Mr Haokip appreciates UNLF’s revolutionary line of National Liberation Struggle, particularly its basic principle of peaceful co-existence. In fact, we are moved by his genuine patriotic feelings carried in his appeal ‘to the people of Manipur to arise, awake, introspect and come together as one to avoid further balkanization of our tiny-state Manipur into tri-zone viz Kangleipak, Nagalim and Kuki Zalen-Gam’. We are absolutely with him in this endeavour.

However, we are constrained to make some clarifications on being tagged ‘UNLF triggered Moreh Fissures’ having ‘gone awry from their basic principle by playing the communal card in the recent Moreh episode’ in the context of our basic principles of peaceful co-existence and co-development. We feel that the chronology of events that led what Mr Haokip calls the ‘Moreh Mishap’ needs to be recounted here so that our progressive intellectuals like Mr Hakip could be more objective on such sensitive issues.

For some years now, the KNO/KNA, supported and assisted by the Indian security forces, has been carrying on a campaign to intimidate the families of Kukis who have joined UNLF/MPA. KNA even brutally tortured some families.

On 01-06-07, KNA killed ex-MPA No, 1710 Nengneilhing Baite @ Mary Baite, resident of Moreh and married to a Meetei, after being raped and brutally tortured. The reason—working for UNLF/MPA.

On 03-06-07, KNA gunned downed a youth named Roshan, a Meetei. The reason—alleged to be a 2/lt in MPA while HTC/KSO claimed earlier that he was a sergeant in MPA.

On 04-06-07, armed KNA men, encouraged by 24 AR of the SF for working on their agenda of creating communal tension, moved freely in Moreh town and began to terrorise the Meetei community thereby provoking a communal reaction.

The above stated activities of the KNO/KNA crossed the limit of UNLF’s tolerance and decided to act against the SF-KNA conspiracy.

Therefore, on 05-06-07 at 10.00 hrs a Special Strike Force of UNLF/MPA entered Moreh Town and detained six men suspected to be KNA. Four of them were identified to be KNA men who were involved in the killing of President, AMSU Chandel District, Nengheiling Baite @ Mary Baite and Roshan, while the other two were found to be innocent civilian and thus set free. As the Special Strike Force was given specific orders to shoot only KNA men, the four identified KNA were shot on the spot. Moving further, another KNA intelligence man, operating as Auto Driver, was found near the gate of Roshan’s house. He was identified to be involved in the killing of Roshan and thus shot on the spot.

In retaliation to the action taken by the MPA Special Strike Force, the KNO/KNA, according to the agenda set by 24 AR of the SF mowed down 6 Meetei labourers on the one hand and whipped up communal sentiments of the Moreh Kukis by wrongly informing that the UNLF/MPA has killed innocent Kukis.

We would like Mr Haokip to ponder over how KNO/KNA has been helping the SFs, knowingly or unknowingly, to take advantage of our internal contradictions. That the Meeteis did not react communally to KNO/KNA provocations was not by any outside effort but primary because of the maturity of the Meeteis as a community, which has been displayed time and again in recent times.

On UNLF’s vision for an independent and united country, we may reiterate our guiding principle of ‘autonomy at all levels’. According to this basic principle, we conduct ourselves in ethnic areas through traditional local authorities, either ‘Chiefs’ or ‘village councils’ as of now.

The presence of UNLF/MPA in ethnic areas(read Kuki areas as well) is primarily of fighting against the Security Force on the one hand and to spread the message of unity, co-existence and co-development besides extending much needed humanitarian help.

Thus, it is totally wrong and misleading to describe UNLF/MPA presence in ethnic areas as encroachment.

The problem is, our KNO/KNA brothers, instead of trying to understand the humble efforts of the UNLF/MPA, have joined hands with the SF against UNLF/MPA. Working with the SF for other purposes may not be our business. But if that relationship turns against UNLF and our national liberation struggle, we are compelled to take appropriate measures. This is just what has happened in Moreh.

We would like to reassure Mr Haokip that the UNLF has not at all ‘gone awry’ from the firmly committed path of national liberation, peaceful co-existence and co-development. But we need two hands to clap.

In the regards, we would welcome more, if any, from Mr Haokip.

Yours faithfully,
Ksh. Yoheiba,
Senior Publicity Officer,
UNLF.

Letters-1

I’m reproducing a series of letters from the column “Letters to the Editor” of Sangai Express, English edition. Today’s letter appeared on the 21st June edition.
_______

UNLF triggered Moreh fissures

Sir,

Amongst all the radically innovative groups waging a war against the Indian Union, the UNLF once had the literary comparison of being the most commanding, estimable and mass based vanguard of the national liberation movement of Manipur.

Since its inception, the onward march of the Front has been laudable at times and deserved red-salutations of its revolutionary zeal and its basic principle of peaceful co-existence.

As such it began to shed the old appendage of being valley-based or Meitei insurgents. Thus, spreading the insurrectionary message of Independent Manipur far and wide across hills and valley.

Infelicitously, today, after a long soporific revolutionary expedition, the UNLF has gone awry from their basic principle by playing the communal card in the recent Moreh episode which heightened the already tense Meitei-Kuki social and political ties. In fact, in the recent Moreh sparks the party which have been oft-repeatedly exhorting the masses for peace and integrity had taken the role in fomenting communal passions and confrontational attitude towards the Kukis. This was indeed unfortunate and is something which we, regretfully, cannot deny. Here, it is worth mentioning the plausible role of other insurgent groups for their unfailing commitment to peace, communal harmony and tolerance at such a critical juncture where the fate of Manipur is at stake.

Above all, the direct confrontational attitude and its active involvement besides its propaganda warfare to keep its hands only shows its mastery over the art of propaganda.

It amply proved itself to the world of its chauvinistic leadership, intolerance and non-serious commitment to the rhetoric of “hingminnasi eikhoi and chingtam amatani”.

Therefore, ‘Moreh Mishap’ is a reminder to the people of Manipur to arise, awake, instrospect and come together as one to further balkanization of our tiny State Manipur into a tri-zone viz, Kangleipak, Nagalim and Kuki Zalen-Gam.

It is very much relevant to state that the Kuki people were and are allergic to alien interference and domination in their land which was proved to the world by the Anglo-Kuki war of 1917-19.

Also, in the early 1990s the abortive attempts made by the NSCN(IM) to infiltrate and control Moreh was successfully thwarted by the Kukis.

Thus for the sake of peace and unity, let UNLF restate, withdraw and reshape its policies regarding the Kuki people and their land.

It is a humble appeal that,let the predominantly Kuki-dominated township (Moreh) be a peaceful gateway to Asia for all business community.

Let not crore of rupees pumped in for the development of international trade hub by the Government of India be the bone of contention between insurgent groups and let it not be the cause of our collective downfall as a national liberators without the land and people to liberate.

“Chingna koina pansaba, Haona (Kuki na) koina pan ngakpa”.

Yours faithfully,

Lenneo Haokip, MA,
Political Science,
Former Editor, Manmasi.

Life goes on

The regular supplier of my brown rice did not turn up. I asked around and learnt that she was being busy in her paddy fields. I tried other rice vendors but they could not give me the brown rice. It’s because they did not like to be distracted from their normal business channel by a small quantity of a special procurement. I can take only about 20 kgs for a month.

Now, it’s over a week since I’ve been bereft of brown rice!

Now is the height of paddy plantation works. There are noticeably thin crowds in the main market place. Cinema theatres are mostly empty. They are easy indicators that we are predominantly an agricultural society.

But politics goes on, no matter what! There was a very interesting news report in today’s papers. Several MLAs cutting across party lines attended a function organized by Th. Shyamkumar, the MLA of the Andro Assembly Constituency. The function was in Andro.

Speaking in the function, Mr Govindas Konthoujam, MLA from Bishenpur, told the crowd that party affiliations are mostly meant for facilitating the candidature during election times but all the politicians have the same objectives. In other words, he was trying to convey the message that party affiliations should not stand in the way for forming a new government for serving the people!

Four MLAs stand out. They are Mr Govindas Konthoujam, Mr Bijoy Koijam, both of Congress, Mr Ng. Bijoy of MPP and Mr Sapam Keba, independent MLA. They are also action-oriented men—they can make things happened. They are good project implementers. I think they are probing the ground for some real competition to the Chief Minister.

And, it’s interesting to note that Mr Sapam Keba is a right hand man of Mr Gaikha-ngam, the incumbent congress president.

I think we are seeing the formation of a core of MLAs cutting across party lines, with Mr Gaikha-ngam at its nucleus.

It is also likely that Mr Govindas Konthoujam is emerging as the spokesman of this core group.

Rule bending

There were very interesting series of letters in the column of “Letters to the Editor” of the Sa-ngai Express, English edition. I checked (well, not so thoroughly!) but could not find the letters online.

I intended to bring the letters verbatim here in this blog. So, I went prepared with pen and paper in the reading room this evening. But I could find only back copies of the Manipuri edition. As I read the letters in the English edition of the paper there in the reading room itself, I was a little bewildered by the wholesale disappearing acts of the papers.

The caretaker was also a little fidgety but he told me the truth. He told me one the senior members of the society which runs the reading room took the English edition of the Sa-ngai Express to his home when they closed the room!

It is certain that one of the senior members of the society bends the rules they themselves formulate which is that all the reading materials are meant to be used within the confines of the reading room. But why doesn’t he bring the papers the following day when he came back to the room. He does come to the room daily.

I still intend to bring the letters here. So, I’ve to find the back copies of the papers somewhere else.

Yesterday’s papers carried a very important announcement by the Government Manipur. Its officials told the media that there would not be power cuts during daytime, though the rolling blackouts during nighttimes would continue as usual.

But there was power outrages most of the times in the afternoon! Important announcement indeed!!

Primacy of software

Why should I show such an out-of-place interest in an equally expensive toy like the iPhone?

I’m not in a mood for flaunting toys like iPhone. I’m still using a basic phone. I’m not interested in a 20k rupees phone.

My whole plan behind buying a mobile device is to jump out of the vicious circle of unpredictable power supply and the resultant loss of productivity. As soon as the power supply goes off I would like to boot up my mobile device and continue working. I don’t like the prospect of investing in rechargeable batteries—it’s cumbersome and also expensive.

As I began searching for the device it dawned on me that a device which is a phone and also a powerful computer with a screen size of 7” and battery life of 5-6 hours is about to gate crash in this world of cumbersome laptops and notebooks and clunky phones! I’ve been totally immersing myself in the search of that device for several weeks now.

Now, looking at the iPhone what strikes me most is its sublime melding of hardware and software but with the primacy of cleverly written software. In future a phone ( or a mobile device) will be all about supplying a great user experience with the help of cleverly written software.

That presents us with totally disruptive questions like:

>> Can we trust a Motorola or a Sony with its software?

I try asking that myself and find that it’s very difficult question to answer. On a personal level I can count only 3 entities—people at Google, folks behind Skype, Kaaza and Joost and nerds of the murky world of Torrents as capable of wrting really clever software which can supply great user experience.

Now, Intel is also coming out with its own MID (mobile internet device). We can still ask ourselves: Can we trust Intel with its software? Even in the case Intel, I find the question still very difficult to answer.

In short, we can sense a lot of disruptions in the coming days. Naturally, I’ll keep searching so that I can future proof my mobile device!

It's still an expensive toy.

I wanted to watch the live videos of the start of iPhone sales. As time difference is nearly 12 hours, I woke up at around 6 am today( 6 am of 30th here is around 6 pm of the 29th there at San Fransisco area). But there was no power supply!

By 11 am, when the power supply resumed, it was anti-climatic. By then the latest update on Gizmodo was about the availability of iPhones in many Apple and AT&T stores. The latest update on Gizmodo says the phone is currently available in all stores.

Gizmodo had done an excellent job in covering the iPhone's debut.

But it is still an expensive toy. To my mind, any mobile device having even a larger screen of 5" would still be a toy.

If I get the screen size coming to around 7", I can start seriously considering it an ultra portable notebook.

I'm thinking: Can I seriously work on that device?