A bombshell

The Chief Minister had just dropped a bombshell.

He was traveling, looking for alternative sites for the construction of the National Institute of Technology. The present site on which the Institute has been planned till now has run into rough patch as there has been so much protest from the farmers who own the lands. The site is near the Manipur University and called the Kyamgei Loukon.

A Media team was also with him. He told them that a team from the Airport Authority of India had just visited Imphal and had asked the State government for 500 acres of land for upgrading the present airport. He told them that the plan is for the shifting of the present terminal building towards Malom (ie, across the National Highway towards West) and taking further land for the runways from the Mekola side ( ie, further South of the present runway).

As I was reading the headlined news, I muttered to myself-‘Impossible’.

It would be impossible because the present tussle for a comparatively small land for the construction of the National Institute of Technology has already gone beyond the realm of ‘local issue’. The JAC (the ‘omnipresent’ Joint Action Committee) had just met the press at the premises of Manipur Press Club, together with all the mother of Civil Society organizations, which have State-wide representations.

We can well imagine what would be the response if the Government tries to uproot two large settlements like Malom and Mekola for grabbing lands for the up gradation of the airport.

But what about infrastructure? There are so much angers for not getting the facilities of adequate infrastructural development in the State. Now, there are some solid plans for starting building the things. Suddenly, we have no lands for letting the physical structures to stand on!

Well, we can all understand the emotional relations between the land and its tillers and we should not arbitrarily grab lands from the farmers.

But we should have an alternative model for letting the infrastructure to come up. Where is the alternative model?

Clash of ideologies

27th of April is the day when the Brits hoisted their Union Jack inside Kangla. It has been commemorated as the Dark Day in Kangla Hall for several years now. But I still think that it is a fairly routine observation. I mean, it does not come into the direct focus of the general public. So, I even did not mention it last night.

But today something very interesting thing happened.

Another set civil society organizations were reported to have observed the day in GM Hall. It was prominently reported that 10 such organizations have come together and formed an observation committee. There were no details regarding the names and whereabouts of the organizations.

We must remember here that the observation in Kangla Hall was organized by 3 organizations, which it turns out, are in complete sympathy for 3 different rebel groups respectively! So, it is fairly safe to assume that another set or sets of rebel group or groups will that there be a formation of 10 organizations to celebrate the day in another venue!!

Outwardly, it shows the usual fractiousness of the rebel groups. But it is becoming clearer day by day that there is deep difference in the ideologies or the set of belief systems on which the groups adhere to and on which they depend to formulate their political programs.

Two recent developments succinctly point to such division.

25th of April is the rising day of a group. On the day, the chairman of the group came out with ranting press statement which accuse the ‘Hindu Indians’ to swallow up the Manipuris and North Easterners.

On another flank, one group has been campaigning for ‘non-sectarian’ Manipur for several months now.

At least one group is focusing on fighting ‘Hindu Indians’ while another one, on ‘non-sectarianism’.

So, there seem to be clash of ideologies.

It now seems that Ganja actually suppresses tumor.

I’ve just read the dramatic story of how the US Government have been keeping a lid on the findings of a Virginia University research which clearly showed that marijuana actually suppress tumor.

Here is the link for the full write up.

He said it--in public!

The person in question is Mr Y. Erabot, who is the sitting MLA of the Wangkhei Assembly Constituency. He was given a reception for being elected in the just concluded Elections. The reception was organized by a local club of the Constituency.

Speaking on the said reception, he announced publicly that the rebels, by insisting ‘cuts’ on any Govt expenditures, are hampering the development of the State.

The announcement itself is not new. The chief Minister has been making noises about the subject on many occasions. But it is understood that he is duty bound to make some noises now and then; otherwise, it would be construed that he is not doing enough to combat rebel activities.

But why should a MLA stick out his neck in public announcing that rebels are bad guys?

It might not be easily perceptible right now but there might be a subtle shift in the rule of the game. A subtle shift against the rebels. In my mind, because of such a shift, a MLA is willing to take a lot of risk to make the announcement publicly.

Starting up my dektop first time in the last 48 hrs!

Monday night, the internal battery of my UPS had a sudden death! I didn’t want to take the risk of starting up my desktop without a surge protector; so, I went to bed early.

The next morning I went to the hardware store of my fav computer guy. But he didn’t open his store. I was there upto 11.30 am. And, he was not reachable in his either cell or line phone. I wanted to buy the battery from him. Only for wanting to give him some businesses I wasted the whole morning!

Late in the evening I went to a store near my house and bought the battery. They said it is best to charge the new battery full before using the UPS. I had to charge the battery for 6 hours. So, Tuesday night was spent in charging the new battery.

So, here I’m starting up my desktop for the first time in the last 48 hours!

Finally, I did something for my left bar!

Tonight, I've done something for the links at my left side bar.

My first choice amonst my read ups is a piece on consciousness. It's on Time magazine.

The second, an interview of Samuel Huntington. It's interesting to find him saying categorically that Amartya Sen is totally wrong about the multiple identities of man.

The third, a piece by Paul krugman on Milton Friedman.

Please the links on the left bar!

Land and technology

So, they used teargas and mock bombs to disperse crowds who came out to block the field survey for the land acquisition for the construction of National Institute of Technology.

The news came out in all the three eveningers of Imphal.

They want to acquire around 100 acres of land for the campus of National Institute of Technology. The Chief Minister seems to be very enthusiastic about the project.

But what is National Institute of Technology? May be, poor man’s IIT!

All the 100 acres are producing paddy right now. So, the persons who are tiling the lands are not prepared to part away with them. That’s the proverbial links of the farmers with their lands.

But the Chief Minister himself seems to have a grand design of the whole project. The proposed site is just across a street from the present Manipur University. If the new Institute is constructed, it would form a single campus with the present MU, which would be grand, at least, in Chief Minister’s vision.

He is strongly pushing for the digging up of a historical moat, which runs from Kakwa to the present proposed site of the Institute. It is known as Leisaang Hiden. I think it is something to do with the old capital complex near the Manipur University campus. Royals always seem to like themselves encircled with deep moats!

If he can reconstruct the whole length of the moat and build the Institute, they would form, together with the present MU, at least a grand landscape!

Update: They are looking for 30 acres of land, not 100 acres, as was mentioned in my post. In a related development, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Lamphelpat is all ready to be upgraded to AIMS-type institute but the only constraint is the lack of land. They have not been able to acquire the land required for the proposed expansion.

Of rebels again.

As we are talking about the possible red hot kind of cold war amongst the rebel groups(last post), another development occurred today which is likely to make the war even hotter.

As I said in my last post, there was a claim that 4 out of 5 rebel groups of the State had started working together in some ‘limited areas’. But one of these groups have been widely reported to be nearing a 3 ways split! One of those factions have publicly requested all the fraternal rebel groups to take up mediating task so that the split could be prevented.

Apparently, in response to this request, one very prominent came out appealing all the rebel groups to come together to find a solution to the emerging problem in that particular group.

We are likely to be come face to face with a very interesting scenario. How will the one rebel group which is left out of the loop of the coming together of the rebel groups respond to this appeal?

If they do not respond at all, won’t be it reasonable to conclude that they would be politically cornered?

Is a showdown coming?

Deeply embedded in the morass of boring news items, there was one nugget today. Reporting on the rising day of a particular rebel group, all the newspapers reproduced a press handout of the group. At the fag end of the handout, there was this interesting statement to the effect that 4 rebel groups have started working together in some ‘limited areas’.

The irony here is that it reveals more of a red hot kind of cold war among rebel groups than simple coming together of 4 rebel groups.

We have to remember here that these same 4 groups came out with a joint press statement saying they would not allow construction of Tipaimukh dam! We have to note here also that the joint statement came just after the shooting down of a controversial public leader on the first day of the New Year. As far as I can remember, this is the first joint statement of the 4 rebel groups. Now, one amongst the 4 officially stated that they have started working together in some ‘limited areas’.

So, that leaves one particular group, which is still considered to be one of strongest, out of the loop. This means red hot kind of cold war is underway amongst the groups.

Why should we be interested in this cold war?

It’s because common folks are beginning to protest against the blatant ‘fund raising’ by the rebels. For some days now, there are widespread coverage of sit in protests by common folks in many parts of the State. This is a new development in this society.

If the rebels themselves are engaged in intense cold war amongst themselves, they are not likely to be able to come up an acceptable model of ‘fund raising’.

This means there would be a showdown—a showdown between common folks and the rebels!

Good country songs

It’s the best collection of country songs. 22 of them. That’s one of the files I downloaded on the 13th when I was on the marathon downloading session to use up my free 2 gb downloads. That’s my permissible data download package available in my DSL plan.

I got it as bit torrent files. Whoever had uploaded it must be an angel. Such good songs.

I also got some ebooks which really, really useful. Most of them are uploaded by their authors themselves. So, in ebooks sections at least, we are not dealing with piracy. All of them have their authors’ sites on the opening pages. I’m going to visit them and say thank you to them.

I downloaded all of them on the 13th but I could begin checking some of them only this evening.

But I know that for many evening to come I can definitely unwind listening to the said country songs.

First Anniversary

Today marks the completion of one year of starting this blog.

Am I in a mood to celebrate? I’m sorry to say I’m not.

When I learn that this day marks the first anniversary, I’m like-‘oh! How time flies!’ I become a year older and achieve nothing!

My links on my left side bar has also become an eyesore. I planned to give the links for my readings for 2 weeks duration. If I can do that, the left bar will present as a dynamic link panel. Most of the blogs give their fav blog links but I think that design present you with a very static link panel.

I’m also sorry to say that I won’t to make that amend because I have so little time.

Anyway, wish me luck on this first anniversary.

Got invited for beta testing Joost

The story goes on like this.

The very day when I got DSL account I went to the joost site and clicked on the ‘apply for beta’ button hoping that I would get a beta product immediately. Instead, I had to fill up a form and after submitting it, I was informed to wait for the beta product. I was also informed that the product was available only to a select group of beta testers. I was hugely disappointed.

When filling up the form I was asked to give my blog url.

Now, I think the Joost team had a peek at my blog and decided that they need to have voices from small towns also! Otherwise, why should I be among those select groups of beta testers?

But befitting the small town nature of the location where my computer sits, when I try to open Joost on my computer I’m greeted with an error message! Right now, I’m trying to email the Joost team detailing my problem.

I’ll come again when I could beta test the product.

But I should take this opportunity to thank the Joost team. Thank you, Joost team!

Uttam is here!

What’s the point in blogging about an announcement of a concert, even if it happens to be Uttam’s? Before answering this, I must anyway record here the full announcement!

Today, I’ve seen a lot of attractive posters putting up near my house announcing the live concert of Uttam. It says—Kanglasha presents Uttam at BOAT on the 30th of April.

But, what’s the point? For one thing, I’ve just bought some songs of Uttam. For some time now, I’ve been thinking of buying some songs of Imphal artistes but somehow, I could not do that. Whatever I’ve been listening to are from the web. But I strongly feel that I should also regularly add songs bought offline to my playlists. I bought 30 songs—mostly of current hits of films here and some of Uttam’s. I like his songs.

I’ve also this feeling that the concert of the 30th would be one of the main events of the year 2007.

Again, what’s the point? It’s of interest to me because the concert might have publicly confirmed Uttam as the reigning pop singer here. It might also serve as the public announcement that now is the time of Uttam.

This also reminds me of something else. It was during the time just after Yashang. And, my phone was not working at that time and so, I could not blog.

My leikai is atypical in the sense it has not a piece of land for its club to stand on and other functions to be held on. So, for this Yaoshang, when they had to organize a concert, they put up a podium in the riverbanks of Nambul! That means the audience had to stand on the street listening to the songs.

When the concert was in full swing at around midnight, 3 Gypsies of Manipur Police commandos materialized out of nowhere. And, they simply hit the people enjoying the concert with their batons, shouting—‘disperse, disperse’. It was a surreal scene. They quietly came towards the concert area and started hitting people from behind! Of course, there ensued a heated argument between them and leikai’s womenfolk. I felt sorry for the concert organizers.

But they were not to be intimidated! They organized yet another concert the very next day. This time there was Uttam on the stage. That was the first time I ever saw him.

By the time the concert started, all the shops lining the street downed their shutters and so, no light emanated from them. And, as is normal thing here, there is no street lighting. So, the street was quite dark and there they came dancing towards the podium where Uttam was singing and dancing! I mean, most of the young men coming towards the concert site were dancing on the street to the tune of Uttam songs! That was a remarkable scene.

By the time Ranbir Thouna was on the stage, the crowd started to disperse. However hard he tried, the crowd seemed to have no liking for his songs. And, it was quite apparent that he was bitter with the crowd. I felt sorry for him. Sometimes, you have to exit the scene gracefully, making way for the coming reigning king.

It is quite clear the reigning king is Uttam.

Godsent bandh!

We have today’s bandh called off midway as there was an agreement between the aggrieved parties and the government. That’s a commendable job for this government. But the bandh for the 17th still stands!

So, who moved quickest in response to the still born bandh?

Cinema theatres.

They were responding quickly to the new development and were taking in customers in their afternoon shows. That’s a commendable show of nimbleness.

In contrast, most of the business houses failed to open for business when it was known that the bandh was called off.

Most of the day, I was also at home. And the good news is that I can find a good ending for my screenplay. If there was not this bandh and I had not that chance of staying home all day long, I might have not been able to find that good ending.

On a personal level, this bandh(let’s say, half-bandh) is godsent!

So, who says bandhs are always bad?

Untenable

Everybody is talking about another bandh tomorrow. Then, there is to be yet another on the 17th. When we take into account yesterday’s case when it was in effect a bandh though the organizers of yesterday’s memorial services did not announce it a bandh, then we are going to have to have 3 bandh on 3 consecutively days, punctuated by a non-bandh day after every bandh day!

I think we are coming near a point when it becomes untenable for a society to function.

One very interesting thing is the phenomena of bandh being closely related with rebellion and the State’s response to it.

Tomorrow’s bandh is to protest against the killing of 2 youths who were abducted during Yaoshang. Now, the bodies, with tortured marks, were discovered from a place in Senapati district which borders Nagaland. It is pretty clear that it was the result of factional bickering of a particular rebel group.

Normally, if someone belonging to rebel groups got killed for whatever reasons, there used to be no protest from the common folks. That common folks begin to protest the style of functioning of rebel groups marks the turning point in the history of rebellion in Manipur.

To my mind, we are witnessing a new chapter in how common folks try to relate with the rebels in the State.

5 hours in 29 days!

I found out this evening that I could log into my DSL account for only 5 hours during the last 29 days! And, tomorrow will mark the 30 days of my getting the account.

I also found out that I could use only 0.1 gb of the permitted 2 gbs of downloads.

Iv'e been downloading non-stop since late in the afternoon. Mostly music and e-books.

I'll try to use up at least 1.5 gb downloads.

My humble abode!

Well, my humble abode is at the point of intersection of the three lines of electricity, phone and broadband! If one of them of goes missing, I’m helpless.

That’s another way of saying that one of them went missing last night!

I had to endure the whole night without electricity, which I got it again only this afternoon.

Right at the moment, I’m asking myself not to be cowed by the maddening nature of underdevelopment. On the contrary, I should consider myself as the foot soldier for defeating the unobtrusive march of underdevelopment in its own game.

So, I’ll come back in full force tomorrow.

Mami Numit

I’ll start with a dose of straight talk. They call it ‘Mami Numit’. Is it elegant? No way. I don’t like the name.

Did I forget to mention the name of the first Manipuri film that was screened publicly on the 9th of April 1971? It was ‘Matamgi Manipur’. It was produced by Mr Karam Amumacha and directed by a Bengali gentleman. We have Aribam Syam sharma as the music director. Surprisingly, he was also a cast member, playing a major role of a patriarch of a typical Manipuri family. I should add here that they had screened the movie after the formal conclusion of the main ceremony. I wanted to watch the movie in full but it was actually cold in the theatre. And I should also add that the theatre we are talking about is of the Manipur Dramatic Union, Yaiskul. Hesitantly, I had to leave the theatre after about an hour into the movie. Right now, it is raining in Imphal and it drags the temperature down. Well, it is cold here and I’m typing this in my woolen cloths, which I had to pull out of my closets all over again!

A nugget we should not miss here that Aribam Syam Sharma in his speech themed on ‘Birth of Manipuri Cinema’ told the gathering he was a hesitant cast member. The artist who was cast for the role did not turn up. And they were in Calcutta, shooting most of the film indoors! Most unfortunately, they were also in a budget and so could not afford to wait for the artist to turn up. So, he was literally forced into the role! He accompanied the film crew as a music director with the plan of quickly finished processing the film in Calcutta itself.

I should not fail to note here that he was great in his role as the patriarch of a Manipuri family. Going by my hour into the movie, he has formidable screen presence.

From his speech it’s clear that the whole cast members of the movie moved to Calcutta to shoot the entire length of the film in and around Calcutta, mostly indoors. Their main objective was to save money!

As I watched the movie for an hour it occurred to me there was this sense of ethereal and dreaminess about it.

Is it because they were trying to portray a typical Manipuri family by using locales and properties belonging to Calcutta? My point is: Did they fail to shake off the Bengali ambience, other than letting the cast members speak in Manipuri?

Or, am I unduly influenced by Aribam Syam Sharma’s speech?

Celebrating the birth of Manipuri Cinema

Tonight, I went to a function, organized by Film Forum Manipur and, sponsored by Manipur Film Development Corporation.

It was called ‘Mami Numit’. The tag line was—‘celebrating the birth of Manipuri Cinema’.

On the 9th of April, 1971, the first Manipuri feature film was screened publicly at a theatre in Imphal.

I’ll come with the full account of the function tomorrow.

Oh! phone, my phone!

On the Friday night I found out that my phone was not working. It was already 7 in the evening and I had no energy to check the cables within my own premises. On many occasions, the faults were found to be situated within the cabling in my own premises.

The following was also a bandh day.(It was to protest against the execution of three young men, who were turned out to be drug addicts. Eyewitnesses told the media that at least 2 were made to kneel down on the road, in full view of the public and pumped with bullets from the back of the heads. It was terrifying to read that press report). First, I checked out the cabling within my premises and having fail to detect any fault, I made a complaint to the phone co. Then, on Sundays they are not making any fault repairing.

Today, I personally met the line staff but they told me that they would try to attend to my phone. They guaranteed that they would attend to the fault tomorrow! So, I again went to meet them at their work site and coaxed them to come to my phone. That was around 3 in the afternoon.

Ultimately, it was found out that there was a major cable disruption.

But is he of sterner stuffs?

Is the Chief Minister a political leader who can summon up enough popular support to garner up 50% of the Assembly seats?

To my mind, he is not. Let’s say, he is not yet!

Then, it is quite reasonable to prepare to defend the retort that he just did that in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

So, what’s our defense to the retort?

The answer is quite naturally a bit complicated. But to my mind, the reason is mainly to do with the rebels of Manipur. We have heard of the rampant ‘exhortations’ by the rebels. In a sense, it is by far the touchiest subject whenever the topic of rebels comes into focus.

Now, it seems that the common folks have been waiting for a proper forum to express their angst against the ‘exhortations’. To my mind, the just concluded elections provided one of such forums. It is to be noted here that the rebels called for the defeat of the Congress party, though not openly. So, the common folks just came out in droves and voted for the Congress anyway.

It was one of the subtlest modes of saying to the rebels that the common folks would no longer tolerate ‘intimidations’ and ‘exhortations’.

In a sense, the just concluded elections open a new chapter in the history of rebellion in Manipur.

And, the Chief Minster was right there to herald the enfolding the chapter.

But, is the Chief Minister made of sterner stuffs to walk tall through the rough and tumble of the enfolding new chapter?

Reflection of the political ferment?

Does the Chief Minister reflect something of that ferment?

To my mind, looking at the profile of the Chief Minister, it seems that he is one of the few Congressmen, who is likely to be placed himself in a personal growth path when came into contact with this political ferment.

I have also some personal experience to understand that Congress party faithfuls on the one hand and Congress MLAs or ministers on the other are of two different stuffs. Congress MLAs or ministers are usually party hopping types who unabashedly put elected offices as their first priority. On the other hand, Congress party faithfuls are mostly infused with a vague humanism and universalism. My only complaint with them is that they are too pragmatic, most of the time at the cost of their principles.

The present Chief Minister is more of a Congress party faithful than a MLAs or a minister.

He belongs to a part of Thoubal Athokpam which was carved out of the main Thoubal Assembly Constituency and clubbed with Kha-ngabok Assembly Constituency. So, he is a kind of a stranger in the constituency in which he is entitled to contest for the elected office. Most of the time, he found it extremely difficult to get himself elected. In a sense, he is constantly reminded of the power of the electorate and so, a humble man.

If we try to place a man with the above two characteristic face to face with an active political upheaval ( like, Manorama’s), we can safely assume that he would cling himself to a personal growth path.

To my mind, it is happening in the case of the present Chief Minister.

But is he a leader who can summon up enough popular public support to garner up 50% of the Assembly seats?

The CM 'using' Delhi?

Some papers carried the news that the Chief Minister is again going to Delhi to consult the Congress party high command for the induction of 5 new ministers to the new government.

Here we have to note that we have a generally accepted paradigm that everything is decided in Delhi. It is generally accepted but not loved. On the contrary, it is ridiculed and is thought to be the root cause for the evil of regional imbalances in India. There is so much centralization going on that developmental process from ground up cannot happen. There is even a joke that if there is rain in Delhi, Congressmen in Imphal unfurl their umbrellas!

If we look at the frequent visits of the Chief Minster to Delhi from the view point of the above paradigm, the visits are terribly boring routines.

But to my mind, something very interesting is happening. The Chief Minister is ‘using’ Delhi or the Congress party high command for his power games. It is the masterpiece of a tactical maneuver to ‘use’ Delhi or Congress party high command as a shield for deflecting the coming dissident voices from the MLAs who would not accommodated to the government.

I know everybody would be aghast in hearing that there is a Chief Minister of a tiny State like Manipur and himself, a Congressman, who has the dexterity to ‘use’ Delhi or Congress party high command.

But we should not forget to factor in the fact that Manipur is in ferment.

Does the Chief Minster reflect something of that ferment?

Still another 'techno thaabal'!

Tonight, we have another of those ‘techno thaabals’ in Keisampat. It’s the third consecutive day.

We have even a pattern. The first one was at exactly the Keisampat junction. The second one, a little down the street (towards the Airport). The third one, that is, tonight’s, is further little down the street!

I bet that there have been this tacit understanding amongst the ‘thaabal’ organizers to hold their ‘thaabals’ one after the another for three consecutive days.

I’m typing this amidst the high decibel ‘thaabal’ beats. But I also think that this blog should not miss this rare opportunity of putting on record the occurrence of three ‘techno thaabals’ on three consecutive days, that too, outside the traditional Yaoshang time!

Yet another 'techno thaabal'

There is yet another ‘techno thaabal’ going full streams as I’m typing this out. It is only some distance down the street from last night’s spot. But the decibel level is definitely higher.

I’m all for breaking loose the ‘thaabal’ from its seasonal mould. I’ll enthusiastically support ‘thaabal’ on the 31st of December. And, also some days into a new year!

Of course, there should be ‘thaabal’ on the Valentine’s Day. Naturally, it should be a hot show!

Then, ‘thaabal’ on Cheiraoba.

Of course, we should not fail to count the ‘thaabal’ on its routine—Yaoshang!