The coming of the Americans.

That the agitators in Churachandpur had chosen 1st to 5th Feb as the first leg of their ptogramme of agitation should act as an eye-opener for everybody.

It even prods us to ask this question--

'What will happen on the 21st of January 2016?'.

Of course,the missing link between the above statement and the question is the Americans.We have to remember that there is a pattern breaking event in Imphal on the 21st of January,mainly inspired by the Americans.

In my humble opinion,what we are seeing is the starting point heralding the call of the West to its supporters in Manipur to come out openly and challenge the constituent within the Manipuri society espousing the formation of an anti-West coalition.

In a more mundane speak,its the duel between Western-style growth story and Chinese-style growth story.

Would the supporters of the West in Manipur come out openly and start challenging their opponent on an ideological level?

I have no idea when will they do that but one thing is quite certain--the Americans are definitely nudging them to do so.

As we starts speaking about the Americans,it's definitely possible that they are becoming increasingly impatient with the pace of their ally,the Indians, in fighing that constituent within the Manipuri society which espouses the formation of the anti-West coalition.

As we are apparently confronting a looming ideological war,it's an imperative that this blogger states his own opinion about the subject.As any growth story happens within the matrix of a political environment,I think I should start with it.

Let's go hyper-local.

I think vast majority of peope in our society would agree with me that the winning candidates in the recent bye-election to the two Assembly constituencies in the heart of Imphal need to be disqualified at the very outset.They have no agenda except grabbing power.They are flesh and blood manifestations of what Barack Obama hinted as the evil impact of money on the body politic of any society.We also need not go to a far away country like the US to see things in perspective.Here,in our homefront votes are purchased openly.In the recent two bye-elections price per vote had risen dramatically--they are willing to fork out Rs 5000/-per vote.

Even if we say that the system can be reformed so that it may reach the level of what the Ameriacans are having at the moment,should we go for that option?I have no direct knowledge of the conditions in the US but it's quite certain that if you no money you have no hope to become a player in American politics.Even Barack Obama hinted at the problem in his recent State of the Union address.And,most importantly,the gains from the growth achieved through this American political system is so unevenly distributed that there is now open discussion whether the system would become untenable any time soon.

As we have gone this far,we have to ask ourselves--'What about the Chinese model?'

The Communist Party of China actually screened the aspiring candidtates for elections in Hong Kong.Is this acceptable?Before answering this question we must state that the distribution of the gains from the Chinese-style growth is more tolerable.

In other words,we all think that there should be some vetting of the candidates.The problem arises when it comes the statge where we ask loudly who should do the vetting.

Everybody knows that we are face to face with a really tough situation.But I should express my opinion fearlessly.

1)We should utilize the service of Artificial Intelligence,something like IBM's Watson to do the vetting.There is strong possibilty that AI would overtake human in intelligence around 2048.So,AI is a strong candidate to do the task of vetting.

2)Everyone who plans to go to political arena should be prepared to sacrifice substantial portion of his private space to public scrutiny.In our case,the AI agent should have access to his educational,medical and social engagement records from an early age in his life.We might even devise an empathy metrics for the candidates.

3)Then,we can devise a scale to vet the aspiring candidates for any election.For example,in the scale of 0-10 any candidate should get 8 to be eligible to fight an election.

If we go this far,we can tell our American friends that we need not make a choice between the Western and Chinese models.We should be left alone so that we can make our own choices according to our needs and dreams.We need to politely let it be known to our American friends that if any agency starts interfering in our affair,we are ready for a good fight.

The chaos and the haze.

When you cook for yourself,you will begin to understand how women are imprisoned within the four wall of kitchen.No matter how well you prepare,there are always some small things which manage to drag you into miniature crises.There are so many small things that are left behind when you go shopping for stuffs,putting them inside the fridge,getting them out again and washing and preaparing them before they finally land inside the oven or the pressure cooker.I always try to fill up the fridge to fullest limit.But still I go shopping almost daily,mostly around the Ima Keithel.

Post-earthquake,the best word that describes the scenes around the Ima Keithel is 'chaos'.You can literally touch the air of chaos over there.

This chaotic scene came to my focus as soon as I began reading today's headlines.

1) There are three reports of agitators starting moving around,at least,one,even announcing prepararoty programme for a wider agitation.

2) The Russian president's first interview for the new year to a foreign media(German,this time)which clearly shows that the Russians are ready for confrontation with the encroaching NATO.

3) The incumbent American president's last State of the Union address.

This morning itself I have this feeling that the above two headlines were carefully timed to come up for public consumption on the eve of the American president's address.My feeling is just proven right as the news came over the radio that one American polo association is one of the several organizers of a women polo tournament to be held in Imphal.The announcement was made by the Chief Secretary,Governemnt of Manipur.

The Russian president's interview on the eve of the American president's address is quite understandable.The American president is the leader of West.So,the Russian president wants to get his message noticed by the leader of the West that the Russians(and,of course,the broad anti-West coalition) is ready for a good fight.

The contradiction between the West and the Russians are very clear.It's there openly for all of us to see and analyze.

But a thick haze is hanging over the three agitations which came up in today's headline.

That the three agitations made their appearances in today's headlines are sure signs that the contradiction between the West and our society is alive and kicking(which,in turn,was also confirmed by the American polo association news).But who amongst the agitators are in the West'camp or in the camp of the anti-West coalition?We cannot see clearly.As I have noted earlier,a thick haze is hanging over them preventing us from discerning them clearly.

When North Korea tested a Hydrogen bomb,the South Koreans made their ally, the Americans, to fly a B-54 bomber,which is specifically crafted to carry nuclear bombs,very close to the North Korean nuclear facilities.The contradiction between North and South Koreas are clearcut and it's there before our eyes.

But when it comes to our tiny valley,everything seems mysteriously enveloped by a thick haze.One important exception is the chaos around the Ima Keithel.The haze seems unable to conceal the chaotic scene.Symbolically,it's quite significant.Historically,the Ima Keithel is the epicentre of all important agitations and movements of our society.Today's headlines told us of the rumbling of the agitations in the near future.Would the present chaotic condition of the Ima Kethel have the wherewithal to host an agitation which truly mirrors the aspirations of our society?How would the agitators size up the damaged epicentre of our social movement?Do they have the temerity to start a strong social movement in the periphery?

I have this strong feeling that the analysis of the present chaotic condition of the Ima Keithel by those living inside the West's camp and those inside the anti-West coalition would be quite different.These differing perception would have their bearings on their programmes of the agitation.This,in turn.might help in starting to dispel the thick haze and in placing the contradiction in full public view.

I would like to close this post with a personal touch.As noted earlier,I am on the shopping run almost daily in and around the Ima Keithel.I noticed that the poorest of the poor women are so symbolically pushed out of touch with the Keithel.As the two constituents of the Ima Keithels are pronounced unsafe,all the woman vendors inside them are pushed out to the streets and footpaths around the Keithels.They are more organized class of woman vendors.As they come out to the streets and footpaths they mercilessly shove the poorest of the poor--the so-called street vendors--away from the life-giving reach of the Ima Keithels.The present condition of the Ima Keithel is such that it cannot give succour to the poorest of the poor.It's another way of saying that some agencies are trying to snub out the very soul of Ima Keithel.Could this be happening in a geographical space called Manipur?

The present condition would surely induce the already weeping Keithel Lairembi to a hiccuping weep.

Kashmiri insurgents utilizing Manipur earthquake for their cause?

In a major surprise,the United Jihad Council,the apex body of all those insurgents fighting for Kashmir liberation,have claimed responsibility for the attack on the Indian Airforce base at Pathankot,Punjab.

As soon as I read the news of the Council spokesman's interaction with the Srinagar-based news agency about the claim,a feeling came to me which say that there is the possibilty of the insurgents in Kashmir trying to reach out to the general populace of Manipur.

I know it's reasonable to dub me as someone who is always trying to read too many conclusions from innocuous turn of events.But we have to take note of the blow-by-blow account of the chronology of events which makes me try to 'read too many conclusions'.

1) First,my next to last post.The post deals about the remarkable steps that India was taking up to say that they were readying themselves for the 3rd of January 2016.

2) But the 3rd of January came and gone.And nothing happened!

3) on my personal level,I was totally taken aback by the deafening silence on the 3rd of January.But as I continued reading the news on that day,I came to the conclusion that the educationists were showing their respect for a major student body which was celebrating their raising day and putting off their course for one day.So,I was waiting for the next day for the big news.I was (and,still is) eager to know the programme of the agitation.

4) The next day presented us with a strong earthquake!

5) It's a matter of common sense to know that everything else (that includes any form political agitation) have to wait for the conclusion of the proper rehabilitation aftermath the earthquake.

6) The earthquake,by some Providential coincidence,serve as a cruel instrument to muffle the democratic agitation of the people of Manipur.

From this point it takes no effort to assume that the Kashmiri insurgents quickly sized up the present situation created by the earthquake in Manipur.They quickly seized the moment and ask the general populace of Manipur to give assent to their vanguards to take up arms(like they did at Pathankot) instead of holding rallies and calling general strikes.

Why reading this particular conclusion?

The reason is that there is  great debate within the United Jihad Council itself.They are debating whether it's the right time to take up armed actions against the Indian security instead of holding rallies and calling general strikes.The attack on airforce base at Pathankot and subsequent owning up of it via a Srinagar-based news agency point to the triumph of the players which calls for the armed attack.Seen in this light,it can be taken as a message sent out from Srinagar to the general populace in Manipur to shun democratic agitations which they planned for the 3rd of January.Shun what they planned for on the 3rd of January and instead,go for 'Pathankot way',the Kahsmiri insurgents say.

So,did Kahsmiri insurgents actually utilize  the Manipur earthquake for their cause?

Keithel Lairembi Kappe (Ima Market Goddess is weeping).

Sometimes,you simply do not know where the story comes from but you are still quite acquaint with it.One such story is the weeping of Keithel Lairembi.It's generally believed that such weeping occurs on rare occasions when the Manipuri society is about to face a tumultuous challenge.

On occasions,when the story comes to my mind,I ask myself--'Would I be able to hear the sound of the weeping?'

The logic behind my question is that the weeping of the Keithel Lairembi is most likely to be supernatural and that,being so,I'm residing close enough to the Ima Keithel to be able to hear it.

This morning,at around 10,I came to know that I have,all along,been taking whole affair too literally.When I first had a glimpse of the damaged columns of the Ima Keithel,the idea struck me like a thunderbolt--'Oh! The Keithel Lairembi is weeping'.

I have noted another of such Manipuri story which had struck us so profoundly at that time.

In an eerie coincidence,as the Keithel Lairembi was weeping this morning,stock markets around the globe tumbled so steeply.