Monday, November 05, 2007

Godzilla in Manipur

By : Bobo Khuraijam

We are fortunate to have a good old neighborhood. They got the international limelight following the killing of some peaceful protesters. The whole world raised a diplomatic hell of a noise to condemn the incident and to say loud and clear, “hey look, we love DEMOCRACY anyway”. Our neighbor catches the headline on and off. They also tickled the senses of the self-appointed BOSS of the globe who sits at Oval office. The boss have said, “We are keeping a close watch on you folks, make sure you don’t mess around with DEMOCRACY or you will have a taste of my kind of DEMOCRACY”. Good old neighbor under the scanner! What intrigued us is that we do not catch the international headline how hard we may try. We have regular homicides everyday. And it counts to two or three per day at an average, that too under our very democracy. It remind us of a dictum passed by the establishment that anyone who fails to report of any sim card of mobile phone getting lost will be assumed to be a prima-facie evidence of its link with the insurgents. Now let’s apply the same goofy logic with the homicides. It would say; the state forces are the one who carry out regular homicides because they are the only one with guns at least in front of our eyes ( no doubt, we see plenty in the movies). God bless the undertakers. Now let’s talk about our neighbor;

MORE MOREH, MORE: By whatever name the world may call-Myanmar-Burma-Rangoon, it will be the sweet old Moreh for us. Moreh lallonba, Moreh excursion, Moreh achapot, Moreh Teak, Moreh sandal…the list goes on. Have you seen Godzilla has come to Manipur? With its big yellow eye, huge forelimb, it is almost everywhere. Does it terrify us? No. It would, if we see it in its full size. Only one eye and one limb are visible, printed on the carton of a mosquito repellent. Everything is written in Burmese language except for the word Godzilla in English alphabets. We do not know anything about the product. We know it repel mosquitoes. We also know it has a nauseating affect on human as well. We know just about every household use the repellent. We use it to keep away from the swampy guerillas which are trained in our smooth drainage system. Our body is their battle ground. Thanks to the public health system for the malfunctioning drainage. Bird flu like disease or the HIV virus for that kind if it happens to spread through mosquito bite, then only the authorities will wake up from its woeful slumber. We shall have to rely on the mosquito net and the repellent. There used to be some Indian company like Goodnight and All out. It is nowhere to be seen now. Moreh sharks have again captured the market. Just see the items we have from Moreh. We are told Chinese companies have swarmed a good many places at our neighbor. We can feel its presence at Paona bazaar. The Chinese are smart to read the taste of our hoi polloi. They can also calculate our buying capacity. Strict quality control is maintained. A product which reaches at the Calcutta port is superior in quality, particularly in the electronic goods. So the cheap and sleek products are made for lesser consumers like us. When we are drumming up look-east-policy, the Chinese have already started to look everywhere. And they have found market everywhere. We can sense the commitment of the Indian ministry, home minister Mr. Pranap Mukherjee delivered the same speech which he gave one, earlier in Shillong, gave the same version, without a word changed at Guwahati.It was at an important meeting deliberating on look-east-policy. Should our domestic actors simply applause subserviently?

JUNK NOURISHMENT: Our future friends who are going to handle the steering of the nation are the major consumer of innumerable Moreh achapot. We called it Numitlei maru, Moreh annapi, we have been eating it since we were kids. It tasted good. Remember, there were rumors that Numitlei maru contain Heroin substance because of its addictive nature. The rumor died but the taste degrades. Now it comes in a glossy poly-bag with good-looking faces. From a distance it looks like a washing powder. You will also find a piece of Moreh chandan and a hair clipping pin. Moreh achapot comes in different spectrum. Our parents are too busy to prepare the day’s Tiffin for the kid going to school. Instead, give the kid some money. And those tiny finger points at Moreh achapot. We still do not know what those achapot has done to our body and what it is going to do to our kids’ body. Quite recently the state food and civil supply minister has aired his concern for the food items coming from Moreh. Some of the items are believed to contain substance which is harmful for human consumption. It is never too late to realize. But it would also be necessary to check the items which are consumed by our future actors. School authorities should act to check the achapot sold in and around the campus. Besides the food items, many other products have become part and parcel of our lives. Of all the items electronic inverter and blanket has been genuinely serving our needs. These two products are useful when one requires to please the other folks of the mainland. It becomes handy especially for the lobbyist who seeks for undue favor. At any rate the Moreh ‘things’ has been an object of common desire and friendship with the Manipuries and the ‘mayangs’. Rightfully our neighbor deserves to be given the ‘national integration’ award in spite of its ill-famed reputation. One interesting change we see around is our vegetable vendors emas with the Moreh re-chargeable lamp taking the place of the primordial podon. This was a much needed change as far as the health and economy of our emas are concern. Now that India and other Asian countries have suddenly started to take interest in trade of a larger dimension, it is left to be seen whether the small time businessman of the Moreh lallonba either flourish or parish.

FOOTNOTE: Those were the gripping days of bird flu. One leipung member was seriously doubtful of the threat to the identity of the meitei yen as anti-flu drive was on. What will happen to the meitei yen’s identity? Then leipung ningthou said, “Worry not, let us consult some maichous and they will do the needful to save their identity”.


The Imphal Free Press

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