State lad youngest Indian to conquer Mt Everest
IMPHAL, May 18: Even though it was nearly five-decades back when New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Nepali companion Tenzing Norgay scaled Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, on May 29, 1953, Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba became the youngest Indian .....
CM for decorum in Palace compound
IMPHAL, May 18: Strongly emphasising on protection, maintenance and renovation of historical monuments and sites to uphold Manipur's glorious past, chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has called upon private land owners in Palace Compound to relinquish land .....
Burmese Language Studies programme
A resource persons speaks during the Burmese Language Studies programme organised by Meetei Council Moreh at the border town on May 18. The programme was conducted under the sponsorship of Bhuban Gems, whose propreitor Naorem Nabachandra is also the presi.....
Anti-AFSPA rally in Ukl
Ukhrul, May 18: The District social organizations and NGOs of Ukhrul today jointly organized a silent protest rally demanding repeal of AFSPA (Armed forces special powers) act 1958 from the region. Addressing the participants, president of Tangkhul you.....
Govt okays MoU with UPPK
IMPHAL, May 18: The State Cabinet has given its approval for the State Government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UPPK which has given up arms and returned to the mainstream. In this regard, Ministry of Home Affairs, North East in-char.....
BJP alleges project anomalies, demands CBI probe
IMPHAL, May 18: Referring to comment in a local daily about the Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh charging some of his ministerial colleagues of depleting the State exchequer crores of rupees, the BJP Ma-nipur Pradesh today demanded a CBI inquiry on the matter.....
Leakages waste 60 Kls
IMPHAL, May 18: Around 60 Kls of SK Oil are wasted due to leakages every month out of 2080 Kls allocated to Manipur by the Government of India for a month. With the State Government accepting that 60 Kls of SK Oil are wasted every month due to leakages.....
Shija's Cleft Project goes on
IMPHAL, May 18: With the objective of faciliting formal education of all children with deformed lips and palates, Smile Train Shija SSA Cleft Project is going on in Shija Hospital as a joint project of the hospital and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. After 10 c.....
TNAL protests
IMPHAL, May 18: The Tang-khul Naga Aze Longphang (Southern Tangkhul Naga Union) strongly denounced the Cabinet decision which prohibited entry of both Sailent and Saijang villagers to the ‘disputed site.’ An emergency general bo-dy meeting of TNAL .....
UGs clash
IMPHAL, May 18: A suspected NSCN (IM) cadre died in a gunfight with ZUF rebels at Lunghshai Chiru, located at the border of Bishnupur and Chu-rachandpur districts at around 2 pm today. The gunbattle broke out at the bank of Thongjaorok riv-er under Upp.....
NPF, ATSUM flay vacate order
IMPHAL, May 18: An order from the state government was issued today (Saturday) asking the residents of Naga River Colony in Imphal to vacate by May 19 (Sunday). The government of Manipur is planning to construct a five-star hotel in the area. Registeri.....
Gym inaugurated
IMPHAL, May 18: Khurai AC MLA Dr Ng Bijoy inaugurated AL-UMMAH gym at Khabeisoi today. The MLA was the chief guest of the function while Mohtamin Principal MV Abdul Kareem Dasmi was the president. Animal Gym founder and Real Heroes 2012 awardee RK Vish.....
Dr NT Kom felicitated
IMPHAL, May 18: Civil Services Examination 2012 successful candidate Dr Neilenthang Telien Kom was feted in a reception function organised in his honour at Lower Kom Keirap Baptist Church today. Taking part at the function, IFCD Minister Ngamthang Haokip .....
Mayek Chatpa Numit
IMPHAL, May 18: Marking the 7th anniversary of State Government’s declaration to replace Bengali script with Meetei Mayek in the school syllabus of Manipuri subject, Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillon Apunba Lup (MEELAL) today observed Mayek Chatpa Numit at .....
High tension electric wire falls on Ukhrul school
Ukhrul, May 18: A High Tension (HT) wire fitted across the campus of Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, Hungpung Ukhrul, fell on the school today. The incident occurred at around 11 am while the cadets of Scouts and Guides were performing drill exe.....
Veterinary directorate
IMPHAL, May 18: The Directorate of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Services has invited candidates for undergoing one year Vety Field Assistant Training course for the academic session 2013-14. Intending applicants could have the detailed information from.....
Fishermen refute charges
IMPHAL, May 18: Refuting the charge that fishermen of Loktak Lake had used chemical to clear phumdis (floating biomass) on the lake, the All Loktak Lake Area Fishermen’s Union, Manipur has urged the Govt of India to institute prompt, independent, impart.....
Introduction of Hindi in DU NEFIS urges, cautions
IMPHAL, May 18: Urging the Prime Minister Office to effect scrapping of the set of 'reforms' introduced by Delhi University in its four-year undergraduate courses, the North East Forum for International Solidarity has cautioned of launching democratic agi.....
Vitiligo Day observed
IMPHAL, May 18: Vitiligo, a common pigmentary disorder of the skin also widely known as Leucoderma, is neither infectious nor has any similarity whatever with Leprosy, according to Dr Karam Lokendro, Manipur State Branch President of Indian Association of.....
Victim, sister called to Court of Inquiry
IMPHAL, May 18: Even as the warrant of arrest issued by Court in connection with the rape attempt on a sweeper by a CRPF personnel has been accepted by CRPF authority, they have asked police to send the victim and her elder sister to assist in their court.....
Monday Musings
By : Maisnam Chanu Liklainu
Camaraderie during the london olympics
Bota, Sayyora and Qahramon were the students of the School of International Studies (SIS), JNU. They belong to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. We have kept in touch through the social networking sites till today. Bota is beautiful and decent, Sayyora is hard-working and Qahramon is witty and humorous. This is how Qahramon’s facebook profile reads “A very kind, flexible, merciful, easy going and open-minded person. I don’t like conflicting with people and seek for peace and harmony, which unfortunately sometimes has to be obtained by strong insistence”. Yes, he is funny, harmless and eccentric. The trio were my classmates; we watched some avant-garde films in the campus together; I remember we wept so much on a touching documentary on AFSPA. We also watched the documentary on Aung Sang Suu Ski which was a banned documentary secretly obtained from Thailand. These friends live far away yet they spare time to explore our region. When our own fellow Indians choose to ignore us attributing their dumbness to lack of poor knowledge of geography, it was a consolation to converse with these friends who know more about us than Indians. The course was over six years ago and they have now moved to their hometowns in Tashkent and Almaty yet we keep meeting them on daily basis through the social networking sites.
I knew little about these countries except for the fact that these countries were part of the former Soviet republic. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan people, as my friends say, are of the mix Asian and European genes which make them very beautiful people. I heard the countries went through a lot and faced a lot of challenges as the countries were going through transition. I remember my friends telling me how people braved the harsh winter without power, hot water, jobs and even food. They told me about the presence of military, security personnel and police check points. It didn’t surprise me much as these are common in our place. I also tried to get the idea of the regimes as I wanted to know how brutal and corrupt regimes the countries were. Often they mentioned about Almaty and Tashkent being posh areas with fine restaurants and beautiful people; they told me about the sought after cuisines of Kazakh, Uzbeki, Russian, Chinese and Indian to fill up one’s stomach sumptuously whenever they wanted to gorge on food. My friends often felt nostalgic during their stay in India remembering their night clubs, bars and disco clubs scattered all over these two places !
There was a certain connect with these friends during the just concluded London Olympics. Olympic was a great bonding time, my friends had time to update and share links. We were filled with national pride every time our players had a podium finish. We chose adjectives to be given effusively to our players. As much as I was enthusiastic posting about the Olympics, Bota did the same and she did it for Kazakhstan. I sat in Lamphel and she sat in Almaty. She beamed with pride each time a Kazakh did a gold winning act. Bota passionately posted about the Olympics, we came to know that Kazakhstan had won more gold medals than us and we were awed at the achievements of their people. No wonder, Kazakhstan stood 12th in the final ranking. Yes, the Olympic was unifying, the amount of enthusiasm generated, the comments people made, the sessions were lively and spontaneous until the sporting extravaganza got over .I realized that sports is in our blood and it’s our religion and it has united us like never before cutting across ethnic lines. Thanks to our star players, they truly made us proud. Boxing bouts of Mary Kom and Laishram Devendro were immensely appreciated. Many people discussed threadbare the nuances of boxing and a rookie even started talking about boxing. Everyone wanted to become a boxer, the boxing kits sold like hot cakes which was encouraging. Sporting success can propel a region and the region is seen with renewed respect. Thanks to Mary Kom and Laishram Devendro .
One link brought some of our friends together, it was about Pakistan not winning a single medal. Indians excitedly analysed why Pakistan failed to win a medal. Qahramon commented in response to the link- “From my experience I got that Indians get very excited whatever is there about Pakistan - it doesn’t matter what it is: a schoolchildren’s quiz, cricket, sports, missiles - whatever. The important part: it’s about Pakistan! Get married after 50+ years of divorce and that’s it, guys!” The ever reticent Anand Krishnan had this to say, “I recommend Kabaddi to be included in the Olympics. While the Chinese and rest of the world would soon catch up with it, at least, it would ensure some Gold for us to begin with”. The sporty Dayanand Lisam commented, “ India is the most unathletic nation in the world along with Pakistan and Bangladesh .We are “only good” in a game where any normal person can play 24 hours a day x 365 days”.
Qahramon’s final observation is a point to be noted- “Professor Chenoy, if I’m not mistaken, argued that ghee/masala consuming people can’t be strong in any sports. That’s why NE guys mainly participate and win in sports.” Yes, Professor Chenoy lived and worked in Manipur University, he knew the potential of our people, he often used to endearing speak for us and he loved to show his Manipur connection. No wonder, his Comparative Politics classes were full of topics related to Manipur.
Thanks Qahramon for highlighting Manipur and taking out time to know our people. Thanks .also to Bota and Sayyora for the wonderful conversations we had on our respective players.
lenin
Hello, Liklaileima, your simple writing style speaks volumes of expression. your kazakh and uzbeck friends will surely understand our predicament as they were also facing the same in the past.But now they have become real people, enjoying freedom in its true sense. But ours is in a mess. we are living in darkness as ours is a occupied country.Keep in touch with them. Tell them, how our people are languishing; trampled by AFSPA. And now racial profiling by the indians and on n on.
rami
great read
lydia
more from the columnist.interesting.
Goldtombi
Yo Agashi! Your write up is really a good treat to read. Keep firing your pen errr or keyboard :)
oinam suresh singh
what is love?
Nonglen
Your article could be a good case studies, for those who saw ignorance towards North East.
