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By Rev L Simon Raomai Rock music is in the air virtually everywhere today. It is a captivate music culture which originated from western world. It is popularized from packed sports arena to advertisements that peddle everything from movie sound tracks an.....
Traditional healing methods with special reference to Manipur
By Dr K Paochunbou (Contd from previous issue) But Scientists know that the bitter taste is caused by a toxin- “tetracyclic trieterpenoid cucurbitacin compound” and such toxin can cause vomiting of blood, severe diarrhoea, severe ulcers, fatal, st.....
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Diaspora Speak
By : Dr Irengbam Mohendra Singh
Senior moments — Brain-Choiba in Manipuri
Senior Moments are a blend of droll energy and campy charm. Senior moments or absentmindedness come to everyone, lucky enough to survive to the ripe old age. Remember, the only way to remain healthy is to get old.
Our aging brains often experience some normal age-related memory loss. This is called senior moments or mental lapses.
People’s capacity for memory varies. Some remember everybody’s name like a salesman or a politician, while some others are destined to wander about with a short-time memory loss, incapable of remembering where they are going and where they have come from?
Senior moment occurs for many reasons: age-related loss in brain size and decrease in neurotransmitters - brain chemicals that are released at the end of nerve fibres to transfer informations throughout the brain.
Senior moments do not usually impair daily functioning. They are usually able to compensate for these changes by using a list of memory aids such as making a list of things to do or where and when to go.
When I was small, our illiterate elderly Meitei women would go to Khwairamband bazaar for shopping but when they arrive there they have forgotten what they have come there for. So they used to tie a small pebble or something in one corner of their wrap-around cloth to remind them.
About 15 years ago, one evening I sat down to work on my computer. There seemed to be a split second flash in my brain and I could not remember my Password. I had to ask my wife. Alarmed, I rang a medical consultant colleague. He said I had “senior moments” and there was nothing to worry about. It was the first time I heard of senior moments. Fortunately it has not happened since.
My 93 year old sister-in-law Ibemhal, who recently died on June 26 2012, had better memory than a young person of 40. There was nothing she couldn’t remember.
There are ‘junior moments’ also, but they are not too common, such as on a rainy day a youngster is given an umbrella to go with, but by the time he comes home the rain stopped and he plumb forgot the umbrella.
I was a fairly bright chap in school and college, but I had one such a disastrous memory lapse. In the second year of my Inter Science in Bombay I ran into bad health because of a gut problem, which had no diagnosis and thus no treatment at that time.
It was ‘Irritable bowel syndrome’, a diagnosis known only while I was doing post-graduate studies in Edinburgh. This is a disease that draws your attention to the griping pain in your bowels day and night, except when you are sleep, always worse near the examination times.
I sat the pre-final examination test. It was the morning of the organic chemistry. I studied all night and morning. All the questions were those I have studied, but I could not remember any of them as they were not encoded in my memory because of the lack of sleep and the distraction by the discomfort in my bowels.
Memory consists of three parts: attention, retention and recall. Old people have less capacity for all these, but more so for the recall, often feeling the information ‘at the tip of the tongue’.
Many years ago I gave my father a battery razor. He, a retired engineer just did not how to use it.
Some young people are bad in recalling people’s names. I am one. I was doing my B Sc in Nainital. Years later, when I came home and worked as a doctor in the Civil Hospital in Imphal, one evening I met two old class fellows in the hospital compound. They were Army captains. They asked me if I remembered them. I told them yes, but when asked to tell their names, I just could not remember, but I remembered and still do the name of another class fellow, a girlfriend Bhagawati Joshi. It is because of the lavish attention I paid to her name and thus better retained and recalled.
Distractions cause senior moments, eg when you are coming out of the house to drive out with the car key in your hand, your wife called you in to tell something. You come out again but you can’t find the key. You come in and look everywhere until you find it in your hand. This is a normal senior moment.
In the middle age and beyond we suffer memory lapses as we are more distracted by many responsibilities. One problem crops up in our mind while we are dealing with another.
Now neuroscientists in the University of California, San Francisco have identified a sticky switch in the neural circuit that coordinates memory and attention. They recruited a control group of 20 something youngsters and tested 20 healthy adults of 60-70 years, to play a memory game inside a brain scanner.
An image of a scene like a forest or a mountain was flashed on a monitor inside the scanner, and the volunteers were asked to keep it in mind for about 15 seconds before indicating whether a second image was a match. In this version of the test, they did very well, scoring 96% correct.
The test was repeated, this time by adding an interruption. They struggled and got 88%. But the control group of the youngsters was less fazed by the interruption and their performance did not drop significantly.
Senior moments have no scientific name but there are other types of speech errors. Most common one is known as literal paraphasia or phonetic paraphasia. This is when your brain distorts a word by substituting one sound with another, such as bowl instead of owl or I fell on lice instead of ice.
Memories of a life time cannot be stored in the brain. Human brain size is finite and the capacity for storing memories is limited. Useless information is deleted and replaced by newer and more important ones.
Human memories are stored in short-term and long-term memory neurones. A short-term memory has a fairly limited capacity. It can hold about seven items for no more than 20-30 seconds at a time such as a new telephone number, a new name. Depending on the importance, a short-term memory is gradually transferred to a long-term memory eg the time to catch a train at 6.30 in the morning tomorrow.
On the other hand, the more the information is repeated or used the more it is likely to be eventually retained in the long memory. I remember when I was 6/7 years old, the teacher in the primary school with a bamboo stick in his hand, would stand me up on the bench and make me recite something I could not remeber in the mathematical table, like 9x7 is 63 five times. They knew by experience that the repetition would change my short-term memory to the long-term memory. I still remember it.
There is no need for us to store everything we have learnt from our childhood in the brain. An adult is unlikely to bring back memories before the ages of 3-4 because of a phenomenon called ‘infantile amnesia’, which changes between early childhood and adulthood.
The earliest memory I can recall is that when I was 5 years old I had my ear-piercing ceremony. It was in our front courtyard and my father was holding me in his lap. A mayang napet – a non-Manipuri barber pierced my ears and I was crying. I remember a great friend of my brother, the late Dr Haobam Baruni in a cotton suit standing to make sure everything was okay. The rest is vague.
The problem with senior moments is that there is no way of knowning whether they will progress to Alzheimer’s disease [can be diagnosed by a CT brain scan of the brain that will show shrinkage] or senile dementia in the much older people.
There are some measures to prevent the onset of senior moments. First, we need a regular physical or mental exercise or both. Secondly, one should eat a diet nutritious to the brain. It must be rich in Omega-3s, such as fish, lentils, vegetables, fruits, walnuts and soybeans. The brain also needs certain types of carbohydrates such as brown rice, whole-wheat bread, lentil, peas and whole beans. This could be supplemented by omega-rich fish oil such as cod liver oil capsules 1,000 mg a day. My mother used to take very fishy liquid cod liver oil.
Senior moments – yes, but no senior citizen with senior moments should worry too much. There are so many famous men like you and I, such as the US President Jimmy Carter who left the codes needed to launch a missile strike in the pocket of one of his suits, which was sent to the dry cleaners.
The famous British writer GK Chesterton, who was very devoted to his mother, wrote a long letter when he became engaged to share the happy news with his mother, forgetting that his mother was already sitting in the same room. President Nixon arrived at Paris for the funeral of French President Georges Pompidou. At the airport he forgot what he came for and declared, “This is a great day for France!”
The writer is based in the UK
Email: imsingh@onetel.com
Website: www.drimsingh.co.uk
k. Romesh
that topics is necessery to know ...
Thoihenba Angom
Dr Irengbam Mohendra, thanks for the valuable article. A common mistake committed by all of us in the usage of the term ‘Manipuri’ is dazed. The term simply means people not language. It should not overlap to each other. I remember an embarrassing incident in my life, which I cannot forget. I introduced myself to an American later on he became a good friend of mine, “My name is Thoihenba, a Manipuri from Manipur, India.” He asked me, “What is your mother tongue & what is the common language in Manipur?” I said, “My mother tongue is Manipuri & which is also the common language in Manipur.” He smile at me & said, “I don’t have much knowledge about Manipur but one thing I am sure about it is that Manipuri cannot be a language.” This made me to think further, and I realized soon that it is the common mistake made by all of us. If I am wrong verify me please?
Valley Meitei
The term ‘Manipuri’ has in fact nothing to do with linguistic type of any community in Manipur or beyond. The term ‘Manipuri’ simply means people, people of Manipur in general which refers to all the indigenous people in the state. When you refer to Meitei language it should be ‘Meiteilon’ not ‘Manipuri’. There is no language called ‘Manipuri’ in the world. Perhaps if you could start using the right term right way, then soon the future generations will follow the correct usage. I hope you will willingly extend you valuable help concerning the stated matter. Thanks for the article.
Pari Meitei
Dr Irengbam Mohendra Singh, thanks for the important article. One thing! It is possible for me to introduce to the world hence: My name Pari Meitei, I am a Manipuri and my first language is Manipuri. Does the term Manipuri refer to people or language or the both? Since you are a learned person live in the first world country and contributing valuable articles occasionally, I hope you will be able to enlighten the chronic confusion of the term “Manipuri”. Thanks!
Hallo Pibarel Meitei
Hallo Pibarel Meitei, what do you think about the usage of the term “Manipuri”? Does the term refer to People or the language? It seems elite Meiteis are unable to define the term, perhaps you could help it out. Thanks!
kumar koirala, Kathmandu.
Staying far from my "Imalaibak", I always remember and speak "Meiteilon", with my family, and it become my habit to read "the Sangai Express" whenever I sit with my Computer. Thank you The Sangai Express.
Thoihenba Angom
Thanks kumar koirala for using the term rightly. It is in fact educated Meiteis are the people who are distorting and misusing the term. For people like Dr Mohendra, it will take time to realize the fact. In Meiteilon such kind of people is known as lairik heiraga laishu khangdaba mi.
Pibarel Meitei (Mr J)
Brothers, the Nationalities and languages are mistakenly used by many nations like French, Japanese, Bengali, Tamil, Burmese, Chinese(Mandarin Han language), Myanmarese etc. Thoihenba Meitei, it is not an easy as ABC in changing the mistake that inherited for many generations by many nations and communities. For these I have a story. When I visited Pagodas in Water Kingdom in Borivali Gorai agar Water kingdom, Mumbai, I met many Myanmarese architectures of pagoda who look very much alike us. They fond of talking to me in front of my Jharkhan friend, John. He was a bit surprise to find an emotional relationship of Myanmareses and I at first glance even we are different nationalities.They could be communicated by broken Hindi and English.They presumed that I was Myanmarese. First, I introduced myself as Indian bordering their country and my communities is Manipuri/Meitei. They could not recognized me as Meitei. At last I introduced myself as Kathsy/Kate; they recognized me as people of Manipur/Kangleipak with their body-language showing hand-loom weaving done by Meitei in Myanmar.I knew Myanmarese recognized Manipur as Kathsy/Kate from History of Myanmar.In Myanmarese army, there were 3000 kathsy/Kate/meitei elite horsemen forces. Now they are fully assimilated to Myanmar mainstream after Burma Socialist Programme Party came to Power. Many meitei were in the rank and file of the Burma Communist Party, Communist Party of Burma and government forces of u-Nu. Our identity loses in Myanmar under the repressive regimes of Military. Still Myanmarese remembers us a great nations exist in the historical past. People of Manipur/kangleipak has been knowing as kathsay/Kate by Myanmarese. It is no wrong to keep any nomenclature to any nation or communities it preserve the historical facts and chronology of the national evolution. Meitei recognize Assamese as Tekhao, Myanmar as Awa/Awadh, Tripuri as Takhel, Chinese as Khagi etc. We could not forget the historical facts of the episode of Manipur. Our Meiteilon is also not preserving its purity. As u know our old language found in old puya & other chronicles is very difficult to know by new generations. After the coming of Kuki-Chin-Lushai dynasty rule, our language had been dominated by Kuki-chin-Lushai dialects. Meitei original language has been diluted over the years. The coming of Brahmin in Poirei meitrabak, the Meiteilon is slowly Bengolinised; and Khura/Khuri, darkar, upai etc. many languages has been filling the gaps of the meiteilon.In the present historical phase, it is right to address our national geographical land as Manipur and language as Manipuri. Our national mixed racial character can't be retract back by any internal and external forces. Manipuri national identity may be heading towards a greater identity with the inclusion of many ethnic communities in future.
Pibarel Meitei (Mr J)
My comment in the present esteem articles is something irrelevant, sorry for slight mistake.Thank u commentators.Sir I Mohendro Singh' article on the senior moment is highly valuable articles we are commonly facing in our day today lives. Regarding the recognition of Manipuri as language and nationalities has no wrong. In any language, there is grammar.The grammar of each language taken care of the mistake. Grammar rule accommodate all the exception and mistake. They use it as per convention. My view may be commented by other for clearing the vex issue to the readers.
Thoihenba Angom
Dear Pibarel Meitei thanks for your thoughts with historical account. As you have rightly pointed out all those historical facts, I would also again say that Meitei identity is in serious crisis today. So as to save from further damage, we have to wake up. Now coming to the crux which I feel is very much a part of the article as Dr. Irengbam has used “Manipuri”, referring to Meiteilon: I continue to hold the notion that “Manipuri” cannot be a language, why? 1) Because it is solely the mother tongue of Meiteis, so it should be known as “Meiteilon” (Meitei language) not Manipuri. 2) The term “Manipuri” refers to all the indigenous people of Manipur. So it should be understood as citizens of Manipur. Every rightful citizen of the state Manipur is “Manipuri”. Indigenous kukis, Nagas of Manipur should also identify themselves as Manipuri. To simplify my point, let me give you an example. We are Indians (willy-nilly), the language Hindi which belongs to some ethnic groups of North Indian is the national language. So also indigenous kukis, Nagas, Meiteis of Manipur are “Manipuris” and “Meiteilon” which is the mother tongue of Meitei community is the common language in Manipur. Here let me clarify one crucial point i.e., I say INDIGENOUS kukis, Nagas, Meiteis of Manipur. Because there are NONINDIGENOUS kukis, Nagas, Meiteis etc. who are dwelling in other places (not the citizen of Manipur) cannot be called “Manipuri” because they are not the citizen of Manipur. For example, Nagas living in Nagaland, Assam, Burma; Kukis living in Assam, Burma; Meiteis living in Assam, Tripura, Burma etc. cannot be called Manipuri for they are NOT the citizens of Manipur. I hope I have simplified as much as I could. (Sorry for not mentioning other indigenous ethnic groups in Manipur. In such small writing, it is not possible to mention all the names).
Pari
Hi Thoihenba thanks! I never say to people that Manipuri is my mother tongue but Meiteilon. You have correctly pointed out an important issue for us. Dear friends, let Meiteis mother tongue be a Meiteilon not Manipuri. Let us not overlap each other or get confused or get politicized. Leave the actual term as it is. So do not distort any more please. Thanks!
N. Biren Singh
I am a Meitei live in Burma. I speak Meiteilon which is my mother tongue. It is not right for me to say that I am a Manipuri for I am not a citizen of Manipur but a Meitei who is a citizen of Burma. So let our Meitei language be known as Meiteilon. I would like to encourage all of us to start using term correctly.
Pibarel Meitei (Mr J)
Yes, it will be very interesting issue on the identity of a nations. Someone who have deep knowledge of the political science, political history of Manipur and constitutional history of Manipur may present a beautiful article on this issue. Whether it will create serious political implication in the present political context of Manipur. Even arriving to the national consensus is not an easy task. In Assam, Meghalaya, Bangladesh, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and AP, Meitei is known as Manipuri. Even Sahatya Sabha of Meitei use Manipuri in place of Meitei as they are being considered as experts. If the younger generation have the will, we can do it at the best interest of the present and future generations.I am really proud of you all commentators. First, please hold some respectable position in our society. You have to show the way you like to shape our community model and identity. Wish you all for your successful career.Let some students and professionals having Meitei title stand first in competitive exam or sports or cultural items or in professional lives. Demonstration effect is very effective in a democratic society. There is a saying, Example is better than precept. Once again, wish u all my Meitei progressive thinkers to have successful careers for progressive change.
Thoihenba Angom
If there is a will, there is a way. We can certainly bring change in our society—a change for better future. It should be started from you and I. So it is better late than never. Thanks one and all for your valuable contribution.
