Govt would respond to any action against non-local Indian citizens : Ibobi State Govt sees eye to eye with JCLIPS on ILPS
IMPHAL, May 21: Stating that there is no difference of opinion between the State Government and the Joint Committee on ILPS (JCILPS) on enforcement of Inner Line Permit System in Manipur, Chief Minister O Ibobi has cautioned that the Government would rea.....
State lad tops Nagaland Class X Board exams
IMPHAL, May 21: Helaluddin Shah s/o Md Islauddin and Sanarembi of Borayangbi under Kumbi AC has topped the HSLCE 2013 conducted by the Nagaland Board of School Education, results of which was declared in the intervening night of May 20 and 21. Helaluddin.....
More eviction
IMPHAL, May 21 :The State Government has decided to evict encroachers for expansion of roads in Imphal and greater Imphal areas. The State Government has initiated necessary procedures to evict encroachers as it feels that many roads in Imphal and grea.....
KSO suspends strike, blockade
IMPHAL, May 21 : Respon-ding to the assurance of Chief Minister O Ibobi to carry forward the backlog of 474 ST posts in the ensuing recruitment of 2000 numbers of Manipur Police Constables, and also to take immediate action regarding the backlog of 28 dif.....
CM convenes meet
IMPHAL, May 21 :Chief Minister O Ibobi today convened a meeting of the delegates who would be visiting Myanmar along with him and discussed about their forthcoming foreign trip. The delegation which would be led by the Chief Minister would take part in.....
Rabies fear stalks Phumlou village
IMPHAL, May 21: Besides report about three persons succumbing to suspected cases of rabies after the victims were reportedly bitten by dogs, locals of Phumlou village under Imphal West district are gripped with fear. According to a reliable source, atl.....
Shirui Lily Fest Showcases Rich Culture Of Tangkhul Community Cultural extravaganza marks week long fest
UKHRUL, May 21: Cultural items, display of Tangkhul traditional cuisines and attires, flower show, painting competition and entertainment programmes marked the concluding day of the district level Shirui Lily Week-2013 today at Shirui village under Ukhrul.....
Pledge taken to protect human lives, values
IMPHAL, May 21: Like in other parts of the country, pledges were taken to protect human lives and values as Manipur too joined in the observance of 22nd national anti-terrorism day today. The observance is held to commemorate the death anniversary of f.....
NGOs say no to oil exploration
IMPHAL, May 21: Twenty-four NGOs including student organizations and human rights defenders today submitted a representation to Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh urging him to take steps to halt the ongoing oil exploration process and extraction works in the h.....
CSOs raid Hotel Centre Point
IMPHAL, May 21: Volunteers of different civil society organisations today raided Hotel Centre Point at MG Avenue and pulled up its manager. Volunteers of 16 civil society organisations including CLK, IPSA, KEL, ACOAM Lup, PANDM etc raided the hotel and.....
PM corrects age to 80 in RS poll papers
Guwahati, May 21: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from Assam, has filed a fresh affidavit correcting his age to 80 prior to scrutiny of the nominations today. The Prime Minister submitted the fresh affidavit two days a.....
Oklahoma tornado Many children among 91 feared killed
MOORE, OKLAHOMA, May 20: At least 91 people, including 20 children, were feared killed when a 2 mile wide tornado tore through an Oklahoma City suburb, trapping victims beneath the rubble as one elementary school took a direct hit and another was destroye.....
MKS condoles
IMPHAL, May 21 :The Maram Students’ Union (MKS) has condoled the untimely demise of its former Education Secretary, R Graceson Rangnamei, a second semester student of MA at MU. A statement issued by the MKS said the union would cherish his associatio.....
‘Go Green Fortnight’
IMPHAL, May 21 :Aimed at promoting greenery, atleast in and around their deployment areas, and furthering its undeterred efforts of preserving the bounty of the nature, the Assam Rifles under a specific roadmap worked out by the IGAR (S) Maj Gen UK Gurung.....
ZU condemns
IMPHAL, May 21 : Condemning the abduction and killing of Poushingdai Gonmei, a cadre of NSCN-IM by the ZUF on May 18, the Zeliangrong Union, Bishnupur, Sadar Area Zone has appealed to all concerned armed groups operating in Zeliangrong areas not to resort.....
Painting competition
IMPHAL, May 20: A State level cooperative painting competition would be held on May 29 by the Department of Cooperation, Govt of Manipur at the premises of Registrar of Manipur Cooperative Societies, Lamphelpat on the theme Cooperative as a means of livel.....
BSNL network
IMPHAL, May 20: Telephone exchanges including GSM mobile, WLL and Broadband connections of BSNL would be disrupted at BSNL installations at Hiyangthang, Wangoi and Mayang Imphal Exchanges, due to sudden breakdown of OFC route near Pishumthong Ningom Leika.....
KRF denies
IMPHAL, May 21: The Kuki Revolutionary Front (KRF) has denied having any knowledge on the alleged abduction of Nepali youths from Gopibung, Mahavir and Shantolabari areas under Kangpokpi PS. Terming the allegation as baseless and false, a statement iss.....
Dispute resolved
IMPHAL, May 21: The dispute between Rangshong, Chief of Awang Longa Koireng and Rengsutsong Koireng was settled under the laws of Satang Area Chiefs' Association at the residence of H Gelmol village chief on May 20. A statement issued by the SACA said .....
New students' body floated
IMPHAL, May 21: Along with announcing formation of a new students' organisation christened Reformist Students' Front (RSF), its general secretary BCY Atiqur said that RSF was formed to take up issues related to rights of the student community. Affirmin.....
My Turn
By : Ranjan Yumnam
Sculpt your own story
We all are artists and our lives are the stories that we write daily. You are the main character in your life’s story. You are its director, the protagonist and the script-writer. Through choices we make daily, we change the flow and direction of this story called life. We choose the secondary characters by way of friends and relationships we forge and sometimes replace them if they do not gel with the desired script of our life. There are many narratives of it; your story may be different from the book of your life that others are reading. So what, it’s your life; your story. You are the king, queen and prince all rolled into one. You hold the copyright and if people like your tale, fine. If not, who cares? It’s your story. Take it or leave it.
However, I feel most of us do not write our running autobiography well enough. We drift with the flow of the crowd. We do not live the life we want; we are more concerned with what other people might think of what we are doing, loving, playing and eating. The enormous power we have at our disposal to make our own choices is thwarted at the hands of populism and our need to conform to the dominant narrative. We end up leading mundane lives; even the choices we make are routine chosen to fit the status quo, the tedium of meaningless stability.
The import of this lazy existence is that we have become mindless consumers and have forgotten to be creators. Just think for a moment how parasitic we are as consumers from the minute we wake up from bed in the morning to the second we hit the sack in the night. We listen to music created by others, watch movies directed by others, enjoy images taken by others, read books written by others, eat food cooked by others, build houses designed by others, do things thrust upon us by others, and even love people approved by others. And we thought we were the captains of our souls and master of our faith; what non-sense!
The way to regain control of our lives is to consume less and create more. We have sold our souls to devils of consumerism. The couch has become our favourite place on earth and has taken away the precious time from us to create and make choices that are truly our own. We need not be geniuses like Mozart or William Shakespeare to be creative. Just like a dew drop in our backyard garden is sometimes more beautiful than the vast sea of the Caribbean’s, our imperfect verse that emanates from our wobbly heart is a masterpiece to the person who matters to us. Or compose a music score for your daughter’s birthday with lyrics that you and your loved ones will relate to; trust me, it will be better than the chartbusters of Taylor Swift to their ears. Do anything to create something: run up the hill and leave your footprints and take pictures of them when you come downhill. Spray a graffiti on your garage. Write a recipe and try it out even as you edit it. If you have the eye and hand coordination for sculpture, bring it on, just do it.
To be creative, it’s important that we stop being prisoners of routine. We need ideas: new, crazy, impractical, utopian, anything, but we need them. The difference between a visionary and an ordinary person is that the visionaries not only do routine tasks; they also at the same time dream up plans that do not seem urgent at the moment but which will culminate into a masterpiece if executed. The visionary sees the big picture. The ordinary leader merely concentrates on what seems urgent at the moment, to make things just go by—neither creating anything new, nor shaking up the tree.
Our society would not stagnate like this morass that it has become if everyone of us, at the individual level, tries to create something new and not just being a passive consumer. The richest and the most productive society is the one in which its people are innovative and brimming with ideas. United States holds the record for producing the highest number of Nobel Prize winners, and it is no coincidence that it is also the most powerful and the wealthiest.
Let’s not just consume, let’s also create things, ideas and products that will give us satisfaction and stimulate further innovation. To be creative, you need solitude. For inspiration, you need participation and engagement in the surrounding—to go out and be there in the thick of it, meet someone who smells nice, anybody, anything that can give you the much needed spark to let your creative juice flowing. Once you get the inspiration, you need to be alone to organise your ideas and implement them and give it the imprint of your heart.
Perhaps, we need a platform where great ideas can be shared and appreciated. It may be that we have unsung geniuses loafing about everywhere among our midst without an opportunity to showcase them. I invite suggestions for establishing a voluntary group which can organise TED like seminars and talks in Manipur, for which I am ready to lend my energy, time and ideas. Please let me know if anyone is interested in making this happen. The fact is, life is short and there is not enough time to write the story about our life. Take up the brush and dust off the canvas that has been lying in the corner. Put colours into your life and show them to the world. Do some amazing things. Be the hero yourself, not the hero-worshipper who fights at the theatre counter to get a ticket.
Discover your creative Mojo, now.
Jhaljit Maisnam
Your writings are triggering people with hope and dignity for hidden treasures to explore. Keep it up, hope we will be meeting one day if God permit us. Thanks.
Hello,
This is what we call positive contribution towards society and such wor
