The Buzz Untuned : Ethos of Meitei ‘Woman’-The ‘She’ in Her Manipuri feature film Yahouthengba Khoimu (Blossom of Love)
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Sanasam Umananda
Contd from previous issue
It is simply surprising. She is seen as an unfortunate prisoner of circumstances even though she has an impulsive nature of doing things without second thoughts. Viewers share griefs when in the last scene she vanishes from the scene on her own volition knowing that she will be an agent of the destruction of a happy family. It is silent and noiseless. However it will be wrong to assume that all viewers share her agonies. Many housewives in the viewer’s seats heave a sigh of relief on her disappearance. All sympathies converge on Thaballeima, the faultless one. Malika’s disappearance speaks volumes about her decision to withdraw from the imbroglio. Herein lies the dexterity of the story-writer and specifically the skill of the director which lifts this film to such a great height.
But the most important episode that serves as the vortex of the subsequent chain of events claiming extra-ordinary sublimity is the one as was mentioned earlier when the grand-mother of the female protagonist Thaballeima, as a traditional imperative of Meitei culture gives moral advice to the bride-to-be- grand daughter on the eve of the marriage. The sermon is loud and clear. " After marriage, a girl is no longer her original self. Her independent and self-propelled life will have to cease forthwith, Marriage increases another head totalling two in number. The pre-marriage unilateral decision- taking state will terminate henceforth. For woman, in post marriage, all sufferings will be borne with a smiling face and practise resilience to please her life's partner. This is the best maxim applicable to a married woman" Thaballeima practices what the Meitei ethos dictates and the result is her triumph over the intricate complexities and heart-touching incidents coming in their severest forms to destroy her composure. She escapes from complete destruction by the predo- minance of the ‘she’ in her. She is saved from full devastation by her ethos inherent in Meitei women. Justice comes in the end just as dark clouds disappear in the face of an all-powerful moral force of truth embodied in the Meitei customary moral advice given by seniors to the brides-to-be on the eve of their marriages. To be contd
Contd from previous issue
It is simply surprising. She is seen as an unfortunate prisoner of circumstances even though she has an impulsive nature of doing things without second thoughts. Viewers share griefs when in the last scene she vanishes from the scene on her own volition knowing that she will be an agent of the destruction of a happy family. It is silent and noiseless. However it will be wrong to assume that all viewers share her agonies. Many housewives in the viewer’s seats heave a sigh of relief on her disappearance. All sympathies converge on Thaballeima, the faultless one. Malika’s disappearance speaks volumes about her decision to withdraw from the imbroglio. Herein lies the dexterity of the story-writer and specifically the skill of the director which lifts this film to such a great height.
But the most important episode that serves as the vortex of the subsequent chain of events claiming extra-ordinary sublimity is the one as was mentioned earlier when the grand-mother of the female protagonist Thaballeima, as a traditional imperative of Meitei culture gives moral advice to the bride-to-be- grand daughter on the eve of the marriage. The sermon is loud and clear. " After marriage, a girl is no longer her original self. Her independent and self-propelled life will have to cease forthwith, Marriage increases another head totalling two in number. The pre-marriage unilateral decision- taking state will terminate henceforth. For woman, in post marriage, all sufferings will be borne with a smiling face and practise resilience to please her life's partner. This is the best maxim applicable to a married woman" Thaballeima practices what the Meitei ethos dictates and the result is her triumph over the intricate complexities and heart-touching incidents coming in their severest forms to destroy her composure. She escapes from complete destruction by the predo- minance of the ‘she’ in her. She is saved from full devastation by her ethos inherent in Meitei women. Justice comes in the end just as dark clouds disappear in the face of an all-powerful moral force of truth embodied in the Meitei customary moral advice given by seniors to the brides-to-be on the eve of their marriages. To be contd