After reading this article written by Enigma I am rather compelled to write an add up inspite of my really hectic schedule. The reason being that things he says are so correct and yet so misleading.
No offence Enigma but here I am only trying to throw a little more light consolidated with simple incidents I encountered during my stay in the mayangland for the past fifteen years or so...
Here again I am repeating the fact that this is purely my opinion and everyone is welcome to write their own comments.
First of all the concept of alpha meitei is not only whimsical but also too damn fake. I am of the opinion that a meitei pakhang need not learn salsa, tango or whatsoever just to change his perspective vis-à-vis Alpha Meitei Pakhang.
A meitei pakhang has enough of things in his culture that he can imbibe to woo even the most beautiful of women all over the world. It's just that we are not looking in ourselves. We are either always looking up or outside for miracles.
Hey people! The miracle is within you all. Of course how things have got really tarnished and battered over the years with rampant use of drugs and the post colonial hangover with irrelevant concepts that misguide the society is another question worth debating.
Our core values like honesty, integrity have time and again been threatened by the deteriorating conditions of the society but if you go back in history you will feel very proud how our ancestors have fought these frail distractions with a weapon nothing more than their individuality.
Think about it. What we need is not a changeover to mask ourselves under the coating of foreign cultures but the manifestation of perfection which we already have. The lantern inside each one of Meitei Pakhang is glowing but some clean the chimney whereas others do not.
Hence the difference in the brightness. No no no ... I am not trying to be like the moral police of the society. If there is a thing that we can take from the foreign culture of course we should go ahead with that.
After all everything changes except change itself. But does it mean a switchover? For instance we can take the rational thinking of western people and the family values from mayangland as well.
More importantly we should rather work towards a progressive society and stand with conviction without any worries about competition from mayang pakhangs. It's a shortcoming on part of the meitei nupis and nupas both if the nupis run away with mayangs.
I do not see any point in working towards undoing that. If you are successful in your own terms there is no reason why the nupis will not choose you over a mayang pakhang. And believe me I am yearning to see how long will those meitei nupis wrap themselves in that mayang culture. The roots never die and it's when your origins call you that reality will strike.
There is this really close mayang friend of mine in my circle of uncountable mayang friends. He is an NRI with a big bank balance. I have known him for the past five years of my stay here in Bangalore. It's rather with humility that I have to mention I learnt the essence of my land and my people from him.
By birth he is a Malyalee and like all others we pick up on his origin every now and then not with the intention of hurting him. He is moderately intelligent and is very down to earth apart from being amazingly adjustable with my bunch of meitei friends.
He is a Christian who never misses the Sunday mass. His good looks had always been the cause of all those stupid complications of college romances. Honestly speaking he had everything at his disposal and it would not have been difficult for him to sweep any girl off her feet. But he would not.
That speaks in itself so much about his upbringing and his values that make his conscience so strong. Believe me he is unimaginably proud to have been born a Malyalee and I could not have more respect for anybody else. I think by now you guys should have got my point.
In the same manner all my other mayang friends also like me and respect me not because I have imbibed their culture but because I am a Manipuri and a proud one. This mutual respect comes not out of any materialistic prowess but because of ones individuality.
I can speak Hindi and Bengali both with a flair which my friends have confessed to me is rather extraordinary for a Manipuri. Also I have learnt basic sentences of a few south Indian languages.
I have been to innumerable weddings, funerals and all sorts of functions and ceremonies of mayang people. That's how I learnt that no matter what I am a meitei and my culture has its own place and I cannot change to woo some good looking mayang babes.
On the other hand it is that originality that some of them have stuck with me as my close pals till date who would never fail to ask about my homeland and my people despite their own work schedule.
So people get the facts straight. Say no to drugs and yes to education and stand on your own.
The rest of the things will fall in place because you are born Meiteis and you are MEITEIS...!!!!!
Yours sincerely
A Meitei pakhang
Takhellambam Anjan, a resident of Bangalore, writes regularly to e-pao.net
You can email the writer at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on 18th December 2005.
|