Apple : More than just a fruit Predictably unpredictable
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 16 2011 -

Staff of MPCB test the water samples for E Coli at Lamphel

Does society reflect reality or is it a case of reality reflecting society ? Or do the two co-exist as two sides of the same coin that the defacement of one side would render the whole invalid or unworthy ?

Mankind has conquered the Moon, explored the space, climbed the highest mountain, unravelled many truths about the universe, shrunk the world to a global village, made Apple more than just a fruit that keeps the doctor away and has transformed Windows to such a level that it is no longer the windows that we understand while talking about doors or while building a house.

"Travelling by air" entered the lexicon of the English language a long, long time back. Yet despite the numerous changes that we see all around, mankind is yet to master the factors responsible for a group of people or a society behaving in certain patterns which after a period of time can take on the form of a culture.

Anthropologists and Sociologists as well as Psychoanalysts in the mould of Sigmund Freud have tried to explain human behaviour through the existing institutions of every society but there is still a lot of ground to be covered and hence the opening question of this editorial.

Given this fact, it is not surprising therefore to see that the only predictable things are the unpredictability of all things. This is particularly true in the case of the phenomena we see unfolding before our eyes which are all derivatives of the impact of climate change.

Lest the people are lulled into a sense of complacency under the impression, "these things cannot happen to us or it cannot happen here," some shock treatment is what the situation calls for.

Lamphel is a water body and hence the name Lamphelpat. We have consciously avoided using affixing the term Pat after Lamphel, because today it is a misnomer as this place has made the magical transition from a water body to a waste dump ! The result is not hard to see.

Once an expanse of water where aquatic life thrived and the water was regarded as one of the more hygienic "oasis", today the opposite stands true. Far from supporting aquatic life, the water here has today come to pose serious threat to the health of the people and the recent tests conducted on the water samples from this place revealed high presence of the E Coli bacteria.

The question now is, does Lamphel reflect the rot that has come to grip society here or is it a case of society reflecting the contaminated water of Lamphel ? There is no easy answer here, for the subject matter is not an object which can be subjected to tests and analyses in the Physics, Chemistry of Biology laboratories.

The interesting part lies in the point that the very complex nature of the issue or the question is just right for everyone to pass the buck and not be identified with the tag of being incompetent or ignorant. So who are those responsible for contaminating the water at Lamphel with the E Coli bacteria ? The people who release their bowels in the area or the Government which seems intent on playing the Russian roulette with Nature ?

Lamphel is just one example that comes to mind at the moment and a bout of engagement with the grey matter will be immensely educative. Society change, this is the universal law. The question however is whether the change should take the people forward or take them back by a couple of decades.

Is society here evolving as Herbert Spencer expounded or is it on the reverse gear ? Does looking back at history mean learning a lesson or two from the past so that the progress towards the future is more fruitful or has it come to mean that all the people should go back to that point of time in history ? Does revivalism mean going back to the past literally or does it mean regaining the forgotten values of life ?

A clear cut answer may be hard to come by and this is precisely the reason why there is the growing need to be clear about the direction the people are headed. Respecting and preserving the culture of the forefathers means so many things and at the same time it does not mean so many things. Imposing "culture" by some power players definitely has nothing to do with the culture and values of a society, much less the society of Manipur.

Unfortunately this has been the trend here for quite some time and increasingly a situation has emerged to such an extent that today it is more about "imposing dos and don'ts" in the name of culture and tradition than about preserving the values of the forefathers.

The corollary is the emergence of a people who cannot think or exercise their mental faculty independently and what we see is the predominance of the herd mentality. Another offshoot is the coming to root of the culture of hypocrisy.

Nowhere is this more pronounced than when Manipur or at least Imphal gets ready for the annual extravaganza called the Nupi Lan Day. While a day is especially set aside for the womenfolk of the State, the fairer sex continue to be a battered lot and stories of women being harassed, ostracised and at times even being killed continue to make the front page of the State dailies.

Here once again we may raise the question of whether this trend of hypocrisy is a reflection of society or whether it is society which has reflected this unsaid and untold, but nevertheless very vocal practise.

So while the people of Manipur have made a name for themselves in the field of sports, the arts and creative fields not to speak of the diaspora who have done well in their chosen profession, the question of why a place like Lamphel should become the host of water contaminated by the E Coli bacteria remains unanswered.