E-Pao! - a journey through 2004
- V Anniversary -

Remember what Mr. Francis Ngajokpa, Minister GAD, said when his 8-year-old daughter who was kidnapped from her school was found dead and almost rotten in Nov 2003.

"Let the sacrifice of my innocent daughter be the last one in the state and let there be peace in Manipur".

It looks like god is not favouring Manipur. We have seen more unrest and killings this year too. On July 11 morning unsuspecting e-pao visitors got a shock and a general clue to what might follow as they read...
"A 32-year old woman who was reportedly arrested from her own Bamon Kampu Mayai Leikai house last night by 17th Assam Rifles after issuing arrest memo to the family members was found abandon dead near Ngariyan Mapao Maring village this morning with tell-tale signs of brutal torture writ all over her body..... "

This is followed by major protests most notable of which was the Naked protests by the ema-ebens on 15^thJuly 2004 in front of the 17 AR Gate. Pebam Chittaranjan immolated himself and Manipuris across the globe joined in to show their solidarity to the protest. Non-Manipuri groups joined in. All these sent Manipur into one frenzied overdrive. The shocking pictures that came out in the form of stills and moving pictures area open secret all over the world. E-Pao! was with all the Manipuris all throughout this phase reporting every bit of information there was to the readers.

The complete repeal of the dreaded AFSPA is one of the main demands of all the protests. This, however, is still undergoing its unending rounds of debate. The only good bit of news that might have happened after all these would be that 17 AR left the premises of Kangla which was out of bounds for the Manipuri public for the last 113 years.

Shree Shree Govindajee Temple inside Kangla

When we saw pictures of the ruins of the Kangla Palace for the first time, we felt goose bumps on our skins. Non-Manipuris, who watched the picture gallery with us, complimented on the beauty and serenity of the place. It deserves to be preserved. It's so nice to see the words "The Kangla" instead of the usual one that used to be there at the gate. You can only watch out for more coverage of this historical place on e-pao.

Here in E-Pao!, we have made history too. We are five years old now. Five years of tireless updates and keeping in pace. It also has truly become the e-platform for the Manipuris that we had strived for. We are proud to inform that e-pao consists of original contributions of Manipuris from all walks of life and society. We look forward to continued support from you all.

We have introduced better tools that help email, print, send feedback or discuss the news piece or article that you might be reading. We had re-arranged our news page to list out the current news items on your right. These introductions follow the recommendation given after an R&D to improve user experience.

We continue to discover talented individuals who spin such an enchanting web of words. Mention may be made of Doctor L SwatiCharan Singh who continues to mesmerize visitors with his series of short stories "Healing Souls". His other articles on the Medical world also manage to tickle one's funny bones.
Abel Hmar's documentary on people that makes up Churachandpur is enlightening to say the least.
Nehginpao Kipgen's series on the Rise of Political Conflicts in Modern Burma is well researched and very laden with facts and figures with a scholarly approach.
Paramananda Chabungbam ran a three-piece series named "the Enigmatic" which attempted to simplify the enigma that is "society" and the "individuals".
Oinam Doren shared his experience and insights of being a North-Easterner in the Nation's capital.
Oken Jeet Sandham brings in his rich experience in news reporting with his updates of the happenings in the North East India.
Izzy Pudaite's tribute to the rock bands of Manipur still attracts reader's feedbacks.
Shanjoy Mairenbam's series has been instructive for the young people of Manipur.
Ranjan Yumnam continues to write insightful stuffs though not as often as in earlier year.
Other contributors who had made impacts with their original writings are: Dr.Krishnananda, Issac Intoate, Pengba, Nongallakpa Horam, Thathang Lunghang, Oinam Anand, Hopson, Loya Masinam, JoyShankar, Rk Shiva, Likla, The_Inquisitive, Bina, Isaac L. Hmar, Irungbam Prabin and so many other countless contributors who makes up the major portion of e-pao.

Many of these writers are even more fascinating as they are young professionals working on their respective careers, which are at most times, far removed from Journalism or Politics. By way of this platform they share their concerns, which they hold for their motherland and the possible ways of solving it. If more such individuals come out and resolve to take the reins of Manipur, we are quite sure Manipur will be restored to it's glory.

Numbers of budding poets are growing and one look into their work, which we proudly display in our "Poems" section, will reveal the dept of talent they possess.

The Job Posting section has been hugely popular with even non-Manipuris visiting the site to check up on these postings. These postings are from our readers and serves as a platform to inform other Manipuris of the openings that he/she has come across within their own company or elsewhere.

The success of Job Postings and Poems section only goes to show the involvement of E-Pao users in this e-platform. This is a fitting tribute to the motto "e-pao.net - Complete e-Platform for the Manipuris". No word is fit to describe the selfless contributions made by the e-pao users.

One of our avid fan, Catherine Mittal, left us for the heavenly abode on 11th August 2004. She is remembered for her friendliness and those though provoking articles she published here at e-pao. May her soul rest in peace. Another avid fan, David Tusing, reached a milestone in his career with the winning of the Journalism award at the IBDA'a Media Student Award held in Dubai. We ran one interview with him where he narrated about his moment of joy with fellow e-pao users.

A sub-site for North American Manipuri Association (NAMA) was added up into the e-pao fold. E-frenz crossed 2000 registered users mark. The Message Board got a new look and feel. Many images were added up into the gallery section. Not much of song files were added and that's one area we will be trying to do more this year.

The Meitei Mayek editorial, which was started in year 2003, is being updated religiously. It may be noted that the True type Font used for the display of Meitei Mayek on web has been developed by e-pao.

The chat got upgraded. But the general unruly nature of the chat rooms still prevails. We, at E-Pao, are NOT able to police the chat rooms 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We receive much complaint against this but we look up to the users to help solve this problem.

We started a new feature called "News in Picture". David MM has been constantly sending those fabulous pictures which we enjoy everyday. The idea was to capture not only the news in picture but also the Manipur that often goes unmentioned or unnoticed.

The site statistics are quite staggering with average monthly figures of around a 100,000 (one lac) Visitors or sessions; Hits crossing 4.5 million; Page Views little less than a million and consuming Bandwidth anything above 25 GB.

In the coming year we plan to upgrade our Yellow Pages sub site and introduce more such other sub sites that will help all of us bond together. We have achieved this success because of the continued support received from you through these five years.

With you, we plan to take e-Pao! to greater heights.
Hold on, and let's go through Manipur together.
Happy 2005 and God bless!