I would like to say that we all Manipuris be united everywhere.
Wayback when I was in Assam in the nursing school, I used to notice that every girl from our state had their own separate cliques. I found that very isolating as I considered myself a Manipuri rather than something based on caste &language.
I would have loved them to sit together and interract the same way but I was a minority thinker so I could not do much about that. I was a friend to all.
The Kuki-Naga tensions were at their worst but we had no such problems whatsoever in our hostel. It taught me to be very tolerant and it has stood me good.
In Bombay when I started work, I made friends with our Manipuri people ,old & young alike. I was very fortunate to know them.
Back home, I wonder if those friendships would be the same, because our people have the tendency to divide ourselves on Hao-Meitei lines.
These friends have been a great source of joy for me over the years. I can look back and say I made good friends with not only the soccer players in Bombay but even those who were based in Goa.
To this day, I have not given up my love of watching soccer. I can not wait for this year's world cup ! I dont have to mention their names.
People would shudder to read the news everyday of the fightings between the Palestinians, and others, but my childhood classmate Benjamin Misao introduced me to his Palestinian friend Eyad, some years ago.
But we had a great interraction with these assorted mix of friends- who were Nagas, a Gujarati from Kenya, an Arunachali, an Assamese and of course me.
It was pretty obvious that all of us got along very well. It was very enriching and more purposeful than being around with people who separate on the lines of caste and what not!
To me, I feel we should show our goodness of being a Manipuri in everything we do. Even today, here in the States, my best friend is a Tangkhul girl who is there for me every time I am in need. We never knew each other in Manipur but only here.
I am glad I met her here, We have become very thick friends. We both enjoy eating Ironba, Morok metpa, Sinju and all the hot food I can cook up.
It makes life a lot more easier to have good friends, like her in a foreign country. I have been very fortunate to have had a lot of good friends around me over the years. I have learnt a lot from them.
Those of you who know me can vouch for the fact!
* Shanti Thokchom, a resident of Tulsa, Oklohoma, contributes for the first time to e-pao.net .
She can be reached at hanubi2006(at)hotmail(dot)com .
This article was webcasted on March 10, 2006.
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