Rajesh Khongbantabam - a Profile on self

By Rajesh Khongbantabam *

Education has always been the mainstay of my family and yet it failed when needed the most. Using drugs has impact my education, in such a way, that I was not able to complete my master degree, seeking out for the next dose when my colleagues were carving a niche, browsingthrough the library. I also had to discontinue a course on journalism in Chandigarh that comes along with a scholarship.

Initially, I happened to be just one of those consumers of recreational drugs, eventually, it became the other way around. The consumer was sold to the product. Using drugs devastated my life; I was not able to come out of it. The more I tried, the harder it tightened its grip. Now, it's my endeavour to settle off my debt to the same society that once shunned me with disdain, in my own way.

A small step of activism & volunteerism, yet a giant leap for the cause of my cousin brother, a friend, a partner who became a victim of the harshest drug law, the NDPS ACT, by circumstances and subsequently, a fallen victim of armed conflict within a month of parole after years of incarceration. Those memories of this hardship during incarceration period will always inspire me to advocate for a change, for the cause of rights of people using drugs and the marginalized at large.

I feel like belonging to a group of crazy people who, regardless of distinction and where they lived, were struggling for basic human rights for people, like my brother who choose to take more and different drugs than those the rest of us took everyday. I've been a volunteer of HIV/AIDS & drug use issues since the last eight years and will always be available for such kind of spirit.

However, I do have my own specialized pet areas; Research work, Networking, Advocacy and lending a vociferous vocal for the sake of justice. I also had the untoward distinction of dragging the service provider to the court of State Human Rights Commission for violating the rights of client and the commission verdict came out in my favour.

A victory for the voiceless, "morality cannot be legislated... keeping a Deaf ear or blind eye to the HIV pandemic will make us pay a heavy price. We, who claim to be good or better cannot be just spectators and should be careful of the future of our society, for it is us who will determine it. If we want to contain this pandemic, people affected by drug use and HIV need compassion..." from the words of the chairman of Manipur state human rights commission.

My inner conscience will always remain indebted to the HDN family for conferring a platform to raise my voice as a Key Correspondent.

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* Rajesh khongbantabam is key correspondent of HDN and writes about AIDS inflicted and various help available for them. He is based at Imphal.
This profile was webcasted at e-pao.net on 30th March 2009.

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