In the 80s when I taught in Baby K.G School, I used to take my students sometimes to soccer games in Kangjeibung and sometimes to kung-fu movies with their parents' permission. We also went for picnics to Komlathabi and it was a relief to see them have fun and enjoy!!

I knew some of them had so much hopelessness and despair within their family and I could understand how they felt when things were not going all good for them despite their moms trying their best to keep up a brave front.

I have a motherly instinct in me that always comes to the fore when I see my students especially the boys, as our Manipuri parents place so much importance on them, all down and out with no one to talk about their feelings, as their family condition was bad.

They were sort of under unspoken pressure to do well as they were the carriers of the family line. It must have been pretty hard for these poor kids!!

But our society is such we cant do much against it except hope for change for the better!! If those boys still remember me - their teacher- wherever they are, I wish them all well !!

I came into contact with different people during my 7 years of working in Bombay city. I was not used to all that noisy and such a crowded place like Bombay. So I was totally shocked when I reached there in the summer of '92 ..straight from Jorhat, Assam.

I had asked my other batchmates to go work with me but none wanted to do so as they did not have any desire except to go back to Manipur and look for Government jobs which I knew wasn't forthcoming unless you bribed the higher ups!

Well I had to adapt fast to the ways of the big bad city called Bombay otherwise I could be left behind in the wilderness!! I was put in a room with a Leisa Sari (spinster) from Mangalore. She was nice to us because she never got along with the girls form Kerala as she considered them too noisy unruly bunch!!

As for me I already had 8 Kerala batchmates so I was cool about them! The first day of work to Breach Candy hospital, I dressed up and ate fast to catch the 6.57 morning local slow train from Sion West station and get down at Dadar to catch another slow train to Bombay Central.

We had a Kerala nurse guiding me but not very helpful because she did not want me- chinky- eyed people holding onto her skirts for direction!! But our agency madam had strictly told her that she was not at all supposed to leave me behind anywhere on the way except to the hospital!

I heard her cussing me in Malayalam but she did not know I knew what she said. Anyway I pretended to be dumb as can be because I wanted to know and learn the ways of the city as much as I can fast enough!! I was wearing Salwar Kameez and I must say it sucks !!

It hindered my movements anywhere in trains, hospital, railway stations etc.. with that searing heat and muggy weather of Bombay !! I felt like ripping them off and run in the raw!!

When I reached the hospital, the first thing I heard was "Are you Nepali...? That set my Manipuri blood boiling!! My first reaction was "ma ngak met ni-ngeda!" (want to wring their necks for their ignorance).

But I went upto those ignorant Keralite nurses and confronted them "Are you Biharis? How come you guys come from such a literate state like Kerala and dont even know all the states of India? FYI, we are from Manipur and we have so many Malayali teachers back home!"

I was called Nepali in the hospital dining rooms, in the nursing homes on Marine lines, Malabar Hill, Colaba, Dadar and big hospitals like the Nanavati, Jaslok and Hinduja, on the trains, in the houses where I worked!!! I had a whole tough time dealing with this issue but I had to take it with a pinch of salt and carry on with my work.

It was hard to work with people who are so prejudiced against us from the N.E !!! But hey! being a Manipuri, I said to myself..... "Napa yanimacha (slang), I must not buckle in under such circumstances. I must rise above all these".

I went on to work harder regardless of all the goings on around me!! I learnt to be tougher !!! Hope the situation is better now than when I was there! I am sure there are many of our N.E sisters working there in Bombay or other metro cities and people at least know of our existence!!!

I tell you.. this experiences have made me a much tougher person mentally and also look at life from a different perspective!! I learnt to appreciate the many good attributes of being a Manipuri which had stood me good facing all unsavoury incidents!!