The pangs of a trip to Moreh

Ben Kaje *

A scene at the Moreh Market, Moreh, in second week of October 2014 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

Most people in the world like to have order and discipline in society. Laws and regulations are made to safeguard the rights and privileges of each and every individual. Hence, one has to abide by the established rules and regulations of the place both for personal and social reasons besides the need for smooth functioning of the society. We thank the government, whom we have elected, for the apparent peaceful law and order situation in the state. Truly, security of a state or country can never be compromised.

Almost every state and country try its best to attract maximum inflow of tourists in the state and country. This is because of the many advantages that a state can receive with the coming of tourist and guests. Manipur is also a state where there are many places of interest and attraction. There is the Loktak lake, the Siroi lily, the Ima Market, the World War II cemetery, and the list goes on. Other states in India too try its best to create conducive ambience so that tourist do not face unnecessary inconveniences and problems while visiting places of interest. But I am not sure such logic is intended by the government.

Moreh is one of such place where people from other states like to visit because it is in a way a 'gateway to the East'. In fact many visit Manipur just for this singular reason. I remember my first trip to Moreh some years ago. The very thought of going to Moreh for the first time was such a thrill that I almost spent a sleepless night.

The journey was otherwise pleasant but for the abrupt and rude interruption by the security personnel with 'human bodies', excuse me for such phrase being used, for I find hard to get another suitable word for the moment. I for one would personally like to visit Moreh time and again had the security personnel be more cordial and systematic as well. I am aware though, the absence of my presence may not make any difference either.

It is encouraging and commendable to see the security personnel doing their bit to keep law and order in the right direction. But on the pretext of executing certain duties, hundreds of innocent people should not be harassed unnecessarily by the security. Just because of a black sheep in the sheepfold of hundred, the other ninety-nine should not be taken for a ride.

On many occasions, the manner of treatment meted out by the security personnel at some specific check post is highly bossy. It will be a laudable effort if the security personnel could speak proper English, but in their zeal to show power, the few words of English which some of them utter is an abhorrence and at times provocative in nature.

Henry David Thoreau in his Essay, "Civil Disobedience", described soldiers as "The standing army is only an arm of the standing government...serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies." Machines work when order is given, but fatigue hits human beings harder than machines. And so when one or two security personnel check a number of vehicles in a day for weeks and months, fatigue can take its toll on the human beings.

It has been said enough that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Maybe the individual security personnel are not to be blamed perhaps the system with which they were trained and nurtured was according to their syllabus.

Hundreds of people who have visited Moreh have felt the pangs of their visit, and thousands more may visit. But how long are we to bear those harsh words and discourteous gestures from 'bodies' dressed in uniforms? How many hours do we need to wait in rain or shine, queuing up to be scrutinized minutely by those 'bodies' without the least of good manners?

Why not use modern equipments and mannerism like that of the airports be inculcated after all its an en route to the Look East Policy with international destination? But of course if such standards are not appropriate because we are lesser citizens or if the policy of the government is to harass visitors then the hoi polloi become irrelevant.

Even if that is not possible, at least let those guys have the courtesy to speak like human beings and not like 'moving bodies' in uniform without some basic human attributes. Honestly, a good rapport with visitors will create a better memory inviting another visit and probably with more people in the next visit.

Yes, while nets are laid on the way, but big fishes escapes and the lesser ones have to pay the price in full measure. If Ministers and top bureaucrats can clothe themselves as ordinary citizens and undergo the screening as they go to Moreh, they will understand the pangs of a trip to Moreh.

I am not praying for a let-up in the intensity of the security search but to be more humane in their approach and have sufficient security personnel to get the job done and thus ease the burdens of the tourists. Just because a person is in uniform and loaded with bullets doesn't mean, power and authority lies in their hands.

The tall claims of "Friends of the People of Manipur", "At your Service", "Friends of the Hills", appear ridiculous at this juncture. Friends normally do not use abusive and harsh words at the slightest provocations. Friends look into the welfare and wellbeing of another.

Hundreds and thousands have gone to Moreh (and many more might go), but the pangs of the trip seem to have forgotten with the sight of a new baby (Moreh). If various organizations can call highly competitive halts and that too successively, why not cry for a decent treatment with human dignity from the government and security personnel who are to be at the service of humanity.