Manipur must be so full of libraries, at least in name. Practically every locality has one of these, but with the exception of a very few, their interests must be more in carrom boards, Chinese chequers and chess than in books. The intention is good, but when the execution is bad, nothing is worth it. But is not as if the curiosity of the public to learn, is in short supply. For evidence, an early morning round of the streets and bylanes of Imphal, or for that matter any other township will do. The number of early risers out for a morning tea at the local tea stalls, glued to the pages of local dailies, is simply amazing. The appetite for news, we suppose, is whetted by the bad law and order situation as well as the seemingly never ending, political churning in the state. Things develop at such breakneck speed every hour of the day that nobody can be certain what happened after they retired to bed the previous day that may come to have a profound bearing on their individual lives. And indeed there are many things and events that rule their everyday lives. It does not really have to be an thing earthshaking that arrests their interest, (although these are added bonuses), but subjects as mundane as the size of the overdraft the state government has accumulated with the RBI, or the change in the letterhead of even little heard of militant organizations. As to how each's personal welfare can depend on these, needs no elaboration. And so, the first impression of any visitor to the state who are in the habit of taking morning walks, would most probably be of a population which are by and large avid readers. But the first impression is often not the lasting impression, and this sadly would again probably be the case, if the same visitor stayed on longer. For beyond the obsessive interest in the immediate, the general quest for deeper range knowledge buried in the recesses of books, is at best weak and halfhearted.

A great deal of the reason for this failure must be attributed to lack of effort from the apex literary societies as well as the inadequate statutory patronage of these. The place has a rich literary tradition, but much of these remain cloistered and un-disseminated to the general public. And again, in today's world, nobody can afford to be a frog in the well for it is at the risk of missing the buses of time. We have no choice than to make efforts to know the literary traditions and trends outside our immediate ambit. Since in today's global village, it is impossible not to incorporate influences from outside even if unconsciously, the enlightened literary bodies, particularly those with statutory backings, must bear the onus of making the best available so that the influences are by the best only as far as possible. In the absence of such an effort, the heart of the literary culture here will soon morph to resemble the commercial and often crass images that flood our drawing rooms, courtesy the satellite. While the latter, like fast food and jeans, is a reality that cannot be avoided, only a proper grounding in the former, can put them into their correct perspective. To put the argument in a nutshell, perhaps our literary societies will do well to Invest some more time, energy and money into cross cultural literary transliteration works with the intent of strengthening our own.