The real MBAs of Manipur

Samarjit Kambam *

Shopping at Ema Keithel, Imphal on November 13 2012 :: pix - Bunti Phurailatpam

Whenever I purchase fish from Khwairamband Bazaar, located in the heart of Imphal city, particularly smaller fish, not a single big one, which is usually bought as a shoal for one or two kilograms I always find the weight of the fish lighter by a few hundred grams by the time I reach home.

I ponder and wonder to myself how such phenomenon take place when the weighing at the time of purchasing was done in front of my very eyes. Could it be some paranormal activity or could it be due to the journey from marketplace to my home which is far by only four kilometres' drive by my vehicle, or is it due to difference in gravity of the marketplace and home? Nothing seemed to make sense.

Goldsmith, ironsmith, wordsmith, mouthsmith, handsmith, fingersmith (usually referred to pick-pocketers, hard-core tricking card players, magicians etc), many a galore are there and I again begin to wonder what kind of smith these women fish vendors can be nomenclatured into. "Curiosity killed the cat", but to me "Curiosity killed my time" and I deliberately go many a times to buy fish by the shoalful to find out or solve this 'phenomenon' of gravity shift like a self styled Sherlock Holmes without a magnifying glass.

I would say, "Please give me a Kg of that fish and I would sit and watch without blinking but still I could not sort and solve the case of this phenomenon. Would it be appropriate to call them "Fishsmith"? Nah! So bland, blunt and inappropriate word. After many attempts of sitting and watching I still could not crack the case of this paranormal activity. What a "haath ka safaai" act, really astounding.

God must be filled with pity at my useless effort, so I was destined to come across one pensioner .......sorry, a retired Nupi-market ex-fish vendor of Khwairamban Bazaar who told me that in the marketing business particularly fish, one of the most essential requirements to be qualified as a fish-vendor is the dexterity to possess sub-categories of fingersmith viz, Thumbsmith, Index Fingersmith, Ring-fingersmith etc and told me that most particularly Thumbsmith is one of the most desirable qualification to become a fish vendor.

She enhanced my knowledge in this fishy thing by telling me that a thumb of either the left or right hand is usually used that does the "in the front daylight trickery". It is during the time of putting the shoal of fish inside the polythene or other carrier bag where the act was performed whereby one or two fish will get slipped out of the polythene carrier and fall inside their previous residential address dead or alive whatever it may be which was carried out so smoothly and so flawlessly that the buyer's eyes will be so illusioned that the very act will get away un-noticed and undetected. Trick of the trade. Nice, really.

Once on my trip to Secunderabad, I chatted with a retired Lieutenant Colonel whose name I could not exactly recall hailing from Southern India all the way from Howrah railway station to Vijaywada railway station who was going to visit one of his in-laws at Vijaywada. He told me that he was given different kinds of duty, sometimes in the field, sometimes a desktop one and sometimes as an educational officer.

Quite a man with tons of experience he was, though not a psychologist I was which I could find out from our casual and mutual conversation. He said that he was posted to Manipur frequently, many times more than his colleagues. For those defence personnel posted in Manipur considered as a disturbed area, medals or awards are usually given for killing innocent civilians behind the veil of AFSPA(Armed Forces Special Powers Act), unfortunately for him there was no such medal or award for being posted the highest number of times in the same state, that also an insurgency infested one.

During the conversation he expressed to me that women in Manipur are quite audacious compared to their counterparts of other states of India, are open minded, have team spirit, enterprising and possess entrepreneurship qualities. I also agree as there are some iota of truth to what he said.

In Manipur, on an average, womenfolk contribute towards a huge chunk of economy in every middle or lower class households. The womenfolk running the Ima market may be cited as one crystal clear example. They possess all the marketing, bargaining, salesmanship or should I say saleswomanship skills. Once you enter inside the Ima Market you will be easily taken for a ride to buy one item or the other be it vegetable, fish or fruits with their expertise in swaying buyers which in fact is a kind of 'on the spot' advertisement not getting viral to the media but only to the immediate to-be buyer.

Sales, financing, marketing, commerce, accounting – everything that is taught in the various courses of MBA (Master of Business Administration), except Computer interfaced inventory is being practically carried out by them in the marketplace. The only difference is that the marketplace is not a corporatised one nor a multinational. In terms of investment there are many women investors from the nearby vicinity who in fact are self-made un-nationalised private individual mobile banks. Among them there are some NRIs also(Non Resident Imphals). In fact, their accounting skills are so great that they will put the employees of RBI to shame.

In Manipur women make more history than men. Mention may be made of Nupi Lal, Seven Years' Devastation uprising, the shocking incident of protest by scorned and furious women in front Assam Rifles personnel situated at Kangla, an act which earned huge momentum and drove away the whole Assam Rifles batallion thereby handling over the historic Kangla to the people of Manipur by the Central government, the fast till death movement by the Iron Lady Irom Sharmila Chanu against AFSPA etc.

One thing that tarnish the uniqueness of Ima market is the inclusion of male vendors particularly non-Manipuris. That is something which should be done away with. The very solution lies with the womenfolk. They should not encourage the encroachment of space by male vendors in Ima market. There were also instances of untoward incidents such as bringing down the modesty of women vendors by the encroaching male vendors. We the public should contribute our best to maintain the uniqueness of the Ima market which is not found in other parts of the country.

In fact, the contribution in economy made by womenfolk in Manipur is exemplary which should be encouraged and special facilities are needed to be given by respective state government authorities which will go a long way in empowerment of women especially in a patriarchal society like ours.