Of all the phrases in the world I love, I hate 'leave me alone' the most. May be I love people, I like being amidst a crowd or may be I am a social being and this might be some convincing reasons why I don't love staying alone. Movies like 'Castaway' with Tom Hanks on the lead clearly shows a modern Robinson Crusoe's (man) pathetic and miserable life marooned on an uninhabited island surviving all alone for sometime with great difficulty. No man can be an island; no man can be a rock. He needs to see social animals to survive, to serenade the beauty of his or her soul, to realize how beautiful this life is with love all around.

However, these days I seem to be watching that 'Honey' Manipur has cut herself from the rest of the country and choose to stay all alone by herself as 'Apunba Lup' clamped a sixteen (16) days blockade for the two National Highways no 39 and 53 which can undoubtedly be called Manipur's lifeline for the passage to the mainland from Sunday midnight (the 19th Sep'04) to press for the removal of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) 1958.

Good!! This is one of the better ways to give an impetus on the centre government's stand against the removal of this act. What else can we do Buddy!! Even Dear Pebam Chitaranjan's death has gone unsung to the Manmohan Singh Government's ear. For more than two months each and every one of us had tried the best for the removal of this act but of no substantive use.

Lovely 'Sardarji' and Dear 'Marwaris' in Manipur who are doing businesses for quite sometime now and those who had not enough stocked the daily commodities in their godowns might have by this time realised their faults to miss a golden opportunity to make a handsome profits during this sixteen days blockade called by ' Apunba Lup'. There are times when I believed that if I were a ' Karbarwalah', I could have made enough money on the pretext of this blockade as this is the way of the world.

From today's newspaper I came to know about the ban on studying hindi in all educational institute by All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU) and Democratic Students' Association Manipur (DESAM) who are constituents of Apunba Lup. They gave a valid reason that the people of Manipur were not allowed to live like other citizens of India.

Our kids won't study Hindi from now onwards, so what?? They will have little problem in speaking and understanding the language. They might have little problem talking to the Indian railways ' coolies' or the 'auto drivers' or the 'taxi walahs' when they make a trip to India.

So what?? They can use their eyes and hands to communicate. These are not big problems either, Ain't it?? Who bothers anyway?? Devil may care. Everyone is busy with the demand for the removal of this AFSPA and what Hindi now, Damn it!!

A brother of mine-visited Delhi someday backs on an official trip from Manipur. We talked a lot about Manipur and its present crisis. He is a man of good humour who can hold on himself quite comfortably and when I enquired him about any entertainment these days back home, he replied that in the midst of the tempest they celebrated 'Krishna Janma' (Janmasthami) with great pomp and show. I argued how they could do this, he replied in a lighthearted mood, " we all are social being, we like to take a break, we love to celebrate, forget everything, including AFSPA at least that day".

Sometime back during the great Manipuri fight against the removal of AFSPA, I heard about no ' Harao Kumei' untill the goal is attain. Then what is this 'Janmasthami', if i m not wrong we are celebrating for a ' Mayang' Indian god's birth. I pray I am wrong. OK Buddy!! No compromise on religion and besides ' Krishna Janma' is no 'Harao Kumei'. It's a ' Lai Gi Numit' huh??. Now I pray I am right at least this time. Right or left, forget it. We should get rid of this AFSPA whatever it takes or how our breaks,

Huh!! www.e-pao.net photos of Janmasthami celebration at ISKCON temple clearly prove it all with hundreds of devotees thronging to make a wish. It seems everyone is happy that day and appears to me that they forgot even the menace of AFSPA at least that day. Are the devotees there to pay for its removal or are they there for some other wishes? Who cares anyway?

My brother left Delhi on Sunday morning by an Indian Airline flight to Imphal. I know that the sixteen days blockade of NH 39 and NH 53 will be starting from midnight of that Sunday but that does not make a difference to me as he reached home that afternoon and I had a sound sleep that night. Nevertheless on Monday morning when I woke up I felt guilty of myself as I came to know that a friend of mine had cancelled his train ticket only because of the blockade.

He fumed and cursed while I stayed helpless. Another friend's relative who is to visit Guwahati for a medical check up also could not make it. Now I realized there are people rather than my brother who prefer to travel by these two-blocked roads and for them this blockade is a real curse. Who cares anyway? Our aim is to get rid of this act. No matter what.

For Heaven's sake please make it clear to all and sundry that what we, Manipuri people are going to be during this sixteen days. We all know the reason but can everyone cope with the rhythm of life within these days. There may be some who are in dire need to use these Highways. There may be others whose life wholly depends on NH 39 and NH 53.

I must be the world's greatest idiot to have this opinion when Manipur is burning at present, but somewhere in the backyard of my mind I somehow felt there are many fools like me regarding this sixteen days blockade. I am terribly sorry if my idea is to open a "Pandora's Box". If this blockade is not the last option available and not the only last hope for the removal of AFSPA, I humbly disagree with this very idea of a long sixteen days blockade on NH 53 and NH 39.