Transition

You are here: Home » leisure » EI

E-Pao! EI - Transition

Transition

By: Nongmaithem Meghanath *

I have been married for the past 6 years with Delhi and 2 Years with my wife.

Delhi is for me to survive and my kid is a reason to survive. Wife, Kid, Delhi, survival, reason… all of them come in a package, a package that can't be customized according to our needs and wants.

"Ta Boba, Ta somendo ngasi sibo kamai tousheba tangkhai amadi ngamme", that's a standard evening phrase. This opening phrase has a lot of meaning and that's not for everyone to understand unless you know what is being discussed after the first round (First round is usually full glass).

People seldom talk about me because there is nothing left in me to be discussed that interest people yet we have every reason to discuss about ourselves and the entire world because that is the only reason we could think of for completing our evening ritual.

We talk about humanity; politics; life, psychology and most interestingly enjoy and share the views of being in a group where the sensibility governs the maturity, we called this "meitei" dedicating the harmonious evening group enjoyment towards patriotism.

After all the spiritual and worldly talks, the way to home is a short way however too long to handle the uneven question about career, at times I run thinking that I could be faster then the part of my brain which generates this question. It was not too bad as this gets at the back seat while setting a posture to get in the most respected corridor where the great gentlemen whom I called as "Baba" would be waiting for me to show his fatherly assurance that I would be doing good someday.

"Thengle chak chathoklo, ejat tagi henba karisu leitabani". It does mean something more than what I had understood, yet it seems it took time for the maturity in my thought to exercise in the right direction.

I have come across a long way yet too short to count as an experience for the future. Things were different when the vision was limited to a morning shift primary school teacher as a career with a dream of buying a used Maruti 800. The world was too small and the imagination seems to catch up all the corners with little left to think about the world beyond Guwahati.

Sounds quite funny yet too sweet as a memory to retrospect at the simplicity of thoughts. This funny thought was once a big thought and this big thought was the first small step to a voracious dream and this dream has made me a less natural self with only a bit of indigenousness to pinch me as if to remind me the old days where you smile for every reason.

"We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. This is a truth, which still fills me with astonishment." This is what Richard Dawkins has said but it sounds more like my Baba's line.

Except that my father has an additional line which says " What is important is how you define selfish molecules as, be good and what you do for yourself would be good for others too." Now I have started wondering if the "good" in his additional line has a lot of meaning than the good that we understand.

We are no longer talking about the opposite of bad but a composition of bad and good that are exercised based on the requirement and the art of projecting the bad as an acceptable bad from all perspective. This is what I have learnt in 6 yrs compromising on my principles.

Ta Boba, Ta somendo hasn't changed, they are the same, "Nungshiba huuni", "Paru debdas" are still their favorites. Tangkhai and mapum are still the code and the ahan angang respect still segregates the evening high school lampak.

The difference is we seem to talk less about the world and more about ourselves. They still seems to enjoy the talks but it no longer carries the lively attributes to me and I wonder if they have also taken up a different taste of life.

I sometimes wonder if the crosses of life would bring back those old days and probably create a chance to see those old self once.

Nongmaithem Meghanath contributes regularly to e-pao.net
He can be contacted at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on May 31st, 2006

* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.