Are we really cultured people
- A look at the daily irritants in Imphal -

Amar Yumnam *

Manipur and her people often claim to have a rich culture. But the daily interactions in real life in and around Imphal make one ponder on the actual meaning of richness in culture.

Without mincing words and looking at the daily life encounters, I cannot but help feeling that we now need to distinguish between historical culture and culture of modernity. Looking at the dance forms, rituals and dresses, we can genuinely be proud of our richness in historical culture.

But when we look, on the other hand, at the daily life visibilities of contemporary existence, it is doubtful if the people are really cultured. Any new convenience, any new technology and any new working style demands a culture appropriate to it.

I would call this culture of modernity, and if the culture being followed conforms to civilized conduct, we can say that the people are really cultured.

A civilized conduct is one wherein we see to it that the interests of others are not violated while meeting our needs, and when a conflict of interest occurs the needs of the poorer sections are invariably given preference. Observing this norm is all the more fundamental because people do not have access to a new technology or convenience simultaneously.

In order to see if we are true to our richness of historical culture and a truly cultured population, I would like to list a few irritants we encounter in and around Imphal more often than not.

IRRITANT NUMERO UNO:

Location: The most conspicuous scene of the occasions I am listing as numero uno irritant is either the Keishampat Junction area or the turnings in front of the main Kangla Gate.

Event: An aged and weak lady (remember, we address any older lady as Ima meaning Mother) wishes and endeavours to walk across the street. The cars and vans give such arrogant horns continuously with damning remarks preventing the lady from ever crossing the street. By the time the lady ever crosses, the first car who gave the arrogant horn to the Ima would at least be two kilometres away from the scene.

Civilised Conduct: The civilised conduct demanded of cultured people in such contexts is the self-halting of vehicles until the lady completes the crossing. The beauty of this civilised conduct is the enhancement of total welfare of the people. One can trust me on the validity of this though I would not explain the welfare principle involved at this moment.

IRRITANT NUMBER TWO:

Location: The most conspicuous locations of the of the number two irritant are, like that of the number one, the most crowded spots in Imphal.

Event: The places are so crowded that there is hardly any space for the vehicles to manoeuvre and the people to move along. Then all of a sudden non-stop horns start harassing the ears of everyone all around. These sounds or rather noises emanate from the vehicles of security personnel or from the escort vehicles of persons with personalised security cover (this later category of people consist of many who are given security cover because of threats consequent upon their capability to steal or indulgence in stealing and not because of their protocol) warning all to get aside so that they move on smoothly. The louder and noisier the horns are if thicker the traffic and the narrower the space for overtaking.

Civilised Conduct: The civilised conduct in such circumstances would be for the security personnel to see to it that the entire traffic moves on as smoothly as possible, and there is no aggravation of the noise pollution around. The civilised conduct required of the persons with escorts is display of civility in such circumstances, and not the show of annoying haughtiness.

IRRITANT NUMBER THREE:

Location: The scene of the irritant number three is any road leading to the State's capital and the timing is usually the morning.

Event: Many birds (chickens or ducks) are tied together by their legs and hung downward from moving scooters or motorcycles. Quite often some of the birds hit the hard road space unable as they are to carry their weights any more.

Civilised Conduct: We know the birds constitute a food item, and there is nothing wrong about it. We know for sure that they cannot articulate a complaint. But these do not by any means imply that humans can be unmindful of their plight before they end up on the dining table. The civilised conduct demands that they be carried in such a way as not to cause unwarranted physical strain.

IRRITANT NUMBER FOUR:

Location: The scene of this irritant is any of the ATM booths of the banks here.

Event: Any number of persons would be standing behind the one immediately doing the transaction. They would take an unabbreviated look in all the steps of transaction of the person in the front.

Civilised Conduct: Civilised conduct in this demands that everyone honours the personal space and secrecy of transactions of anyone else. Thus none would get close to anyone affecting a financial transaction in any ATM booth.

Are We Cultured:

We can have a longer list of irritants, but what we have given above should be revealing enough as they include our public as well as private conduct. All these put a question mark on the culture related claims of the people of the land.

While our claim on historical culture may be right, our status as cultured people in the modern sense is doubtful. We drive cars but we do not cultivate the culture to be associated with persons possessing any car.

We access ATM booths but we do not bother to honour the norms of using such a facility. We have laws and social norms, but our people in any form of authority enjoy displaying their status in wrong places and in complete violation of those globally honoured norms of public conduct.

Well, are we a really cultured people?