My Memories of Imphal From 1941 : Chapter 1 :: Download

Dr Mohendra Irengbam *

With Nurses at Churachandpur District Hospital.
On my right, Staff Nurse Chingnu and Left, Staff Nurse Mannu.

PART 1
Rendezvous pologround
Kangjeibung thoknaba

"I see friends shaking hands, saying 'How do you do?', and I think to myself what a wonderful world," crooned Louis Armstrong in 1968, two years after I came to London. Today, the world has suddenly become more beautiful for me because of my vulnerable age to the Covid-19 virus, with which I may be pushing up daisies any day.

When I set out on this journey to write about my experiences in pristine Imphal as a little and big boy, ending with the extraordinary story of political intrigue and forced integration of Manipur to India in 1949, I was wondering whether I would survive the first phase of the Covid pandemic.

As I am 85 years old and endowed with my age-related memory decline, my efforts in tracking down the names of some of those people who were involved in the events I am writing about, are becoming a challenge.

I am glad that my repressed memories are coming back with some trepidation. I can piece them together and put them into some sort of order so that I can share them with the coming generations. They are factual records of actual events and real people. Because I was there.

Before I home in on the topic, I would take this opportunity to tell you young people, with enormous thanks to my deceased parents who lived till their early 90s that, old age is wonderful. It's great fun. I was young once, and so, I know the difference. Old age is a repository for arcane knowledge.

In the grand philosophical overview of aging, Helen Small, an Oxford don, wrote in her book, "The Long Life" (2007) that our lives accrue meaning over time, and therefore the story of the self is not complete until it experiences old age – the stage of life that helps us grasp who we are and what our life has meant.

In the West, where people are now living longer, old age is now considered to be at the age of 70-71 for men and 73 for women. In the 1960s, it used to be 65 for men and 60 for women, which were the official retirement age. On average globally, women survive their husbands by at least 3 years. Average 5 years.

Most people dread getting old. This is true. We must remember there are many plus sides to getting old, such as you don't have to be right all the time. You no longer sweat the small stuff. Your emotions bounce around much less.

Download the entire Chapter 1 of this book here