A new Friend
- a 10th Anniversary collection -
By: Soibam Haripriya *
I never dreamt that she was just a click away. I was working on a paper on women and had just typed out ‘Manipuri cinema + censorship’ and it took me straight to an impressive article. Not really an article but a response to an article. The article was "No sex please we are Manipuris". I forget the exact contents but still remember parts of it with extreme disgust wherein the writer was waxing eloquent welcoming the ban of Hindi movies in Manipur and how (sic) this has heralded the growth of Manipuri cinema. The article was downright outrageous but the response "No sex please we are hypocrites" was fantastic. Shreema Ningombam hmm… I might as well drop a mail and tell her how I feel about the article, I was also oddly feeling a sense of nostalgia for old cinema which was enhanced by her description of one of my favourite movie -"Myopigi Macha".
I was not expecting a reply; the article was written a year back and having lost access to several email IDs as I no longer remember the passwords, I once again conjure up a similar situation that might prevent a response to my email. Also the strange fear that I could be sounding a little weird to her - as it is we have heard of how unsafe the virtual world is.
Moreover, I had written nothing more than congratulating her well thought out argument. In all eventualities a reply was in the wildest of my thoughts. It was a surprise when I got an email and more so when we exchanged numbers. The contact was on and off until I shifted from South Delhi to North and we got to discover similar pursuits. The friendship is going stronger and deeper in spite of having shifted base again.
* Soibam Haripriya recounts how she came to know of Shreema Ningombam through the pages of e-pao. Haripriya is a poet in her own right. You can read her poems here. Shreema Ningombam is one of the most vocal commentators on the Manipuri society whose many writings are found all across e-pao. Search for her articles/dialogues here.
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