Of class fellows, glass fellow and political bellow

Lunminthang Haokip *

1. CLASS OF 1973: We were a little less than 30 boys crammed in the Class-X room of Don Bosco H/S Imphal. Naughty, noisy and 'nosey' as we were, it took no less than the big-built Chongtham Bijoy to captain us. He was also the topper in academics, scoring to the tune of 98% in Maths. Bijoy was a top-ranker both in HSLC Board exam of 1973 and Higher Sec exam of NEHU, Shillong, in 1975.

The Lalambung boy was endowed with the brilliance to excel in AI (Artificial Intelligence) of today had he not gone wrong in his later DU days.

It reminds me of Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

Yet of late, the high IQ rational thinker had reinvented himself to create an impact as a political commentator and analyst. Flashes of his inborn debating skills came to the fore, of late, in the local TV talk-shows. As a former class-fellow, I wish him joy in tha morrow.

2. DIVERSIFIED ACHIEVERS FROM DBHS ALUMNI: Mr. Yambem Laba was another prankster in Class VIII of Don Bosco, Imphal. Whenever the Teacher left us alone, he would pull a classmate's leg and keep us in splits. Later, he became a pioneer leader in Manipur Mountaineering Club ventures and a prolific free-lance pen-pusher.

Another prominent classmate of ours who made a mark in his chosen field is Mr. Bijay Prasad Sahu. A fast talker with the gift of the gab, it was no wonder that he studied Law and became one of the successful High Court Advocates.

Yet the man who lifted up the prestige percentage of our batch is Dr S Lorho Pfoze. We his school-fellows did not get the faintest hunch that he would, one day, win a Parliamentary seat from Outer-Manipur P/C.

Mr Nunghlung Anal, Former MLA from Chandel AC, also was a surprise achiever from the DBHS, Imphal Class of 1973. I lost track of many of my former class-fellows. We parted ways. They were all 'gone with the win' in their professions. God bless them all.

3. STOP-GAP FORAYS : I was never bookish. Flippant by nature, and driven by passion, I took up a Master's Course in English Literature in JNU, Imphal Branch (1977-1980). The Literary msterpieces like Jude The Obscure, Shakespeare's plays, Wordsworth's poetry, Emily Bronte's Wutheriing Heights etc created an impact in me. In my case, life imitated art.

Like Bronte's protagonist, in my youthful days too, "some of the greatest love affairs involved only one actor." That's how I strayed into the company of 'glass-fellows' for a season, in 'Devdas-mode.' My life drifted on like that of 'Jude The Obscure.' At times, I walked in a blur and talked in a slur. To sweat out the pangs of sorrow, I played football as a hobby for SSU, Singjamei.

In 1978, we stood 2nd in the Senior League. TRAU beat us in penalty kick. Football gave no perks then, except for a pedal-less bicycle we got for practice. So I struggled hard. God rewarded my efforts in the form of a slot in MCS, 1991 batch. Life became smoother ever since.

4. FROM A FILE-PUSHER TO A LAW-MAKER: Fast forward to 2012. Although I was not so good in studies, there was an innate yearning in me to have my name suffixed with IAS. So, I prayed much. My spiritual conversion came in 1994 when God showed me Romans 8:1 & 2, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus... For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ had made me free from the law of sin and death."

In 2012, I was missing heartbeats as our induction day drew near. The age bar was 54. I was almost 54, then. By the Almighty's grace I got a place in the DoPT order. That's God-gifted IAS (I Am Saved). Mr Kh Raghumani stood out in our batch.

In service matters, whenever we had doubt, we approached him for problem solution in the same manner his team-mates passed the ball to Zinedine Zidane when they didn't know what to do with the ball. Even in his in-service years, the itch to make a splurge in politics was in him. Our batch feels proud that now, Mr Kh Raghumani has seamlessly switched over roles from being a 'File-pusher' to a 'Law-Maker.' May he 'stand out' in his new role too.

5. MANIPUR SAE-2.0 IN 2022: Conduct of State Assembly Election of Manipur, 2022, by and large was an improved version of itself vis-a-vis its earlier conducts. Right from the management and announcements from the CEO/Manipur to the Info-sharing role taken up by the Media to the TV channel debates, there was no mismatch of role to player. Hats off to ISTV, Impact TV, Tom TV, Elite TV, Mami TV etc, you all gave viewers visuals of our action-packed campaigns and poll-day fare.

The morning news analysis by Newspaper Editors cleared cobwebs of doubts on matters electoral. Talk-show Commentators like Mr Priyobarta, Mr Bashanta Sharma, Mr Nurul Hassan etc gave their respective parties a shot in the arm with their verbal gymnastics in public debate.

Among the winning Candidates, Mr Sapam Nishikanta Singh's 'hatke' campaign promises were like breeze ruffling a pond to the hearers. Well-schooled and cultured, the Media-honcho is poised to be the game-changer in State politics.

Calm and cool, Mr RK Imo of Sagolband AC, also gels well with the imaginative aspirations of his subject. Light moments too were there. In a big BJP meeting in Heingang AC, there was a disturbing noise in the sound system. The Conducter asked the sound man to check it out and fix it. There in YouTube live streaming, a smart U-tuber commented, 'Hendak ti sound mathak ta NIA panba soidre!" Lol!