To be in love is to lose the sense of boundary that marks the self. It seeks to dissolve oneself by fusing the self in oneness with the "lover". That is why romance and devotion to God or one's country are often compared to a state of madness. But this madness evokes a world of happiness, if not bliss and ecstasy.

A person madly in love with his or her lover or a passionate patriot or an ardent believer of God knows it. Their thoughts, emotions, suspended sense of time, the ethereal passion - say it all. But perhaps nothing expresses such a world of love, be it romance or devotion, better than a melodious voice that marries powerful lyrics. And Manipuris know this as they have Nongmaithem Pahari.


Pahari, the beloved son of Ching-lei-pak-ki Ima Manipur

Who amongst us will ever forget the imageries, the finer nuances of emotion, of romance in his
Ning-shing-lee M-e-ra-gee tha-baldo/
Thabal-na chamthok-laba mai-thong-d-o/
Ee-kai Nung-shi yan-nana.
Nang-na ee-nak-la lep-khee-ba...?
Or, the patriotic passion of
Khom-lang Laman, Shing-ngamloi Nang-gee/
Minushi Chaobi, hey Ima... Chinglei-pakkee Ima Manipur...?

A forlorn soul, far away from home in an alien land, pleading the night bird to stop reminding him of his love in
Aahing-da khong-hee ho tamna /
Tamna tamna nang-na khong-laga /
Ning-shing-lak-ee-ne tamkhra-hee maabu...
or the dead lover seeking solace in his grave, imploring his lover to cease the sounds of her bangles in
Nang-na lei-nee eina mei-nee.

Pahari, the beloved son of Chinglei-pak-kee Ima Manipur, has given us some of "our sweetest songs... that tell of saddest thought". But courage and hope are not lost in dejection and surrender.

For, as much as he stands up against the allurement and arrogance of a romance in
Nang-gee naa-pal-gee, thou-ra-ha ting-khang-na /
Kan-thhallatlam-la-ba ei-gee tha-moi-da/
Ka-ri-gee leplaree nou-hou-na aamook,
he also pleads and inspires hope for a new awakening in
Mallaba leikol-gee khui-raba leirang...

Nongmaithem Pahari is no ordinary soul; he is a testimony of a moment, an era in the life of his community. He has been a crucial marker of an era, the transformation brought about by the second generation of Manipuris during the last century.

Pahari, a name that seems to assert an identity against a formality that marks his (official) name, Chittaranjan, epitomizes the second wave in the evolution of popular modern Manipuri songs that followed the generation represented by maestros like Ngangbam Nimai.

And he has also been a crucial part of the political particularly the nationalist — awakening in the 1960s that followed the first generation of twentieth century Manipuris who were perceptibly, if not deeply, implicated in the nationalist awakening of South Asians during the colonial period.

Just as his songs have captivated generations of Manipuris during the last five decades, expressing a whole gamut of their emotions and thoughts, he too leaves behind a testimony of the discovery of a particular text of identity in Manipur under a peculiar "post-colonial" context in the 1960s.

Thus, he writes in his memoirs,
Ei-gee Daiary da gee:
Mapan-da leiraha matam-da Manipur Ima-gee aasheng-ba mashak aado khanglak-Ie.
Mapan-gee mee-shing-na aeikhoi-bu mashak khang-beeda-ba.
Manipur kadai-da lei hai-ha khang-da-ba aekhoi-bu yaam-na hantha-na lou-ba puum-namak aasee khang-Iak-Ie.

[We began to know the real identity of Mother Manipur after we had been staying outside (the state). That the outsiders (people outside Manipur) do not know "us" (our identity), that they do not even know where Manipur is, and their contemptuous outlook towards us - all these we came to know"]

The moment of coming to awareness of a self through a simultaneous awareness of its own "invisibility" in the eyes of the others, and an associated humiliating experience with those others was not a strange experience for the people in South Asia during the colonial period.

But ironically, Pahari seems to have made a similar discovery during the "post-colonial", that too, right at the heartland of Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan, Lucknow where he was learning, tellingly, Hindustani music! The irony of that discovery not only has shaped the political consciousness of Manipuris but also haunted post-colonial South Asia till date.

Nongmaithem Pahari is God's gift to Manipur, to give her children a taste of what music is and what can it do for them. But he is a reality that goes beyond Manipur; I remember my friends and students at Delhi, who have never heard of him, listening to his songs and being captivated by his sheer melody and the emotions that come with it, all without following the meaning of the lyrics. He is truly a testimony of the universal that expresses itself in the local.

The mortal being in him confronts that universal spirit which knows no political boundary or divide in his
Ei-dee ee-shei shak-laroi khal-lui ya-de/
loiba naide, leppa liete eishei.

Manipuris are amongst the fortunate lots for they have Pahari. His mortal being might have left us but Pahari, the beloved son of his Ima Manipur and an epitome of an historical era, lives on...

But Pabung I shall live with a regret for the rest of my life, for the interview that you had agreed to but didn't happen... for the missed opportunity to ask about your music... your films... your youth... your friends and more... to listen to what you said you wanted to tell me... for I know you do not simply carry a story of an individual but that of a collectivity....