Radio ga ga

You are here: Home » reviews » Website Review

E-Pao! Essay - Radio ga ga

Radio ga ga

By: Ringo Pebam *

All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
Radio, someone still loves you!

I'd sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio
Radio

You gave them all those old time stars
Through wars of worlds -- invaded by Mars
You made 'em laugh -- you made 'em cry
You made us feel like we could fly
You've yet to have your finest hour
Radio

That is Queen's "Radio ga ga", a song that used to come cracking on the speakers of your AM radio service in Manipur in the evenings of the 1980's.

You were too small to afford to buy music cassettes, and waited for songs of Beatles, CCR, Kenny Rogers, Eagles, Scorpions… to come on “Western Music”, which used to be followed by “Fauj gi Thouram” - something like MTV’s ‘Most wanted’ or ‘By Demand’ of Channel V, where soldiers get a chance to make their favorite Kishore Kumar’s and Mohammand Rafi’s songs go in the air.

”Tabiningba Essei” at nights graced by the likes of Pahari and Aheibam Shyam. “Angang-gi Thouram” on sunday mornings. Dramas and leelas like “Urirei Madhabi” on sunday afternoons. Songs of different communities like Thangkul essei, Khunung esei, Kongjom praba and other…. could be heard on the radio.

These days, your neighbours listen loud to the Kannada and Tamil News on the TV. Your Bengali friend drops by to your room, on weekends and switches the TV channel to a Bangla Channel. If you are lucky, you get to see Manipur on your TV screen.

You sms/call up your non-Manipuri friends and tell them to tune to NDTV and watch reports on Sharmila Irom, or to switch channel to CNNIBN’s ‘Minus 30’ and say, "That is Sadananda, Manipur’s Shah Rukh...”

People say, “E-pao was launched on 31st Dec 1999 and it has never looked back. Can you imagine life without E-pao today? Surely not!”

Very well said. News and information about Manipur is limited and end at the border lines of: E-pao, The Sangai Express, Imphal Free Press ... The cable lines of ISTV do not cross Manipur and we don’t have a Manipuri TV channel linked up through the satellite.

My friend Robindro RK, used to catch the amplitude modulated radio signals from Manipur some years ago when he was in Chennai. When he tries the same now here in Bangalore, he is not able to. His stories remind me of letters to “Mani-Mala” - from Manipuri soldiers posted at Kashmir, from Manipuris in Bangladesh, telling how good they feel to listen to “Taret makhai gi pao” from places so far away from home.

Last week in the mailing list of my school’s alumni, a senior of mine Kiran Konsam, posted a mail to check out a site. I did check that site, and that's one reason why I am sharing across this information.

It's been a long time since you heard words like - "Akash Pani Imphal, Houjik numidangi pung tarek makhai tare, Lal Gopal Sharam na Pao pajari.....”???

IT'S POSSIBLE NOW!!

Go to http://www.radiomanipur.com/ondemand/.

It’s the streaming of the recorded audio tracks of the 7:30 news one gets to hear on the radio at home. Radio Manipur updates the “7:30 news” everyday, *the very “7:30 news” on the very day*. You can listen to the old news as well; they have an archive of the old files.

A friend of mine told me that it is the work of Santosh Sougrakpam, a software engineer who is based in London. Kudos to Santosh, the guy behind "Radio Manipur". It must be a tough job to maintain it everyday. Wherever you are, please do know that you are doing a _great_ job.

I came across this article at the feature section of E-Pao by Shachi Gurumayum Sharma. I am quoting some lines from it, hoping the budding minds will bring about more revolutions and keep the spirit of Manipur alive.

Manipur is in the midst of a revolution. A revolution that, unbeknown to many, has already taken over the lives of many young lives of Manipur. It is a revolution driven by a desire for change, a desire to move forward and a desire to retain the love for one's place of birth. It is a revolution that has brought patriotism to where it should belong, in one's heart, mind and actions.

The hard work and patience of an entire generation has paid off. We are now connected, and we are empowered! And we have this generation of young and enterprising Manipuris to thank for, for not only connecting Manipur to the rest of the world but also for working on a multitude of good causes from all corners of the globe.

The generation of children born in the seventies has really made this happen and it is being driven now by the eighties generation.

We should really consider ourselves lucky and blessed to be where we are today, and pledge to help those who still need help. We also deserve a pat on our backs for what we have done. The hard work is not over and we have a long way to go...but the revolution has already started.

* Ringo Pebam, who is based in Bangalore, writes regularly to e-pao.net. He can be contacted at ringo_pebam(at)yahoo(dot)com. This article was webcasted on July 31st, 2007

* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.