With love from Namma Bengaluru !

Dr. Mona Nongmeikapam *

Lalbagh, Bangalore in December 2010 :: Pix - Bimal Th

We, the Manipuris are crazily in love with Bangalore, the IT hub. The old and the young, the aunties and the funkies.....all seem to have this thing for the Garden City. What they love about the city, however, varies from person to person.

Some people love the fact that the weather here is exactly the way it is at home. Then some love the laid-back pace of life, the unassuming ways of the people (contrasted to the fancy show-offs in other metros). My aunt, for instance, thinks their DASAKUSA (squash) and, for that matter, all other veggies taste exactly the same as they do back home.

The irony here is that everyone seems to be searching their own versions of home, their dear ol' Manipur in a land far away from home. Like one searches for reminders of their dear lost ones in unfamiliar faces! Why so, when we still have our own SANALEIBAK very much with us. Or is it still the dreamland that we all know of?

Well, the state does not bear any vague resemblance to the place we called 'motherland' while growing up. The roads were narrower, yet well-maintained and clean. And no, they do not have even the minutest semblance to the potholes-filled, dusty structures that has come to replace them. Life was simpler and trolled at a lazy pace.

Things were done out of good-will and 'faith' and 'promises' were not words you looked up in the dictionary yet! With the so-called modernisation, Manipur has been invaded by an alien devil called 'corruption' which has seeped into our systems and our lives, so deep that nothing moves without the flick of a note.

Power-cuts and load-sheddings are words we were introduced to quite late. We remember making phone calls to the electricity department as kids saying our lights are gone.

Just imagine their reaction if we made such a call today? And come to think about it, which sane person picks up a random phone call, anyway? Unknown phone calls are feared; fear reigns supreme in the minds of each citizen, fear of phone-calls, fear of unknown persons, fear of the unknown,................ Fear of fear!

Was flicking through the newspaper the other day and NAKRA costing Rs. 1500/- per kg caught my attention. Seriously???!! But of course, easily one of the most expensive places in the world to live in, what else do you expect from the GOLDEN LAND (Sana leibak)? So it was ironical to read as the headlines of the local dailies, "Manipur: the best place to live in".

But nag as you may, like a parent may to their beloved children or off-springs for a parent's bad habit, but home definitely is still where the heart is. The lakhs and lakhs of our state people grin and bear all the harsh days and torments and blows that come as a part and parcel for being a native, not because they are a glutton for sufferings or have a masochistic streak!

It is just that they love the place so much and there is no other place they'd rather be. The love probably makes every other detail seem so mundane and trivial that taking it all in their stride and moving on becomes so much easier. I salute thy perseverance!

And travel all over the world, why just Bengaluru, but come back home just once, the whiff of that dusty, cool breeze of the dear ol' state ......... and you can't stop falling in love with the place all over again! I love my state; I know you all do, in our own unique ways. So I plead to one and all, if not ahead, let's just go back to being the dear old state, like we always knew.

The place you are so protective about, it makes tears well up in your eyes every time you think about it, the place you'd choose over every place else............!! We don't crave for mordernisation, we don't want fancy malls, flashy lights or big bridges and towering buildings..................All we need is for all THE MAN-MADE UNNNATURAL CALAMITIES to just go away!

This festival, however, the state has been mercifully more peaceful, relatively. No major tragedies, or protests or blockades. With the crackling noises being only from the fire-crackers lit by little boys in the neighbourhood, it almost is reminiscent of good ol' yester-years when life was simpler and more peaceful.

So with all the incense sticks lit in the name of the Lord and all the goodies offered as a gesture of worship, I just add a little prayer that these normal, simple days come more often and we revert to our good old state!