Poets' Meet : Golden Jubilee Celebration All India Radio Station Imphal

Prof JC Sanasam *

Imphal, for that matter the whole of Manipur, has since long been reeling under all sorts of turmoil ranging from the communal-like ethos of the series of demands and bandh-blockade agitations by the NSCN (IM), UNC and their devoted acolyte organizations, the whip-lashes of extortions and spills-over of the underground activities of 35 to 40 odd revolutionary groups with their creeping tentacles reacing every nook and corner of Manipur, the gashing impacts of their respective pseudo-political dictates, the mayhem of crimes and murders thereof from both state actors and revolutionary coteries, sexual as well as physical assaults to women and children, the noisy reports of grenades and explosives found at the gates or periphery of houses or right inside houses in the neighborhoods, the relentless blame games; the list is long.

If I am asked to write a poem of the day, the befitting lines, I would score, would be as follows:

Politics the Battle of Tongue

You swallow 750 ml of Sekmai daily
and at the end of 6 months
you die of Cirrhosis of Liver
let your family condemn Sekmai natives.

You smoke three packs a day
for 40 years and die of lung cancer
let your family blame the tobacco company.

If you cut your finger off
while slicing your tomato
you blame the vegetable vendor.

Burnt foods are carcinogens,
chemical heads of cancer;
nobody blames Ngamu Leirou, Ukaabee Leirou,
nor do anybody Iroi Ayaiba over the open flame.

This is the kind of the pseudo-political or pseudo-intellectual or the current popular blame game going on everywhere all over the world. Sadly enough such kind of devil-art games spear headed by the NSCN (IM) and all other similar criminal organizations are easily visible more open in our land of Manipur.

However, real poets do not write such poems. Theirs is a calm, serene and tranquil world, sometimes passionate and intensely thoughtful, and occasionally provocative. An oasis in the desert!

In fact it has become kind of rare events to experience a purely blissful happening in this land of ours. On this count the Poets' Meet so genially organized by the All India Radio (AIR), Imphal Station as the first leg of their Golden Jubilee Celebration in collaboration with the Door Darshan Kendra, Imphal, held on the 27th December 2012 was indeed a soothing elation to the worn out minds of a good section of people.

The intensive but jovial faces of the Producers, Program Executives, and all members of the staff at the station including Shri Moirangthem Kanan Singh, the Director in-charge were really exuberant and invigorating. It was the first of its kind at the AIR, Imphal. In fact it was scheduled on the 21st or 22nd December; but the wild tempest of angry emotions that came with a torrid hurricane in the valley districts deterred it. However the station did not lose heart; they did it after 5 or six days of the lull.

Everybody at the station got busy and solicitous, walked with quick shuffles to materialize the program, and it happened. The poets were around 22 in number; there were people, old and young, deeply involved in Manipuri literature in the audience invited by the organizers. The not-so-spacious operational hall, adopted for the event, and the adjoining corridor was packed with people.

Kavi Ratna and National Sahitya Akademi Awardee Shri Laishram Samarendra did the opening poem followed by many other Awardees like Thangjam Ibopishak, Yumlembam Ibomcha, Naorem Birendrajit, Sanjenbam Bhanumati, R K Bhubansana, Saratchand Thiyam, Leishangthem Raghu, Borkeinya, Raghu of Yairipok, Yengkhom Bihari of Kakching, Jodha C Sanasam, Doneshwar Konsam and others. It was really a source of wisdom and kindly light in the darkness, a good conglomeration of good, literary, rational and intellectual people.

This write-up is not going into the critical analysis of the various poems delivered on that day. All the poets are imminent literary persons and scholars, each having a style and specialty of his or her own. It is only an appreciation of the occasion and also of the exclusive and quintessential idea of the AIR Program Executives.

The occasion gave such a feeling 'let wild things happen, but so long there is literature, there is no dearth of tranquility and peace in this world.'

We earnestly suggest to AIR and any other similar unit that more and more of such presentations be made on appropriate occasions in future too.