Promotion of Tribal Culture: Three lives, one mission
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Satyajit Usham

Imphal, October 09 2011: HB Ruwngthung Anal comes from Lambung village in Chandel district, Sorinchon Zimik from Tongou village in Ukhrul district and Keishang Teon from Sandang Senba Maring village in Senapati district.

But all three of them today share a common mission: Promotion of tribal culture through theatre.

Until recently, none of them knew anything about theatre.

But exposure to a series of theatrical workshops organised by Khenjonglang, a centre for theatre research, production and community welfare, as part of the Extension Programme of National School of Drama, New Delhi, has fuelled their imagination over the possibility of the wonder that theatre could do for the promotion of their respective cultures.

''You see, in spite of its richness, Anal culture has remained known to many, specially among the youngsters.

But after participation in the workshop, I came to realise that much could be done to promote Anal culture through theatre'', 33-year old Ruwngthung said.

Echoing the same, 22-year old Sorinchon said, ''Richness of Tangkhul culture that everyone has been talking about is practically unknown to many youngsters including myself.

But after the experience of participating in a couple of workshops, I came to know, at least to some extent, what Tangkhul culture is and how rich it is'' .

For 22-year old Keishang Teon too, knowledge of culture was confined to taking part in cultural dances in festivals and social get-togethers, and the whole idea of acting in theatrical performances was something remotely connected to her every day living, not until the first NSD-sponsored theatre workshop, which was organised in her Sandang Senba Maring village last year.

After that, there has been no looking back, the acting bug has bitten her.

Similar workshop held at Tongou village in 2009 proved to be a real blessing for 22-year old Sorinchon Zimik.

Buoyed by the success of her performance in the production play of that workshop, Sorinchon resolutely decided to pursue acting as a profession and her hard work finally paid off with the Ministry of Culture, Government of India selecting her for the Young Artiste Scholarship this year.

Before getting the chance to participate in an ongoing theatre workshop of Khenjonglang at its Irilbung complex, Ruwngthung had no idea about theatre nor had seen any theatrical performance, though he had nurtured a secret desire to hog the limelight all along.

The closest 'theatrical' experience that he ever had was the roles acted out in some one-act plays or skits performed on the occasion of Teachers' Day at school/college.

Sharing the experiences of their theatrical journey so far, Sorinchon said, "Theatre is not just acting.

It is understanding oneself and inter-personal relationship with our immediate surrounding and beyond" .

Keishang Teon felt that she has become more creative, humane and fearless of speaking out her mind on issues dear to her heart.

As for Ruwngthung, exposure to the cultures of other communities has given him a new perspective in life and interaction with the like of 'down to earth' Sumant Kumar, an NSD faculty member has made him humble.

On their future plans, Ruwngthung, who is a graduate, said he would like to see a cultural institute coming up in Chandel district, where people from other tribal communities in the district could also come and learn the aesthetic values of their respective cultures.

For the class XII standard Sorinchon, her immediate target is to complete graduation and then get admission in NSD, so as 'to equip myself fully for the task of promoting my culture through theatre'.

Though aiming for the same, the task, however, is not going to be an easy one for Keishang Teon, who is in second year of graduation, considering the misconception centering around theatre as a possible career option among her folk, who she said 'look upon it as waste of time' .

"Before anything else, I need to convince my folk on the importance of the work I am doing, and for this I have to excel and be somebody first", Teon summed up her predicament.

On the significance of the workshops being conducted by Khenjonglang, its director Dr Thaninleima explained, ''When we talk about cultural activities in Manipur, it has been very Meetei-centric, and if we could fuse this with the rich cultural traditions of the various tribal communities, what a marvellous cultural synthesis it would be !'' .

''Promoting the cultural activities of all the communities in Manipur will help in providing a common cultural platform where ideas could be exchanged.

This will also ultimately help in dispelling mutual distrust and negative feelings among the communities'', the first lady NSD graduate not only from Manipur but also from the entire North East region observed.

But it has been a daunting task for Dr Thaninleima.

Because theatre in its true sense of the term is something alien to majority of the tribal population in Manipur.

Nonetheless, she is grateful that the interest shown by NSD through its Extension Programme would bring about a theatrical revolution in Manipur in which the tribal communities could also contribute their mite.

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