By Bobo Khuraijam
Transitory displacement from the town has deprived us from having a regular musing. The following month of June also cast a hectic bustle somewhere near the range ofSahyadri hills, popularly known as the Western Ghats in Indian geographical idiom. A month long activity is scheduled over there. No, we are not going to have any kind of tracking in the hills. We are going to be lodged at some institute. Some people are going to speak. Some sixty of us are going to listen. Two films a day along with the breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea break. That’s theregular diet to swallow for a month. Therefore Leipung will be displaced for another month. We will not, however, fail to share our adventure in the coming days.
GESTURE SWEET: A few days back some people from the department of water supply created history. They had announced over the radio and other mass medium that they would not be able to supply water to a specific area. Water level at the Singda Dam has gone down…no, there is no water at all, they said. They regret for the inconvenience caused to the people. True, there is paucity of water. The reason is many. No enough rainfall would be the natural explanation. Further, they had requested that we should use water sensibly during the lean season:A very sensible piece of advice from the watermen. Well, for the record, we would like to share some dry facts with the department. There is a tap standing lonely at the enkhol. For more than thirty years it has been with us. Every morning the tap would gush out water with gusto-white bubbles. It would not only fill up the bucket and the Sanabuns, but it would also reach out to the overhead tank without any hitch. That was all without using any electronic pump sets. Watery nostalgia almost flooded us recalling those days. Not to mention that the tap has been standing without a single drop of water till this day. Again, needless to remind that we have been buying water from private distributors. We do not want to exercise a diagnostic or a curative show of reason of ‘why’ and ‘how’, and ‘what should be done’ on the malaise. That is for some bright mind; equipped with thousand megawatts of information and a degree worth pasting a photograph on the newspaper,to handle it better. We on the other hand are moved by the gesture of the department. We have been starved of such gesture, like the tap starves for water. Surrounded by all kinds of trouble, we have never been informed so politely that we are going to face another trouble. The All India Radio people do it when there is a power cut during a program. The Newspapers does it when there is any error in the reporting. We would say that is just a mandatory exercise, an inherent burden of a media house, and overall a professional leitmotif. But as far as the watermen are concern, we are not sure whether they undergo any PR (Public Relation) skill development during their training.Their announcement of disturbance in the supply (never mind about zero supply) ‘consumer singna waroudanaba ningsingjari’, is sweeter than honey. Though, summer it is, we would like to give a warm hug to the individual who had thought over the point of executing that announcement. Like a well-mannered stoic, we shall endure to buy water from the private distributors.
IN ACTION: Scratching our imagination a little more than the median has been our die-hard habit. What if most of the government department started giving the regret announcement? Take the electricity department for instance. ‘We regret that there will be power cut at any time without informing the consumers. We cannot inform because we ourselves are also not informed. Please use power properly for your safety’. The telephone department: ‘we regret to inform you that we are going to dug up any part of the road at any time. We know that the earlier hole we dug up has not been filled up. The public health engineering department will fill it up. They have some work left to do with the hole’. The medical department: ‘we regret that we are not able to listen to the general patients with patience as we have to rush off to private clinics every hour. Please attend the medical camps which take place in far off areas. Your presence is important for the news photo-shoot. The Home Department: ‘we regret that we are going to unprotect so many lives because we have the rarest of the rare impunity on earth. There can be encounter any time. And remember: we build palatial homes as the name of the department suggest. The public distribution department: ‘we regret to inform you that we are not going to distribute to the people personally. All items are to be distributed through the Gala maal shops found anywhere. Please pay and buy. We hope you will buy more when sleek shopping mall comes up in the ghettos. Labour and Employment department: ‘we regret that we are not going to give employment to anyone. Those who are unemployed stop reading employment news and find a job for your selves. Either join networking or print some letterheads along with some Chinese hand grenades.
FOOTNOTE: a gigantic earth mover, larger than the usual size had stopped near the ShamuMakhong. KeithelEmas on their return home after day’s business exchanged words that Mr. Ibobi is going to shift Bheigachandraand Elephant to Thoubal; that each one should come down to street to protest against it the following day.LeipungNingthoucalls it, “Shakti gisumaang da tok-nganakhousaaba”.
