Bishnupriya Manipuri Online

In the Bishnupriya Manipuri dominated areas we fail to flex our muscles, in Delhi it is a different story altogether. By Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi In the recently held meeting of the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha in New Delhi, a clear and bold message came out that the Bishnupriya Manipuri people living in the capital are beacon of the society and they must be strong. Now, the million dollar question is, are they indeed the trailblazer of the whole community? If yes, are they strong enough to carry the expectation-burden of themselves and at the same time that of his kinsmen? The picture seems bit cloudy, if not crystal clear. It’s a fact that the Bishnupriya Manipuri people residing in the capital region, considered to be the largest populace in comparison to other metropolitan cities like Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai, have already decided their destiny, a destiny it is said changes with the change in the place. They have involuntarily accepted how their life would be dealt w...

By Rebati Mohan Sinha Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha pays its homage to this humble noble soul of Guru Devendra Sinha. To describe his life and time, and achievement is beyond the expression of words. He was a writer, philosopher and a poet, apart from being a Nrityacharya of Manipuri Dance. He came from a very poor family of Singari Basti near Silchar and could not complete his secondary education. Later on, he joined his elder brothers, named late Guru Bipin Singha, the founder of Manipuri Dance at Bombay and Surendra Sinha. He learnt Manipuri Dance from Manipur Nrityalaya and started his own troupe to perform in various places in Maharashtra and Gujrat. In the following years, he started teaching Manipuri Dance at various schools. Till his last breathe, he helped the house hold with marketing and cooking delicious dishes. With his principle `work is workshop` and hard work, he grew in rank and file and along with him took his entire team to a greater height. Being a perfecti...

Thoughts get vanishes with time, memories fails to recall all the pleasant moments we had. So, here is an attempt to catch the jaunt that I took and the intricacies involved. Sonika Rajkumari, New Delhi After a long hiatus, I went to Silchar with all my curiosity to meet my cousins and uncles who stay in the village, though I along with my parents were going to attend my Aiga’s after-death ritual. My visit to Silchar, I presume, was totally different from my previous round up, as earlier I had only been to Silchar from Guwahati, and before that from Srinagar. So from the day one we landed up in Delhi, the visit comes as my first experience of journey from Delhi to Silchar. Delhi to Silchar The journey from Delhi to Guwahati in train was OK. I spent the whole two-day journey either by seeing myself in a small mirror or by just sleeping. After two days of journey we got down at the Kamakhya Railway Station and headed towards our house at Borjhar. As soon as I got there, all my tiredness...

Any mode of communication is to express oneself, but this mode sometimes may create rift in the life of a budding relationship. Read By BN Sinha, New Delhi Who says that the 21st century urban Bishnupriya Manipuri coterie do not escalate the socio-cultural ethos of the community? Unfortunately, it is not correct to the perception the elderly Bishnupriya Manipuri s have about the educated modern Bishnupriya Manipuri  youths that they are culturally less inclined to the community norms and are lackadaisical to its values. A recent experience with one of my close Bishnupriya Manipuri  mate illustrates how sentimental and concerned the modern Bishnupriya Manipuri  youth are to their cultural identity and its uniqueness. It's an unpleasant fact that the urban educated Bishnupriya Manipuri  youths had to sweat hard in the barren land of marriage to find an ideal match in their own community. Lack of openness in communication is considered one reason. Though there is no dearth of suita...

By Rebati Mohan Sinha Before proceeding to part II of ‘ A hot sweet travelouge ’ I would like to go back to the puja-sthal of Shri Ganesh, the elephant headed God at Tarapur, Silchar from where my travelogue begun. Some one may think, why I am mentioning Shri Ganesh again and again. He is very much worshipped during Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra, Mumbai in particular for 10 days, and for that, Mumbai is called the land of Shri Ganesh, as Kashi, the land of Shiva. And Shri Ganesh is also worshipped a day before the Saraswati puja and it is rarely known to our Bishnupriya Manipuri community; but at Tarapur, Silchar, in my sister- in- law’s house it is celebrated every year on this day. Of course, the business men do worship Shri Ganesh on ‘ gaddi puja ’ day. On that day, due to late landing at Silchar, I could not offer ‘ anjoli ’ in the morning; but I could join in the remaining ritual like Aarties, night feast and Sankirtan. The Kirtan Mandoli started Sankirtan in time and continued...

In the General Body Meeting of the NCR Bishnupriya Manipuri Nagarik Samiti held at Madhu Vihar, Dwarka, New Delhi on 30 March, 2008, it was decided that the registration fee and the annual subscription fee which is payable half-yearly, will remain unchanged till the Samiti is registered. The responsibility of the registration of the Samiti has been assigned to Biswaji Sinha. The meeting held under the chairmanship of Haridas Sinha discussed the expenses and accounts of the Samiti. It was found that the Samiti has got contribution of the sum Rs 27,672 as on 31 December, 2007, expenses (Rs 18,120), cash in account (Rs 9552) and value of assets (Rs 6189). Prabin Sinha, Treasurer was asked to compile all data and prepare the consolidated statements with the Accounts Register. In the compilation of data, Janmajay Sinha and Chandra Mohan Sinha have been asked to handover all the details to Treasurer. The Samiti has taken the decision to maintain an Assets record. However, in the meet...

The 128th General Assembly of Shri Radha Madhavjieu Seva Puja Parichalan Kendriya Samiti was organized recently at Tinokhal, Patherkandi, district Karimganj, Assam,where suggestions were invited for building up of Malthep and a Yatri-Nivas in the mandir premises. As there were no representations from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, an open letter was initiated, on it’s behalf, by Shri Rebati M Sinha, Working President,NBMM, Central Committee, and was sent to the presiding officer of the General Assembly,with the following points. (1) If the building plan is not ready for execution, comments may please be invited with a time frame, so that a refined body-plan could be prepared on receipt of those comments, such as addition, alteration and modification. (2)A sanction should be obtained for commencement of work from the local authority, Radhakund. (3)The General Assembly should pass the budget and arrangement to be made to raise the fund accordingly. (4)Tender should be...

Rishikesh Sinha Close your delicate eyes for 15-seconds and contemplate who is watching the Bishnupriya Manipuri community with an eagle’s eye? Got it? Thanks to the Frontline magazine of India for enlightening us about an achievement most of us have been blissfully ignorant! When I read the article “A new wave of freedom” written by V. Sasi Kumar, I felt a feeling of pride and, at the same time, it took me a few days to forgive myself for the naivete about my kinsmen. People’s Trumph “As many as 254 languages of the world have at least one Wikipedia page. Indian languages are not well represented in Wikipedia. Telegu tops with 38,000 articles, followed by Bishnupriya Manipuri at 23,000, Bengali (17,000), Hindi (16,500), Marathi (16,000) and Tamil (13,000).” -- Frontline , May 12, 2008, Page 91 This achievement is collaborative; it is a win for the Bishnupriya Manipuri clan. It shows the people’s unfathomable effort, tenacity, indefatigable energy and unbounded love for the ‘Emar Thar...

Giving a succinct message to the whole Bishnupriya Manipuri community that in the struggle to materialize the longstanding demands of the community, the Bishnupriya Manipuri people living in the capital can’t be sidelined, the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha (NBMM) in its central committee meeting, declared names of the persons for its student wing, Sanskriti Parishad, Sahitya Parishad, and for its Delhi division, here in Delhi on 11 May 2008. The committee appointed Kajol Sinha as President, Dr Nirmalya Sinha, Shashi Kanta Sinha and Lakshi Kanta Sinha as Vice President, Chandra Mohan Sinha at the post of General Secretary, Paritosh Sinha and Brahmananda Sinha as Joint Secretary, in the newly reshuffled NBMM, Delhi Regional Committee. Henry Sinha and Manashi Sinha have been given the post of Assistant General Secretary, followed by Krishna Kanta Debabarma, Mohan Singh Chaudhury, Gautam Sinha, Rajkumar Rishikesh Sinha and Jhunu Sinha as members. Further more Haridas Sinha, Kajol S...

"Bishnupriya Manipuri Delhiites must be strong, the Bishnupriya Manipuri living in Delhi are the cream of the respective fields and they must guide the whole society" said Shri Jogendra Sinha, President, Sanskriti Parishad, in the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha meeting held at Bipin Chandra Pal Memorial hall, New Delhi on 11 May, 2008. He further added, for the accomplishment of all the efforts undertaken so far for the development of the community, people living in Delhi or in other places must be able to gain love and respect of the host culture and language; but at the same time should pay attention to the preservation of our mother tongue. Owing to his eloquent, flawless speech, audience had a very enthusiastic time and they all enjoyed. Shri Biswajeet Sinha in his extempore speech called for the upliftment of the status of education in the villages and also pressed on the formation of an economic wing under the umbrella of Mahasabha. He cited that the ‘ Emar Thar ...

The 73rd annual session of Manipuri Sahitya Parishad, Imphal held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy hall, took some resolutions including the disallowing of the use of the title Manipuri to Manipuri Bishnupriya or Bishnupriya Manipuri. Continue... Please SUBSCRIBE to the Bishnupriya Manipuri Blog.

It is a fact Delhites hate to step out on Sundays. However, Bishnupriya Manipuri living in Delhi and its adjoining areas stepped out on Sunday, at the time when the intensity of the scorching heat could roast anybody from inside. They showed their sizable presence in the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha meeting held at Bipin Chandra Pal Memorial Bhawan, CR Park, New Delhi. Audience comprises families residing in far away places like Shyam Vihar (Najafgarh), DLF City, Gurgaon, Sagar Pur, Pantpar Ganj, Dwarka, Mangla Puri, and of course from the nearby places to the venue: SJ Enclave, CR Park and Kalkaji, all were present in the meeting also. Here are the names of the people (dignitaries and Delhi Bishnupriya Manipuri residents) who attended the meeting at CR Park: Haridas Sinha Ranjit Sinha Kajal Sinha Nirmalya Sinha Mohan Singh Choudhury Rajkumar Harilal Sinha Bipin Sena Singh Lakhi Kanta Sinha Prabin Sinha Chandra Mohan Sinha Janmojoy Sinha Manilal Sinha Bishwajeet Sinha Bimal Si...

A 13-member delegation of the Mahasabha held a meeting with Bishnupriya Manipuri residents in Delhi at Manglapuri on 10 May 2008. In the meeting many important issues related with the community were discussed. The issue of unavailability of Brishnupriya Manipuri language books in Assam was broadly discussed and the various steps being taken for the introduction of the language in the radio and television programmes were also highlighted. The discussion also includes issues related to Other Backward Class (OBC) in Assam. The agenda for the grand meeting, which is going to take place on 11 May 2008, at Bipin Pal Memorial Trust Auditorium at Chittaranjan Park (CR Park), New Delhi was also discussed. The representatives present in the meeting requested all Bishnupriya Manipuri people living in Delhi and NCR to participate in the today’s grand meeting to make it successful. The programs will start from 4 p.m. High on Agenda The decisions being taken by the delegation after the discussion re...

The highest body of the Bishnupriya Manipuri community, the Mahasabha is going to meet in New Delhi on 8th May 2008. Brishnupriya Manipuri people residing all over India will be present in the meeting. Their accommodation will be done in Bipin Pal Memorial (BPM) campus at Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi. The programs scheduled in this meeting are as follows: Youth’s Meet, Venue - BPM hall on 9.5.2008 (Evening) Mahasabha's Organisational Discusion - 10.5.2008 Get together with Ministers and MPs - 11.5.2008 Press Meet - 12.5.2008 However, the programs are subjected to change. It is worth mentioning that in 2005, similar gathering took place in New Delhi. They sat in dharna in front of the Jantar Mantar to demand the inclusion of Bishnupriya Manipuri programs in television and radio centres at Silchar, Cachar, Assam. However, a battery of high level officials of Mahasabha was also present there in the city to fight the language case in Supreme Court, which was won later. Courtesy: Rebat...

Rebati Mohan Sinha Traveling is always a tiresome; but even then people perform it, as tourists, as pilgrims and professionals. Some are traveling on a compassionate ground to native place to fulfill their commitments, such as meeting of old parents, attending their family or social functions like marriages and birthday parties. My last journey to native place was not an exception. My outward journey commenced at Mumbai Airport with an invitation in hand to take part in a function where a Senior Cabinet Minister was to lay foundation stone for a Holi Cross School at Kabuganj, Cachar; but it was my bad luck as I could not reach the venue due to delayed flight. This ceremony would have been a memorable one for me to remember because the school is coming up on a controversial plot of land for which the Bishnupriya Manipuri people of Narsingpur Porgona (consisting of nine villages), are up in arms against the Holi Cross School, Silchar to set up its branch at Kabuganj and as a result they ...