Bishnupriya Manipuri Online

Rebati Mohan Sinha The problem today with the Mahasabha is that its administration has become divorced from the mechanism of power. When the power comes from a clearly identified source and when its continuance is depended on how well it serves the interest of those that elected him, there is always a need for the ‘powerful’ to keep the interest of their people in mind. What makes it particularly interesting is that the problems have come not from outside; but from within the NBMM. It is clear that something fundamental has gone wrong, which makes the administration incapable of dealing with complex issues meaningfully, like what that happened recently in Singari near Silchar. Quite often, it has been pointed by senior members of the Mahasabha that the design flaw in the model of governance used by the President — the separation of power between him and the office bearers—coming to the fore playing itself out. He lacks authority without which he has no control over his...

Debasish Sinha Lohagarh Fort Lohagarh, which literally means the ‘Iron Fort’, was extensively used by the great Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji and is located at an altitude of more than 1,050 metres on the Sahyadri ranges which divide the Pavna basin and the Indrayani basin. Lohagarh Fort was one of my dream destinations owing to its historical importance and ancient architecture, as well as the scenic beauty surrounding the fort. The fort attracts most tourists during the monsoon season, with a lot of greenery and a variety of flowers, waterfalls in full flow and the clear rocky trail – making it a paradise which provides a lot of activities for the trekkers. The long, stretching plateaus are fascinating to watch. The main characteristic of Lohagarh is the strong fortification built on a large plateau. The fort’s four mammoth gates are still intact and in good condition. A panoramic view of the Pavana Dam can be seen from the fort. Food is not easily available on the route and ...

Post Bureau Guwahati, Jan 29 In order to develop Bishnupriya Manipuri language, literature and culture through literary and cultural exchanges, the Bishnupriya Manipuri Writers’ Forum (BMWF) is going to hold an international Bishnupriya Manipuri literary and cultural festival on February 18 and 19 this year in Guwahati. The festival, to be organised in the district library auditorium in Guwahati, will be participated by litterateurs and cultural troupes from Bangladesh, Tripura and Manipur, besides Assam. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Sunday, BMWF president Dils Lakshmindra Sinha said that, besides other programmes, the cultural troupe from Bangladesh to be headed by Subashis Samir would stage two Bishnupriya Manipuri dramas — Kohe Birangana, based on Michael Madhusudan Dutta’s Birangana Kabya , and Debatar Gras of RN Tagore. Dils Sinha further said that the festival would have diverse discussions and seminars on language, literature and culture on both the days whe...

On inviting Rebati Mohan Sinha in its General Body Meeting Recently in a meeting held at Silchar, the Mandir Parichalan Samiti’s president and the secretary, Sri Shyam Sundar Sinha and Sri Krishna Charan Sinha respectively, raised an objection of inviting Mr. Rebati Mohan Sinha from Mumbai to attend the forthcoming General Body Meeting, to be held on 12th/13th March 2012 at Silchar, because they are casting a doubt on him being a virtual writer of this article (below) (the article was published in Bishnupriya Manipuri language in ‘ Kaakei ’, ‘ Nuadristi ’, and ‘ Nuwa Ela ’). These two office bearers have overruled the decision taken by the Silchar Anchalik Committee vis-à-vis inviting of Sri Rebati Mohan Sinha. Let readers decide on the action taken by these office bearers. ----------------- It is learnt that the Working Committee President Sri Shyam Sundar Sinha and the Organizational Secretary Dilip Sinha have just gone back from Guwahati after collection of fund for the constructi...

Obituary Centenarian Malini Devi, mother of Bhimsen Sinha passed away on 25 January 2012. With her we lost a living history of Bishnupriya Manipuri. She was the only woman speaker who spoke and sang in the founding session of Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha NBMM at Gokila Protapgarh in 1932.

Rebati Mohan Sinha In reference to BN Sinha's article " Adding Fuel to Fire ". The first step of a fire fighting operation is a reconnaissance to search for the origin of the fire. A fire can be extinguished by taking away any of the three components—heat, fuel or air. If life is a journey, and the human being is the vehicle, then the best fuel for a successful completion of this journey is love. When we substitute some other emotion and make it our central core, our fuel, the vehicle obviously cannot perform as it should be. The journey would no longer smooth, but jumpy, noisy, bouncy, uncomfortable, and prone to frequent breakdowns, and constantly needing other’s help to set it right. Every human being is a source of this fuel called love. We are capable of producing love 24 hrs a day, endlessly. Love is our natural state. Love works slowly as compared to its opposite emotion, namely fear and hate. If you want to get a group of people together for a c...

by Asmita Sinha Happy Republic Day T oday we are celebrating the spirit of Sovereign and Independent India. Every year we celebrate it on Republic Day but the present scenario in the Northeastern states gives a setback. The growing gap between the people of neighbouring states of the region is creating more alienation weakening the true fabric of India. The creation of states was to fulfill the aspirations of different ethnic groups of the region but the first casualty has been the resultant gaping between the hearts. The political set-ups in the region, in the form of states, are seemed to institutionalize this gap and failed to create an understanding, a feeling of welfare and strengthen the affinity. However, there has always been a considerate gap on the line of ethnicity and geography, which had  been accepted with a mark of respect and tolerance but there was no distance among hearts. This gap has now become a social and psychological distance and gradually taking a c...

At a time of rampant political conflicts, the need is for sensitive writing that brings the seven sisters closer together. Ramlal Sinha reads the writing on the wall. THE landlocked seven sisters – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura – have a shared history, but it is a history that has seen more of conflicts, less of sisterhood. The ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity of the region is not as much of a problem as its territorial disputes are. Creation of the northeastern states without their boundaries properly demarcated – a politically expeditious action by the powers that be – is a major reason behind the growing emotional divide and strained relations between them. This issue has been keenly pursued by some writers transcending geographical, or rather, man-made barriers. Litterateur Hiren Gohain At a recent workshop on translation held in Guwahati, renowned litterateur Hiren Gohain had said: ...

Personal Jottings RK Rishikesh Sinha Never in his wildest dream, Bijay Sinha anticipated that one day the genie from one of his literary work would haunt him bitterly. Ever since Bijay Sinha’s literary work has been criticised by a section of people in Guwahati, my inquisitiveness to read the piece has increased manifold, thanks to the controversy. However, something is failing me to digest the whole controversy and boycott. First, is the time period. It took 6 years to generate the reaction, and that is from a public literary work! Definitely, the work was not scientific; it was a literary fictional piece as quoted by the author. Adding to it, the repercussion was not based on ‘interpretation’ that is the author has written ‘something’, and the section of people found out ‘something else’. It was a purely a fictional piece, yet it took 6 years of interpretation! Second, is the short-sightedness of the ‘concerned people’. They have failed to gauge the effect on the Bishnupriya Man...

Rebati Mohan Sinha Makar Sankranti is one of the most auspicious occasion, the Hindus celebrate in almost all over the country with great zeal and enthusiasm. It is known as a harvest festival. Generally, Makar Sankranati always falls on January 14 every year. In Punjab, it is known as Lohri, the festival of bonfire; in Tamil Nadu it is time for three day Pongal celebration; in Gujarat it is known as Uttarayan and it is synonymous with kite flying while in Maharashtra and a part of Karnataka it is known as Sankranti where there is a custom of exchanging tilgul ladoos, and greeting with the words “tilgul gaya ani god god bola”, the meaning “speak sweetly just as this sweet”. In Assam, it is known as Bhogali Bihu. Assamese celebrate the festival with great devotion, fervour and gaiety. We, the Bishnupriya Manipuri celebrate as Tila-Sankranti with Tilua (sugar candy) and home-made Utong chak , made with bironor choul , prepared in a bamboo piece of thin wall thickness. The festival ...

BN Sinha I wish to extend many thanks to Mr B P sinha for such an unbiased piece of depiction of the history  (Read History Repeats Itself ). Few points to applaud which are more than truth, that division is in our DNA and jealousy is an integral inherited character for the people of this community. Sometime I wonder , in a poorest of poor community like ours where we are still struggling for our identity and existence when rest of the world is fearing an extinction of human civilisation.. why are we still love to be engrossed with cheap and malicious activities?.. why can’t we digest neighbours success? If we introspect, I am sure we will find hell lot of malign particles in the DNA of every individual of this community. I wonder, is it because of the rotten black shit like material we are dying to consume every day meal .. I know, I am sounding something very erratic but I assume traditionally our human character are like those we are practiced to eat as favorites like Long...

Rebati Mohan Sinha Dalai Lama Dalai Lama once said, “Take care of your thoughts because they become words, take care of your words because they will become actions, take care of actions because they will become habits. Take care of habits because they will form your destiny and your destiny will be your life and there is no religion higher than the truth.” We can learn lot of things from it. Let us take a quick review of sequence of events that had taken place, culminating to disintegration of the society. No matter what all these moves will take us to; but it will not be too far. Close on the heels of the reports appeared so far in newspapers and, if talks in the various meetings suggest, I see a day not far from now when people will have no faith in any leadership. At the moment, society needs a leader who works most effectively. At the moment the challenge of a leadership is to be a strong, but not rude, be kind, but not weak, be bold but not bully, be thoughtful, but not laz...

BP Sinha We are following the footprints of our beloved forefathers. If we go through the history of the community we will be able to find out the reasons for the present scenario of the community. Briefly, I would like to remind certain real incidents of our community, the reasons for which we failed to be united till today. Since late 1970, the community was leaded by two giant leaders of the community: Late Jagat Mohon Sinha and Late Nanda Kishore Sinha. After the 31st Session of Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Mahasabha (NBMM), 1977, these groups were formally divided, while one group was conducting the 32nd Session of NBMM, while the other was holding 33rd Session of the NBMM. After a lot of struggle between the two groups, Court Case, Police Case, Samjhata Meet etc., from the year 1978 to 1984 these groups formally separated their platform for rendering services to the Bishnupriya Manipuri community. The group under the leadership of Late Jagat Mohon Sinha got the owne...

Rebati Mohan Sinha When the Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council (BMDC) came into existence, little did our community people realize, who were holding a motor bike procession from Kumbirgram Airport to Sadhu Thakur Sevashram, Tarapur, Silchar and followed by a felicitation, that it would turned into a turmoil in the community later? Now it is clearly visible that a division is imminent in the society due to newly formed committee of Mahasabha by the rival group with the help of BMDC. The basic ethos of Bishnupriya Manipuri community is harmony; but I would not question the right to speak or raise pertinent issue. We are cowards and prefer to just debate within the confines of our meeting only, but we never evaluate. Why do we talk about only language, radio, TV and language teacher’s enrolment issues? What about other issues like roti, kapda and makan ? At the moment, Bishnupriya Manipuri Development Council (BMDC) is not thinking of any development in the society excep...

Rebati Mohan Sinha Playing politics while doing social work is not a vehicle to be used for fulfilling one’s personal ambition. Nowadays, the inflated egos, baseless notions and over-rated views dominate the action of certain persons, especially so-called two maharathies of our Bishnupriya Manipuri society, accusing, rather pointing finger at each other, saying, “He has caused me untold and unbearable pain, agony and misery by continuous and unabated rudeness, disrespectful and insulting behavior towards me.” It is also important that we understand the politics of social responsibility can not be left to the whims and fancy of certain individuals. Experience has shown that people will do a lot for money; in contrast a good leader would do most for a belief. We see this, happening every day all over the world. Roosevelt once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.” Here, there is a story goes about an ancient Indian sage who was called ugly names by a passer...

It is with great pleasure we bring to you some ...of the brightest potentials in our (Bangladesh) cultural world. It is our ( The Daily Star ) way of introducing a “new” generation of news makers in the new year. In their own words they express their highlights of the year gone by and share their expectations from the fans. Jyoti Sinha, actor, Manipuri Theatre I had spent last year mostly performing in my troupe's monodrama, “Kohe Birangana”. The show has been staged 27 times since its debut in December, 2010. The play has been staged in different districts including Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Habiganj. With the government grant, my troupe has produced a Tagore play, “Debotar Grash”. The play premiered on December 29 last year in Dhaka. I had to spend a significant period of time for the rehearsal of the play, where I have been enacting an important role. The play is in Bishnupriya Manipuri language. Our troupe celebrated its 15th anniversary last year. We produced a collage...

Manipuri Theatre staged its newest production, Rabindranath Tagore's “Debotar Grash”, on December 29 at the Studio Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. After seven shows at the troupe's local area in Kamolganj, Maulvibazar, this was the Dhaka premiere of the play. The play premiered in Kamolganj on June 13 last year. The play received a grant from the government along with other selected troupes to produce Tagore play on his 150th birth anniversary. The experimental work, based-on Tagore poem with the same title, has been both adapted and directed by Shuvashis Sinha. The performance was mainly choral. Individual dialogues were often overtaken by the choral renditions. The story depicts the epic voyage of a group of people who face a tempest during their return home after attending a ritualistic festival. Among the travellers is a priest who is caught in a dilemma between religion and humanity even as he tries to determine the cause of the tempest. Sinha adapted the ...

In memory of Late Sukhojyoti Sinha RK Rishikesh Sinha This article is in the memory of Late Sukhojyoti Sinha whom I met last year at her residence. Little conversation that I had with her ended with one question from her : how a business could be started without capital. I am failing to remember how in a short meeting this question came into our conversation.  --------- It is aptly said: “Entrepreneurship to a man is quite close to what pregnancy and child birth is to a woman”. When to be independent? There is no age to be independent. Some starts early without any work experience. While some begins after working few years; however to pin-point the perfect age when to be independent is a tough question to answer. I believe, age doesn’t become a factor, more than that it is the confidence of the entrepreneur that counts. The day an entrepreneur gets an inner call and a mountain-like confidence, the journey of entrepreneurship begins. Why entrepreneurship? # Independence: ...

From our Special Correspondent Silchar, January 2: Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Students’ Union (NBMSU), Bishnupriya Manipuri Ganasangram Parishad (BMGP) and Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Women’s Organization (NBMWO), in a joint memorandum to the education minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, submitted through the deputy commissioner of Cachar, today have raised certain specific demands related to the academic needs of students of the community and pressed for their immediate redressal, considering their scholastic interests. Bishnupriya Manipuri language was introduced at the primary stage of education in 1999, but till now, books for upper primary, M E sections, have not been prepared. Since the introduction of the language, it should have been introduced at the M E school level also. Unfortunately, no steps have been taken by the government in this regard. Further, all languages are included as Modern Indian Language (MIL) in the SEBA syllabus, but Bishnupriya Manipuri language...

Ramlal Sinha Guwahati, Jan 1 Bangladesh, has vowed to boost the cultural and literary ties between the Bishnupriya Manipuris of India and Bangladesh. Samarjit Singha, vice-president of the Manipuri Samaj Kalyan Samiti, the social activist from the neighbouring country said this while addressing a meeting of the Bishnupriya Manipuri Writers’ Forum (BMWF), Guwahati. The forum felicitated him at a meeting held with Forum President Dils Lakshmindra Sinha in the chair at Rehabari on Sunday. Addressing the gathering, Singha said: “The Bishnupriya Manipuris of India and Bangladesh should boost the literature and culture of the community from their respective countries. I appeal to the Bishnupriya Manipuris in India, especially of Assam and Tripura, to play the role of big brother for the development of the community.” “In this respect, the people of Bangladesh, particularly those belonging to the Bishnupriya Manipuris, will extend full cooperatio...

RK Rishikesh Sinha Happy New Year 2012 Greetings Happy New Year to all dear members and readers from Bishnupriya Manipui Online. I hope 2012 brings happiness and prosperity in your life. In its sixth year in the web world, I would like to begin an innovation which has always been a strong wish since the day the blog came into existence that one day the blog would pay an Honorarium to guest writers and contributors for their effort and time. Fulfilling this wish, in a mark of respect to their creative effort, Bishnupriya Manipuri Online has decided to pay an honorarium of Rs 2000, Rs 1000 and Rs 500 per year to three top upcoming guest writers/contributors. Here is a cursory glance to the eligibility: A guest writer/contributor has to contribute 15 articles in a year; it could be in any niche. The articles should be in English. This is a just a beginning to appreciate and encourage the creativity. Best regards

Rebati Mohan Sinha Late Sukhajyoti was such a kind person, who will be greatly missed by our Bishnupriya Manipuri community. I will personally miss her helpful advice on social work. Death is a tragic time for the surviving family members and friends and offering the right words of comfort can go a long way to helping them heal. I know, how much grief a mother’s death causes. They have lost their mother and that void can never be filled. An era will end along with the year this auspicious December 25 (Christmas)when the much loved and revered family bids farewell to Sukhajyoti, on her last rite(Shradda), marked by exceptional leadership and social work. That is the legacy of the 86-year- old social worker, whom many might remember as the familiar figure walking through the crowd in her usual habit. In this year, age had forced her to be away from public life but her aura had not dimmed. She retired as State Social Education Officer and ever after she had been a source of inspirati...

In reference to the article “ A writer’s dilemma ”   Rebati Mohan Sinha Can a handful of disgruntled group of misguided youths take the entire people seated in Sri Sri Radha Madhav Mandir, Maligaon, Guwahati, to ransom? Who were they to take the law in their own hands vis-à-vis leaving the venue (Malthep) of their own, forgetting their social responsibilities, disrupting the entire ritual on the baseless pretext? At the same time, what were invitees doing there at the venue? Have they ever tried to defuse the situation by stopping those henchmen distributing the leaflets and forcing people to leave the venue? Nay! Never. The entire drama was a camouflaged and pre-planned episode orchestrated by a wicked mind to humiliate the author of the book, in general public, who is, in fact, thought to be his rival, a retired colonel from Army, equivalent to a first class District Magistrate (DMO). Although the explosion took place at the foothill of Kamakhya, namely the Maligaon malth...