Bishnupriya Manipuri Online

By RK Rishikesh Sinha Today Delhi (April 10) went to vote for the 7 Lok Sabha seats. And I am one among millions whose names have appeared first time in the electoral roll. Of course the day is important for me — it was my first voting experience.  Like anything ‘first’, it has its own sweet and sour ingredients to the whole story. Fail in Duty I got my Voter ID card in 2013 along with my father, mother, sister, and my youngest brother. But this time when I submitted an application online for my wife and my younger brother, they were not provided with Voter ID cards. Reason cited, according to the official website — address not found. The day when I got the call from the BLO about the application for my wife’s Voter ID card, I was outside. So, couldn’t meet the BLO. That’s fine. I thought let’s see the fate of my brother’s application. This time, neither any call nor any visit had been done. However, it met the same fate — address not found. So, two people of my...

By RK Rishikesh Sinha The whole country is reeling under AAP effect ever since the party grabbed seats and made their government in Delhi.  I personally never thought or has a slightest hint that the party will bring a renaissance in the political thought of the Indians.  I failed to read the writings on the walls of purani dilli. However, my wife was quick to sense the AAP tsunami! She not only forcefully persuaded me to become the member of the party. But she tortured me to download the nomination form and print the 10 page application form so that she can place her candidature. Alas! There was a point in the application, that 100 members of the constituency must sign and put their mobile number in the form to support the candidature. There she backtracked (I knew), it is Delhi, nobody know us. Our building people don’t know us. The rest is history. In a lighter note, nobody understands women, so is with politics. Those days were really painful. After all I hav...

Personal Jottings RK Rishikesh Sinha Since immemorial time, a woman has been the image of culture and custom of one’s society. She observes all the cultural societal norms. Subsequently, she has always been the subject of discussion, analysis, and study. Recent incidents related to women are not new but the upsurge of hue and cry does claims genuine concern for the lesser half from men too.    Notwithstanding, society has also been playing its role since the beginning of human civilization. But it could not be observed as negative, prejudiced or derogatory but certainly it has founded few conceptions, beliefs related to women, which have taken a drastic form now in this modern era.  A major component of discussion and debates about women are related to dress. It is through dress a woman speaks about the class, society that she belongs. And non-adherence of rules is subject to scrutiny on her. Here I recollect an incident while I was in school. One ...

Non-Fiction RK Rishikesh Sinha From the countless journeys that we undertake to travel from one place to another, some remains etched in our mind for various reasons — for being turned dangerous and fearsome, some becoming the theatre of human behaviour, and some just to brood over. View Larger Map One such travel that would have remained just a journey, in few hours of its beginning, turned dangerous. It was my journey from Kashmir to Jammu. The 300-Km long journey began early morning in the winter season from Panthachowk, a BSF transit camp in Kashmir. I was the only boy in the fully-occupied bus with officers sitting in the front and the rest seating according to rank. The bus was iron-fenced in the windows to thwart any attempt of grenade attacks by terrorist. On time, the bus started and it was accompanied with more buses and trucks and all left the gate. Like disciplined ants, all the vehicles were one after another and were on the wheels. As far as I coul...

By RK Rishikesh Sinha The Times of India , Delhi Edition, carried a very interesting news piece yesterday that Indian netizens remain online for over 8 hours a day! The news item prompted me to take a self-manthan of my online activities. To begin with, I delved into my last year browsing activity. I found in 2011, except from 2 a.m to 6 a.m, I was plugged to internet 24x7! In 24 hours, I spent 20 hours online daily, more than the report put : 8 hours a day! I have done the highest 1583 searches in June.  The news report also doled out another interesting figure that Indians spent 9.7 hours in social networking sites. My relation with social networking sites from Orkut days to the present Facebook and Google + era, is strictly limited. I find my initial interest on social sites fizzle out very soon after experimenting the new platform for few months. It happened with Orkut, and now with Facebook and Google +. Of the three, my relationship with Facebook does not go well. As a ...

Personal Jottings! RK Rishikesh Sinha Like many people, I also like winter season. With temperature 5 degree Celsius and cloudy weather here in Delhi, I felt like writing a ‘winter’ write-up. As my keyboard started writing words, I delve deep into the unforgettable memories of the past.  Good Morning Delhi My neighbours are saying it is “too cold”. Toeing their conversation, I also say, “Yeah! It is too cold.” I see in the tea stalls, people sipping hot tea seem to be merrier than they were in the Dilli ki garmi . People collecting dry wood, leaves, papers to make fire and sitting around it to make themselves warm is one of the common scene in every nook and corner. I also noticed that the always open doors of my neighbours are tightly closed this season. Wrapping myself in a woolen blanket, I am wishing to have hot-hot tea with some spicy hot pokoras. This Delhi cold has reminded me the days of bone-chilling, snow-capped winter season in Kashmir. Though here, I don't do...

Personal Jottings By RK Rishikesh Sinha Surprises come in many hues. While maintaining this blog for five years, I have encountered lot of astonishing surprises from the readers. Some readers take me as an old person. as a retired person. as a person having a wide network of contacts. as a person who knows each and every Bishnupriya Manipuri people. as a person who is an expert in the subaltern subject, the Bishnupriya Manipuri. with surprise that I am the person who maintains this blog!  And some, do not even want to acknowledge me as a person who does many invisible work behind this blog. All the above four points are wrong. I am not old and retired. Neither I am an all-know person nor I know each and every individual. About the fifth point, ‘Yes’ I would like to understand it. Besides this, I didn’t know that there was another surprise stored for me. How it was unfurled? Recently I got introduced to a boy who recently came from Guwahati to Delhi. As soon as he ...

Personal Jottings By RK Rishikesh Sinha It happens ominously. An art for which we gave our heart and soul, with the passage of time, especially when priorities take the shape in the ‘to do’ list, we start neglecting it. Ultimately a period comes, when we start taking the art for which we have strived so hard as a burden. It doesn’t find place in our day-to-day activities. I am from writing profession. The same was happening with me. I haven’t been writing vigorously like before. For months, writing didn’t find place in my priority list. I won’t say I didn’t find time; I was intentionally neglecting it by taking ruse with my other involvements. I must accept the fact that, “‘yes’, I devoted a period of my life to hone the writing skill”. Now, what happened that I am not actively participating in the writing? I would say priorities have changed. Now, my name ‘RK Rishikesh Sinha’ appearing in the print or in any media doesn’t excite me as it once used to. Before writing, the spade ...

Personal Jottings By RK Rishikesh Sinha Ramdhenu Assamese movie I wish to express my feelings associated with the Assamese movie Ramdhenu . Don’t get me wrong since writing on the movie it doesn’t mean to discourage cinemagoers to throng Gold Cinema. In contrast, it doesn’t mean a complete silence to be maintained; hitherto it is to bring the Assamese movie Ramdhenu and Assam film industry to a discussion. My close encounter with Assamese entertainment dates back to the year 1997 when I first landed in Guwahati. I was completely alien to the Assamese language; the fear that Assam (read Guwahati) is a terrorist-infested area, which was very natural coming from Kashmir, however soon withered away from my consciousness. Now after a decade when I don’t stay in the city, I feel those study days in Guwahati were indeed Ramdhenu days for me. Ten years down the memory lane, for me Ramdhenu was  Hiya Diya Niya , the much celebrated Assamese movie. We Hindi-speaking students foun...

Personal Jottings RK Rishikesh Sinha Resurgent Guwahati City Is it the same Guwahati that I left half-a-decade ago! I observe the slew of changes that the city has undergone. It is beyond one’s recognition. Once black and white looking city now looks lively and colourful, as it had gone below planners’ scalpel. My old memory, I found, was failing to grasp the new 21st century city. It has completely metamorphosed to a new one. Big colourful billboards greeted me, trying to get my attention and leaving an impression that there are lot of things to explore in the changed-city. Welcome! The roads which doggedly seemed to remain unchanged then, now gives an impressive overhaul: wide two-lane roads with flyovers in key areas have become the recent landmarks. The main entry points to Guwahati – Railway Station, inter-state bus terminus, and airport – all now wears a new look. Something that startled me with awe was the Lokhra Road, which once gave a barren look, now it buzzes with f...

By RK Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi Remember “Books on Demand” -- the online book selling service which was started here. The link “Books” used to hover at the header as well as at the bottom here. Good part of this service was that I fulfilled few of the orders that came from the regular readers and writers. I feel good that I availed books that were not available in their area. It's services were offered to length and breadth of the country from Kerala to Meghalaya. Ordered books were sent to possibly each and every state of India. Why I am writing about this service which is defunct? #1. Like any “first”, it was my ‘first’ foray into the arena of e-commerce. #2. If I don’t jot it down fast the experiences I had running this service, I fear, I will not be able to recollect and experience it later, in my later adventures. #3. I will miss its case study later, though micro was its scale and operation. What were the challenges? Books On Demand had hell lot of challenges – some i...

Shah Faesal (26), a doctor from Jammu and Kashmir, became the first Kashmiri to top the civil services exam this year. From Assam, four candidates were in the list of successful candidates who cleared the India's toughest exam. In one corner of my brain I was expecting a Bishnupriya Manipuri adding his or her name to the list of successful candidates. But to my utter dismay history 'of failure' has repeated itself. What are the reasons that we don't appear (lest come out with flying colour) in the IAS exam? # (1) Risk: Any candidate appearing in the IAS exam, his or her career is at risk. Somewhere in our deep bone marrow -- we shy away taking any type of probable risk. # (2) Babudom : We don't have a babudom (hierarchical) culture of prestige. For us everyone is same with respect to social yardstick. So No prestige, No IAS! An IAS and a clerk is same. # (3) Power: We are not at all power hungry. We are power praiser. # (4) Failure breeds failure: We have fai...

By RK Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi Today is Mother’s Day. With weeks of ‘continuously’ (don’t read ‘continually’, I mean it) working on a professional project (today happens to be the day of submission) my state is such that my brain has stopped working, my body has stopped taking up instructions from the central nervous system -- I am sitting and pushing myself (as if today is an Endurance Test Day) only to add a stuff here. Thanks to Prabal Atreya’s article on his mother, Ritwick Sinha’s poem , which has rejuvenated me, inspired me to sit and write ‘something’ about my mom. (I will not write more, reason – an article is nothing to describe about my mom’s sacrifice and labour). What Prabal and Ritwick’s words have done for me in giving me the boost, at this condition, I promise, million dollars wouldn’t have pushed me as much! My mom has always cherished a dream that her son should study in an English medium central school. That is the reason that I being born in a village didn’t a...

By Prabal Atreya, Bangalore I opened the newspaper and saw this loaded supplementary paper along with it. It seems the 9th of May is celebrated as the Mother's Day. I googled around, it took me to Greece as a practice, then to the American Civil War days, many individuals and groups involved US in commemorating a day for Mothers; the state of Michigan serving it for the first time, then officially at Virginia. And finally, US President Roosevelt approving at as a National Holiday. Was followed in parts of UK and Europe and spread across the world. Back to newspaper, I found columns on Moms, Super moms, doing extra-ordinary things in life, balancing acts done by them with multiple roles that they conduct in their respective everyday life. There's Kajol giving her ' motherly ' gyan, I like her. It also talked about the immortal story of ' Yashoda and her Nandalal ', Mr. A.R.Rehman dedicating his award to his mother at the Oscars. And so was Sandra Bullock at th...

By RK Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi image: eenar 6 I am neither a Kashmiri nor a tourist who is writing a travelogue on Kashmir. But my past relation with this land has prompted me to pen down my thoughts. The story goes back to those days when I was a teenager. I have spent good years of my schooldays in Kashmir from 1991 to 1996-97 which are my cherished memories even today. Living in a Kasmiri’s house and among few Kashmiri friends who didn’t flee after ‘terrorism’ started in the valley, developed my affinity for them. (For many Kashmiris, the word ‘terrorism’ might not go down their throat. For them, it is a ‘freedom movement’.) It’s been more than a decade my family left Kashmir. I wonder why there is a sudden urge in me to put down my thought on Kashmir, and that is after a decade. Understanding that writing on Kashmir will be one more addition on the machinery that is involved into the whole issue of Kashmir problem. I think Kashmir has not been portrayed from a teenager...

By Sonica Rajkumari  Since my childhood, I have been celebrating New Year at my home sitting in front of TV watching the New Year programs, or by wishing my friends New Year late night via SMS. But, this time I celebrated my new year differently, in a very special way that I had never thought of and never planned for it. I would never forget the night of 31st December 2009 and the first day of New Year i.e.1st January 2010. Last year we had NOSPLAN (National Organisation of Student of Planning) in the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi, in the month of Jan ’09. This time Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) Amritsar had hosted two-day NOSPLAN on 29 December 2009 and 1 January, 2010. On the night of 26 December, we boarded train at 2 a.m from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, station to Delhi after seeing the movie 3 Idiots at a cinema hall which made our tour more enjoyable. We reached on December 28 and on the same day we had a bus to Amritsar from Lal Quila, New ...

By RK Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi Students of Kendriya Vidyalayas, the largest system of Central government schools in India , which serve children of Defence Personnel, share something common in their experiences of school days. About the school:  A Central School or Kendriya Vidyalaya, has always a vibrant and invigorated environment with frequent transfer of students. The most distinct feature that characterizes a central school is its creating a mini-India in the school. KV Students are mostly the children of personnel under different armed forces posted out to different parts of India . They speak different mother tongues, born and brought up in different localities, defence campuses, and bring with them traits of all these specialties. A student who has studied in different Kendriya Vidyalayas located in different regions of India could hardly remember all the friends’ name who had once shared his bench, and classroom in his schooldays. It is often seen one-third ...