To Every Thought...

It's never easy to pen down thoughts at random. But having spent some time contemplating on whether to start a blog or not, it's time I joined the bandwagon. And so this 2007, I gift myself this space to tell it like it is. It's a little funny how the reluctance seems to play -- for what I pen down is going to be nothing fictional but a direct expression of my experiences, my thoughts, my travails. But I give in to 'this little madness in the spring'. Phew, that sounds a little heavy but I guess like all first-timers I am hell bent on creating an impression!!!

First, a little bit about myself. I come from India's northeast region, which has often been described as a "mishapen strip of land linked to the rest of the country by a narrow corridor just 20 km wide at its slimmest and referred to as the Chiken's Neck." But it is home to seven states and many insurgencies. For me, as for millions of others it is where I grew up. The lush green forests of pine, teak and mangrove, the snow clad mountains, the clusters of orchids, bougainvillaea that dot the country side, the rice fields, the culturally rich mix of people ranging from head hunters to city slickers -- none can fathom the beauty of it all.

Of the vivid memories, the images that endure are those of women carrying their infants on the backs with cloth tied up, the wiry farmers balancing bamboo poles across their shoulders with cane baskets carrying vegetables and fruits, and even tins of water, children playing with paper boats on puddles of water, and the best of rock concerts and fashion on the other side. Beneath all this lies a parody. A battle continues, of ideas and arms, new concepts and old tradition, of power, bitterness, affinity and identity. Read http://www.e-pao.net/epSubPageSelector.asp?src=Diary_of_an_unknown_Meitei&ch=leisure&sub1=EI