The Shadows of the Khaki and the Black Law

You are always there

In groups on sun-scorched roadsides,

On rain-beaten days too

And late at night when the city sleeps.

You point your guns at us menfolk.

But your eyes turn towards the womenfolk

And I know you prefer the younger lot.

I can’t help but ask you:

“Are we men too ugly for your eyes?”

Worry not, I never asked you to be gay.

Do look at us with your eyes for once

And not always with your guns, please;

Because guns don’t wink or smile at us!

Or you can teach them that too if you think 

you can.

One Meitei kavi¹ once wrote:

“In this present Manipur,

To be dressed in phanek only saves life.

What do you say, my friend peace keepers?

Let all the men wear phanek?!”²

I’m a student.

A teenager.

A hard working farmer.

An innocent citizen.

A father.

A son, a brother.

I’m a human just like you.

Or, if I may ask, are you not one?

I try to breathe and smile a bit

And I know it’s my right to live.

While you snuff out my life,

Tears are falling from the sky 

as if they would drown the valley.

My mother is still waiting for me

And my father is searching 

for bits of my clothing everywhere 

like a mad man.

You take me to dark alleys 

and you shoot me in the head

And throw over my dead body a gun 

I didn’t even buy.

Why do you love to make me 

your target practice?

Is the Government too poor 

to buy you some cardboard sheets to 

shoot at?

You could’ve asked before you shot me 

as I have so many in my

backyard.

Or, maybe, was it necessary for you to punish me 

for not committing any crime?

Yes, in Kangleipak, people must commit a crime to live 

or else, they would 

end up dead.

O gods and goddesses,

where have you gone?

Are you, too, afraid to live in this land

like me,

now that you have run away?

But I heard that you are bullet-proof and super powerful.

Or is everything a lie, a deception,

a betrayal, a joke?

Yet the shadow keeps on following me…

Maybe it is the only truth!

© Rajkumar Panthoiren

References:-

    1. The Meitei kavi is Thangjam Ibopishak.

        2. (the translated piece in quote) Jiten Nongthombam. The Mind of the Middle Class and Modern Manipur Literature in Post-colonial period. In the Rise of Middle Classes in Manipur, ed. Gangmumei Kamei, 2002. p. 162, New Delhi: Akansha Publishing House

THE BLACK LAW

Do you want to be shot at just because you look like an insurgent?

Do you want to be intimidated into silence just because the law doesn't allow you to fight back?

Do you want to fear going out of your house after 8 pm for a walk just because “they” are there?

Do you want your daughter, your sister or your mother to be robbed of their dignity just because “they” can do whatever they like and are immune to any legal action?

Do you want your innocent son to disappear without a trace in a night?

Do you want a stray bullet to hit you when you are merrily going to the bazaar to buy fish for a special occasion?

Do you want to be picked up by “them” when you’re working in the fields and subjected to third degree torture for reasons known to “them” only?

Do you want to be the unwilling scapegoats and face the bullets when “they” are attacked by some insurgents and are unable to apprehend them? 

Do you want to live every moment of your life fearing who might knock at your door?

Do you want to sacrifice all you have and not eat a morsel of food for 15 continuous years to fight against the black law, to awaken the numb minds?

Do you want all this?

Do you want the tears of separation?

Do you want the scars that last a lifetime?

Do you want to be haunted by unknown faces that are more like predators in the guise of protectors?

Brothers and sisters of this country, do you want all this?

© Rajkumar Panthoiren

 Postcard by Abhishek Majumdar

Whispers of a season

Winter days have come…

Still the mind is not yet numb;

Through the dark woods,

By the small stream that runs somewhere

My soul is searching and waiting…

I’m alone but not without something to sing for.

Hardly this flesh feels the fall of the snow flakes,

And hardly does it feel the cold;

But yes, I hear the church bells ring from far-off

And the song!

Mere words, oh how miserably they fail!

Only songs, yes, just songs the revelations of which

My soul yearns;

And when unveiled, the hand of the past towards me will turn

And play on with a lonely soul it feeds,

Sprinkling and scattering some more new seeds

When it heeds winter’s whispers,

Those silent whispers…

                                             

© Rajkumar Panthoiren

(22^nd October, 2012)

Punshi Maning Tamna Epom-Lki

Mikup amagi khudol oina

Nonglik na leimaida leiraklae

Cheklagi esheina naapa chikna nganglaklae

Kaokharo ngarang-gi awaba eshei

Konsilu mikup asibudi chetna nungcna

Luraba patkum ashagi efutni

Misna anida uriba

Tathakpa epom ni tanik tanik

Thaktorakpada pareng ngaaliba laija epak

Liklagi manigum ningthina

Korou magi matik ni

Ningshingbaduna manglansuni,

Ningshingbaduna taibangsuni,

Kaobasuni.

Thamoi da lothwdraba, tumin chirolna

Seirol oina seibanglaklae nwhwnana

Nungcraba sur da tpna nungcna

Chingmai thanna ninkhare, ninkhare maikei mari

Minok adutang di tamlmugaba

Mikup amagi khudol oina

Mikup asigi khudol oina.

© Rajkumar Panthoiren

“Many admire from a distance.
I just admire the distance.”

- rajkumar panthoiren

H. 3, 12 (Crimson Sky)

You see the still face in peace;

The body lying on the bed.

You wipe his hands and say a prayer

And you tell yourself, “I’ll remember you… ”

The wounded always find the wounded

The void just waiting to be filled,

The moments just needing to be framed,

And some words waiting to caress the soul.

Those deep blue eyes sparkled,

Reddened face and drops of tears,

Lonely park and the corner bench

Where someone sat beside,

And the evening that refused to fade

Under that sad crimson sky.

Pain knows pain, but who will carry your heart?

You may cry while I am there

But nothing changes, not even time.

I have only questions for your questions

And my hands to hold yours.

Some things you and I will never know.

Yet, the wounded always find the wounded.

It’s the only thing I’ll ever know.

© Rajkumar Panthoiren

Link to online publication: http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=reviews.poems.H_3_12_Crimson_Sky_By_Rajkumar_Panthoiren

"Tha tha thabungton" song translation

From the first Manipuri feature film ‘Matamgi Manipur’ (1972)

Music: Pabung Aribam Syam Sharma (film maker and composer)

Lyrics: Khuraijam Phulendra Singh

link to the song

This is a well-loved Manipuri lullaby cutting across generations with a folk element to it.

"Tha tha thabungton

Ngali chikna nongmadon

Thawan michak parengna

Uirum uirum yengliye

Tha tha thabungton

Lupa mafon leichilna

Tumning tumning taoriye

Haina humba malangna upal wapal sumkharey

Ahing naoshum tampakta

Taibng jeeba uitharey

Tha tha thabungton

Leichil sagol chingduna

Thabal dolai tongduna

Palem eshei taduna

Tumkhun talo apisak

Resam nongdol wangmada

Chtlo chtlo mangleibakta

Tha tha thabungton"

Loose translation (I have edited the original translation for clarity):

"O Moon, O Moon

Shining brightly in the sky in solitude

Rows of stars

Glancing sleepy-eyed

O Moon, O Moon..

The silver clouds

Floating drowsily

The balmy wind

Inducing the plants to sleep.

In the cradle of the night,

Humanity sleeps.

O Moon, O Moon..

Pulling the cloud horse

Riding the moon palanquin

Listening to mother’s song

Sleep, sleep, O little one!

Beyond the velvet sky,

Embark on dream land!

O Moon, O Moon..

© Rajkumar Panthoiren