US Sojourn
US Sojourn
By Yumnam Rupachandra
On November 29, 2008, I landed at Washington Dulles International airport at Washington DC, the most powerful address in the world. It was about 6 weeks ahead of the new President of America Barack Obama taking over. The Capital city was abuzz with the transition activity as new teams learn the ropes as the old team under George Bush were preparing to hand over the reign of Worlds only super power.
This was my first visit to United States of America and I was part of a US State department sponsored program- International Visitors Leadership Program, in short IVLP. The US sponsors over 4500 people from across the world each year under this program. I was one of the fortunate seven to have made it to this program for the year 2008. With me there were three other from India and one each from Kazakhstan, Nepal and Afghanistan. Each IVLP is conducted under a theme and the common thread that bound seven of us were HIV and AIDS. Perhaps my works as journalist in the field of HIV and AIDS won me a place amongst the seven who all are experts in the field.
IVLP, I found out was one of the prestigious programs US government takes up on annual basis to help the Country-US shape a freer and more secure and prosperous world by promoting personal, professional and institutional ties between private citizens and organizations in USA and other around the world. All IVLP participants are familarised with the working concept of the world’s most successful democracy, its people, its history and its culture. On the side participants also get to know a little more about the people and country from which other fellow participants come. I didn’t know that the Kazaks like Horse milk and meat till I met my good friend Solpan Karzhaubayeva, Deputy Director of National Healthy Lifestyle Centre of Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan. I also came to know that the new Afghanistan is no longer under dictate of the Talibans and that woman like Dr. Farzana Wali works and competes like any men. They on their part did not know that there exists a small state call Manipur in the remote corner of India – that was till they met me. They did not know of the conflict in the Indo –Myanmar border areas. I told them about the conflict in the region and of the threats under which we – journalist, functioned. Even as I spoke to them the killing of Imphal Free Press journalist Rishikanta was in my mind.
I gave them each a Loyum Phee so that they will remember Manipur for some time to come. My other three colleagues from India Dr.Milind Pandurang, Dr. Ilanchelhian and Sampath Muthuvelan, an actor cum social activist from south India knew of Manipur because of our HIV and AIDS statistics only. The only participant who knew of Manipur was our Nepali colleague Mrs Puspanjali Thakur who had a distant relative in Manipur. IVLP gave us all a chance to get to each other better.
I am also told that IVLP had many luminaries as its alumni and includes in its list our present President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan and even Atal Behari Bajpayee.
Incidentally I am not the first to be on the program from Manipur. My good friend Babloo Loitongbam and one other had already been similar program I am told.
Every IVLP kick starts from Washington DC with introduction to US democracy, Federalism and tour of the city. Ours was no different. We went to several important addresses including the US Department of States which as tourist we would have no excess to. It was an experience that will stay for long time to come.
As expected of any first time visitor to US from developing and under developed countries, what amazed the team most was the infrastructure across at least 6 cities we visited. From Washington DC in the East Coast to Seattle in the west coast and then to Miami down south after 4 days halt at Austin in Texas the infrastructure and its maintenance can best be described in how the Americans usually say “AWESOME.” Yes it was awesome and I would now not fault our Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh when he went GA-GA about US after his short visit to New York. In fact I would recommend that all our legislators make a trip to the US soon after swearing in so that they understand what governance is about. Though it will be eons before we catch up with them but the faster the seed is sown the sooner we will be better off.
Having said this I am not suggesting we do everything that Americans do because not everything Americans do are OK and imitable-the Illinois Governor cash for seat scam for example. The scam broke out even as we toured the country and US media did not leave a single detail out. I would not want our politicians to imitate Governor Blagoyavitch – not that they need to. In fact they can give him a lesson or two on that front.
The infrastructure- yes, it was one of the finest I have seen. For miles and miles either from DC to Baltimore or either from Austin to San Antonio or either from Seattle centre to Microsoft HQ the roads were of one of the finest quality with grasses and the trees on either sides trimmed and pruned. The traffic is always heavy and every one just seems to be driving. I know this not the actual picture but if you look at the American Highways it seems almost every American possessed a car. I have also seen the homeless and disposed so I know this is not the actual picture- but that will be later in this write up.
Another awesome feature is the massive airports Americans have and recession notwithstanding, some of them are still expanding. From Dulles in Washington DC to Miami International in Florida we crossed 7 airports with few hours of layover at two of them and every one them were busy and that made me think if every Americans kept on flying- which again is not true. That some chose to land in River Hudson is of course another story.
Going back to Washington DC – well DC is DC. There is so much to see in DC and you could spend a month and still need more time so imagine what we might have seen in just one day. Of the several museums located in DC we chosed Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This was the largest of the 7 Smithsonian museum located at the National Mall- the stretch between the Capitol Hill the power site and the Washington Monument- the famous obelisk that dominate the DC skyline . It has 18 exhibition halls and thousands of artifacts and specimens. These great museums are run by Smithsonian Institute founded by James Smith(1765-1829), an Englishman who devoted his life to research in chemistry, mineralogy and geology.
Sadly the day out in DC was a wet Sunday and we just breezed by most famous monuments taking some time out at Lincoln memorial on whose steps President Obama took the oath the Presidency- its another matter that he had to repeat it in the white house one more time. It was however an exhilarating feeling standing on steps where black civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. stood and gave his famous speech “I have dream…...
Another place we stopped at on the rainy day was the Vietnam War memorial. I had always wanted to see the black marble memorial to the soldiers who died in Vietnam fighting for a lost cause thrush on them by politicians with agendas. Years after we still found relatives trace the names of their beloved son or brother or a friend carved on the black marble. There were fresh flowers and memory was still strong.
DC is one of the most secured cities in USA- understandable given the list of its high profile inhabitants. It does not have tall skyscrapers like in other cities like New York which we missed and Seattle. This, we are told was deliberate so that views of monuments and magnificent institutional buildings were not blocked and dwarfed.
The office of the US state department, our equivalent of Home Ministry, which sponsored our trip, is also located in the DC. When we were asked to carry our passports for entering the facility for security reason, my first thoughts were of a building swarming with US marines that you see on CNN manning gates of US embassies specially in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. I was in for a disappointment – I never saw even a single one of them. However went through a security drill that included walking pass a security gate, getting our bags x-rayed. Photography was prohibited and roads passing through the facility had automated barricades that would slide up should the situation warrant. What was conspicuous by their absence were bunkers manned by heavily armed guards that we are so used to in our part of world. In effect it did not seem so well secured. But we were told otherwise. We were given to understand that should situation warrant marines in their hundreds would be swarming a moment a breach in security take place. The security philosophy one can get is minimum visibility as against maximum visibility. This was a similar security situation in the sprawling Microsoft HQ in Seattle which has its own security arrangement.
I bring this point up to make a comparison with our own security arrangement here. The philosophy here seems to be maximum visibility with minimum impact. Not only are our government facilities guarded by heavily armed personnel our streets are littered with gun totting commandos …but notwithstanding every second day we hear of a bomb being lobbed in someone’s residence or someone being killed.
There is, though one thing we have in common with Washington DC. Washington DC despite its high profile is the worst hit city in US in terms of HIV prevalence. I am sure that rings a bell. The prevalence rate is 128.4 per 100,000. US is struggling is this area and despite billions of dollars pumped into the problem US is yet to find an answer.But I am going to digress a little here and talk about the Manipuri Diaspora in US.Manipuri Diaspora
Let me start with Thoudangngambi and her husband Bikram whom I met at the fag end of my tour in Miami, Florida.
Thoudangambi- one who can accomplish her duty- true to her name made her dream to make US her country of profession come true. From a non-descript village of Keirak in Thoubal district to Miami seafront apartment it has been a journey of self discovery for this gutsy girl. She came to US some 4 years ago as a nurse much against the wishes of her parents. It is understandable -a lone girl, aspiring to fly half round the world to US can be any parents nightmare. But she had her fiancée- Bikram’s, now her husband, support. Together they now make Miami their home. Bikram works as manager in a popular pharmacy chain, has a swank car and they are expecting their first child.
The duo has adjusted themselves to the lives in US – but don’t they miss Manipuri foods?
“Everything is available here, Tamo,” Thoudangambi said. To prove their point the duo treated me to a dinner with eromba at their apartment. A little later Bikram sits down to the net and goes to www.e-pao.net and other Manipuri local daily web sites. This is how we keep in touch with Manipur. We know of all the killings that are taking place back in Manipur he said.
Thoudangambi and Bikram are not the only couple from Manipur who have made US their home and place of work.
Hijam Bobo aka Bob to friends and his sweet wife Hemabati is another couple in the US east coast. There are other couples, I am told, especially in New York but my short trip did not allow me to meet more of them.
Bob has made it big in the banking world- he is one of the Vice Presidents of UK based HSBC bank and is currently in charge of South Asia region. But it is something- his position, he tries hard to play down. He does not make a bone of it. He lives in Baltimore where he has purchased his own house and commutes to DC where he has an office. Otherwise he used to live in Thangmeiband and is elder brother of Hijam Rajesh, Editor of English version of The Sangai Express. Bob has two kids, both naturally born American citizen and his wife an architect has taken a Sabbath from her profession to look after their two kids. A little bit about Bob’s life here to drive home a point- hope you won’t mind Bob.
I took time out from my heavy schedule and Bob on his way back from office picks me up from a street corner in Baltimore. I had just met the controversial Dr. Robert Gallow, who at that point in time was hoping for a Nobel Prize for discovery of HIV. Eventually though, he was left out (that is another story).
It was weekend and some Manipuries from nearby are gathering in his house. This, I am told is how they keep in touch with their roots. They usually have traditional meals on these gatherings. With me as guest they were throwing in a special Yongchak eromba. After few days of burgers and hot dogs and sandwiches I was really looking forward to a mouth stinging eromba.
The first thing Bob did on arrival at his house, at an upscale housing colony, was to take out the garbage and he shirks – man this is how we do it here. This, he said was his ritual and he was cool about it. I bring up this point because here we talk a lot about dignity of a labour - but the truth is not many of us actually practice. How many of us here take out our own garbage? That should put things in perspective. In fact an MLA who spoke on dignity of labour in one of the meeting I attended here when I asked if he could show by example- like taking a bicycle to assembly, was just noncommittal. Out there people practice – here we preach. That’s the point Bob. Keep the ritual up.
But if it was not for Nick I would not have come across all these good folks. Nicholas Manoharmayum, friends call him Nick is based out of Philadelphia and he came to US with the IT wave ahead of the millennium bug. US was recruiting anyone who they though could find the bug to fix the millennium bug problem every computer with 1999 age limit had. Remember the global fear of every computer breaking down when the clock ticked 12 O’clock on31st of December 1999. Nick a computer engineer came with that wave and has since stayed back. Apart from his profession Nick has made a commitment to link people of Manipuri origin staying or working or on short term visit to US. He keeps close link with another New York- oh how I wished I had visited that city, based Manipuri- Somi Roy, who of course everyone in Manipur associates with baseball and cinema and now horses. He- Somi, is now trying to draw the attention of Kentucky Horse breeders to our rare Pony.
Back to Nick - Nick is a traveler and he drove several miles on the east coast from Philladelphia to Baltimore to be with Bob’s family this weekend. Last weekend he had driven to Ohio to another friends house. He makes this travel several times in a year just to keep in touch with the folks from back home.
Also joining us at Bob’s was Khilton and young Somananda, a bachelor on the look out for a pretty girl willing to join him in US.
Now I have story to tell about Khilton who lives and works out of Fairfax in Virginia. Khilton came to US because of his skills in Thang-Ta. He came as an instructor and whats amazing about him is that he has managed to make several white and black Americans take to the art for the love of it. What is it that make these Americans take to Thang ta which apart from being a performing art is yet to make it world stage as competitive sport like that Japanese karate or the Korean taekwondo? Khilton would rather have me ask the question to the folks who have taken up Thang Ta than answering himself.
So it was a cold December evening that I found myself outside CHEVY CHASE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Bethesda, Maryland. There was already one car and waiting the instructor was Dainis Jirgensons. Dainis was the founder President of North American Thang-Ta Assn. He was already an exponent of a Chinese martial art when he came across Manipuri Thang ta. He studied Chinese internal boxing for over 20 some years and was Certified massage therapist. His is in is late fifties and his association with Thangta went back to march 1997.
Other joined us as we troop into the school auditorium which the group had hired during off time in the evenings.
Leonard Tony Baker, Retd. US Army a Karate expert and a licensed Pilot who now works with UNITED AIRLINES say he has been practicing Thang Ta for last four years. I asked him what made him gravitate towards Thang ta especially after he has had exposer of Karate and with so many other high profile oriental martial arts schools available in the city. This is what he said- “I kind of like the philosophy of Thang ta which goes way back to its cultural roots.”
If Tony is there for philosophy, 15 year old basketball player Andrew Touber is there because of the agility that thang ta provides. I am able to jump higher and dodge faster because of thang ta, he said.
Then there was Rayned Wales a Data analyst with ten years each of Japanese Aikido and Chinese internal boxing and Loyd Gore with fifteen years of Chinese internal boxing. Khilton had successfully sold the good points of thang ta to this group and this was one amongst many groups in and around DC that Khilton visits on rotation. US even has its own Thang ta association and is surprisingly a affiliate of Hula Sindamsang, Keishamthong Leirak under Ojah Devabrata Sinam with Padmashree Ningthoukhongjam Khelchandra as its Chief Advisor. The NORTH AMERICAN THANG-TA ASSN. was formed in March 1998 with DAINIS JIRGENSONS as its Founder President. These die hards have embraced the Manipuri Thang Ta but have they ever gone to Manipur- No. That’s one of the aim of Khilton and a collective dream of the American practitioners.
This then was part of the story of these folks who have chosen to widen their horizon and look elsewhere to make their home far away from manipur. But there are more of them from East coast to West coast.
When the World Trade Centre came down-9/11, a Manipuri was atop at the Window to the World restaurant, he died trying to save fellow colleagues. With his death Jupiter Yambem, brother of eminent journalist and former Member of Manipur Human Right commission Yambem Laba, became the Manipuri face in the US in those terrible times.
I had interviewed him for SEEN TV in what was to be his last visit to Manipur before the fateful day. He talked about the Manipuri Diaspora in US and how the North America Manipuri Association –NAMA was trying to get the Manipuri living and working in US to come together and preserve Manipuri culture half way around the world through practice.
Today the number of Manipuri in US has grown- New York, itself is said to have about 200 Manipuries working. Several of them are on the west coast while still some others are spread out across the great nation.
Their stories, I am sure will be as interesting … but that will be for the future when I make another trip to the great country.
The author is news Editor of ISTV, he can be contacted at yumnamrupa@rediffmail.com
By Yumnam Rupachandra
On November 29, 2008, I landed at Washington Dulles International airport at Washington DC, the most powerful address in the world. It was about 6 weeks ahead of the new President of America Barack Obama taking over. The Capital city was abuzz with the transition activity as new teams learn the ropes as the old team under George Bush were preparing to hand over the reign of Worlds only super power.
This was my first visit to United States of America and I was part of a US State department sponsored program- International Visitors Leadership Program, in short IVLP. The US sponsors over 4500 people from across the world each year under this program. I was one of the fortunate seven to have made it to this program for the year 2008. With me there were three other from India and one each from Kazakhstan, Nepal and Afghanistan. Each IVLP is conducted under a theme and the common thread that bound seven of us were HIV and AIDS. Perhaps my works as journalist in the field of HIV and AIDS won me a place amongst the seven who all are experts in the field.
IVLP, I found out was one of the prestigious programs US government takes up on annual basis to help the Country-US shape a freer and more secure and prosperous world by promoting personal, professional and institutional ties between private citizens and organizations in USA and other around the world. All IVLP participants are familarised with the working concept of the world’s most successful democracy, its people, its history and its culture. On the side participants also get to know a little more about the people and country from which other fellow participants come. I didn’t know that the Kazaks like Horse milk and meat till I met my good friend Solpan Karzhaubayeva, Deputy Director of National Healthy Lifestyle Centre of Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan. I also came to know that the new Afghanistan is no longer under dictate of the Talibans and that woman like Dr. Farzana Wali works and competes like any men. They on their part did not know that there exists a small state call Manipur in the remote corner of India – that was till they met me. They did not know of the conflict in the Indo –Myanmar border areas. I told them about the conflict in the region and of the threats under which we – journalist, functioned. Even as I spoke to them the killing of Imphal Free Press journalist Rishikanta was in my mind.
I gave them each a Loyum Phee so that they will remember Manipur for some time to come. My other three colleagues from India Dr.Milind Pandurang, Dr. Ilanchelhian and Sampath Muthuvelan, an actor cum social activist from south India knew of Manipur because of our HIV and AIDS statistics only. The only participant who knew of Manipur was our Nepali colleague Mrs Puspanjali Thakur who had a distant relative in Manipur. IVLP gave us all a chance to get to each other better.
I am also told that IVLP had many luminaries as its alumni and includes in its list our present President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan and even Atal Behari Bajpayee.
Incidentally I am not the first to be on the program from Manipur. My good friend Babloo Loitongbam and one other had already been similar program I am told.
Every IVLP kick starts from Washington DC with introduction to US democracy, Federalism and tour of the city. Ours was no different. We went to several important addresses including the US Department of States which as tourist we would have no excess to. It was an experience that will stay for long time to come.
As expected of any first time visitor to US from developing and under developed countries, what amazed the team most was the infrastructure across at least 6 cities we visited. From Washington DC in the East Coast to Seattle in the west coast and then to Miami down south after 4 days halt at Austin in Texas the infrastructure and its maintenance can best be described in how the Americans usually say “AWESOME.” Yes it was awesome and I would now not fault our Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh when he went GA-GA about US after his short visit to New York. In fact I would recommend that all our legislators make a trip to the US soon after swearing in so that they understand what governance is about. Though it will be eons before we catch up with them but the faster the seed is sown the sooner we will be better off.
Having said this I am not suggesting we do everything that Americans do because not everything Americans do are OK and imitable-the Illinois Governor cash for seat scam for example. The scam broke out even as we toured the country and US media did not leave a single detail out. I would not want our politicians to imitate Governor Blagoyavitch – not that they need to. In fact they can give him a lesson or two on that front.
The infrastructure- yes, it was one of the finest I have seen. For miles and miles either from DC to Baltimore or either from Austin to San Antonio or either from Seattle centre to Microsoft HQ the roads were of one of the finest quality with grasses and the trees on either sides trimmed and pruned. The traffic is always heavy and every one just seems to be driving. I know this not the actual picture but if you look at the American Highways it seems almost every American possessed a car. I have also seen the homeless and disposed so I know this is not the actual picture- but that will be later in this write up.
Another awesome feature is the massive airports Americans have and recession notwithstanding, some of them are still expanding. From Dulles in Washington DC to Miami International in Florida we crossed 7 airports with few hours of layover at two of them and every one them were busy and that made me think if every Americans kept on flying- which again is not true. That some chose to land in River Hudson is of course another story.
Going back to Washington DC – well DC is DC. There is so much to see in DC and you could spend a month and still need more time so imagine what we might have seen in just one day. Of the several museums located in DC we chosed Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This was the largest of the 7 Smithsonian museum located at the National Mall- the stretch between the Capitol Hill the power site and the Washington Monument- the famous obelisk that dominate the DC skyline . It has 18 exhibition halls and thousands of artifacts and specimens. These great museums are run by Smithsonian Institute founded by James Smith(1765-1829), an Englishman who devoted his life to research in chemistry, mineralogy and geology.
Sadly the day out in DC was a wet Sunday and we just breezed by most famous monuments taking some time out at Lincoln memorial on whose steps President Obama took the oath the Presidency- its another matter that he had to repeat it in the white house one more time. It was however an exhilarating feeling standing on steps where black civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. stood and gave his famous speech “I have dream…...
Another place we stopped at on the rainy day was the Vietnam War memorial. I had always wanted to see the black marble memorial to the soldiers who died in Vietnam fighting for a lost cause thrush on them by politicians with agendas. Years after we still found relatives trace the names of their beloved son or brother or a friend carved on the black marble. There were fresh flowers and memory was still strong.
DC is one of the most secured cities in USA- understandable given the list of its high profile inhabitants. It does not have tall skyscrapers like in other cities like New York which we missed and Seattle. This, we are told was deliberate so that views of monuments and magnificent institutional buildings were not blocked and dwarfed.
The office of the US state department, our equivalent of Home Ministry, which sponsored our trip, is also located in the DC. When we were asked to carry our passports for entering the facility for security reason, my first thoughts were of a building swarming with US marines that you see on CNN manning gates of US embassies specially in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. I was in for a disappointment – I never saw even a single one of them. However went through a security drill that included walking pass a security gate, getting our bags x-rayed. Photography was prohibited and roads passing through the facility had automated barricades that would slide up should the situation warrant. What was conspicuous by their absence were bunkers manned by heavily armed guards that we are so used to in our part of world. In effect it did not seem so well secured. But we were told otherwise. We were given to understand that should situation warrant marines in their hundreds would be swarming a moment a breach in security take place. The security philosophy one can get is minimum visibility as against maximum visibility. This was a similar security situation in the sprawling Microsoft HQ in Seattle which has its own security arrangement.
I bring this point up to make a comparison with our own security arrangement here. The philosophy here seems to be maximum visibility with minimum impact. Not only are our government facilities guarded by heavily armed personnel our streets are littered with gun totting commandos …but notwithstanding every second day we hear of a bomb being lobbed in someone’s residence or someone being killed.
There is, though one thing we have in common with Washington DC. Washington DC despite its high profile is the worst hit city in US in terms of HIV prevalence. I am sure that rings a bell. The prevalence rate is 128.4 per 100,000. US is struggling is this area and despite billions of dollars pumped into the problem US is yet to find an answer.But I am going to digress a little here and talk about the Manipuri Diaspora in US.Manipuri Diaspora
Let me start with Thoudangngambi and her husband Bikram whom I met at the fag end of my tour in Miami, Florida.
Thoudangambi- one who can accomplish her duty- true to her name made her dream to make US her country of profession come true. From a non-descript village of Keirak in Thoubal district to Miami seafront apartment it has been a journey of self discovery for this gutsy girl. She came to US some 4 years ago as a nurse much against the wishes of her parents. It is understandable -a lone girl, aspiring to fly half round the world to US can be any parents nightmare. But she had her fiancée- Bikram’s, now her husband, support. Together they now make Miami their home. Bikram works as manager in a popular pharmacy chain, has a swank car and they are expecting their first child.
The duo has adjusted themselves to the lives in US – but don’t they miss Manipuri foods?
“Everything is available here, Tamo,” Thoudangambi said. To prove their point the duo treated me to a dinner with eromba at their apartment. A little later Bikram sits down to the net and goes to www.e-pao.net and other Manipuri local daily web sites. This is how we keep in touch with Manipur. We know of all the killings that are taking place back in Manipur he said.
Thoudangambi and Bikram are not the only couple from Manipur who have made US their home and place of work.
Hijam Bobo aka Bob to friends and his sweet wife Hemabati is another couple in the US east coast. There are other couples, I am told, especially in New York but my short trip did not allow me to meet more of them.
Bob has made it big in the banking world- he is one of the Vice Presidents of UK based HSBC bank and is currently in charge of South Asia region. But it is something- his position, he tries hard to play down. He does not make a bone of it. He lives in Baltimore where he has purchased his own house and commutes to DC where he has an office. Otherwise he used to live in Thangmeiband and is elder brother of Hijam Rajesh, Editor of English version of The Sangai Express. Bob has two kids, both naturally born American citizen and his wife an architect has taken a Sabbath from her profession to look after their two kids. A little bit about Bob’s life here to drive home a point- hope you won’t mind Bob.
I took time out from my heavy schedule and Bob on his way back from office picks me up from a street corner in Baltimore. I had just met the controversial Dr. Robert Gallow, who at that point in time was hoping for a Nobel Prize for discovery of HIV. Eventually though, he was left out (that is another story).
It was weekend and some Manipuries from nearby are gathering in his house. This, I am told is how they keep in touch with their roots. They usually have traditional meals on these gatherings. With me as guest they were throwing in a special Yongchak eromba. After few days of burgers and hot dogs and sandwiches I was really looking forward to a mouth stinging eromba.
The first thing Bob did on arrival at his house, at an upscale housing colony, was to take out the garbage and he shirks – man this is how we do it here. This, he said was his ritual and he was cool about it. I bring up this point because here we talk a lot about dignity of a labour - but the truth is not many of us actually practice. How many of us here take out our own garbage? That should put things in perspective. In fact an MLA who spoke on dignity of labour in one of the meeting I attended here when I asked if he could show by example- like taking a bicycle to assembly, was just noncommittal. Out there people practice – here we preach. That’s the point Bob. Keep the ritual up.
But if it was not for Nick I would not have come across all these good folks. Nicholas Manoharmayum, friends call him Nick is based out of Philadelphia and he came to US with the IT wave ahead of the millennium bug. US was recruiting anyone who they though could find the bug to fix the millennium bug problem every computer with 1999 age limit had. Remember the global fear of every computer breaking down when the clock ticked 12 O’clock on31st of December 1999. Nick a computer engineer came with that wave and has since stayed back. Apart from his profession Nick has made a commitment to link people of Manipuri origin staying or working or on short term visit to US. He keeps close link with another New York- oh how I wished I had visited that city, based Manipuri- Somi Roy, who of course everyone in Manipur associates with baseball and cinema and now horses. He- Somi, is now trying to draw the attention of Kentucky Horse breeders to our rare Pony.
Back to Nick - Nick is a traveler and he drove several miles on the east coast from Philladelphia to Baltimore to be with Bob’s family this weekend. Last weekend he had driven to Ohio to another friends house. He makes this travel several times in a year just to keep in touch with the folks from back home.
Also joining us at Bob’s was Khilton and young Somananda, a bachelor on the look out for a pretty girl willing to join him in US.
Now I have story to tell about Khilton who lives and works out of Fairfax in Virginia. Khilton came to US because of his skills in Thang-Ta. He came as an instructor and whats amazing about him is that he has managed to make several white and black Americans take to the art for the love of it. What is it that make these Americans take to Thang ta which apart from being a performing art is yet to make it world stage as competitive sport like that Japanese karate or the Korean taekwondo? Khilton would rather have me ask the question to the folks who have taken up Thang Ta than answering himself.
So it was a cold December evening that I found myself outside CHEVY CHASE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Bethesda, Maryland. There was already one car and waiting the instructor was Dainis Jirgensons. Dainis was the founder President of North American Thang-Ta Assn. He was already an exponent of a Chinese martial art when he came across Manipuri Thang ta. He studied Chinese internal boxing for over 20 some years and was Certified massage therapist. His is in is late fifties and his association with Thangta went back to march 1997.
Other joined us as we troop into the school auditorium which the group had hired during off time in the evenings.
Leonard Tony Baker, Retd. US Army a Karate expert and a licensed Pilot who now works with UNITED AIRLINES say he has been practicing Thang Ta for last four years. I asked him what made him gravitate towards Thang ta especially after he has had exposer of Karate and with so many other high profile oriental martial arts schools available in the city. This is what he said- “I kind of like the philosophy of Thang ta which goes way back to its cultural roots.”
If Tony is there for philosophy, 15 year old basketball player Andrew Touber is there because of the agility that thang ta provides. I am able to jump higher and dodge faster because of thang ta, he said.
Then there was Rayned Wales a Data analyst with ten years each of Japanese Aikido and Chinese internal boxing and Loyd Gore with fifteen years of Chinese internal boxing. Khilton had successfully sold the good points of thang ta to this group and this was one amongst many groups in and around DC that Khilton visits on rotation. US even has its own Thang ta association and is surprisingly a affiliate of Hula Sindamsang, Keishamthong Leirak under Ojah Devabrata Sinam with Padmashree Ningthoukhongjam Khelchandra as its Chief Advisor. The NORTH AMERICAN THANG-TA ASSN. was formed in March 1998 with DAINIS JIRGENSONS as its Founder President. These die hards have embraced the Manipuri Thang Ta but have they ever gone to Manipur- No. That’s one of the aim of Khilton and a collective dream of the American practitioners.
This then was part of the story of these folks who have chosen to widen their horizon and look elsewhere to make their home far away from manipur. But there are more of them from East coast to West coast.
When the World Trade Centre came down-9/11, a Manipuri was atop at the Window to the World restaurant, he died trying to save fellow colleagues. With his death Jupiter Yambem, brother of eminent journalist and former Member of Manipur Human Right commission Yambem Laba, became the Manipuri face in the US in those terrible times.
I had interviewed him for SEEN TV in what was to be his last visit to Manipur before the fateful day. He talked about the Manipuri Diaspora in US and how the North America Manipuri Association –NAMA was trying to get the Manipuri living and working in US to come together and preserve Manipuri culture half way around the world through practice.
Today the number of Manipuri in US has grown- New York, itself is said to have about 200 Manipuries working. Several of them are on the west coast while still some others are spread out across the great nation.
Their stories, I am sure will be as interesting … but that will be for the future when I make another trip to the great country.
The author is news Editor of ISTV, he can be contacted at yumnamrupa@rediffmail.com
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