FindingTheVoices: Mr. Arambam Boby, 4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India, a bodybuilder from Manipur speaks out (Part 1)
Guest Speaker : Mr. Arambam Boby
A Phone Interview, with Arambam Boby joining in from Guwahati, India.
Language: Interview in Meiteilon

Mr. Arambam Boby, bodybuilder from Manipur speaks out and shares his story with FindingTheVoices. He is 4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India and has bagged many other titles.

And yet Findingthevoices is the first to interview him. Another reason of why we are here, we beleive in the power of Internet, Youtube and sharing by the public covering voices which the media haven’t found.

Mr. Arambam Boby laments that when the state government of Manipur have ignored his achievements, what can he expect from the rest of India ? We as a community still need to progress in the field of recognition, learning to clap to celebrate achievements of an individual.

He expressed his thanks for the support, encouragement given by the Railway department in Guwahati, where he is currently posted. His team has been very instrumental in all his participations of the body building events.

This is the first part of his interview, where he shared about his story on how he got into body building, his journey and experiences on his winnings and his reflections and lamenting on the lack of encouragement and recognition.

Please do check out for the second part of the interview.

MI_5Born and raised in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe that we can create contents bringing the positive side of Manipur. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of our own people, people of Manipur and well-wishers of Manipur. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us.

I welcome you to join me in my journey to finding the voices at Http://FindingTheVoices.com/

S02E33 FindingTheVoices: Mr. Arambam Boby (4 times Mr. World, 12 times Mr. India) speaks out – Part 1

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Happy New Year 2016

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Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year 2016

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year 2016.

The picture in our 2016 Calendar is the beautiful Dzukou valley of my native place, Manipur. A beautiful photograph taken by Loyangamba Khundongbam capturing the Dzukou lily with the green luscious hills at the backdrop. The Calendar Format is from e-pao.net and printed at Lumen World in Imphal, Manipur, a small memento for the family of FindingTheVoices. For those away from Imphal and not able to get the hard copy of the Calendar, I will be very happy if you will download this Calendar and make this your Calendar for 2016.

Born and raised in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe that we can create contents bringing the positive side of Manipur. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of the people, people all over the world. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us.

We are in our 4th year of pod casting and progressing our content and productions with time, we have had a tremendous positive response from our viewers and listeners. And from the messages received from various age groups, our programs continues to touch our vision of getting our listeners and viewers inspired, educated, empowered and entertained. I believe that these stories will bring a change and positive thinking to many individuals. I believe that this will definitely contribute to change the scenery of the conflict and violence-torn to peace and progress in our society.

Thanks to each and everyone for your support. Happy New Year 2016 and to more Finding The Voices.

Rani Karnavati, an acrylic painting

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When I read about Rani Karnavati, I was awed with her. I had to look up and know more about her. And the more I read about her, I was filled with her life, her bravery, her courage and strength, and I drew this acrylic painting. And someday, I wish to visit the land of Chittor.

RaniKarnavati.jpg

Rani Karnavati of Chittor, an Acrylic painting by Monica Ingudam

Rani Karnavati of Chittor, along with many other noble ladies of the court immolated themselves by fire known as Jauhar on March 8, 1535 A.D., while all the men donned saffron clothes committed saka, went out to fight to the death. The men choose to fight till death for their motherland rather than surrendering and be defeated. And the women choose to die in dignity, jumping in the fire rather than face whims and fancy of the enemy, after the defeat. It made me think, of the deepest extent of torture and humiliation of womenfolk they saw in the history of war for them to come up with the concept and implementation of Jauhar. These are women with such pride, whose body and soul wouldn’t be forced.

Also to be noted is the Rakhi story, the glorified story between Rani Karnavati and Mughal emperor Humayun. What I didn’t know, was that Rani Karnavati waited and waited for Humayun’s help when Mewar was under attack by Bahadur Shah. She waited with so much hope and expectations, which didn’t come on time, and finally facing the defeat, she and many others committed Jauhar. Humayun did come, but not on time, defeated Bahadur Shah and reinstated Karnavati’s son Vikramaditya Singh as the ruler of Mewar.And the question lingers “Did Rani Karnavati die with the feeling of betrayal ?” “Did Humayun live with the pain in his heart, that he could have prevented Jauhar, had he acted on time ?” “Did Humayun find his peace, that he tried his best given the circumstances, fighting against all odds ?”

Rani Karnavati was queen, a widow and the grandmother of Maharana Pratap.

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FindingTheVoices: Tamara Reisdorf From Germany, First time Author, Nanowrimo 2015 Winner
Guest Speaker : Tamara Reisdorf
Interview Location: Web Interview, Guest Speaker joining in, from Germany.
Language: Interview in English

I love the concept of Nanowrimo , to write a novel in 1 month. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. We have Tamara Reisdorf from Germany, First time Author and Nanowrimo 2015 Winner sharing about her experience. It was really great to learn her experience and Nanowrimo is a great platform for first time author, trying to write with the drive and support, to pour out the 50K words floating in your mind into written words.

A little bit about Tamara Reisdorf in her own words:

My name is Tamara Reisdorf. I am a 24-year old german, social worker and participated this year for the first time in Nanowrimo. Currently I am getting a master degree and there I specialize in grief/loss/death and social work related to this. At the moment my thesis is about how grief is shown in children’s books. Afterwords I plan to do a Phd in the same research field. This inspired me to write my novel about a 11-year old girl (Prim), who lost her sister a few weeks ago. Therefore she is full of grief and sadness. Then she meets Alma who is a Bothynum which is a little creature that gets send to humans, who are going through a hard time. Only the human who they get send to can see them. Together they experience the loss in the family, the burial and different things.

S02E32 FindingTheVoices: Tamara Reisdorf From Germany, First time Author, Nanowrimo 2015 Winner

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Music of the world 003: Jamaican Reggae artist Nesbeth “My Dream”

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Reggae is a music genre originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. It’s always interesting to learn about music in different parts of the world. I love the beat, rhythm and musical characteristics of Reggae being played 4/4 times.

For instance in Nasbeth’s song, Joy in the morning, which is one of my favorite amongst his collection, he goes:

“It’s gonna be joy in the morning,

It’s gonna be joy in the morning,

It’s gonna be joy in the morning,

It’s gonna be joy in the morning”

and that captures the whole essence of the song and I can sing along that part at least.

The other aspect of reggae which is captured very well in Nesbeth’s song “My Dream” is the beat and rhythm of the music, a music which will make your body sway as you listen. It’s interesting to hear the child’s version of My Dream in his soundcloud list.

Listening to “My Dream, My Dream, My Dream, My Dream” reaffirms that my dream is important and I need to pursue my dream. Music is a medium which can get you through many facets of emotions, giving you the strength to bear low phase or heighten your spirits to the peak.

Yes, I had to look up on Nesbeth’s background, he grew up in the urban Arnett Gardens neighborhood of West Kingston on the island of Jamaica, referred to as “The Concrete Jungle” because of high crime rates and widespread economic hardship. It’s interesting to note that throughout his childhood, music was the sun in his life, and his curiosity about using it to communicate and to offer comfort to himself and others grew as he began to experiment with recording and discover his own voice. And this is reflected in his song Taste Victory which shows the trainings, hard work, failures before the taste of Victory, a beautiful way of expressing the way to tasting Victory.

Here is the link to listen to his songs at  https://soundcloud.com/nesbeth-greg

Here is the video of his song Taste Victory

MI_S03_withlogoBorn and raised in the violence-torn landscape of the Indian state
Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of the people, people all over the world. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us. Presenting the voices in our series of “Music of the World” sharing music and the thoughts of the artist from all over the world. Contact us to be a part of this series

 

 

FindingTheVoices: Ingudam Manoranjan, Entrepreneur from Manipur, Founder of Vbooky.
Guest Speaker : Ingudam Manoranjan
 
Interview Location: Bangalore, India
Language: Interview in English
Interview of Ingudam Manoranjan, Entrepreneur from Manipur, CEO of Vbooky. We spoke in-depth about his journey in taking up the path to building up the product from ground up and finally being deployed and used. It’s very interesting to hear the technical as well as the team and market dynamics in building a product and running a startup company. He also shared about the strategy on recruiting his team members and what they look for as they are expanding their company.
VBooky is an online marketplace for beauty and wellness services for a particular location.

VBooky has been started by 3 enthusiastic technologists, powered by a talented team & driven by the single desire for delivering better customer experience through technology & operational excellence. VBooky is derived from “We[V] Book You” & strives to bring the best customer experience & convenience to you.

I got the opportunity to meet the young and dynamic team and got a glimpse of their workplace, a team who gives their best. I love technology and found it extremely interesting, listening to the young team on their solution, vision and plan for the company. It’s been just a year and it’s encouraging to see the tremendous progress, growth and expansion  of the company. I wish and see a very bright future and success for all of them, a team who are not afraid to pursue their dreams giving their best.

As I walked out from the Vbooky office, I felt this extreme sense of pride with the realisation that, this young man, Ingudam Manoranjan from Manipur has co-founded a company, hiring teams in Bangalore. I started my career in Bangalore working for Wipro and have seen many of us working for companies founded by others. Now we have many companies all over the world, founded by people from Manipur and I am in search for their voice to feature their talent and story to the world.

MI_5Born and raised in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe that we can create contents bringing the positive side of Manipur. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of our own people, people of Manipur and well-wishers of Manipur. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us.

I welcome you to join me in my journey to finding the voices at Http://FindingTheVoices.com/

S02E31 FindingTheVoices: Ingudam Manoranjan, Entrepreneur from Manipur, Founder of Vbooky

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FindingTheVoices: Interview of John MPamei Musician from Tamenglong Manipur.
Guest Speaker : John MPamei
Interview Location: Web Interview, Guest Speaker joining in, from Qatar.
Language: Interview in English
John Mpamei is a musician from Tamenglong, Manipur. He shared about his journey of being a musician. He is specialized in Guitar, Piano, Violin and vocal. He is currently teaching music at Doha, Qatar. He shared his pain with the situation in Manipur with the media portraying the divide between the hill and valley, but gave a very hopeful message for peace, unity and progress in our beautiful land. He shared very interesting perspective and experiences which he faced.
Congratulations on John MPamei’s  first music Album Far Away released on 21st Dec 2015.  Be sure to get a copy of his Album from iTunes.

MI_5Born and raised in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe that we can create contents bringing the positive side of Manipur. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of our own people, people of Manipur and well-wishers of Manipur. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us.

I welcome you to join me in my journey to finding the voices at Http://FindingTheVoices.com/

S02E30 FindingTheVoices: Interview of John MPamei Musician from Tamenglong Manipur.

/ Monica Ingudam / 3 Comments

Music of the world 002: Chloe Baker ‘s haunting voice in her song “Love Won’t Make You Cry”

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“Love won’t tear you down, call you names or laugh at your pain
Love won’t sacrifice your hopes and dreams
For heartache and shame
Love won’t beat you or burn you or hang out to dry…
Love won’t make you cry”

It’s from a song by Chloe Baker which I have been listening back to back from yesterday. Every time I listen to her hauntingly beautiful voice, I can feel her words and absorb the meaning even deeper. I love the lyrics and her voice.

I always look up the details of the artist when I love the work, to get to know a bit about the artist. Chloe Baker is a New Jersey-based singer and songwriter. I believe that there is always somebody who is behind you, backing your dreams, who inspired you to step up that extra step,  catches you when you fall. It’s interesting to note that Chloe Baker grew up in a home filled with music and she worked very closely with her father to record and produce her music. It must be a beautiful feeling to work together with her father creating beautiful memories which will last forever. Staying across countries, I miss my father very much. He has always been there and I treasure my memories with him including the arguments and tears. Can’t help thinking if they fought and argued while they worked together, just like I do with my father.

I love her song “Love won’t make you cry” so much that I looked up and watched all her other songs. The song “The Rope” was written and sung based on her feelings about the suicide of a distant cousin. I definitely see a lot of talent in her as a young singer and songwriter. She believes in her words and songs, which can be felt bringing the instant connection to her words and voice.

https://youtu.be/aK1pjdDy_kM

 

MI_S03_withlogoBorn and raised in the violence-torn landscape of the Indian state
Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of the people, people all over the world. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us. Presenting the voices in our series of “Music of the World” sharing music and the thoughts of the artist from all over the world. Contact us to be a part of this series.

 

Music of the world 001: Tomas Doncker protesting for the Charleston Massacre through his music

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When I read about the rage, hatred, confusion and disillusionment Tomas Doncker shared over the Charleston Massacre, and how he has put his feelings into the songs he wrote and made for his Album “The Mess we made”, I had to look up and listen.

For those who don’t know about the Charleston Massacre, on June 17, 2015, a 21-year-old white man opened fired on a group of people inside the  Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The shooter was quoted to have said “I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.” 9 people died, all African-American, out of which 6 were women and 3 were men, killed by multiple gunshots fired at close range. This was clearly a hate crime of racism.

Looking up on Tomas Doncker’s biography, it’s interesting to note that his musical vision is global. Starting from New York, his work went across Japan, China as a singer, songwriter and producer.

Most recently, I was asked by a young student from my native place Manipur on how effective are music sung for a cause. Coming from a conflicted place and seeing different kind of protests leading to more violence, I would say protesting via music is a very peaceful form of protest. The Album “The Mess We Made” is Tomas Doncker’s  way of protesting for the Charleston Massacre. It’s a strong way of non violent protest sharing his rage, hatred, confusion, disillusionment of this hate crime of racism. Music have no boundary and will travel across the globe like his music has reach me. “Time will tell” is my favorite amongst  his Album “The Mess We Made”.

And we stick together fighting racism and hatred.

Here is the link to listen to “The Mess We Made”

Album trailer for “The Mess We Made”

 

MI_S03_withlogoBorn and raised in the violence-torn landscape of the Indian state
Manipur, I have a vision to promote and spread inspiring, empowering, educative & entertaining stories. I believe we can do this together by finding the voices, voices which needs to be heard and shared, voices of the people, people all over the world. I believe that these voices will bring a change and connect all of us. Presenting the voices in our series of “Music of the World” sharing music and the thoughts of the artist from all over the world. Contact us to be a part of this series.