FindingTheVoices: Bung Keisham, fashion designer from Manipur, sharing about his work and life.
Guest Speaker : Bung Keisham
Interview Location: Web Interview, Guest Speaker joining in, from Netherlands.
Language: Interview in English
Bung Keisham, Fashion designer from Manipur shared about his rough childhood and dealing with the unacceptance of his identity as a gay. This was covered in the first part of the interview.
In this 2nd part of his interview, he shared about his work. It’s interesting to learn the details about his work. He is working on Kids wear and I am looking forward to see the collection. He also shared about life in Netherlands.

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/

S02E29 FindingTheVoices: Bung Keisham, fashion designer from Manipur, sharing about his work and life (Part 2)

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A stroll, an acrylic painting

A stroll, an acrylic painting by Monica Ingudam.

A stroll, an acrylic painting

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Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Danger of a single story from Manipur

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Today, I want to share a video of covered by iValley Talks. This video was shared more than 1 year ago way back in July 2014 with only 596 views. In this video, Kishalay Bhattacharjee talks about the danger of a single story from Manipur. Kishalay Bhattacharjee, an author, a senior journalist who has been with broadcast television for twenty years, seventeen of which he spent at New Delhi Television (NDTV) where he was a Resident Editor covering conflict in India’s North-East. He is a regular columnist and speaker on conflict and post-conflict situations in India.

First of all I would like to thank and recognize the work of Kishalay Bhattacharjee and also to each and every brave journalists reporting the conflicts stories of Manipur. Their reports have given a glimpse to the world of the conflicts and issues of Manipur. In this video, he talks about what and how he has failed to cover other stories, stories which are important in breaking the stereotype image the world sees. He has covered only the images of violence. And in his attempt to cover other stories he has written the books “Che in Paona Bazaar” and “Blood on my hands: Confessions of staged encounters”

He is right, there are a lot of stories which needs to be covered, stories where people rise and celebrate life in the midst of the conflict. There are stories of people working together showing hope, unity, integration and progress in the conflict zone.

People (both government officials and public) working together and rising up. Such stories aren’t covered. But you will see stories of the divide amongst people and people OR people and system, covered in bold with the same title and content (even with the mistakes carried over), being circulated.

Let me give an example. During the flood and landslides calamities in Manipur this year, the people (irrespective of ethnic community) came together reaching out to the people affected in the valley and hills. This was an empowering example of people coming together. Then, there are the army officials who worked very hard in repairing the roads for the people. Where are these stories ? Aren’t these stories important ? There is no divide in this effort and so this story didn’t reach the media.

So yes, I definitely echo that we need to change the single story portrayed in the media. And I am in the quest for FindingTheVoices, I believe that these stories will bring a change and create a positive image of Manipur 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.

Reference: IVALLEY TALKS

FindingTheVoices: Bung Keisham, fashion designer from Manipur, sharing about being gay.
Guest Speaker : Bung Keisham
Interview Location: Web Interview, Guest Speaker joining in, from Netherlands.
Language: Interview in English

Bung Keisham, Fashion designer from Manipur shared about his rough childhood and dealing with the unacceptance of his identity as a gay.

 “The first time I knew I was different was when I wanted to buy Manipuri dolls. I was locked in the house and beaten up because I liked girl’s things. I was taken to the psychiatrist to change my thinking. I tried to commit suicide multiple times. I wasn’t accepted the way I am.”
This is the first part of the interview, please come back for the 2nd part.

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/

S02E28 FindingTheVoices: Bung Keisham, fashion designer from Manipur sharing about being gay. (Part 1)

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FindingTheVoices: Meeting with Juliana Phaomei, a rongmei kabui tribal student from Manipur

Guest Speaker : Juliana Phaomei , student, blogger at This Life, My Day   

Interview Location: Video Call , Juliana joined in from Bangalore.

Language: Videocast in English

Meeting with Juliana Phaomei, a rongmei kabui tribal student from Manipur.

I met her to get her feedback and input as part of our outreach campaign of FindingTheVoices. I received such great feedback and was very excited to answer her questions, listening to her views/feedback. I am really happy to meet young people from Manipur who believe in peace and progress. She also asked me great questions, where I got an opportunity to share my vision and thoughts. Juliana is a young 20 year old student filled with great ideas and spirit, seeking change, a change and integration we need in Manipur. This was not a planned episode but I have to share her voice and her questions. This is just the beginning.

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.

We have completed 3 years of pod casting and have had a tremendous positive response from our viewers and listeners. And from the messages received from various age groups, our programs achieved our vision of getting our listeners and viewers inspired, educated, empowered and entertained.

I believe that these stories will bring a change and create a positive image of Manipur 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.

I am seeking out for collaboration to include you. Inviting you to join me in my journey of FindingTheVoices by making this your own.

http://FindingTheVoices.com

 

S02E27 FindingTheVoices: Juliana Phaomei, a rongmei kabui tribal student from Manipur

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Nanao’s Telangga, Nanao’s Kite in meiteilon (Manipuri). I drew this painting remembering my little brother’s love for flying kites in Manipur. 

He loved flying kites as a kid. He was one of the best in our leikai (community) and known for his excellent skills for cutting other’s kite. He was very possessive of his kites and it was on very rare occasion that he would let me fly. I enjoyed watching the cutting kites and the excitement, running behind the falling kite once the thread was cut. At times we were lucky coming back with the trophy kite, other times it was stuck on a high tree but was contented that at least he won in cutting. Of course then there were times our kite got cut.

One sunny afternoon he agreed that he will let me fly his kite if I assist him in making his thread strong and sharp so that he can cut other kites. We were busy grounding pieces of glasses, mixing with the heated flour paste in a tin and then applying on the thread. The thread was lined from tree to tree, making crossed designs blocking everyone to pass my father’s front yard. We waited for the first layer of application of the paste (“maan thaba” as he calls it) on the thread to dry up and then we will apply all over again.  Once it was dried, it was starched and sharp. We had to handle it carefully while rolling the thread back, so that it wouldn’t hurt our fingers. 

It was a wonderful evening flying kites with my little brother.
An acrylic painting by Monica Ingudam

Nanao’s telangga, an acrylic painting

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100 It’s all in the mind : The Red Flower

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The Red Flower

Seek
To bloom
Far Away
In the mountains
Just to catch a sight of you in silence.

~The End~

An Experimental attempt to put thoughts in writing by Monica Ingudam.

Author’s Notes: Originally written on Feb 22, 2015, when the heart misses.

A tetractys poem is written with 20 syllables. A tetractys can have more than one stanza. But all new stanzas must be have an inverted syllable count. There is no limit to the number of stanzas. This type of poem often expresses a complete thought

The Lady with grey hairs. Pok houbi Nupi is the meiteilon word for a lady with grey hairs. An acrylic painting by Monica Ingudam.

PaintingsByMonicaIngudam

The lady with Grey Hairs

Pok houbi Nupi, The Lady with grey hairs, an acrylic painting

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099 It’s all in the mind : The fallen one

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You zipped through,
Ignoring the fallen one,
Wailing for help,
Yes, the fallen one,
The one who needed your help,
But had nothing to offer,
But you zipped through,
Knowing you could have helped,
But you wouldn’t,
Your head is clear,
Your mind is set,
You need to be right,
And so I must be wrong,
So wrong who deserved to be alone wailing in the dark pit.

You had stopped before,
But then it was bright and beautiful.

The pit became darker,
The wail stopped,
The voice silenced,
Hardening the heart,
Drying the tears,
Breaking the spirit,
But with time found the voice in that silence,
Creating beautiful in the darkness,
Strengthening the soul with the pains,
Mending the spirit,
A spirit one can’t kill,
A spirit rising from being fallen,
The fallen one doesn’t always remain fallen,
And the fallen one doesn’t forget.