About Manipur

Voices from the common people, family, victims of AFSPA in Manipur

/ Monica Ingudam / Leave a comment

Many have asked me about AFSPA and I am sharing a documentary movie which covers about AFSPA, protests and situation in Manipur, voices from the common people, family and victims of AFSPA in Manipur.

When I grew up, before learning any games to play like any other child would, my father taught what we need to do when we hear gun shots, how we need to prostrate, crawl and where we need to go where we will be safe. I grew up in fear and stayed mostly at home, went out only out of necessity like attending school, and close family gatherings/functions. Everyone is home before darkness, gates are closed before darkness. I never saw any night life in Manipur. I thought it was normal while I was there, but coming out of Manipur and seeing the different ways of living, I realized how different it is growing up in a place of conflict, growing up in Manipur. And I hope someday, soon, there will be peace and the common people of Manipur can walk in the street without any fear, and live freely.

This is a strong documentary showing the reality and life of common people in Manipur. Watch it to understand and see a glimpse to a few cases where the victims, family of victims who are common people of Manipur.

Jano Devi, widow shares her story of her husband ending up death after he was picked up from home. She shares her story while she carries her infant baby at her back. She ask the question with tears , what should she answer when her child grows up and ask “Where is my father ?”

Binasakhi Lakshmi Devi, mother of victim shares her story of her son, who was picked up from home. Her son was found dead.

Thoudang Nanwa Singh shares about how he was beaten up, tied up and 5 to 6 personals forcing their genital in his mouth. He was tortured beating him again and again, playing with his genital.

Sharmila Irom started her fast after ten civilians were shot and killed while waiting at a bus stop on 2 November 2000

Kshetrimayum Netalini Devi, sister of victim who lost her sister while army personals started shooting in their residence

Source:

Photo: Google search (Manipur AFSPA)

Video: Youtube (Manipur in the Shadow of AFSPA  , A Documentary produced by Harsh Dobhal, Human Rights Law Network & ANHAD uploaded in 2010)

~The End ~

 

 

S02E16 FindingTheVoices: Sori Senjam, singer from Manipur

/ Monica Ingudam / 1 Comment

S02E16: FindingTheVoices Sori Senjam, singer from Manipur

Guest Speaker : Sori Senjam, singer from Manipur

Interview Location: Phone interview with Guest Speaker joining in from Imphal, Manipur.

Language: Podcast in Meiteilon.

Sori Senjam joining us from Imphal, Manipur sharing about his journey as a singer and composer for Meiteilon songs and music. Listen to him sharing his visions to grow, detailing out the limitations of applying his creativity to meet the market’s demand. He shares interesting behind the scenes of performing live in Imphal. Find out how Sori feels about our culture of giving money by listeners to artist during a live show. He must have sung more than 40 songs so far and he says that his best is yet to come, this is just the starting. We wish him good luck and looking forward for more of his work.

A Special thanks to all the volunteers and team of FindingTheVoices in trying a new approach for this episode. This was a challenging episode in recording timing to capture the daylight shooting in the early morning at Washington DC and in the afternoon in Imphal, and finally synching up the 2 streams of phone interview. We recognized the need for improvement in audio and video quality, but I know our young team tried our best and we will get better in future episodes.  Thanks to each and everyone of you.

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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/

 

S02E15 FINDINGTHEVOICES: Blooming Manipur, an initiative encouraging ownership of where we live and beautifying Manipur

/ Monica Ingudam / Leave a comment

S02E15: Blooming Manipur, an initiative encouraging  ownership of where we live and beautifying Manipur

Guest Speaker : Satyajit Elangbam of Blooming Manipur

Interview Location: Imphal, Manipur, India.

Language: Podcast in English.

‘Blooming Manipur’ is a community based project where it seeks to transform our public places and spaces as our pride and create a sense of belongingness. It is presently being implemented at Ema Keithel, the 300 years old traditional and ingenious women only market in Manipur. ‘Blooming Manipur’ is inspired by the ‘Britain in Bloom’ concept which has made Britain one of the beautiful island nation. Beyond the flowers and gardens of Britain, the campaign has done wonders for community cohesion and managed to get communities to participate in keeping the towns and cities beautiful, increasing civic sense of pride and truly creating a sense of belongingness to their streets and neighbourhoods.

It is run by a Blooming Manipur Team consisting of many volunteers who wish to transform Manipur’s leiraks/streets, kondhongs/gate , communal places , keithels/markets and our valued places of heritages into places of pride through community participation and promotion of civic responsibility.

We have Satyajit Elangbam representing Blooming Manipur sharing the story of Blooming Manipur. This initiative has inspired many people in Manipur and it’s very encouraging to see many people stepping up in the effort to beautify Manipur. An initiative by the people of Manipur, even inspiring the government body in this effort. Listen to the challenges of maintenance and about the people behind the scene which is making this happen. This project is not only about planting but instilling the values amongst all of us.

Let’s participate in this effort of beautification and keeping Manipur clean and beautiful. It’s easy to criticize and point fingers to organization and officials for not doing their duty in keeping Manipur clean and beautiful. But the question each of us need to ask is “What are we doing to contribute? Are we littering ?”. If we all start having the values, starting at your own home, gate, locality, schools wherever we can, it will add into the vision of Blooming Manipur, in creating a clean and beautiful Manipur. I invite everyone to be a part of this change. Let’s take the ownership in beautifying Manipur. Let’s bring a change together.

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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/

 

S02E14 FindingTheVoices: Naba Shamurailatpam sharing his journey as a singer in Manipur.

/ Monica Ingudam / 3 Comments

S02E14  FindingTheVoices: Naba Shamurailatpam sharing his journey as a singer in Manipur.

Guest Speaker: Naba Shamurailatpam (Volcano), popular singer of Manipur.

Interview Location: Imphal, Manipur, India.

Language: Podcast in Manipuri/Meiteilon.

Naba Shamurailatpam, popular singer of Manipur, popularly known as Naba Volcano amongst his music fan sharing his journey, the world of singing. He shares very interesting stories of his growing up phase, his fascination and inspiration growing up very close to the beauty of nature at Sekmai, Manipur. He shares about his initial failure, love and passion for songs and his different and interesting experiences of his journey and performances traveling to places all over India. Watch his interview to hear his special message to his fans, followers and supporters.

We have heard and played many of the songs back to back going through different moods, escaping to his songs enjoying or lamenting. Many of us grew up listening to “Sekmai Chameli” “Ukhrul da eigee thawai leihoure” “Matam Kuirabagi Tungda” “Chingi Echal” and many other songs. And it’s such a wonderful moment to meet him in person, hear his story and ever hear a song from him. What more can a fan ask for.

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MI_5FindingTheVoices brings voices and story that Inspire, Empower, Educate & Entertain us from people all over the world. It is a talk show presented by Monica Ingudam with the vision to promote and spread positive, hopeful, inspiring & entertaining stories in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur.

This is your show to promote your talents & work, share your experiences and voice what you stand for, what you believe in, what you want people to know & talk about.

https://findingthevoices.com/

 

Interview of Monica Ingudam by ISTV, local TV station in Manipur

/ Monica Ingudam / 3 Comments

Taking the special occasion of us celebrating 2 years of podcasting, I want to share the interview covered by ISTV Network Imphal, Manipur featuring FindingTheVoices during my visit in Manipur. It was a great honor to be interviewed by Tamo Kh. Bishwamittra, in the TV channel I watched growing up and follow regularly now getting the News update about Manipur.

As always I thank everyone for your support and participation in making our talk show possible.

Episode 1 : We spoke about me, my career path, experiences and story. We covered the challenges and choices I faced as a woman changing jobs, taking breaks to keep up the balancing role of career and being a mother. Also we spoke about keeping up with education, technology trend to keep up with the job market trend.

Episode 2 : We spoke about students, role model and talked about FindingTheVoices and I got an opportunity to thanks all the family of FindingTheVoices through ISTV, the TV channel in Manipur. Also I got to ask a question to the host, Tamo Kh. Bishwamittra which is a treat to watch for this show.

Thanks to everyone, to each and every team member of ISTV. This means a lot to me, to FindingTheVoices.

FindingTheVoices brings voices and story that Inspire, Empower, Educate & Entertain us from people all over the world. It is a talk show presented by Monica Ingudam with the vision to promote and spread positive, hopeful, inspiring & entertaining stories in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur.

This is your show to promote your talents & work, share your experiences and voice what you stand for, what you believe in, what you want people to know & talk about.

 

S02E13 FindingTheVoices: Meeting the Photographers of Manipur Photography Club.

/ Monica Ingudam / Leave a comment

S02E13  FindingTheVoices:  Meeting the Photographers of Manipur Photography Club.

Guest Speakers : Photographers of Manipur Photography Club. 

Interview Location: Ema Keithel, Imphal, Manipur, India.

Language: Podcast in English & Manipuri/Meiteilon.

I had the opportunity to cover a Photo walk event organized by Manipur Photography Club at Ema Keithel in Imphal, Manipur and meet many of the photographers whose work we have featured. Manipur Photography Club inspired me to add the photography section of FindingTheVoices. Most of our photographs are sponsored by members of Manipur Photography club. We have received very good feedback and messages from many, on these photographs. These are pictures which shows the beauty of Manipur, educating us of places we haven’t seen, of people and many aspects of Manipur. These are pictures, pictures that talks to you and many a times requires no words for description.

Manipur Photography club has created a very positive international platform bringing together members from all over the world. We appreciate the work and events (Photo walks, competitions, support for social events) organized by MPC in encouraging participation from all members. It is encouraging to see the positivity created amongst the youth in Manipur in adopting photography as a hobby, learning and sharing from each other and also giving opportunity for covering photo events in many events for the professional members.

For many of us we start our day in the morning, looking at the beautiful uploads at Manipur Photography Club, looking forward for more everyday. We look forward for a continuous collaboration with FindingTheVoices.

This episode is very special episode as I got to meet in person many of the photographers and family of FindingTheVoices, and got to hear their story, comments, feedback about FindingTheVoices too. Thanks everyone for taking the time to share about Manipur Photography Club and FindingTheVoices. Watch this episode to learn how MPC was formed, voices of MPC members.

MI_5FindingTheVoices brings voices and story that Inspire, Empower, Educate & Entertain us from people all over the world. It is a talk show presented by Monica Ingudam with the vision to promote and spread positive, hopeful, inspiring & entertaining stories in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur.

This is your show to promote your talents & work, share your experiences and voice what you stand for, what you believe in, what you want people to know & talk about.

https://findingthevoices.com/

 

S02E12 FindingTheVoices: Mangka Mayanglambam sharing her journey as a Manipuri Folk singer.

/ Monica Ingudam / 1 Comment

S02E12  FindingTheVoices: Mangka Mayanglambam sharing her journey as a Manipuri Folk singer.

Guest Speaker: Mangka Mayanglambam, Manipuri Folk, Traditional, Classical and Contemporary song performer.

Interview Location: Imphal, Manipur, India.

Language: Podcast in English.

Mangka Mayanglambam is the daughter of Mayanglambam Mangangsana and Maibam Rebika. She is a young and beautiful Manipuri Folk, Traditional, Classical and Contemporary song performer. She is such a beautiful artist, a gift to us, a gift to the land of Manipur filled with conflicts giving us hope, bringing smiles with her voice, with her performances, in reviving and inspiring many young and old, and re introducing the Manipuri folk songs to us, to the world.

We have seen, heard and admired many, many beautiful Manipuri folk song performances from our very own Mangka Mayanglambam, playing it back to back. And now we are proud to present her interview where she shares details about her journey as a Manipuri folk singer. I really enjoyed listening to her story and thoughts, that too coming from a teenager. Watch to find out How Mangka got into the world of Manipuri folk singer, what she enjoys, her dreams and aspirations. Find out what she likes to do for fun.

It’s interesting to note her thoughts and experience of an artist in Manipur and outside of Manipur. Her thoughts and story left me with the questions like “Do we give the due respect for an artist in Manipur ? What are the challenges faced by an artist ?”

Wishing her success in showing the world about Manipuri folk songs, we look forward for her upcoming performances and we know we will definitely have her again and again in our show in future.

Here is my favorite Mangka’s folk song performance at the opening of International polo at Manipur Polo Ground 2014, a song I have heard back to back many times.

MI_5FindingTheVoices brings voices and story that Inspire, Empower, Educate & Entertain us from people all over the world. It is a talk show presented by Monica Ingudam with the vision to promote and spread positive, hopeful, inspiring & entertaining stories in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur.

This is your show to promote your talents & work, share your experiences and voice what you stand for, what you believe in, what you want people to know & talk about.

https://findingthevoices.com/

 

S02E11 FindingTheVoices: Khundrakpam Bodhachandra sharing about choices of Education, Career and work culture in Manipur

/ Monica Ingudam / Leave a comment

S02E11  FindingTheVoices:  Khundrakpam Bodhachandra sharing about choices of Education, Career and work culture in Manipur

Guest Speaker: Khundrakpam Bodhachandra, Teacher, Guide and a Role Model.

Interview Location: Imphal, Manipur, India.

Language: Podcast in English.

A proud moment presenting Khundrakpam Bodhachandra sharing about choices of Education, Career and work culture in Manipur. It has been a great honor and a very nervous moment for me to interview my Teacher, Guide and role model. Growing up everyone has a role model a person whom we look up to, whom we feel like listening by virtue of our admiration and on our own will and not because we had to listen to them. I have always admired him for his honesty, directness, ways in dealing with things in life. He has played a major role and influence in my life in my choice of education, career and ways of life.

Watch this special episode to learn about how his journey of education, hard work, failures, building up confidence, believing in yourself and never giving up. Also he shares about  the different choices of career in Manipur and work culture in Manipur. As always his words are an inspiration building up such positive energy.

Even after knowing him for a long time, there were so many things I didn’t know about him. And through this interview, I have learnt and enjoyed his story and thoughts sharing about education, career and work culture in Manipur.

His message “Work Hard, don’t loose hope ! Everyone of us are intelligent” lingers even now, giving us hope to come out of our foolish moment.

MI_5FindingTheVoices brings voices and story that Inspire, Empower, Educate & Entertain us from people all over the world. It is a talk show presented by Monica Ingudam with the vision to promote and spread positive, hopeful, inspiring & entertaining stories in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur.

This is your show to promote your talents & work, share your experiences and voice what you stand for, what you believe in, what you want people to know & talk about.

https://findingthevoices.com/

 

S02E10 FindingTheVoices: From Malom to Rome, Rishikumar Khundongbam from Manipur

/ Monica Ingudam / Leave a comment

S02E10: From Malom to Rome, journey of Rishikumar Khundongbam from Manipur.

Guest Speaker : Rishikumar Khundongbam joining from Rome, Italy
Phone Interview: Washington DC, USA and Rome, Italy
Language: Podcast in Meitelon/Manipuri.

FindingTheVoices is proud to feature the journey of Rishikumar Khundongbam from Malom to Rome as a Security Assistant working for the Indian Embassy. He shares very interesting aspects and opportunity and growth of his career. He grew up from a poor family, struggling with the loss of his father at a young age, joining as a constable and continued his journey traveling to traveling to different places (yangon and Rome). It’s interesting to hear about his intensive training experience. He shares the motivation given by his seniors to grow in his career path showing different opportunity and it’s encouraging to hear such stories of growth and opportunity without being touched by the corruption, bribing or knowing higher officials one so often hear, giving hope, hope to the common people that you can grow.

Also he has tips and advice for self defense techniques for girls. He has a great message to students on the diverse career option available.

One of our goal is to give student and parents an opportunity to hear from our own people about different career and job options. This will help to widen the young minds of Manipur to hear about other line of work. I have spoken to many students and the general perception of career option are limited to becoming a Doctor, Engineer or IAS officer. Other options are not much known amongst students as well as parents. Also there is the craze and pressure to join extensive coaching classes and wait for 2 to 4 years to get into the medical entrance exam. And within this span, there are many who would become depressed with low self-esteem, loose focus and stray away. We encourage that students go in the line which they have aspirations and interest in rather than being forced or pressured into the line of career parents believe in.

MI_5FindingTheVoices brings voices and story that Inspire, Empower, Educate & Entertain us from people all over the world.. It is a talk show presented by Monica Ingudam with the vision to promote and spread positive, hopeful, inspiring & entertaining stories in the violence-torn landscape of Manipur.

This is your show to promote your talents & work, share your experiences and voice what you stand for, what you believe in, what you want people to know & talk about. I welcome you to join me in my journey to finding the voices at Http://FindingTheVoices.com/