RAIOT Posts

August 15, 2021 /

My father passed away almost 20 years ago but I remember him every day. I remember him as a loving and doting father, a jolly, generous, kind, often compulsive person, always ready to lend a helping hand to anyone in need. He would buy us gifts – clothes, toys and food whenever he felt like. I would always be so happy and glad just to be in his company.
He had many names and identities you might say. He was known by his Muslim name as Abrar Hussain, his nickname was Khuku and Johnky, his Christian name was Peter.

August 15, 2021 /

Uba i-don burom, uba don ka maiῆ ka muh, ka dei ka dur jong uwei u rangbah uba baroh ki ithuh khmat bad shait їohi barabor ha ki thaiῆ Mawkhar jong ka Nongbah Shillong ha ki snem 1932 haduh 1948. U dei u briew uba lieh ka sniehdoh bad uba pdeng ka rynїeng, uba jrong tmaiῆ bad u ju sngewtynnad ban phong pynsyiad da ki shinakut bad patlun jrong kiba syiad. Um ju pep ban deng tai, kup tupia bad rah ia u diengduh haba u їaid ha surok. Ki nongshong shnong jong ka shnong Mawkhar bad ki shnong ba marjan ki burom bha ia u bad u ju їarap ia ki briew da kaba sumar bad ai dawai ei. U dei u doctor uba sumar bad ai dawai homeopathy. U briew u bym ju bunktien bad haba u kren u da nang ban jied ia ki kyntien bad kren da thew.

August 15, 2021 /

“Balei ba ka hok bad jingshisha ki kylla kthang, ba ym lah ban shah ia ki jingїapher-jingїaprat jingmut, ia ki nia bad nongrim kiba їapher, ba ka hok ka don sha jngai? Ka hok bad ka jingshisha ki long kiba kthang ia kito kiba don ha ka bor bad burom, ka jingїapher- jingїaprat jingmut kam long kaba sngewtynnat ia katto katne ki riewheh riewhaiῆ kiba bat ia u lakam synshar bad ka jingbishar hok ka jngai bah na kiba duk, kiba tlotbor bad kiba shah їehnoh beiῆ. Ňiuma, ngi dei ban їai kren ia ka jingshisha, ngi dei ban pynneh ia ka jingїapher bad jingїaprat jingmut, ngi dei ban pynpoi ia ka hok bad ka bishar hok ha ki tyngkong їing jong kiba tlotbor bad kiba duk. Ngan ym sngap jar da lei lei ruh em.”

August 4, 2021 /

What connects the murder of George Floyd by the police in Minneapolis to the imprisoning of Nodeep Kaur in New Delhi to the detaining of Ahed Tamimi by Israeli authorities to the house arrest of Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Kashmir? How do race, caste, policing and occupation interconnect across borders?

August 3, 2021 /

Almost all reviewers of Haseen Dillruba will concur that this is a heady tale of triangulated desire between three people — Rishabh Saxena aka Rishu (Vikrant Massey), the archetypal good-boy, loyal and dutiful husband; Rani Kashyap (Taapsee Pannu), the wife of Rishu, who is an avid consumer of erotic-crime thrillers and aspires to live a sexually adventurous and imaginative life that she regularly encounters in the pulp-fiction that she reads

July 25, 2021 /

Ki don bun ki jinghikai ba ngi lah ban їoh na ka Ryntieh bad ki Khnam. U Paulo Coelho u nongthoh kot ba donnam u ῆiew ia kita ki jinghikai ba ki dei ka lynti jong ka Ryntieh bad u Khnam ha ka kot jong u, The Archer. Ka Ryntieh bad ki Khnam ki dei ruh ka bynta jong ka kolshor bad dei-riti jong ka jaidbynriew Hynῆiewtrep. Ha ka Lynnong ba 14 jong ka kot, Pynїeng La ka Rasong, I Bah R.T Rymbai I pynpaw shynna ia ka dor bad ka bynta jong ka Ryntieh bad ki Khnam ha ka jingim jong ki khun Hynῆiewtrep.

July 22, 2021 /

A student trained in economics and political economy knows what to read on a reasonable and good budget. First, one needs to understand how best a government plans to use its resources and generate revenue. Secondly, what are the plans of the government for the expenditure of this revenue and resources? Thirdly, what are the long term projects and policies which can fundamentally infuse dynamism into the economy and general well-being of the people? Finally, if there is a gap between the government’s earnings and expenditure and which leads to borrowing, is the government in a position to pay back this loan in a reasonable manner.

July 19, 2021 /

Corona is both devastatingly resilient and deeply egalitarian. There is only one way out of this – beat it at its own game. We have to be more resilient and more egalitarian. More resilience will require more than vaccines; it will necessitate massive investment in healthcare where there is no paucity of drugs or oxygen or beds.

July 18, 2021 /

Ki don ki jingpynksan nia ba kam don jingmut ban їakren shaphang ka jinglaitluid bad jingpynkup bor ia ki kynthei ha ka Jaidbynriew bad ka Jylla kaba shim jait na ka kmie. Ki pynksan jur halor ka nongrim ba ki kynthei ki dei ki nongїohpateng, ki nongkhmih bad nongpynїaid ia ka spah-ka nongtymmen jong ka kur bad ka їing. Dei halor kane ba ki kynnoh katba mon ia ki kynthei bad tang pher wiak ki tei pop ha ki kynthei. Naduh ka poikha-poiman haduh ka pait їing pait sem ki pynkit ha ki kynthei.

July 15, 2021 /

In the piece “How Hindi helped to build a bridge to Manipur language and culture” published on 12th July in The Hindu, the author of the said article/Op Ed piece Kuldeep Kumar, attempts to make a case for the prominence and historical importance of the Hindi and Devanagari script in Manipuri history and literature. The piece however is littered with factual and historical inaccuracies and worse, an extremely selective and distortive history masquerading as profound discovery.

In his recent opinion piece, Apoorvanand writes, in fact teaches, recently UAPA acquitted MLA Akhil Gogoi the meaning of justice, of law, of togetherness, of compassion, of equality with special emphasis on the preciousness and moral responsibility of freedom. Apoorvanand celebrates the release of Assamese activist Akhil Gogoi with his colleagues on June 17 and reiterates his conviction for support to any wrongfully punished opponents of the state saying ‘one who is at the receiving end must get ‘our’ support, irrespective of ‘their’ ideology. When Apoorvanand sanctions this moral support towards Akhil Gogoi and his comrades, probably one could not resist but to ponder- what moral ideological high ground is it anyway from where such bogus and idiosyncratic support in the name of preaching values can easily be unleashed?

June 30, 2021 /

Growing up on the outskirts of Bombay, there were four types of rice that we ate at home: two for daily meals—from the Public Distribution System (PDS) ration shops and later, the local kirana (grocery) shop; Basmati Rice for special occasions or for pulav; and the red boiled rice from Goa. Most often, I did not know their name. We ate what we could afford… Sometimes, we stretched a little too much for the long-grained Basmati on birthdays and feast days. There were ten such days in a year.

June 28, 2021 /

Colonial sovereignty travelled into the frontier hills of the north east frontier through law. Frontier law or its absence and frontier space or its elusiveness tell us a different story about the history of Khasi, Jaintiah, and Garo hills of north east India. This story is one of unfinished borders, and malleability of landscapes. What does belonging and land based identity show us when we begin to uncover the processes through which modern boundaries were established during the colonial period? Is the history of law the history of boundary making? What lies underneath landscapes and in between divided spaces that we encounter today as normalized in law ? And very broadly what does place based identity mean in view of spatial processes of law? This historically based essay will explore these questions and invites readers to critically rethink identities and boundaries.

June 23, 2021 /

Ki nongdiemadan wat la ki long ka kynhun kaba don ha trai duh jong ka pyrnon, pynban ki long ka kynhun kaba laitluid tam bad ki bun kiwei pat ki para nongshong shnong kiba kwah ban їoh lem ia ka kajuh ka jinglaitluid ban long kynrad bad long shakri hi da lade їalade. Kum kane ka jinglaitluid mano bym kwah? Ha kajuh ka por pat ka jingim ki nongdiemadan ka dap da ka jingїakhun lynter, khamtam ha kane ka Nongbah bad ka Jylla Meghalaya ha kaba ka aiῆjong ka Sorkar India kam pat shym la treikam satia bad kane ka buh ia ka jingim bad ka kamai kajih jong ki nongdiemadan ha ka jingeh bakhraw. Hynrei ym tang ia ki nongdiemadan, ki paidbah nongshong shnong ruh ki shem jingeh namar katba ym pat pyntreikam pura ia ka aiῆ kan long kaba kaba shitom ban wanrah ia ka jingkylluid bad ka jingitynnad jong ka Sor Shillong.

June 22, 2021 /

1. Kumno u tika iada Corona u treikam?

Ka long thik kumba la wah ia ki dur jong u nongleh kam sniew ha manla ki adong khnang ba ki pulit pahara ki lah ban ithuh ia u.

Kane kan iarap ia ki pulit pahara ban ioh kem noh ia ki naduh shua ba kin iohlad ban leh ia ki kam sniew ba ki thmu ha kano kano ka jaka thymmai ba ki poi.

Lada ngi pdiang ia u tika iada Corona…

Yn injek da u khniang Corona uba la iap bad u bym don jingktah shuh ia ka met jong ngi, hynrei kin long pynban kum ki pulit, kin iada bad iarap pat na ka bynta ban pynkhreh ia ka jingiakhun pyrshah ia u khniang ba im ki ban ktah bad pynsniew ia ka met jong ngi.

Te, ynda uta u khniang corona u la ioh ban rung ha ngi, ka met jong ngi ha ryngkat u tika ba la long kum kita ki pulit pahara kin iohi bad kem noh ia uta u khniang bad iada iangi na ka jingktah jong u.

June 17, 2021 /

The 2’nd wave of the Pandemic swept through the country leaving a trail of destruction everywhere; it was evident even in our tiny state, how the wave has ravaged through many unfortunate households. Yet here we are, still having to deal with people who think the virus isn’t real; and worse yet, people who know the virus is real but are spreading misinformation to the public, creating more confusion, and making it more difficult for people to come to the right conclusions.

June 9, 2021 /

It all started off with a supposed published writer (hooray!) Going off on a rant about how anyone can sing and make money while writers suffer in silence and abject poverty because they are unappreciated. Fortunately for me, I have very little published to boast as a writer so I’m good with being a rambler. That needled me though, since I have a problem with halo forging angels of light who use people as footstools to get a better view of greener pastures they cannot reach but can cry foul about. But I controlled myself.

June 6, 2021 /

On June 2, while the country continued to struggle, barely making sense of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, a tiny, fantastical incident gave Indians a moment of respite. The Delhi High Court was hearing the suit filed by Actor Juhi Chawla, where she argued that installing 5G technology would seriously damage humans and all of Earth’s ecosystem. All was going well, till the hearing was disrupted by a man singing songs from her movies, ranging from – “meri banno ki aayegi baraat” to “ghoonghat ki aad se.” Many users took to Twitter to express the comedy just enacted out on the stage of the Court.

June 5, 2021 /

Assam has six detention centres housed within six different jails of the state. There is no dedicated detention centre yet and a new detention centre with a capacity of holding 3000 persons is coming up at Matia in Goalpara district of the state. The construction of such a nature and the exclusion of millions from the National Register of Citizens in Assam brings with it the possibility of a rapid increase in the number of persons who will get detained in the state.

Dear Dolly,
I am so glad I reached out to you after hearing your UCLA talk, and for your honest and generous response that unspooled into such a heartfelt conversation…

Dearest Mabel,
I like the idea of reflecting together via letters. For some reason I feel the format is perfect; sort of a very deep political and feminist conversation in a letter-writing genre.

June 2, 2021 /

Katba ka pyrthei baroh shityllup ka dang ialeh ban wad ki lad ki lynti ha ka ban pynduh pyndam ia ka jingshitom khlam Covid-19 bala wan lyngshop bad shim ia ki mynsien briew khlem sangeh naduh ba kala sdang haduh mynta. Ki stad saian jong ka pyrthei ki trei borbah bad miet bad sngi ban shem ne ioh ia ka dawai ban pynkhiah na kane ka khlem hynrei tad haduh mynta kaba shem ne ioh dei tang ka dawai tika (Vaccine) ban iada na ka jingpang ne ban pynduna ia ki jingshitom lada bit ia ka khlam.

May 25, 2021 /

When the Tejpal “progressive” veneer slips to display a Brahminical choti, accompanied by Brahminical angst at being oh so “up-pressed” by a young woman’s rape complaint, and that unique Brahminical monopoly over HURT.
TT’s brother MT whines that TT’s being charged with rape inside lift, traumatised him (MT) so much he doesn’t use lifts; go on dates etc, AND that he (MT) started keeping a ponytail. Puzzled? Don’t be, it’s good old brahmanism.