This might just be the latest feature in Ripley’s Believe it or Not, unless of course we all decide otherwise! Did you know if you happen to be at Silchar’s Bhubeneshwar Sadhu Thakur’s Ashram during Kechuri Paali, game for a ‘Joydeb’ in Bishnupriya Manipuri, you have to seek  permission from a certain Profound Liberal ‘Bujon’ (PLB) to allow you to conduct the ‘Joydeb’ in Bishnupriya Manipuri, your own mother tongue? If you are lucky, you are allowed. In case you are not, well, you sing in Bengali. Keshobo Dito!

Some research into this progressive act endorsed with all passion by our Profound Liberal Bujon (PLB) reveals, “Amaar tharlo Joydeb haan dille bhaab uhaan nau aaher.”                                                                  
Please understand the problem. Our PLB cannot establish his hotline connection with God if you sing the Joydeb in Bishnupriya Manipuri. It disrupts his spiritual sanctity. Therefore, Bishnupriya Manipuris, hell with your mother tongue. Hell with your language. Hell with you. Our PLB is speeding his way to achieve Nirvana through our own extinction. So, do not ask. Do not scream. Do not oppose. Do not Joydeb in Bishnupriya Manipuri without his holy permission.
How can one Bishnupriya Manipuri, in a Bishnupriya Manipuri Ashram, built by the Bishnupriya Manipuris for the Bishnupriya Manipuris, stop another Bishnupriya Manipuri from singing in Bishnupriya Manipuri? I refuse to second the thought expressed by my brother Prabal that the community is nurturing a Ram Dev mindset. I claim, we don’t have any mindsets at the first place.  What Ram Dev mindsets are we talking about? Had we as a community, established some methods, systems in place this shameful cultural suicide would not be taking place. The absence of a constructive and collective mindset in the Bishnupriya Manipuri community for decades has led us to this grand circus, where we have to convince our own people to speak our own language, to wear our own attires. What’s happening is a dangerous cultural euthanasia. And, the sooner we as a community realize this, the better it is. The panic button needs to be pushed to save the Bishnupriya Manipuris from this cultural hara kiri that we are self performing. And the most alarming thing is our attitude. Taking things pretty easy too! The panic button should also be pushed when an effort, an initiative to put systems in place starts getting termed as regression or Talibanisation. That’s a myopic. That’s degeneration.  Why don’t we compare the same initiative for instilling a set of rules with the much well known Japanese discipline? Why just parallel the initiative with Talibanism or a Ram Dev mindset?  . Let’s please learn to draw the right analogies. Cite the right examples. And let’s do it responsibly.

Is it too much to expect our own people to attend a symbolic community event like a Sadhu Thakur Utsav in our traditional attires? Is it so grueling to manage one single day in 365 days to wear a dhoti and a kurta? Let me cite an example which might help us understand and believe that, if proper methods are adopted, it’s manageable. Please look at the picture below. (Last year’s Sadhu Thakur Utsav in New Delhi).  
Apart from yours sincerely in the middle, all the faces are in their twenties. Some, just into their twenties. Some of them are students. Some, professionals.  All are based in Delhi. All lead hectic lives that a metropolitan city like New Delhi offers.  They weren’t coerced.  They were inspired. They were given reasons. They bought the reasons. They were oriented. This phenomenon of packaging a bunch of bright youngsters in traditional attires at an important community is nothing but an affinity, love and respect for the community. It also, most importantly, a very healthy trend.
The same group of youngsters met at a picnic arranged by Bishnupriya Manipuri Nagarik Samiti, Delhi, early this year, sans a dhoti or the namsha. They even clinked a few drinks. So what Ram Dev mindsets are we talking about?
Walk around C R Park, in Delhi during Durga Puja to observe the Bengalis. They wear Dhoti-Punjabis during the entire festival. They speak in Bengali. To them it becomes the best of times to celebrate their magnificent identity and showcase the same to the entire world. And trust me, the world loves it. Are they immune to the pressures of urban life? What Herculean urban pressures do Bishnupriya Manipuris face that a Bengali doesn’t?
Unfortunately, we have only learnt to speak in Bengali. We choose to face only the linguistic aspect of the Bengalis. Period. We have not absorbed or appreciated or understood the Bengali’s passion and respect for his language and culture. We have not learnt from them the way to nurture one’s own cultural identity. Why can’t we learn this great trait from the Bengalis? That’s not a Ram Dev mindset. That’s not Talibanism. That’s called a positive cultural exchange. Similarly, Sardars living in France fight political battles to retain their turbans, which is the strongest visual reflection of their identity. Again, unfortunately we don’t see the Punjabi’s affinity to his community. Take the Japanese for that matter. They would exchange their visiting cards in their own Japanese etiquette whether they are in a boardroom that’s in the US, in Afghanistan or in Ethiopia. They aren’t Talibans either. That’s called a cultural promotion. And you need systems and discipline to do that.
Which community, which religion, which institution, which country, which brand, which organization does not carry its own set of rules? And most importantly who does not try to impose their own set rules in their respective territories, which is a must to maintain a certain degree of sanctity. Saints do. Armies do. Corporates do. Even the followers of Osho have a set of rules to follow! You still cannot go to a discotheque in India wearing a Saree because there is a dress code in place!
A dress code reflects your roots, conveys where you come from and confirms to the world that you have a certain identity. A dress code is a symbolic message of your existence, your work, your environment, your philosophy, your identity.
The Bishnupriya Manipuri community has not banned me from going to Hard Rock Café, enjoy my tequila shots and head bang on Linkin Park on a Friday night. Nobody has forced any Bishnupriya Manipuri to go to a discotheque with a Namsha on his forehead. Nobody has forced me to worship only Bhubeneshwar Sadhu Thakur and no other saints. No Bishnupriya Manipuri would be an outcast because she or he has a liberal view on homosexuality. We enjoy liberties in many ways.  Many Bishnupriya Manipuris even choose to speak in Bengali or Assamese in their own homes or with other Bishnupriya Manipuris. Some even choose, not to speak the language! Imagine there are Bishnupriya Manipuris in Karimganj who speak only in Bengali with their kids. This after Karimganj being only 20-30 kilometers away from Patherkandi! Sorry, but what Ram Dev mindsets are we talking about?
I endorse Prabal’s point of view when he says we as a community have drastically failed in methodizing a systematic cultural transfer to the youth. We are drowning into this plight because we never had any systems in place. Bishnupriya Manipuris could never boast of a solid community discipline like the South Indians, Bengalis, Marwaris, Punjabis, Gujratis or even the Meities. The outcome of which is a tug of war between two decisions among the youth. Do we wait for someone to come and show us the way? Or do we take the baton in our hands and run the race ourselves. Waiting for some 40+ elder isn’t surely the solution. And condemning those who volunteer to wear a dhoti, endorse a namsha isn’t at all the way to orient the youth. You need innovation, inspiration to woo the youth. But gone are the days, when a trainee would be spoon fed on his first job! Today he is expected to do the job to learn the job. And I guess Bishnupriya Manipuri youngsters are born with good IQs. All they need is to see that a system exists.
As a community we need reforms.
But reform is not about stripping off the dhoti.
Reform is about learning to wear the dhoti with equal panache as one would wear a pair of denim.
Reform is not just speaking in another language.
Reform is also about speaking your own language.
Reform is about accepting the new.
Reform is also about endorsing the old.
Reform is about stop treating inter-caste marriage as a punishable offence.
Reform is also about wearing our own attires.       
Reform is also about instilling self discipline as a community.

That to me, is our Call of the Day. That to me is Rational Thinking. Keshobo Dito!

Excellent article Dear Henry, its really deep throughts you have expressed. Its very true that we have to seek permission to perform in our language, that too in our social gathering..? in our social occation..? Why...? We definately perform in our mother tongue and bound to perform only in our mother tongue in near future. For that all we have to do is that, we have to discuss with our PBLs and make them undestand the importance of performing in BM. We have to make their blood hot enough to understand the merits of it. I hope these PLBs will understand it, since they are also BM and Khumel\'s blood is running in their vain too. I would like to add and to inform that in our Maalthep (east Dharam) we used to perform khechurir pali JAYDEV in our BM language for the last few years which was written by my mother. Initially my mother used to sing the line first, and then the same was used to repeat by others. But now almost all people in our locality can sing it in BM language. This it a live example of Reform. Once agai congatulation henry for writing this beautiful article. Keep writing more and more.........
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Thanks