A Gratitude to Forum

Thank you so much for your appreciation and good wishes, oja Somorjit Yengkhom. We feel much encouraged! And now, you are also part of this. Something like this would not have been possible but for the resources the town has, including you, kaka Dr. Lalit Pukhrambam, tamo Ajit Naorem, tamo Surjit Kshetrimayum, tamo manoranjan, tamo rajivkshetri, so on--I cannot name them all, the few we have already here with us on Kakching Thinks, and all those who have not yet joined us, and those who may not be able to join us, and all those who made it possible for Kakching to be where it is now, but who are no more among us. Gratitude to all of them!

Humans, when good, are angels—they do wonderful things for one another, they share what they know and have, and what they do such as the invention of electricity, electric bulbs, X-ray, printing machine, radio, computer and the internet, etc. become the property of all humans, with us neither having to nor being able to pay anything to them except for our sincere gratitude. In the thousands (I’d say thousands) of years that humans have lived, we have benefited from the struggles, sacrifices, and contributions of individuals and groups, known and unknown, and all what we have learned have become our common, collective treasure. It is this treasure, this fund of knowledge that has enabled us to see that in the human realm of things there are all things humans need in life—food, clothes, energy, power, and so on, only if we organize our resources properly and efficiently.

However, we humans are not always good, though not bad. Perhaps they are not intrinsically bad, but they don’t know a better or more cooperative way of social life, so they unwittingly or unintentionally end up being what they are, without being better or more helpful than the little they are. We don’t want problems and miseries, but there are problems and miseries. Because we throw miseries to one another? In fact some of us do, but will all our miseries disappear if we don’t throw problems and miseries to one another? Most problems in life are there not because they are insolvable, but because the problems and the ideas/wisdom/material that can solve them seldom meet, mainly because humans have not shared these things as, when and where it would ideally be the case.

I may sound mysterious, but I would like to emphasize the point that as knowledge is kind of energy (probably one which does not strictly follow the laws of thermodynamics), it should be convertible to various things, be it money, food, cars, buildings, etc. If knowledge makes civilizations possible, then, knowledge should have all the energies of a civilization. But this transformation of knowledge into tangible structures of civilization occurs only when the members of what would be a civilization organize their resources, share them, and utilize them in the most efficient way thinkable at stage of their development. The emergence of English civilization, the French civilization, and the American civilization—all these have proved how civilization occurs. It is by sharing ideas—consciously or otherwise.

Any community, big or small, can share ideas—sharing is a social habit or culture that can and should be acquired. We, the Manipuris, should also share ideas meaningfully—we have not yet developed a remarkably cooperative idea-sharing culture. We have since ancient times been obscurantist.

However, I would say the ground is already there, providing the conditions necessary for a forum like this to be functionally there—we have the human resource always ready for discussions, and the technology (the computer, mobile phones, and the Internet). We have our teachers, professionals, businessmen, social workers, philanthropists, curious students, anxious parents and supportive civic and civil society organizations—these people are masters of their respective trades and walks of life. So, I believe, if we organize our resources consciously, and share what we know with each other and train our beam of light when and where it is required, our society should surely prove to us that it can be better than we think it is and would ever be. And when we all of us gather, to muster all our energy, we will know how strong we are, and what our weaknesses are, and where they are. Then we will know what we should do to make up for that.

It is clear in all this that this is something one single person, or two or three or just a few good or even extraordinary people cannot do at all. This is should be a mass phenomenon, a mass project if it is a conscious effort. I hope the people of Kakching and of the villages around would take part in making this effort. I also think it would be nice like a blessing to see a discussion forum like this emerging in every town and city in Manipur.