Manipur Comments

UPSURGING YOUTHS IN THE LAND OF DARKNESS
Games and sports as the saving Grace

By P. Milan Khangamcha

Source: Souvenir, published in commemoration of ‘All India Inter University Judo (M/W) Tournament 2008-09’ hosted by Manipur University.

Asian Boxing Championship gold medalist Mayengbam Suranjoy being received at the Tulihal airport in Imphal. Photo: IFP

In the light of the ensuing All India Inter-University Judo (MIW) Toumament-2008 – 2009, to be held during December 25-30, 2009 at the premises of Manipur University it is quite heartening to have given this opportunity to reflect upon the state of affairs pertain­ing to the contributions ade by various talented sports persons of this tiny state. That the said events are held every year under the aegis of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), New Delhi and are hosted and organized by different universities, and this year end the above tournament is to be organized by Manipur University provide this writer certain foods for thought.

Because of so many reasons one cannot just help thinking in terms of some stock taking about the ways in which the Indian games and sports are afflicted by various scandals, abuses and charges alleged against those who are running these events. It is not without any reason that it is precisely due to politics that in spite of being the second largest populous country of the world as per national average the country’s performance is lacka­daisical and does not deserve any worthwhile comments. The country became exposed during the Beijing Olympics this year as it failed to show to the comity of nations that it has globally competent athletes and sports persons, thereby revealing the lack of proper policy planning, clear cut programs of actions, organizational culture, good management and sincerity as well as genuine patriotic feeling without which a nation cannot stand tall in proud self confidence and dignity. The fault does not lie in the youths themselves but in those political leaders who had been successively leading the nation right after the country’s independence. But it would a matter of theoretical wrangling to decide if we are getting leaders we deserve or not. One may laugh at this despair and even be alleged to be indulging in pessimism of some sort. But facts speak louder than what may be highlighted here. This particular national character is symptomatic of a deeper social pathos. The poor shows of the country’s sports persons in the International arena are only partial signs of a larger disease afflicting the collective psyche of the nation. Those darker spots of the country have been often brought out many scholars from time to time, but the outcome of their social analysis falls on deaf ears, and they have only thrashing dead horses. Hence, it is in this context that this paper endeavors to dwell very briefly on a source of beacon light illuminating the already deadened and darkened spirit and minds of at least a section of the Indian citizenry whose existence have been embroiled in a long protracted social, economic and political turmoil.

These citizens of the republic of India which this paper is referring to are the people of North-East India in general and Manipur in particular. Their being forgotten and being left high and dry after decades of neglects and marginalization by the series of the Indian ruling class of all hues coupled with their being ditched by the very regional lead­ers they have chosen to govern and lead them towards a better mode of existence have been so far unsuccessful to dampen their spirit. Their undying spirit is evident and is revealed in the way in which this area of the country continues to churn out celebrated sports persona. Their success is in spite of their political leaders who would only give empty rhetoric. Their local political leaders are yet to give their whole hearted and sincere support and institutional facilitations and encouragements as well as incentives even to those youths who have brought glories to the people of the region. Thus, there is no point in hoping that they would do anything worthwhile by evolving adequate institu­tional set up so that, talents in the said fields can be taped and developed right from the younger age group. Even after the absence of motivating social factors that is, mainly from the government’s side, that the youths of this part of the world make frequent headlines in national dailies shows that, there is something in the collective traits of the said people which enables them to surpass they encounter during the course of honing their skills and know in the fields of games and sports. The value of events under games & sports and understanding its meaning do not lie within themselves. They have to be comprehended within the frame work of the larger dynamics of social change. This would throw up multilayered narratives of social structure. It is the lack of self reflective understanding of those events with reference to the said larger conceptual frame work that the society in general mainly the elites and successive government authorities have been giving perfunctory treatment to them. Hence the success of the youths of the State of Manipur in the said field requires an explanation. That is their achievements in the activities are not the consequence of any good governance.

Amidst the chaotic social conditions that has come to characterize this erstwhile kingdom laden with all round system failure which some would ascribe the attribute of being a failed state, all is not lost when we are occasionally rejuvenated with and made to feel alive and kicking, making our bruised and weary souls by the laurels and fame brought to the state by those gifted youths in the field of sports and games. Given that they are thrown up by a regional collectivity so small in the size of its population when it is compared with its counterpart bigger states and are very frequently then not forced to swim upstream or cross every conceivable obstacles and odds in the hands of their own authority as well as the central government institution handling youth affairs, there are no enough words to describe the value of their achievements. They are yet get their dues from the state authority and the central government for the kind of success they have attained at in their respective fields.

Sarita(left) and Mary Kom(Right)

The disparity between the population size and the level of achievements of the youngsters in the said fields when it is seen vis-a-vis with other states requires an explana­tion which shall not be attempted here. It would be suffice to merely refer to the fact that their recreational talents are exceptional and given proper institutional support, training and encouragements they can be very well competent enough to participate in the international arena. They in terms of their undying and irrepressible spirits instill hope and courage to a collectivity constantly faced with the prospect of wiping out their very existence. They belong to a people surrounded by both internecine enemies within and without. To a mass much weakened by the fast depleting socio-immune system, and also in a state of utter confusion as they have been afflicted with an intractable auto, immune wars their success surely redefines the nature and the direction of the society as a whole. They enable us to recast our ethnic selfhood and make us feel the unique feeling of existentially living barely alive by bringing us back from the brink of the oblivion into which it has been in the perpetual danger of falling.

Not only sports and games are vital as the necessary components for social re­engineering as well as national reconstruction and integration, they enable us to lead a dignified life of social-self actualization. They facilitate the much needed social condition where sound minds exist in sound bodies. It would be senseless to imagine that they are merely exemplifications of individual excellence. Their gains are the expressions of an ethnic people with a hoary past with the claim of being an ancient Civilization. While the reasons for the frightening state of their present highly polarized and fragmented existence may lie on the domain of some inexplicable social-cultural, economic and political spheres, their resurgence in flying colours in spite of the mind boggling crises they encounter in their day today living is perhaps one of the characteristics of the people of Manipur. Coming out alive and kicking, unscathed by every thinkable social infirmities holding the hard earned crowns of success and glories by  Mary Kom, Kunjarani and many others from their chaotic social existence assures us that it is too early to lose hope for the people of state.

It has been only in the realms of culture on the one hand and games and sports on the other that Mother Manipur has not suffered from the despairing, abominable, unpar­donable and horrific acts of incestuous rape from Her own children. Hence, it is not surprising that those activities of the youths in the said areas have not so far received the necessary attention and institutional support from both the respective departments of the central and state government authorities. Their expressed or hidden intentions lie elsewhere, and not in those short and long term social goals towards which this aspect of the youth’s activities in their own ways is directed.

If games and sports are not everything about the role and importance of the need for proper dovetailing of the energies of the members of the younger generation of the country or the state, the way how unethical politics, misgovernance and the all round social decay perpetrated by the those who are the wielders of de-jure authority and power in all levels of public institutions have been derailing the required institutional facilitations to be provided to the youths is quite pathetic and appalling. The success of the youths of the state in these social events is in spite of the government machinery. The involvements of the authority in them have been merely routine and mechanical and never whole hearted or self, reflective manifestations of a collectivity for which they are supposed to represent.

Thus it is only in arena of games and sports that still there is the glimmer of hopes and to end the literary existential despair symbolized by the expression “Waiting for Godot”. It is this audacity of hope which enables us to pull on while being enmeshed within the kind of pervasive meaninglessness of existence and a chronic lack of an authentic life. If we can make this youthful phenomenon a general social character then, may be through it, it is not long before we can wriggle out of the socio, political pathos wrought by succes­sive political leaders who even after the entire six decades of India’s independence continue to make India or the state a corrupted and socio, economically divided country. It is in this context that it is desirable to view physical education as one of the indispensable academic programs so as to find new meanings and contexts and re-orient it towards the goal of reshaping the collectivity. One area which is not of lesser importance is that of the fact that games and sports activities as dynamic social phenomena provide the social space for cross-cultural dialogue necessary for peaceful mutual co-existence amongst the mem­bers of our pluralistic society. This may not see the light of the day if it continues to be treated in a half hearted manner by those who are in the helm of the affairs. So, let’s wake up and arise towards the required social consciousness and chart out the blue print of the policies and programs, and deliver them right at the doorstep of the people of the state. But this has to be done by way of customizing it as per the needs and demands of the people of the state. There is no one size fit all ideas. Only then, our youths may achieve individual excellence thereby serving to the cause of the society. Let’s make our hopes audacious.

Profile: The author is an Assistant Professor in Department of Philosophy and Ex – Cultural Coordinator of Manipur University