Randon thoughts- 6 October' 2006
The bus ride was as usual- many thoughts lingering in mind, of what to expect and what to not expect. The cool breeze touching my face, saying ' wake up; you are on the way to Chandel'. The bus is plying on a road where you see greenery all around- paddy fields, mountains and hills. It was serene and I was lost in consumed in thoughts, besides I was trying to read the book 'Spouse' by Shobha De (started looking for a prospect..lol). The bus halted all of a sudden. It appeared that all the vehicles have been stopped by Assam Rifles as they came under attack (as heard from the fellow passengers). I was worried and wondered what will happen to the people, especially the youths living around (there have been instances of tragic consequences against the public when such incident took place). I hoped that they don't start calling people down from the bus and start beating. However, no such incident took place and the bus turned back to another route. After few minutes I reached Kakching Lamkhai and went straight to a colleague's house. My colleague is a Naga by tribe (a Khoibu to be precise) and we are almost of the same age (Through my friend I got more acquainted with Naga's culture). How often I imagined various ethnic tribes staying and living together when there are power struggles amongst the vested groups. After taking quick bites at his house we kicked off for our final destination- DC Office, Chandel HQ. The road is terrible, and one could possibly see the worst potholes in the world. Believe me in this. A ride and your body will tell you the consequence for it. It is a challenge and a reality of hill district in Manipur. God knows, when the road repair will be completed.
My idea of office is about innovation, and also bringing about some of the wonderful systems of what I saw outside. Being transparent is what I pray and try practicing. But this is Manipur and hardly anyone knows the meaning of transparency. Any question you pose to your colleague regarding finance is taken personally and you don't really get proper clarification and reply, though I am a senior in terms of job responsibilities. I am left frustrated and it reaches a point, whereby I want to dig open into their heads and tell them that I am there for 'No fun', but rather for a purpose and contribute towards change (these are some of the principles I imbibed during my training as a social work student).
The work really does not provide me with much time and space to think (of what I do is right, act is right, think is right, vice-versa) but I know I am being truly professional and that it gave me a sense of satisfaction in what I was doing. I try to be sensitive to what I do and to the people around. A little change if you are able to bring in the existing screwed up system, then it will be a huge achievement.
Please understand that all the officers working in Manipur work under some pressure of the other but with little exaggeration. 4th of every month you see new faces (coming out from hibernation) attending the meeting. Everybody just talks. I suggest they should come down to the reality and work. Too much words without any actions may also screw up the system. DC has to show the way and lead by action. I escaped from the meeting and visited the District hospital, Chandel for conducting facility survey. One will not believe when I say that nothing exists there. One can only see doctors examining some patients. The survey gets completed by hook or crook...I do have boss and deadlines.
What I understand is that field and theories are very different. The reality is that those who founded the theory (ies) are usually not the ones who implements the same at the field level, rather by people who mostly don't understand the theory (ies) . That is where the gap exists and the public bears the brunt of such gaps.
In Manipur issues are large and it has taken decades to arrive at the present state- corruption, ethnic violence, etc and it may take many years to change. While there are issues and challenges there are persons taking advantage of such situations at the cost of you and I. Think!
Romendro@RoroSpeakMind - 6th Oct' 2006
The bus ride was as usual- many thoughts lingering in mind, of what to expect and what to not expect. The cool breeze touching my face, saying ' wake up; you are on the way to Chandel'. The bus is plying on a road where you see greenery all around- paddy fields, mountains and hills. It was serene and I was lost in consumed in thoughts, besides I was trying to read the book 'Spouse' by Shobha De (started looking for a prospect..lol). The bus halted all of a sudden. It appeared that all the vehicles have been stopped by Assam Rifles as they came under attack (as heard from the fellow passengers). I was worried and wondered what will happen to the people, especially the youths living around (there have been instances of tragic consequences against the public when such incident took place). I hoped that they don't start calling people down from the bus and start beating. However, no such incident took place and the bus turned back to another route. After few minutes I reached Kakching Lamkhai and went straight to a colleague's house. My colleague is a Naga by tribe (a Khoibu to be precise) and we are almost of the same age (Through my friend I got more acquainted with Naga's culture). How often I imagined various ethnic tribes staying and living together when there are power struggles amongst the vested groups. After taking quick bites at his house we kicked off for our final destination- DC Office, Chandel HQ. The road is terrible, and one could possibly see the worst potholes in the world. Believe me in this. A ride and your body will tell you the consequence for it. It is a challenge and a reality of hill district in Manipur. God knows, when the road repair will be completed.
My idea of office is about innovation, and also bringing about some of the wonderful systems of what I saw outside. Being transparent is what I pray and try practicing. But this is Manipur and hardly anyone knows the meaning of transparency. Any question you pose to your colleague regarding finance is taken personally and you don't really get proper clarification and reply, though I am a senior in terms of job responsibilities. I am left frustrated and it reaches a point, whereby I want to dig open into their heads and tell them that I am there for 'No fun', but rather for a purpose and contribute towards change (these are some of the principles I imbibed during my training as a social work student).
The work really does not provide me with much time and space to think (of what I do is right, act is right, think is right, vice-versa) but I know I am being truly professional and that it gave me a sense of satisfaction in what I was doing. I try to be sensitive to what I do and to the people around. A little change if you are able to bring in the existing screwed up system, then it will be a huge achievement.
Please understand that all the officers working in Manipur work under some pressure of the other but with little exaggeration. 4th of every month you see new faces (coming out from hibernation) attending the meeting. Everybody just talks. I suggest they should come down to the reality and work. Too much words without any actions may also screw up the system. DC has to show the way and lead by action. I escaped from the meeting and visited the District hospital, Chandel for conducting facility survey. One will not believe when I say that nothing exists there. One can only see doctors examining some patients. The survey gets completed by hook or crook...I do have boss and deadlines.
What I understand is that field and theories are very different. The reality is that those who founded the theory (ies) are usually not the ones who implements the same at the field level, rather by people who mostly don't understand the theory (ies) . That is where the gap exists and the public bears the brunt of such gaps.
In Manipur issues are large and it has taken decades to arrive at the present state- corruption, ethnic violence, etc and it may take many years to change. While there are issues and challenges there are persons taking advantage of such situations at the cost of you and I. Think!
Romendro@RoroSpeakMind - 6th Oct' 2006
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