The selfish Manipuri diaspora
By Ranjan Yumnam
Last week I wrote about how we go on producing assembly-line graduates and degree holders but with little hope of providing them employment. The result: the market is so saturated that it is now easier to find a jobless MA pass-out in a locality than it is to look for a plumber.
This bleak situation notwithstanding, let’s take a look at those luckier, brighter and perhaps more privileged sections of the student community who have managed to fight the odds and went on to join the ranks of global economy workforce. In Delhi, in Bangalore, in Singapore, in the US and many other countries, there is now a substantial Manipuri presence working in MNCs and big Indian companies. In fact, there is a joke doing the rounds that Manipuris are the new Punjabis minus the turbans.
Let’s call them the Manipuri diaspora. Some of you would not approve of this term as it connotes a negative phenomenon of massive human migration forced by persecution in their countries of origin. One good example is the Jews of Israel. But according to popular usage, diaspora as a word has taken on a non-political and neutral meaning. We talk of Indian diaspora in this latter benign sense, associating it with positive pull factor of human migration. Whichever way you look at it, the diaspora term is applicable to the Manipuri expatriates, including in its political, albeit negative, sense.
The persecution factor—the push factor—is very much evident in the outward exodus of the Ma-nipuris. Unlike the previous generation, youths today no longer live under false illusions. Switzerland of the East or the Jewel of India: these are empty slogans that only a lazy ad copy writer of Incredible India campaign will use. Unless we are the ringleaders of the persecuting marauding force, we are refugees in our own homes. Tell me a soul in Manipur who is not harassed by the state and non-state actors? On top of this, our multicultural fabric is under great strain: communities are arraigned against one another. The ‘million mutinies’ of VS Naipaul are coming true in this tiny landlocked state.
So under these circumstances, it’s best to leave the state and go West, East, South and North but for heaven’s sake not rot in Manipur, so goes the thinking of the educated new generation of Manipuris.
Sure enough, Manipuris outside the state are doing well and even outdoing the wildest dreams of their parents—gaining entirely new work experience and attractive financial rewards (even discounting for the fact that many of them are in the BPO industry). But what about the pay-offs to the larger Manipuri society against individual benefits from this Great March of the Manipuri Diaspora?
Almost nil.
There is not yet a recognition among the Manipuris working in foreign shores of the fact that there exists a moral and rational obligation for them to contribute to the growth of their native state and resolution of the perplexing range of issues facing it. For despite the deep-seated cynicism, a large part of the credit for the success of the Manipuri expatriates is due ultimately to their roots. It’s the tiny economy of Manipur that we so despise and pity alternately that sustains and gives them the oxygen in their struggling forays into alien environments. A case in point is: more than a quarter of the income of the Manipuri parents is diverted to outside the state to support the education of their children in metros and increasingly foreign universities hoping it to be a long term investment.
In return, we have not seen any diaspora or alumni organisation doing anything significant to give back to the society. We don’t expect them to be Bill Gates and give millions in charity money. The most we expect from them is some form of concern and activism to help the limping society get up on its feet but we see none.
The Manipuris who are working in the metros are no better: they have a little world of their own in which the stakes are for getting bigger packages and comparing it with those of other Manipuris. In fact, every conversation that I have had with any Manipuri working outside ends inevitably in a discussion of their perks and emoluments. So I have a little trick to put to stop such egotism in an instant. The moment you ask them of any help in getting a job in the company where they are working, they will vanish soon never to be seen again or most likely they will mutter to you some vague explanations of how there is a financial crunch and that the company is hardly getting by and such other non-sense. The most irritating part is when they will somehow hint at their supposed superior talent and that you are not good enough to be in their league. Phew!
Let me tell you the real reason why Manipuris working outside Manipur have become a pretentious lot full of subterfuge to stonewall you away from them. Each of them wants to be the only Manipuri working in that great ABC Company. Each of them wants to boast that they could find employment in such and such blue-chip company that other Manipuris can only dream of. Each of them wants to flaunt that they are the few remarkable Manipuris living in Bay Area in Silicon Valley earning unheard of salary. It’s surprising that they really believe in what they believe. I am left to wonder whether such attitudes are reflection of their insecurity, arrogance or just plain juvenility.
I think their orientation is all misplaced. If the motive is to compete, wouldn’t be much better if the competition is with non-Manipuris, not with some wide-eyed Manipuri novices. Having worked in some of the most prestigious and biggest media houses in India myself, I can vouch for the fact that other communities like Bengalis are just the opposites of the Manipuris. Instead of defending their imaginary turf (anyway it’s not your company), they would act as the bridges for other Bengalis to infiltrate into the company. That’s why Indian media is dominated by Bengalis who believe in helping their compatriots first and giving loyalty to the organisation second. This attitude is hopelessly absent among the Manipuris who want to bask in being an island, except that there is no glory.
Of course, this is a generalisation and like all stereotypes, it would be dead wrong to presume that all Manipuris are selfish jerks trying to fend off their boundaries from encroaching by another Manipuri. The greater issue is that I think it is payback time for the Manipuri diaspora. They should exercise some of their superior faculty in finding ways—and there are many— of giving back to their birthplace. At the end of the day, there is more to life than chasing some materialistic dreams, netting a trophy wife, building a house, owning a car and procreating some children. Let’s give a thought to repaying the debts we owe to our roots for being what we are, wherever we are. This is a moral responsibility, a question of patriotism. And an obligation if you consider the brain drain that is another name for Manipuri diaspora.

Share

Blogger Widgets