Eta Thaomei

"Ita Thaomei"
- The Clever Old Woman -

A Popular Manipur Fungga wari (folk tale).............

Once upon a time, there lived an old widow in a village. She lived alone. She worked hard. She used to weave on the loom during daytime and spin at night. In addition to her hard work, she was wise and witty.

One dark night, a thief entered her house silently. The old widow was spinning by the fireside.

There was a thaomei burning nearby.

The thief hid himself in a dark corner. He was waiting for the old woman to fall asleep.

A little later the woman realized that there was someone hiding in the corner behind the thaomei. She was scared but she did not shout.

Instead, she pretended as if she were not aware of the presence of the thief.

She went on spinning.

Clever Old Woman spinning

But she thought of a plan to catch the thief.

Suddenly she called out, "Ita-thaomei! Ita-thaomei!".

Since there was no reply from the thaomei, she went on, "It is strange that you have not replied today. Everyday we talk to each other. What has happened today? Are you not responding because you are feeling sleepy? Or is there a stranger in the house tonight?"

The thief was surprised. The woman talked loudly, "Ita-thaomei, if you don't reply, it means that there is a stranger in the house." thief thought deeply, "A wonderful thing! A thaomei responding to a human call. Perhaps it is not responding tonight because of my presence. I cannot let the woman know of my presence. I will answer her call this time. She will think that every thing is all right."

Soon, the old woman called again, "Ita-thaomei, can you hear me?" The thief replied, "Yes Ita, I can hear you."

The widow felt quite certain now. She knew that she could catch the thief easily.

She asked, "Were you asleep a little while ago?" "Yes, I felt so sleepy; I slept for some time," replied the thief. The widow continued, "As usual, let me tell you a story. Listen to it carefully." "I am listening, please go on," replied the thief.

The old widow began her story:
"Once upon a time, there lived an old woman in a village. She lived alone. One night, while spinning, she fell asleep. In her dream, she saw a thief breaking into her house. Actually a thief had already broken into her house and was trying to steal the utensils in the house.

The old woman woke up and saw it. Immediately, she began to shout, "Thief, thief. There is 'a thief in my house."

The old widow actually kept shouting at the top of her voice. Finally, her neighbours woke up and rushed to her house. The old widow told them of the thief hiding in the corner. The thief who was listening to the story of the old woman was caught by the villagers.

Thus, her wit and wisdom saved her. The villagers thanked the clever widow. She helped them catch the thief so easily.

"The End"

Pandora Box

By N.S. Gill

Before the story begins, let me say that some people object to the title "Pandora's Box" and insist it should be "Pandora's Jar". They may have reason -- based on what Hesiod wrote, but myths change with the re-telling and people are accustomed to "Pandora's Box," so I shall use the term, in this, my re-telling of the myth of Pandora and her box.

The background to the story of Pandora's Box is the Titan Prometheus's passive-aggression towards the king of the gods, Zeus. Having gotten away with or having paid the price for one misdeed, Prometheus kept going back for more. Zeus was very creative in the way he meted out punishments. Pandora was one example.

The Gift of Pandora

Prometheus was mankind's benefactor. The king of the gods wasn't crazy about us and didn't want us to have, among other things, fire. Prometheus, on the other hand, wanted good things for us, so stealthily, he brought us the gift of fire. In return, Zeus presented man with a "gift," Pandora, the first woman. While Prometheus may have crafted man, woman was a different sort of creature. She came from the forge of Hephaestus, beautiful as a goddess and beguiling, thanks to traits bestowed by Athena and Zeus. Zeus presented her as a bride to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Prometheus had the gift of thinking ahead, but Epimetheus was only capable of afterthought, so Prometheus, expecting retribution for his audacity, had warned his brother against accepting gifts from Zeus.

Zeus gave the gods-crafted Pandora as bride to Epimetheus, along with a box with a warning label telling the couple never to open it. Epimetheus was dazzled by his bride, Pandora. Perhaps he forgot the advice of his prescient brother. Perhaps he thought they were supposed to hold the box in safe-keeping for Zeus against his return -- that it wasn't a gift, at all.

Pandora Opens the Box

Epimetheus insisted that his wife obey the letter of the label. Unfortunately, one day Pandora's husband left her side for a few hours. Pandora was gifted with curiosity as much as the other attributes given her by the gods. For her the box was a gift, not something to be kept in trust. What business had Zeus to tell her not to open it? Perhaps she'd listened to her brother-in-law's tales of tricking the king of the gods. Perhaps she saw nothing to fear. Maybe if she just took a quick peak.... Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she opened the box Zeus had given them just a crack. As Pandora did so, ghostly forms gushed forth from the crack. Pandora had unleashed all the evils now known to man. No longer could man loll about all day, but he would have to work and would succumb to illnesses.
At the very bottom of the container was the last thing to come out. It was something that wasn't evil. We call the good that Pandora unleashed by the name of hope.

Source : Pandora Box

Reference : Origins of Pandora's Box

5 things the ‘Mary Kom’ movie doesn’t tell you about Manipur

10 September 2014, 03:16PM

Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom is awesome.

She’s one of the world’s best boxers, one of India’s few individual Olympic champions, and the owner of a left hook that deserves to have poetry written about it.

Now she will have her own movie, Mary Kom, where this phenomenon will be played by Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra.

Until recently, though, many in India didn’t know much about this Indian sporting legend, or about Manipur, where she grew up.

Manipur is one of India’s most troubled states. You’ll probably see a lot of sequences depicting Manipuri life in the new film. But here are five things the film won’t tell you about the state, which makes Mary Kom’s journey so much more extraordinary.

5) Human rights abuses

For decades, ordinary people in Manipur have had to face serious abuses both from armed separatist groups and security forces. Thousands of people have died in conflicts between different armed groups, and between armed groups and the state. Many separatist groups continue to practice extortion, while security forces are accused of other abuses, including intimidation, torture and arbitrary detention.

4) Fake encounter killings

Security forces have been accused of carrying out hundreds of fake encounter killings in Manipur. Last year, a Supreme Court appointed independent panel said six representative cases it had investigated were all fake encounters. In one case where a 12-year old boy was shot dead by soldiers, it said, “It is extremely difficult to believe that nearly 20 trained security personnel equipped with sophisticated weapons…could not have overpowered/disabled the victim.”

One of the most infamous cases of alleged fake encounters in Manipur is that of….

3) Manorama Devi

Thangjam Manorama Devi was taken from her home by Assam Rifles personnel one night in July 2004 for ‘questioning’. Her dead body was found the next morning a few kilometres away, bearing bullet wounds on her back and genitals, and signs of rape and other torture. In one of the most extraordinary protests that followed, a group of 30 women stripped naked before the Assam Rifles headquarters in Imphal’s historic Kangla fort carrying banners that read “Indian Army Rape Us”.

Yet more than a decade later, nobody has been arrested or charged in the case, because of…

2) The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act

The AFSPA is one of India’s most infamous laws. It gives soldiers sweeping powers in areas where it is in force, including the power to shoot to kill in certain situations. It also gives soldiers effective immunity from prosecution by a civilian court. The AFSPA was used by the Army to block prosecutions of soldiers accused in the Manorama Devi case and in other cases in states in the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir, where an identical version of the Act is in force. The Justice Verma Committee said the law legitimized sexual violence, and many Indian and international human rights bodies have called for its repeal.

One of the most prominent Indian opponents of the AFSPA is Manipur’s “Iron Lady”…

1) Irom Sharmila

Irom Sharmila has been on a hunger strike for nearly 14 years now, demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. She started her strike in November 2000, after the killing of 10 people in Malom, Manipur by soldiers of the Assam Rifles. Irom Sharmila was released recently after spending 13 years in detention on multiple charges of attempted suicide, but in a disappointing return to the Manipur government’s farcical tactics, she was re-arrested just two days later for the same “offence”.

It’s hard enough to make it as a sportsperson in India, let alone if you are woman making inroads in a largely male dominated sport. Add to that Manipur’s extremely difficult socio-political environment in which Mary grew up and one can begin to understand/appreciate what a colossal journey Mary has undertaken!

Wouldn’t a more peaceful and rights-respecting environment in Manipur help uncover many more gems - sporting or otherwise!

Demand the repeal of the AFSPA and the immediate release of Prisoner of Conscience, Irom Sharmila by calling 08688001010 today!

Source : http://www.amnesty.org.in/show/blog/5-things-the-mary-kom-movie-doesnt-tell-you-about-manipur/

Pic: Iecercle / Flickr CC https://www.flickr.com/photos/lecercle/3452836536

Rorschach Ink Blot Test

Hermann Rorschach

Hermann Rorschach ( 8 November 1884 – 1 April 1922) was a Swiss Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, best known for developing a projective test known as the Rorschach inkblot test. This test was reportedly designed to reflect unconscious parts of the personality that "project" onto the stimuli. In the test, individuals are shown 10 inkblots – one at a time – and asked to report what objects or figures they see in each of them.

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

  The Rorschach inkblot test is a type of projective psychological test created in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach. Used to analyze personality and emotional functioning, it is the second most commonly used forensic test after the MMPI. A 1995 survey 412 clinical psychologists in the American Psychological Association revealed that 82% used the Rorschach inkblot test at least occasionally.

Critics note that the test's poor validity means that it is unable to accurately identify most psychological disorders. However, the test has shown to be effective in the diagnosis of illnesses characterized by distorted thinking, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

   About this test:
The Rorschach inkblot test is a method of psychological evaluation. Psychologists use this test to try to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of their patients. The Rorschach is currently the second most commonly used test in forensic assessment, after the MMPI, and has been employed in diagnosing underlying thought disorder and differentiating psychotic from nonpsychotic thinking in cases where the patient is reluctant to openly admit to psychotic thinking.

More Information:

  There are ten official inkblots. Five inkblots are black ink on white. Two are black and red ink on white. Three are multicolored. The psychologist shows the inkblots in a particular order and asks the patient, for each card, "What might this be?". After the patient has seen and responded to all the inkblots, the psychologist then gives them to him again one at a time to study. The patient is asked to list everything he sees in each blot, where he sees it, and what there is in the blot that makes it look like that. The blot can also be rotated. As the patient is examining the inkblots, the psychologist writes down everything the patient says or does, no matter how trivial. The psychologist also times the patient which then factors into the overall assessment.
Using the scores for these categories, the examiner then performs a series of mathematical calculations producing a structural summary of the test data. The results of the structural summary are interpreted using existing empirical research data on personality characteristics that have been demonstrated to be associated with different kinds of responses. Both the calculations of scores and the interpretation are often done electronically.

A common misconception of the Rorschach test is that its interpretation is based primarily on the contents of the response- what the examinee sees in the inkblot. In fact, the contents of the response are only a comparatively small portion of a broader cluster of variables that are used to interpret the Rorschach data.