My friend called today. Today came after an infinite wait, for me and for him. After all he has gone through in the Intensive Care Unit of an Imphal nursing home, it was the vintage Ratan Luwang who spoke to me. Jokes, ground situation in Manipur with profanities thrown in between. And a few Bengali slangs I taught him. Ratan sounded back in form. Though I know he will physically remain unfit for a long time to come. He cannot strut around in his motorbike anymore, to collect news and take pictures with his hi-tech digital camera. But the Ratan I know would not die so easily. Not even after the bureau chief of Poknapham, Manipur's largest circulated vernacular daily, was shot.
He would have died, 3 bullets were pumped into him (using a journo's jargon). Early in the morning, in February, while sipping tea and reading newspaper, enjoying the winter sun outside his Imphal house. One bullet passed through his abdomen while the other passed through the left thigh. One grazed past his right shoulder. The bullet that hit his abdomen near was almost fatal. It entered through his navel, exited after piercing the hip plate, ruptured his small intestine in six places and his colon.
He fell, unconscious, to rise once again. Rise and fight back against the growing intolerance against the media all over the country.
There were no Mayawati's goons, actually they were no mainstream India goons. Because mainstream India goons get more attention, more respect. But he was shot by insurgents from the outlawed Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP). Because Ratan is not an embedded journalist. He always fearlessly defended the press's rights and prestige, as general secretary of the All Manipur Working Journalists' Unions (AMWJU).
In delhi, few days back, most of us oblivious of a certain Ratan Luawang fighting for his life, rallied behind our own community as we marched from Press Club protesting against the attack against my collegues from CNN-IBN in Lucknow. After we exposed the unaccounted wealth of dalit leader Mayawati.
Unfortunately, we don't have a proper forum for journalists. Unfortunately, we lack unity. Unfortunately, we tend to discriminate within our community. Unfortunately, most insurgent groups in North-East India have lost their ideological base. Unfortunately, minus the ideology, most of them are now glorified extortionist outfits in a smuggler's garb. Unfortunately for these people, Ratan Luwang lives, to fight another day.
Welcome back, my friend. It's great to hear from you. It would be fun to cross over into Burma, clandestinely, yet again.Faith withstanding.
first published:March 28, 2006, 14:45 ISTlast updated:March 28, 2006, 14:45 IST
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March 28, 2006
My friend called today. Today came after an infinite wait, for me and for him. After all he has gone through in the Intensive Care Unit of an Imphal nursing home, it was the vintage Ratan Luwang who spoke to me. Jokes, ground situation in Manipur with profanities thrown in between. And a few Bengali slangs I taught him. Ratan sounded back in form. Though I know he will physically remain unfit for a long time to come. He cannot strut around in his motorbike anymore, to collect news and take pictures with his hi-tech digital camera. But the Ratan I know would not die so easily. Not even after the bureau chief of Poknapham, Manipur's largest circulated vernacular daily, was shot.
He would have died, 3 bullets were pumped into him (using a journo's jargon). Early in the morning, in February, while sipping tea and reading newspaper, enjoying the winter sun outside his Imphal house. One bullet passed through his abdomen while the other passed through the left thigh. One grazed past his right shoulder. The bullet that hit his abdomen near was almost fatal. It entered through his navel, exited after piercing the hip plate, ruptured his small intestine in six places and his colon.
He fell, unconscious, to rise once again. Rise and fight back against the growing intolerance against the media all over the country.
There were no Mayawati's goons, actually they were no mainstream India goons. Because mainstream India goons get more attention, more respect. But he was shot by insurgents from the outlawed Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP). Because Ratan is not an embedded journalist. He always fearlessly defended the press's rights and prestige, as general secretary of the All Manipur Working Journalists' Unions (AMWJU).
In delhi, few days back, most of us oblivious of a certain Ratan Luawang fighting for his life, rallied behind our own community as we marched from Press Club protesting against the attack against my collegues from CNN-IBN in Lucknow. After we exposed the unaccounted wealth of dalit leader Mayawati.
Unfortunately, we don't have a proper forum for journalists. Unfortunately, we lack unity. Unfortunately, we tend to discriminate within our community. Unfortunately, most insurgent groups in North-East India have lost their ideological base. Unfortunately, minus the ideology, most of them are now glorified extortionist outfits in a smuggler's garb. Unfortunately for these people, Ratan Luwang lives, to fight another day.
Welcome back, my friend. It's great to hear from you. It would be fun to cross over into Burma, clandestinely, yet again.Faith withstanding.
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