Men with weapons—some standing tall and some inside their official vehicles murmuring something on their wireless phones; some women with kids tied up on their shoulders—some chewing beetle nuts and engaging in deep household conversations whilst others were planning; teenagers seemed to be looking forward to what is going to happen; and toddlers crying, laughing, and staring at something or the other. Men loitering around lazily—some giving advice on the current politics—while others were there to look after their kids and children. Most of the women had a short bamboo—small cloths dipped with kerosene filled up one side of the bamboo whole—exactly the one I was holding in my hand. The area was smelling of people, kerosene, fire, beetle nuts, eagerness, smiles, fear, and aggression.
The above excerpt is a short description of yesterday’s fire rally area, where people have started gathering after 7 p.m. in Ningthoukhong bazaar, Manipur Northeast India. This was my first fire rally since 3rd May 2023. I was amazed at the variety of conversations and actions happening at the same time. It was amazing to see toddlers coming to cheer up their mothers, but I have no idea why there were a negligible number of men for the rally, and perhaps I saw only one woman police amongst the numbers of men police. I see that as visible courage. Nonetheless, I was scared and very much wanted to take part in the rally. If I do not take part in such a trying situation in the state, who else will take part? I feel the need for it. And if I can take part—I am not very vocal about my political views—then why not others? As some of us—not the whole India—know, Manipur has been in chaotic episodic turmoil since 3rd May 2023. From both the Kuki and Meitei communities, many have been injured, bled, tortured, mutilated, raped, burned, and chopped into pieces in these 16 months. Some people who could afford it have left Manipur, and many who couldn’t are in relief camps. I am sure I do not have to describe how dire the living condition of a relief camp is. And why is it called ‘relief”? There is no relief in such camps; I have only seen pain, hunger, and anger in the eyes of the people in such ‘relief’ camps.
As I was saying, the night was young, and many more women started coming and joining, and I kept wondering what was going to happen. Such fire rallies and protests are not new in Manipur, and I know they can be peaceful as well as deadly. So, I was thinking about which one was going to be tonight. Such rallies and protests have been in continuation since the unfortunate night of May 3, 2023, but I have been recollecting if some improvement or efforts have been brought forward by the local political sirs. I am saying local political sirs because they are the ones who ‘manage’ the state, and currently the Indian government is not very interested in the Manipur situation. Rather, our honorable prime minister is busy solving the war situation between Ukraine and Russia. And I couldn’t agree more that it is high time a peaceful pact between Ukraine and Russia. To be clear, I am not at all comparing the Ukraine-Russia situation to what is happening in Manipur. And as an Indian, I am glad that our honorable prime minister is coming forward to solve conflicts. However, the Manipur conflict seems to be dealt with by the honorable local political sirs because our honorable prime minister exclaims that Manipur is slowly coming to peace. Our honorable home minister also agrees with him. But people here in Manipur have been begging for that peace to come since the 16th month. I might be exaggerating; maybe the Sirs sitting in New Delhi who give the orders to manage the situation in Manipur may have a different understanding of ‘peace’ or perhaps the orders taken up by the local political Sirs have another perception of ‘peace’. But I am not exaggerating when I am writing down here that people are not in ‘peace’. People in Manipur need help from the Sirs and Madams whom we have trusted with our thumbs-up every 5 years.
Coming back to the fire rally, we all slowly began to form three parallel lines whilst holding the flames upright and headed towards the DC office, Bishnupur, Manipur Northeast India. Many small autorickshaws were in between us and on the side with slogans on the microphone, such as ‘long live Manipur’ and ‘Do not obliterate Manipur’. We chanted the same slogan and headed towards our destination. Now, here is a hitch. Since the conflict started, people from every ward number[1]must come out and stay out on the main road to stop Indian army vehicles[2] and check suspicious vehicles. Today was the day of our ward.no to stay overnight. My sister-in-law and I decided to stay because my parents are old and my brother is keeping unwell. As we were going to stay overnight, we did not walk with others for long and went back home to get a bedsheet, blanket, and floor mat for the night. We went to the empty market area to join others for the nightwatch. We were only women. Later I got the information that some men were sleeping in the opposite empty area as well, but numbers were minimal as compared to us. Why more women—both in the rally and nightwatch? I do not know. Nonetheless, there is a famous saying here in Manipur that ‘Women in Manipur are brave’—Meitei nupidi lingjel leibini’. So maybe that’s that. No pun intended.
We placed our floor mat where we found an empty space for four people—my sister-in-law and two neighbors. Once we were seated, it did not reflect the very idea of a nightwatch. There were three groups—composed of 9–12 women—playing different games such as ludo, cards, etc. Smaller groups, 3-6 women, were more into household conversations. Others were already sleeping, and there was a tiny shop with essentials such as tea, biscuits, juice, water, beetle nuts, etc. It seemed, to me, more like a gathering of women and having their own time. It is strange to me at least that why would all these women who come out to spend the whole night whilst leaving their sick family members, their babies, their safe bedroom? Why would they want to be awake the whole night? As far as I know—because I belong to the same community—these nighwatch days are firstly a choice to be part of the situation and show their pain and anger, secondly a time to spend with their friends and talk, and thirdly a way to avoid the chaos in their own family. And there can be myriads of reasons, but I guess only three examples are enough for this short writeup to show the choices these nightwatchers have for a night.
I have imagined a much more serious gathering of us, like some of them taking turns to sleep and others checking the vehicles, and serious group discussions on the conflict. It was all just in my head. I even took a book on climate change and development to read when my turn comes to be awake. Alas! My book became the pillow of the night. Few groups started their game, and others continued their conversation, and I went to sleep, and soon the other girl—my school junior—joined me. I was awakened with my full bladder and asked the girl for a urination area. We went out and relieved ourselves under a tree nearby. It is such a different feeling to pee out in the open. There is an urgency to empty the bladder before anyone sees us and a strange feeling of being closer to nature (nature can mean different for different people).
Again, coming back to the nightwatch scene. Some were asleep, but most of the groups were laughing and arguing in their dimensions. I went back to sleep again and woke up with loud noises of vehicles and people taking out stuff from some covered things from where we all were sleeping at around 4am. Last night, I presumed that it was for our safety—sacks filled with soil—as I have seen such sacks everywhere around since the conflict started—so that bullets would not pass through, but it was all vegetables to be sold in the morning market, which was starting soon, and we were being woken up by the many people around. It was not such a pleasant morning wake-up; it was a manner of showing our resistance and aggression as well. up drill. We had to wake up, obviously. I was a bit disheartened and accompanied my sister-in-law buying fresh vegetables. On the way back home, my mind was foggy. I couldn’t understand the purpose of last night’s nightwatch. Okay, the fire rally is the requirement of the moment. The nightwatch is an action of showing our resistance and aggression as well. But the nightwatch I attended last night was out of my understanding capacity.
It made me think while feeling the cold breeze on my cheeks. What happened last night? What was nightwatch for? What did we achieve? What was the purpose? Was it even necessary? My interpretation might be wrong because I didn’t ask anyone. I was more freaked out by the idea of the nightwatch. Anyone with a weapon can come and kill us all. Just like that. We were like available prey. So, my first nightwatch filled up my head with myriads of questions. Somewhere I understood the purpose of a nightwatch. It was to stop entering insurgents or illegal transportation of weapons to insurgents’ groups through the highway. There might be many other purposes, but this explanation seems reasonable enough. However, what about my other lingering queries? Local political sirs and honorable people sitting in New Delhi are talking to each other, and our honorable Chief Minister recently spoke in the Manipur assembly that our Prime Minister has all the information about the situation, and honorable prime minister also suggested to invest in pineapple. I couldn’t agree more with our honorable prime minister. I have not tasted any pineapple, which is better than Manipur. But my confusion is why they are not talking to us and listening to our woes. Secondly, why can’t there be a conversation between the two communities if they want? Why do they not want that? Why do both communities will not want that?
Both the communities have lost their mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, husbands, wives, friends, and neighbors. I do not believe that any of them would have wanted that. Do you? I don’t think so. Such hatred and anger have been ignited and continued by political reasons and for political agenda. Both the communities have been living peacefully, and there might have been, of course, neighborly fights and arguments, but it is different this time. Why is it different this time? I assume, no, I believe that this is politically inflicted violence, and now people are engrossed deeply with the violence that the political system has brought to a turmoil. Now what? I don’t know. Probably more loss of precious lives, which are not so precious for the political system. Who knows? They know. Who are they? We all know…
Asem Chanu Manimala is a PhD student, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen, Norway
[1] Ward numbers can be understood as small clusters of households in a village for better management and identification of the people.
[2] I think this is not a place to discuss the conflict between the Indian army and people in Manipur, and much has been written on this.
