Rahul... an ode and enigma

If there would be any part of my life that I will never be able to completely comprehend, it would be my short stay at Manipur in Manipur University. I suppose reached there on July of '96 and stayed there till September and tried going on and off there till October. A trip made at much impressionable young age and being away from home for the first time and that to in every sense to an exotic land made things all the more interesting. And even stranger is that aspect besides memories and small newspaper cutout I have almost nothing left. I suppose if I even recite the events it might be called a delirium a figment of mind.

But in no place in such a short time I was exposed to the vagaries of life. Fear, Geographical beauty, Higer education, selfless friendship and culminating in death and famous escape. Never will I be ever maybe ever be hounded by the District Superintendent's of Police hounding for the whole day for us to find us 2 in the morning. And then offer to stay in Governor's Place and offer given by none other put through by Chief Minister of State and passed to us by Head of Department on request of Vice Chancellor of the University. And still got rejected by all of us. And after all never seeing that place ever, as of till now.

But one memory that will always linger will be of Rahul Shukla. I guy like whom I have never seen. Except memories of his towering figure and snippets of talks I had with him I remember little. A life so full of promise sacrificed at hands of they call "terrorism". A blanket of covering many of shortcoming of a society caught by in history and some really bad politics by the central government. And certainly used as a retext by someone who had a much bigger personal reason than he being an outsider. The reason will forever will be entrained with bones. Sometimes you need parents of to bring out the culprit.

But besides the earthshaking events there were the small memories. Being whistled by girl in a street road (Certainly gives a kick even to this day). Seeing the un-trampled virgin forest in middle of the mighty Himalayan or experiencing for the first time the only few matriarchal societies in the world. One thing with such different social system is how it hits you right at your face. All business everything run by women and men sitting at home and taking care of kids.

And compared to today's living now in an Internet world and all the digital technology makes capturing memories and preserving so easy it the brief adventure is nothing but synaptic images and memories.

Yet the most inseperable memories will certainly be of the individual Rahul Shikla.