IMYE LONGKUMER: BEATS THE BUSHES FROM EAST TO WEST

SPECIAL FEATURE 

Have you heard of Imye Longkumer? He is not the next James Bond, he is not the Time Person of the Year and definitely, he is not dating Emma Watson. Then why am I interviewing him? Simple, there are many underrated individuals in the world, especially the ones indulging in the creative fields. Such is Imye Longkumer, the singer with a sultry voice, who sings love songs with a pain which act like a medley of piccolos, horns and bassoons, he sings songs of freedom, peace and harmony that might motivate you to win the battle you are fighting. He is an excellent wedding singer, I believe you are not comparing him with Adam Sandler, please don’t. Come wedding season then you will see him in and around Mokokchung, his hometown, blessing the newlyweds and entertaining the guests.

 Following is from the Q&A session we had some weeks ago.

Can you talk about that one defining moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I cannot exactly pinpoint a moment when I stopped and said, “Hey, I am going to be a musician!” Because music has been a part of me since as long as I can remember. However, one important factor that boosted my enthusiasm was when people appreciated my original music and encouraged me.

What challenges you had/have to face in your chosen career? How did/do you overcome your challenges?

Growing up as a music lover was tough. Back in the days, we had very less appreciation and value for talent. Moreover, lack of facility was a major factor. Finding a good guitar to perform in a show was a painstaking task. However, I am glad the music scenario is rapidly changing for the better. My family always taught me to follow my dreams and always believed and supported me at what I do. This had been the one elixir that kept me going.

Any specific genre you stick to? Why did you choose this particular genre?

I believe music must be subject to change and improvement. I like to explore and experiment with music. Thus, I like almost all genres of music. However, I incline more towards country music because I grew up listening to them and I grew fond of it.

Does your music carry a particular message or is it meant for pure pleasure?

Music must tell a story, it must relate to people and touch souls. I believe country music has that power. Yes, my music has a story to tell. It relates to life’s experiences. It comes from the heart. All my music has memories behind it. We are all influenced by what we see and hear, and music can be a powerful tool for it. Thus, I believe in “music for change.” I believe in telling a story, a message, to my listeners.

Can you talk about your training? Greatest inspiration? Who/what kept you motivated?

Besides learning how to read music scores, all the instruments I taught myself. When I was young I took inspiration from people around me who could sing. Seeing people perform on stage was a treat for me. Among them was also my brother. This gave me inspiration and kept me motivated. Besides that, Bob Dylan’s works, as well as other country singers, were a great inspiration to me.

Thank You!

It is true, Nagaland is the first state in India to have introduced music as an industry. No Grammy winners yet, but some of them have made it big, some still deserve more critical attention and sales than they are given at present. Anyway, this article is my attempt to encourage (might be naive) this lively singer to do what he loves. He might influence the mainstream singers in years to come, you never know.

Please click the links below if you want to hear his songs.

http://indihut.com/imye-longkumer/

https://www.reverbnation.com/imyelongkumer

PARTICULARLY, HERE'S TO THOSE MEN! SINCE ADAM'S TIME

Wonderful, there is no ‘international’ term for quality guys. The nearest term for quality guys could be ‘gentleman’, again there is no single definition of perfect gentleman or say, the ideal man. For sure, however, a gentleman will always finish what he has started, hence, you are determined to read this post till the bottom. I am not a misandrist, never was and never will, like women, men too have issues, they are human after all, but I find these particular set of men quite disturbing or say rather challenging, here they are:

The Misogynist

You don’t believe in the cult of Womanhood? Motherhood? Sisterhood? Daughterhood? Wifehood? Good! I too don’t believe in cults. Now, search for the meaning of ‘misogynist’ in Google and see whether you fall under that brand or not. If you do then dude, you need are in shit trouble, run for the nearest counselling centre. I am not going to say anything more because you hate me, I already know.

<I don’t agree with the saying, ‘man’s brain is under his zipper’. Our brain lies on where our addiction lies- that becomes our weakness>

The ‘Alpha Male’ Contestant

Fighting for the ultimate title of ‘Alpha Male’? Are you conceived that this title is held by the strongest among men, having all the traits of man? But the literal meaning of ‘Alpha’ is ‘first’ or the ‘beginning’ and there is nothing so cool about being the first man on the planet as Gillette was not invented (all the hairs more like bushes or branches coming for here and there, birds shitting freely and openly). Sometimes, a male who has slept with numerous women or his calculations higher (still counting) than his not so lucky friends, is considered as the ‘Alpha Male’. He is best suited in a world of magical realism (set the novel). He should be given credit if he survives STD, Syphilis, HIV/AIDs. Anyway, is Alpha Male measured by the degree of ego he has? Come on, you have to tell me what is/ are the barometer/parameter of being crowned as the Alpha Male.

<When Vogue India came out with ‘My Choice’ video featuring Deepika Padukone, majority of  female viewers' opinions were shaped by the hypocrisy of Vogue, a magazine which exploits the essence of womanhood through immense objectivity. Of course, there is a country-wise standard of ‘handsome’  too but it cannot be held objectification of men. On the other hand, most of male viewers' had only one problem with the video, the line, ‘sex outside marriage’. It says a lot>

The ‘I hate Feminist’ monger  

There are various strands of feminist theory, and of course, there is division among them depending on its theoretical analysis of social systems (sorry for the oversimplified explanation). You blame feminist for your divorce, you blame feminist for your burned cake, you blame feminist for your unattended laundry, do you blame feminism for the bad weather? Some months ago, there was an incident of ‘male-bashing- public-shaming’ in the social network, when the fabrication of the story by the lady was known, the comments made were -how feminist has gone wrong, feminism is to be blamed, blah, blah, beef, mango and chutney etc. If those commenters only knew that they live in a realm of wider lie brought about by a person irrespective of gender and that feminism tries to fight that system, then they could have been merciful enough to sharpen their theoretical framework. 

<Hook-up culture is superceding the wooing culture, some blame the feminist while the fact is the evolutionary nature of mating which undergoes changes every twenty years approximately>

I am not a promoter of Battle of the sexes. Boring, so many literature have been written and movies are made on this theme, but it still continues to mint money. Maybe, deep down we enjoy reading or watching such crappy genres, screaming, shouting, congratulating the writer or director for the happy-endings. Sexual tensions (bantering capsule) can be exciting, but we hardly have control over our words and actions and sometimes it reflects how patriarchy is so deeply inherent in us. Is there anyone who wants machines to fight with machines? Machines are considered ‘genderless’ yet ‘male’. Soon we will create ‘soft’ machines and ‘hard’ machines and thus the fight will begin. And we might be left with nothing to say except, don’t be so predictable!

*People! Men and women, ‘Happy International Men’s Day’ and do take care of your mental health.

MISLEADING ENCOUNTER: A PARODY OF FILMY LIKE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

This story has two protagonists, a boy named Abe and a girl named Abigail. No, no they are not lovers, they are best of friends. They do not fall in love with each other; they remind best of friends till the end. By now you must be thinking whose story is this anyway? Well for this query of yours, you have to continue reading. Trust me, Abigail is a good narrator, she will narrate you not in bits but in detail. The next voice will be of Abigail. 

Hi! I am Abigail. I am telling this with immense liberty, a liberty which comes from the thought that my friend Abe will never be able to defend himself as he does not have access to information regarding the fact that I have narrated this to people. He does not have an account in any of the social networking sites, well he is a dinosaur.

This incident happened a year ago when I went to my sweet little town for summer break. Usually, the first question which my friend asks when I land my feet in the town is, “What did you get for me?‟ I thought that summer could be relieving as the first sentence my friend, the hero of the story uttered was, “I got to tell you something.” I was wrong.  So this is it, he met a stranger, a beautiful stranger in our town's famous shopping arcade, one look and he was smitten. He did not know the name of the woman or what her age was, or her shoe number, all he knew was the colour of her dress which was blue, I did not ask him what shade of blue it was for it could have made the matter worse. He requested me to help him find the lady, not that she was lost, but he had lost his heart to her. With great coaxing from his side, I agreed to help, reminding him that there is no such thing as free lunch which means he has to return my favour.   Thus began the hunt.  Like in movies depending on the budget and the storyline the hero is supposed to have a medium of transport varying from horse to bicycle to high-fi sports car to telepathy. My friend had a second-hand motorbike; I believe it was forth-hand purchased from the famous Karol Bagh market of Delhi. It was not like those fancy bikes used in Dhoom series, that bike had a peculiar character of its own, first, we had to push it, then my friend had to warm up the machine by taking vertical rounds, and unlike other bikes, it produces very strange noise every time he hit the break. Anyway, we drew a chart, first, we started off by visiting all colleges (he said, she did look that young to be in school), then churches, shopping arcades, localities, clinics and hospitals, banks, offices, okay, we even went to schools thinking that she might be a teacher.  If there was any award called ‘Desperate Romeo went Crazy’ then he would have won. Standing in the scorching heat, unwilling to come under my yellow umbrella from ‘How I Met Your Mother‟, made him tan. What stayed with him throughout the hunt were his chewing gum, MP3, bike and obviously me.  Things were not happening the way we wanted. He behaved as if he had repeatedly flunked in his Algebra paper. We concluded if we can get a picture of her through whatever little memory he had then it could make things a bit easy. So, the next day we went to a sketch artist who was ready to help us in cheapest rate. He showed a sample of his sketches, judging by his works I knew it was going to be the complete waste of time. Abe started describing her, he sketched accordingly. The whole process took an hour. When it was finally completed, Abe with his eyes closed and smiles that could have killed all the guinea pigs in the world requested, “Abigail, tell me how does she look please?”

 “What! She looks like Steven Tyler?” I swallowed my honesty.

With puzzle all over his face, he took the sketchbook from me. I started laughing, he joined me. After paying the less talented artist, we went to the shop where he saw her. He was already nervous in front of the beautiful shopkeeper. Pinching me was a good idea to push me towards the counter. The lady asked me what I wanted, whether shampoo, shower gel or cream, we were there not to buy anything but I have to admit they had a good collection of knickers. I had to clear my throat before asking her the questions, the answer to which would give us a clue. I asked her name, how long she has been working and everything unrelated to the mission. Finally, I asked whether she has seen any of her customers in blue coloured dress, she laughed for that was the silliest thing, we made her day. Abe, the desperate wanted to see the footage of CCTV, the date of which he remembered so well. I dusted off the idea; we were there for love quest not for some detective work. That day too we went home like hunters without the kill. When all the attempts failed, I consoled him by saying that she might be an angel, who came down to earth just to give him momentary joy. I convinced him to appreciate our effort. He reciprocated my help by agreeing to treat me. He took me to the street which was famous for spicy snacks. We enjoyed the appetite in silence. Never knew what went wrong, both of us got stomach infection. Both of us met in the same hospital accompanied by our caring moms. According to the appointment, my turn was after him, when the receptionist called out his name, instead of marching towards the doctor’s door, he stood still with eyes fixed on the woman coming out the other room. 

“Abigail, she is the one,” he whispered looking at the ‘beautiful’. 

“Where? Ah....but she is pregnant.‟ I was shocked, her belly was humongous. 

“Yeah, and I am not the father of the baby,” he looked at me. 

“That’s something I already know,” I whispered.   

Although she did not know anything about Abe, it did not impair her beauty. She was beautiful; her smile was kind, her baby would be lucky to such a celestial mother. 

Thank you, Abigail, for beautifully narrating the story. Sad that Abigail does not know Abe is here with us. Now, let us hear a word or two from Abe who is undoubtedly the hero of his story, oops, this story. 

I am Abe. Abigail has done an 180-degree twist to the story. The real stuff is this, when all the attempts fail, Abigail and I went to her house for a cup of tea, we sat in her balcony which embraced the green paddy field. She circled me in her arms and said not to worry; I looked into her eyes asked forgiveness. She thought I was apologising for all the troubles she had to undergo because of me; she was my friend but could not read my mind that day. I corrected her, I told her, “Abigail, there wasn’t any woman in blue. I cooked up the whole thing to mock your fondness for love at first sight stories.” All Abigail could reply was, “Whatever! When I’ll narrate this story to someone or to everyone, I’ll make sure they fall for my version.‟ 

Thanks, Abe. Guys! Abe and Abigail are good friends and they have equally bored us. 

*as appeared in the Student's Bridge magazine/September2015*

THE PICTURE ON MY WALL SAYS, MY REPLY

A woman should…

be a feminist during her college days,

(I didn’t get it. I mean- feminist should extend beyond one’s graduation)

be a career minded and care oriented,

(I see, someone wants me to be a nurse huh!)

play the game of hide and seek with her suitor,

(But it sounds so juvenile)

dare to stay happily unmarried all her life,

(This point is something I really agree and love, I don’t know why)

love being a woman,

(That’s so obvious)

buy flowers for herself,

(Flowers are expensive, occasionally yes, but most of the time plucking over buying)

feel the wind on her face,

(And the sun rays on my bum)

go camping, go trekking,

(Alone? What if some psycho attacks me with an axe?)

be shy, be bold,

(Yes, especially when I have a tummy upset)

trust men occasionally,

(I do trust men, especially cab drivers)

give that second chance to everyone,

(I am trying but some people are too cheap, they are not worth it)

be a romantic,

(Any day)

get emotionally hyped over nothing and cool down suddenly,

(I have a PhD in that)

go on a diet, yet, eat chocolates and ice-cream,

(No dieting, yes jogging)

het high ‘n stay high of life, love her man and her reflection,

(Yes, can’t say now, yes)

learn to love herself,

(Of course but not the narcissistic wala love)

kiss herself good night in the mirror,

(I do, but it gets scary at night)

get wild, tame her tears,

(Get wild? Innuendo! Tame her tears? I am a cowboy)

break rules-lead the dances,

(That’s what)

drive her man’s car,

(Boring!)

run his bank account,

(Boring!)

manage his business, wear his clothes,

(Boring! But, I would love to wear his branded clothes)

yet know that he’s man and she’s the woman,

(After reading all these points?)

get flattered,

(Only if he appreciates my talent)

wear latest fashion and wear fine diamonds, for no special reason,

(We need money for that)

lay down principles in her life,

(A must)

go out for window shopping all alone,

(You need not tell me this)

know the way to her man’s heart,

(Excellent cooking? Wait a minute, did Brad Pitt fall for Angelina Jolie coz she was a great cook? No. I need a map to fit at this point)

never forget the little girl within.

(Never ever. There lives a little girl in my heart who is neither spoilt nor immature)