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Ta Budhi is a hard working man. He is known in the leikai for his sincerity and honesty. Elders in the leikai would never fail to mention his name while chiding their children. They want their children to be like Ta Budhi. Early from his childhood he has been a loving son and an obedient student. He never wasted time fooling around. He follows a strict daily time table, which he made for himself. He was not outstandingly good in studies. Yet His records in the examination were above the ordinary. Ta Budhi grew up studying in a government school as 'nglish school' was not so popular in those days. His teachers loved him because of his regular attendance and healthy conduct. He now works as a senior officer in the tele-communication. Everyone rejoiced when Ta Budhi got the job after sitting a good number of competitive examinations. He would give regular contribution to the leikai club for any occasion. He would even buy five bumper tickets for the leikai club housie. He would contribute handsome amount for the leikai Lai haraoba as well. He would never say no to anyone when they turn up for help whenever they have a problem with their cash flow. One could say Ta Budhi was a leikai Samaritan. Ta Budhi built his own house from the savings he made. He got married with a beautiful wife just after a few months of his house’s sanggaba. Everyone in the leikai said Ta Budhi and his wife are made for each other. His wife is not only beautiful but down to earth as well. She would greet everyone with a warm smile; have a conversation with one and all. So elders started to name Ta Budhi’s wife as a perfect choice and advised the leikai bachelors and their parents to take her as a reference point for their marital expedition.

SOMETHING IS WRONG: with Ta Budhi. It is barely five months after their marriage. Ta Budhi has changed a lot. He comes back home late these days. Hardly talks with any one in the leikai. The other day when the club volunteers went to collect contribution for cleaning the leikai drain Ta Budhi refused to give any. He told them he was not in a position to contribute any amount of money. The volunteers were a bit surprised. Ta Budhi was never like that. He used to donate every time. "It is true, people change after getting married", one of the volunteers remarked as they came out empty handed. "Don’t fuss, Ta Budhi must have spent a lot in his marriage, he will pay next time", one of them tried to balm. Frequent quarrels broke out between husband and wife. The decibel of their quarrel was quite high the day Ta Budhi returned from a two-day visit to Delhi. A husband and a wife wrangling is nothing new in a family. But everyone was curious to know what was actually happening with Ta Budhi’s life. He was the loveable Ta Budhi for everyone. He has a good job; an exemplarily wife... is Ta Budhi into any kind of funny relationship with anyone? Are they facing problem of having a child? What was wrong? Nobody dared to ask Ta Budhi. Some people had also come with policemen the other day. It was the day after some leikai elders went to enquire about it. Before entering his house the elders had the understanding not to ask ridiculous questions which would embarrass Ta Budhi and his wife. They were only going to ask about the policemen coming in his house. They thought they might get some hint of what was actually going on with Ta Budhi’s life. Just before they went in they saw the husband and the wife coming out with baggage in their hands. On seeing the elders Ta Budhi greeted them and said he and his wife was going for a trip outside the state. They will be back after a month. It was a trip offered by a travel agent he said. Once in a while it is good to travel to a place far for a change told an elder to them. And they saw them hurrying away on a hired vehicle. The elders did not have enough time to enquire about the police coming. One of them brushes it aside saying that the policeman must be one of Ta Budhi’s friends. "You know our Budhi is also an officer", he said.

FOUR MONTHS: have gone, the couple has not returned since the day they left. Then it must be true. What? It must be true that they might not return back any sooner. It is also true that Ta Budhi have got himself transferred to some other place outside Manipur. His wife had led a different life before she got married. She was born in a large family with many siblings. She could not continue her studies after plus two. Her father was a retired sepoy of the Indian army. His limited earning could not maintain his family properly; forget about buying good education for the children, all girls. They grew up managing themselves. They earned by giving tuitions to school kids, embroidery and by organizing marups. Each one of them got married by their own savings. Not a single paise did they asked from their parent. They were also a kind of role model like Ta Budhi in the leikai; independent, hardworking and above all loveable. However the family ran into trouble after one of the girls got bitten by a gambling bug. It so happen that she was once introduced to a game of flash by an acquaintance. That very game was played by the wives of high profile officers and thikadars. Ever since, she started organizing bigger marups. But it did not last as the pooled money of marups got swallowed into flash games. Heavy debts swarmed her. It was the love of a father that rescued her. Half of their eenkhol was sold. After clearing the debts, she got married with Ta Budhi. We have no idea how they met. It was she who insisted Ta Budhi to take extra interest into the messages which Ta Budhi received on his mobile phone. Yes, it is the message which every cellular mobile owner receive day in day out, which roughly reads; congratulation! You have just win a million pound…sms *@&@^%$# or contact… Ta Budhi replied the messages, and then he exchanged hundreds of messages with the unknown number. He was told to deposit a minimal amount of fifty thousands. This ‘minimal deposit’ went on with more and more cash. He was told to collect his three lakhs first from Delhi. Ta Budhi went to Delhi to collect the money. He returned empty handed. So it must be true, again, that Ta Budhi has sold off his property in Manipur to clear debt. Not only mobile messages, Ta Budhi and his wife got badly hooked into POKHAIBI, AKAAPPI kind of network. They have blindly spent filthy amount of cash into it. And they had zero return. Till date we have no clue about the policemen’s’ visit at Ta Budhi’s house.

FOOTNOTE: Leipung Ningthou is deeply worried over the extra long vacation the students are enjoying. Neither of the sides is ready to come out with an amicable solution. He calls it "kanthi na kanthi thokna sutti thaba".