Who Am I? Identity CRYsis...!!!

Who am I? Have you seen this movie which stars Jacky Chan? If not, you better check it out. I kind of enjoyed myself. Besides the fighting and kissing stunts, I enjoy the very theme of the movie; Jacky shouts, “Who am I?” He doesn’t know his real name. He is kind of lost his memory. Do you know what the name of Jacky in the movie was? It was Jacky Chan itself. Well, that’s not the point! The point is who am I? Right, my name is Heisnam Bison Singh.

The first name, my cognomen, kind of sounds like German, doesn’t it? Heisnam… say it again, Heisnam. If you say it repeatedly and faster, at one point of time, it will sound like Heineken!!! See German Heineken. But I ain’t German. Still I kind of like the names… Heisnam Heineken…!!!

The last name is Singh. Don’t look for a turban in the adjacent picture or think of me being a CUT SARD (a sardar who cuts his hair), as is Jagjit Singh!!! I am not a Sikh by any chance even though I happen to have a Rakhi sister who is a Punjaban. It’s a fact, Factual! By the way, Singh is our custom name as is for the Punjabis. The SINGH, for a Punjabi, signifies Sant Shipahi, Saint Soldiers! It was the last Guru, Guru Govind Singh, who wanted to turn the whole community into a group of Sant Shipahi. And as saint usually doesn’t shave the beards or cut his hairs; the community as such started growing beards with long hairs. And to abolish the caste system that existed during those periods, He gave the name SINGH to the whole community. That’s the history of Singh as Sikhs per se. So, it implies that I am not a (Singh) Saint. I am a man just trying to be a BETTER man, wearing a cap, going to Ootacamund (Ooty), and talking to Toda tribes and et cetera et cetera.

‘SINGH’ also signifies a Manipuri and do not misunderstand that they are the lost caste/community of Punjab. They do not look the same. Just take a glance in the above picture and look the (chinkee) eyes and the nose. (He, he, you cannot, because of my photochromic lenses. As I am saying, we have an oriental (chinkee) feature but the Sikh… Have you ever seen an Oriental/CHINKEE SAINT in the Holly/Bolly wood movies? Don’t you think, Nicholas Cage look like a Sikh? After all, he played the role of an angel, a saint. Well, it also reminded me that Stevan Segal was about to play the role of Ram in Ramayana but the project never materialize. Just imagine a CHINKEE playing the role of Ram? And as for the history of SINGH as in Manipuri per se, I am not very sure, unfortunately. As per my intelligence is concerned, (I have to keep digging!@#?), as I dug along with my friends, I came to believe that Manipur was a princely state. Mind you, it was not a kingly state! Otherwise, the QUEEN will get angry! Don’t you know the Queen? The Queen of UNited states of British India! And since there was no king ruling in our motherland i.e. BRITAIN, all the so called rajas/ningthous in the states were treated as Prince, Prince charming! The title of ningthou in Manipuri is Maharajkumar and next to his hierarchy is Rajkumar, which is popularly known as Rasikang or Rang-kouta, so on and so forth. And the praja/people, the beloved of the ningthou, the community as such were given the title of SINGH as a signification of rajputs/ningthouchas just to mark a new distinct identity of this Manipuri community also known as Meitei. This doesn’t mean that we are the self imposed sons of rajas. But we are the SINGH as the last name; by which, very unfortunately, the US Consulates in India doesn’t seem to favour a student/visitor visa with candidates with the last name SINGH!!! Next time, if the embassy denies a VISA, tell them the significance of a Saint "Singh" or a Prince "Singh". By the way, can you tell me now by gazing into the above picture that which 'Singh' is which!

The middle name sounds like the American Wild Buffalo! Hell NO. It is to be read as B(e)SON(as in sons). It is an acronym. B stands for my father’s name as in Bijoy; I stands for my mother’s name as in Itobala; and SON stands for me, I! So it makes the WHOLE me, Bison; the son of his parents. And since my schooling, I have been educating this to all my class teachers. That's what I am. I am a chinkee Indian.