(DISCLAIMER: This letter was written by a friend, who is _not_ a member of MYF.)

Dear Friends.

I am not a blind supporter of the so called ‘philanthropy’ as is now being practiced around the world. I had always suspected the rich and the famous doling out dollars in the name of supporting the poor and the needy.  Not that I had been a victim of the rich who played ‘living gods’ when the poor need their help the most.  The primary reason behind my stance is that what these rich people consider ‘an honest mission’ has been used to propagate not only the idea of becoming a ‘conscious consumer’ of the ‘good things’ that other rich people produce but also pigeon-holing or drilling into young heads to instill the idea of ‘the successful human being’ without acknowledging that ‘consciousness and success’ can be defined in various ways. They have not much to offer to the toiling masses except the so called ‘material needs’ as seen from a narrow gaze. In short, most philanthropic organizations keep selling just limited dreams so as to herd the poor to their idea of limited ‘humanity’ or ‘successes’. For instance, the idea of success that is/was so widely prevalent in Manipur: ‘Ei-gee Echa Di Doctor natraga Engineer oidradi IAS, MCS oigadabani’. In an emerging competitive/profit driven/ridden world, how on earth would a poor village youth think of becoming a doctor, an engineer, an IAS or MCS officer, an IIM Grad, a software pro etc. People have this weird idea that the only option left is to let some philanthropic organization come and bail them out.

Despite my stinging dislike for the ‘officialized’ idea of Philathrophy, I like the works/projects that were/are undertaken by at least two young Manipuri groups Linux Manipur and Manipur Youth Foundation. For records, I am not bracketing these groups within the idea of the much criticized notion of ‘misguided’ altruistic mission. And I am also aware of the fact that if the Great William Henry Gates, the Third, comes and helps a poverty afflicted student, his gestures would definitely touch the heart and the mind of the individual. But get it correct friends! These two organizations are not like the big moneyed Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (B&MGF) with the “couple’s heart rendering” reach-out worldwide programmes. Linux Manipur and Manipur Youth Foundation (MYF) are in fact little REAL ‘foundations’ on which far-sighted visions can be built as an alternative to the rest of the well oiled and big funded ‘Foundations’ that we all are aware of. These little organizations as ‘alternative foundations’ might have been the product of a few individuals with ‘clear and honest’ passion for doing something worthwhile for a tiny state called Manipur or what we lovingly called ‘Sanaleipak’. But they have outlived individual passions and visions. And their works will endure for long as a counter-spell to the already spellbound supporters of massively funded Foundations and NGOs that ends up neither fulfilling their subjective ‘desire’ nor accomplishing ‘others’’ objective needs.

Just see the difference. Few young professionals with no profit motive spending sleepless nights and days, pulling in limited resources from conscientious willing individuals,  actually coming out in the open putting their best foot forward, giving least importance to all the ‘official’ formalities of running a legally defined foundation and doing fearlessly what they think is correct. What more can one ask? The have the subjective passion for marching ahead and also producing objective results. Note the  MYF has already sponsored necessitous students who had just passed their High School Leaving Certificate Examinations. No, the MYF do not need certificate/s from well or evil intentioned watchers. Just reading the bravely written letters by these students is enough indication that their hopes have been rekindled by MYF’s fire. Keep up the good work friends and walk along the muddied path towards the destiny but never stumble on the ‘well tarred road’ that leads you nowhere. And if you stop by the river of ‘stagnant and frozen thoughts’, there will be not one but thousand suns to melt them.

From

A friend of MYF

Dated: Mon, Jul 7, 2008