Engaging his People – The Story of MKPB

By: Akendra Sana


If greatness is about touching many lives and leaving a lasting impression on others, then MKPB would qualify impressively. It has been three weeks after his passing away and it is about time we try to understand the many facets of the interesting personality that he was. One cannot call it a long association because of the circumstances. Blame it on my transfers if you insist.

They were the heady days of the mid nineteen eighties. There was a calm which was difficult to believe that it would go away in a matter of only about half a decade later. 1985 would qualify to be one of the watershed years in terms of the activities which were taking place in the life of all matters, economic and developmental in Manipur. For one, it was around this time some better hotels had come up in Imphal and some infant industries were in the horizon. One wonders if names are relevant now. Well, suffice it to record that Takyelpat was abuzz with activities. Manipur Inc. was indeed believed to be possible in the near future then. Of course, what have happened in later years is what they call the rest is history of which we all are too familiar with.

The Manipur Spinning Mills was still producing yarns. And MKPB was at the helm. I had called on him during that time on business and it was purely official on one of my visits to Imphal from Silchar where I was then located. After the initial requirements of the visit were met, he ventured to do some loud thinking of the need to find wider markets for the yarns that the Mills produced. He went on to say that there should be ready markets in Silchar and other parts of Assam and Tripura where handloom was produced. He also went on to say that Moreh had the potential to be another good outlet. He wanted me to scout for a suitable distributor in Silchar to which I had most happily agreed. For some months after my return to Silchar, we exchanged a number of letters, he explaining the type of work and responsibilities the distributor was expected of and in return I would tell him about the persons I had approached for the job. Unfortunately it did not progress much beyond that. However, later I learnt that he was leaving the Manipur Spinning Mills for it to chart out its own course. A dream gone away, one does not know. But then, he could not be happy to see the Mills getting evaporated before his eyes in later years.

What left lasting impressions on me and perhaps on many others like me were the twinkle he had in his eyes whenever he talked about anything Manipur and his ability to elicit immediate reaction from the listener. At another level his experiment with the enterprise of the Manipur spinning Mills must possibly be one of his efforts to engage the people at large in matters economic.

‘Is he still a bachelor?’ This was Nari Rustomji remembering MKPB in June 1984 at the Shillong Club when I was introduced to him by a friend as somebody from Manipur. Nari Rustomji of the infamous Shillong Brigadier story during the “Merger Agreement” negotiations in his book, ‘The Enchanted Frontiers’, after his retirement as Chief Secretary of Meghalaya used to come to Shillong during the months of May and June every year for several years from Bombay where he was leading a retired life. Nari Rustomji used to make a morning trek to the Shillong peak on every dry day of his stay in Shillong and on return would drop by the Shillong Club by mid morning. ‘Bachelor or no bachelor, the whole of Manipur loves him.’ I had said in the course of the long conversation we had. I did later mention to him of my encounter with Nari Rustomji in Shillong but could not muster the courage to relate the query he had made. His response was, ‘Oh, that Parsi chap.’ Today, we can all fondly say that indeed we all love you, MKPB and may your spirits help in the rekindling of hopes and aspirations of your people. Because we need your spirits to rebuild every fibre of our society.