What Mary Kom leaves behind when she runs away

Torn by strife and a systematic failure of civic amenities, it is almost normal for every family in Manipur to send off their children out of the state, either to study or in pursuit of work opportunities that will not entail bribery. This explains the presence of young people in different sectors and industry at all levels, be it the hospitality and wellness sector, health, IT, BPOs and what have you. The domain of sports is another area where many people end up in, as it presents a ticket to government incentives in the form of cash awards and job placements following performance levels.

This holds true for Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom, better known as Mary Kom who's been a five-time World Amateur Boxing Champion and Olympics bronze medallist (2012).

Mary was born in Kangathei, a small village, which is yet to have a black top road connecting it to the main highway road. Her parents were jhum cultivators and chances are that if it were not for her excellence in sports, Mary Kom would not be spoken about or be able to reach anywhere near the position she is now, where she is seen as a brand ambassador of Manipur and the Northeastern states and as a youth icon who serves as a source of inspiration for many.Mary Kom's life and her struggle: of walking to school while carrying her younger brother, of collecting firewood, of cycling over 25km and back every time she went for her trainings to Imphal are all well chronicled.

Her statements about her roots and her struggle to make it to where she is now are what have set her apart. But her latest media statement that the continuing violence in Manipur may well lead her to considering leaving the state is disappointing and seems to be the result of a hasty response.

Given her various brand endorsements and her growing popularity as invitee at events beyond the state, Mary hardly gets to spend enough time in Manipur. So, is this the same gutsy boxing champion who returned to the boxing ring after taking a break to deliver twins? The same Mary who battled parental pressure, callous sports officials et al to be who she is today?

This is not to say that the meaningless violence in Manipur and the prevailing situation of despair following prolonged power blackouts, bandhs and highway blockades would not leave the boxer untouched. I remember very well how she grumbled when a journalist who had come calling on her during one of Manipur's frequent highway blockades found that she was cooking food on firewood due to LPG shortage and filed the story. Her take was simple: "What was so big about that? One has to eat!" It turned out that the state government was unhappy about that story.

A more gruesome shadow of the conflict fell on Mary Kom when her father-in-law, Karong Rekhupthang Kom, a pastor and teacher, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on December 27, 2006. But as with everything else, she took this in her stride and concentrated on her boxing.

Following Mary Kom's announcement of a possible shift from Manipur, a few comments have come in pointing out that since she is well in a position to shift her base, she can very well do so and that she should not be tied down by her roots. But this would be a simplistic way of looking at it considering that the champion boxer is a Manipur state government employee who was given the rank of superintendent of police (sports), a special post that was created for her in the wake of her Olympics medal.

Her boxing academy, for which the Manipur government has allocated land, would be the first casualty in case Mary does make her mind to shift her base. Numerous young people who come to her academy in the pursuit of glory in sports and some returns as a means of overcoming the odds in life would lose out.

But the real losers would also be the people of this state, who in the wake of the #ManipurRevenge chatter on social media, are being spoken of as being deserving of retribution and not of justice and who are being described even by the mainstream media as belonging to a place teeming with "terrorists".