THE LAND OF THE HALF-HUMANS

(Translated from Manipiri,by Robin S. Ngangom)

For six months just head without body, six months

only body without head, has anyone seen a land

inhabitedbythesepeople?
No? I have; it's not a folk-tale; I not only
saw but have been to that land. 5

For six months to talk and to eat is their work;

like a millstone grinding. The following six
months Bhima devouring and Shakuni suffering; for
The
the headless body only shitting is its share.
head talks, eats, drinks; just talking, eating, 10

drinking. While the body is working, labouring,

and
shitting; work, labor, shit. And to sweat
be bone-weary. In the land of the half-body.

Do women live in that land? How do the species

15
of women look like?

There are women; there are children. The same

goes for women too, half and half body. They have
long hair like the women of
our land. They are
them
big, tall, buxom. As for clothes they hang 20
below the waist. A body, hidden by clothes is
law of the land. When
the
not permitted by the
for
body dwells for six months it's springtime
headless when the
them. (Since the bodies are
not fastidious.)
men and the women cohabit they are 25
Besides
birth within six months.
The head-only gives
of the women
talking and eating the mouths
 IBOPISHAK PoEMS 133

also deliver babies. The women have more attributes

than the men.

That is why the women have no teeth. God created

them with ingenuity. 30
When the head walks its two broad fanlike ears
spread wide and it flies like a bird, beating
its wings. When they speak we can comprehend
theirlanguage; they speak the language of men.
But when the headless body speaks, a voice which 35
no stranger can recognise emits from an orifice
of the body. This voice is also accompanied by
an odour.

Such a land is in the news; a land much talked

about, The moon shines at night; the
-
sun shines
in the afternoon. There is no problem about

poverty; dearth of food and clothes is unknown.

Some men even surpass Miidas. The earnings of the
body's sweat of six Tmonths the six month-otd-head
45
eats up with vengeance.
There are political rights, a government is set
total
up inthis land. Democracy functions with
success. An election is held every five years.
But for the people in this land there are no

names. So for the nameless citizens the nameless

Because
deputies govern the land of the half humans.
to give human names either to the
whether
Such
heador to the body-they cannot decide.
a land is very much in the news, a land much
talked about.