Bobby, who ekes out a living by painting signboards and banners in a roadside studio at Keishampat in Imphal, was recently picked up by a team of police commandos who had stormed into his studio.

Bobby’s is not an isolated case. The police have of late detained a number of other painters from Imphal.
The reason that attracted the police wrath was not that they were linked with any militant outfits. But that they had inscribed letters and digits on the number-plates of their customers’ vehicles — not in English, but in Meitei Mayek, the indigenous script that was banished from Manipur in 18th century.

The roadside studios in Imphal recently had a steady stream of customers. They all wanted to change the script of the letters and digits on their vehicles’ number-plate from English to Meitei Mayek. So did the owners of the auto-rickshaws, buses and trucks. And the painters like Bobby did brisk business.