Thatched House

 Before 25th July, 2010, no medical doctor had set foot in Zanger village of Pungro Block, Kiphire district, Nagaland. The village is however fortunate to have a Health Sub Centre, a government school, connected by motorable road (since the last 3 years) and electricity.  In the region, it wasn't lagging behind when measured by these developmental parameters. Zanger is a small Yimchunger village which is about 45 minutes drive (could have been much less if the road conditions were better) from Pungro town. On 25th July, 2010, medical team from Pungro Community Health Centre and NMM staff Mr. Tangit Longkumer visited the village. The villagers said the road was fine. But there was a landslide the night before. We weren't carrying spades, which every vehicle should be carrying in this region in summer. We used sticks to clear the road. The gun? It's sad people don't realize the importance of wild life preservation. While the guys worked on the road, the two nurses pose...

Thanamir Village of Pungro Block, Kiphire District is the last village in Nagaland bordering Myanmar.  Trekkers to Mt. Saramati hold the night at Thanamir and prepare for the climb the next day. The villagers provide the trekkers with Potters and Security Guards. Why Security? To protect the trekkers from wild Yaks. Recently Thanamir has also earned the 'Apple Village' title for the juicy apples that are grown in the village. In the middle of July, 2010, I made a trip to the village with a few friends from the Nagaland Missions Movement.  Here's how it began: We filled our tanks at Pungro Town, my base The road in this bend held us for almost an hour. You cannot see any house here, but this site is proposed for setting up a new town called Khongsa. Villagers from neighbouring villages will come and settle here. EAC office is the only house constructed so far. While we were held up by mud, I clicked this double-peaked mountain. I think someone else clicked it too and put i...

I wrote this for a discussion forum in facebook 1. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything. 2. When you are about to comment, be careful to read all the other comments ahead of yours so that you do not needlessly repeat what has been said by others before. 3. When you are about to post a comment, especially on something that you disagree with; be careful to read even more carefully, so that you don’t misrepresent your opponent’s view. Worst of all is to contradict yourself and go round about yourself when no one’s arguing with you anymore. 4. Don’t use foul language or personally attack the person you are debating with and make it difficult for the two of you to meet in real life. 5. Going off topic may be necessary once in a while, but as far as possible, stick to the thread of the discussion. 6. Don’t complicate yourself by using high-sounding words that you are not comfortable with. 7. Let others know if what you are saying is a personal opinion o...

‘Go forth and blog’ - Pope Benedict to his priests You don’t have to be a writer or a scholar to be a blogger. To start with, you don’t even need to have good English. That can be learned in the process. The good part about blogging is that you can edit your blog posts anytime you want. You are the master of your own blog. If you try to always write masterpiece articles, you won’t last long. After a few posts you will have nothing new to say and you will be fed up of blogging. If you have something that interests you, say, a picture, a video, or a passing thought, post it right away. This makes blogs more interesting than websites; that they are more informal, more open to discussion, and makes you sound more human. Do you feel that nobody will want to visit your blog or hear what you have to say? Well, that’s something you need to work on. In my first year of blogging, hardly anybody visited my blog. The reason? I was too humble to advertise my blog. It’s the way you ...

Good lyrics are hard to come by these days. Jibberish penned to fit into formulaic music abound. According to Theologian Ben Myers and wife, the worst first lines goes to Katie Perry's 'Firework'. Here's how it goes: Do you ever feel like a plastic bag Drifting through the wind, Wanting to start again? To wikipedia, the song is 'a self-empowerment anthem with inspirational lyrics', but according to Myers, 'Katy Perry has achieved something that I never would have dreamed possible. She has managed to vulgarise that-than-which-nothing-more-vulgar-can-be-conceived: the plastic bag...Brothers and sisters, until I heard those lines I was seriously tempted to believe in universal salvation. But I have turned aside from my errors: nobody who writes like that will inherit the kingdom of heaven'. It is no doubt difficult to write good lyrics, forget about making the lines to rhyme. But ooooooonce in a while, you come across some lyric that make you ...