Thatched House

I had my times of doubt even though I have never considered to renounce my faith. The doubt was like a background noise, soft as a whisper but it was there. Since childhood, I have remained within the church circles. I was an obedient Sunday School kid, and an active church youth member. In college, I was a member of the students’ fellowship. In fact, through college I have always been in the executive committee of students’ fellowship. But it was during those college days that I started to have this doubt: 'what if all this is not true'. What if this whole Christianity or religion thing is just a construct of humans? I think faith is not the absence of doubt. But there can be doubt/faith in the midst of faith/doubt. Gideon knew about God's merciful dealings with Israel. But he had his doubt and had to double check before putting his trust on God. On the first night, God made the fleece soaking wet and all the ground around it stayed dry. The next night, God did...

Officials from central government (GOI) and regional office had a program with a farmers group in Nagaland. I did not attend the program but I was told when I sat with the same farmers for another meeting recently.  In that program, the officials from outside heard the plight of the farmers and offered to help through financial support to their work. How the farmers replied to that offer is something which needs our attention. They replied, 'DON'T SEND US FUNDS. THEY WILL NEVER REACH US' . It was not that the farmers did not need the money. But their reply said it all. They have lost faith in the State government. What they were saying is : the central government will sanction the money, the State politicians will take their share, the departments will have their cut, and some connected people (contractor, relative, party worker) will pocket the left-overs with fictitious documents.  That same group of farmers are now trying to search market on their own to s...

Let me share another thought (with my church WhatsApp group). Again not because anybody asked for it😆. It is about the typical special songs presented in the church by Ciezo Mepus (colony fellowships). My idea of a special song in church is that it should be presented by someone (or a group) who is gifted in music, and ideally by a good musician who loves the Lord. And frankly I don't have much taste for the typical songs presented by various colony fellowships. Many of the songs sound like unfamilar Dieliekevi (hymnal) songs and quite a number of them are self-composed and in local dialects. There is a similar pattern about them that from the first line, you fairly know how it is going to be (with exceptions of course). I think many young people will identify with my feeling expressed here though out of respect for elders we may not show it. I wish that special songs get better musically, and hopefully they will with the passage of time, but I have come to some kind of unde...

When we say that the public is also to be blamed for messy situation we are in, does that mean that the baby girl who was born last night in a remote village in Myanmar border is also to be blamed?  Let's be specific. 'Public' is a heterogeneous group with angels and demons and every type in between. Generalizing the blame is not just for those who are not corrupt yet suffer for someone else's faults. Blaming the public is a favorite prop politicians use to legitimise their ac tions.  But let's face this truth: Politicians are homogeneous in so far as corruption is concerned. By virtue of their power and position, the magnitude of one's corruption is larger than that of a hundred corrupt public. Therefore, let us be specific as to who is at the root of the problem. If what they say is true that what they accumulate goes back to the people during election, what about the mansions they build? Do those palaces ever go back into circulation? Do th...

Ok, so you are a regular government employee and your job is so secure. You have been working in the same job for over a decade and you know your job well.  A visitor comes for some work and he is confused which room to go to, or how to process his request. He asks you questions. You meet such people everyday in the workplace. Sure, some people won't get you at first and will ask the same question again. Some questions will sound silly.  It feels nervous for anyone to go to a new place. Some people are worse in sense of direction and may need extra help. Some will have problem understanding the words, terms and abbreviations used in the office, which would be easy to employees.  Some would have travelled from far-off places to meet you. Some wouldn't be that educated and are already nervous before stepping into the office.  My sincere request is: please let us be polite to people who come for help in our workplace. Of course, this do...

In this month 2 years ago, my wife and I - then a newly married couple – took a trip to Kizari village to attend Mission Week program.     We knew the road till Lanye river beyond which we have not been. We took a turn from the highway and started on a small road which could easily end in someone’s paddy field. Therefore, it was such a relief to see this sign board which says ‘Way to Tizu Bridge, Tuzatse’. ‘Take the kaccha road just after the stone crusher. But as you reach a junction, don’t go all the way up to Lozaphuhu village, take the turn which leads to the Tizu River’ we were advised.    We reached a good stretch and along a bend, we stopped to take rest. As we looked back, this (photo) wa s the road we came from. I thought we would come back through this road, but that was not to be due to some unforeseen event which was to unfold. I wonder if we would cross this path again. But we will never do so again in the same s...