Thatched House

Published in Eastern Mirror as 'We are a dirty people...' Nagas look different, eat different, and behave different from mainland Indians, but if there is a similarity between the two, it is that we are both dirty peoples. A sense of cleanliness does not come with university education. This conclusion I arrived at as I see the PhD scholars’ eating behavior in my hostel mess hall. This was an interesting observation as I was doing my studies in Public Health and had the honor of eating with Masters, Mphil and PhD students from various disciplines at JNU, New Delhi. Some of them would ‘plough’ through their plate like a paddy field while some would eat with both feet ‘perched’ like birds on the benches. No amount of teaching could make them throw used paper cups into the dustbins just 6 feet away. Also a sense of cleanliness does not come with increase in wealth. Many poor families do not have the ‘luxury’ of running taps in their homes while the rich can have surplus to water th...

My name is Razuhii* and I know exactly where the sun rises. The sky turns yellow over the mountain, and then the sun appears in between the guava tree and the thatch house. Wait for minute. Now, it is in front of the house. It is time to go home. I washed my face, filled my pots and went home. As the water in the kettle started to rumble, I have finished cleaning the rice. I replaced the kettle from the fire place with the rice pot and added some firewood. With a cup of strong tea, I went round my house, strolling leisurely as I made a list in my mind of what I'll do today. Hmmm... I'll check the water channel to the paddy field, dig some fish holes and weave a new net at the water outlet. On my way back, I must remember to collect mushrooms for dinner. I fed my chicken and prepared my meal. After my early lunch, I packed my tiffin and whistling my favorite tunes I walked down to the paddy field which is on the bank of the Thikhapii River. In its lower course, the river is ca...

‘It’s just the Cold’, we say. We know we will up and about in a week. It goes away without any medicine. Most of the times, we don’t go to see a doctor but send someone to a pharmacy to buy some Cold ta blets. Some famous brands of these over-the-counter drugs are Sinarest, D-Cold, SumoCold, and NamCold. Some go for Crocin, Diclowin Plus, Diclomax, Sumo etc which are more specific for pain and fever; cough formulas like Grillinctus, Ascoril, Hatric3 are also used. The combinations and brands are numerous that no doctor can have all the names in one’s brain. If it is just Cold and fever, doctors usually don’t prescribe antibiotics but they are consumed widely and indiscriminately with/without prescriptions. Common Cold does not catch our attention like HIV/AIDS and Cancers. However, let us do some math here which may garner some awareness for this common condition. For calculation, I went to a pharmacy and noted the price of the common brands that are used in Nagaland. Th...

If population is a bomb, Nagaland needs to be very afraid. Here’s why. Every year, a new Australia comes to India. The meaning is that the population of India grows so fast that the size of the total population of Australia is being added into India every year. By 2045, India will overtake China as the most populous country in the world. Now, Nagaland has the one of the highest fertility rates in India (only next to Bihar, UP, and Meghalaya) and this is a cause of serious concern. This fertility rate of 3.7 against the national rate of 2.7 is not from the last Census, but from a more reliable source, the latest round of the National Family Health Survey III (NFHS III), 2005-06. Worse is that the State’s rate has not declined since the previous round NFHS II (1998-99) while the national figure has. Overpopulation is often linked with depletion of resources (food, ground water, etc), environmental degradation, unemployment, social unrest (e.g. youth bulge theory), illegal migration, co...

One purpose of folk songs that I was told by my Aunty goes like this; it is from a story. There was once a man who realized that he has not been good to his wife. But it’s not in our Naga nature to express apology or affection easily and openly. So, he composed a folk song which says, “One cannot change one’s ugly looks, but one can certainly change one’s bad character”, He changed and since then, he remained loving and caring to his wife. Folk songs are a medium of communicating things which cannot be expressed in normal conversations. My critic of the music remains (Ah, its repetitiveness) but I’m able to appreciate it better after hearing that story. There may be people who think that everyone likes Kenny Rogers (I know one such guy). If there's anyone who doesn't, he/she ought to love Rogers. When I was in Patkai, the vocational students used to organise Christmas concerts. But even if they sing difficult songs and classical music of the highest quality, very few would s...

In writing, anything is possible. As a writer, you can finish off the hero in the middle of your story by throwing him into a cave of one and a half eyed monsters. You can create a fantasy world like Narnia, make people laugh and cry at the same time, or transform a society forever. My love for writing began when my dad asked us (me, my brother, and sister) to write an essay every day. Though I always have the passion, I had this fear, ‘what if I’m the only one who enjoys my w ritings?’ I had bad experiences when I was a co-editor of a newsletter of college students’ fellowship in Imphal. Thank God I did not stop. Writing also became an escapade and a compensation for not being able to speak well. In a NCF-Delhi camp, I shared my testimony starting with, “even as I am going to speak, I have written it down”. This is not the story of an accomplished writer but an amateur whose effort is starting to pay off; many thanks to the Eastern Mirror for this breakthrough. There see...