Keneisalie Charles Rutsa, a class 7 student of Christ King Higher Secondary School, Kohima has picked up basket making during this lockdown period.
Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | August 19
While basket making is an age-old tradition of the Nagas, rarely do you come across a 12 year old boy putting his mind into the art with vigour and passion. Keneisalie Charles Rutsa, a class 7 student of Christ King Higher Secondary School, Kohima has made the best use of his time during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown to learn this special craft from his ‘tuition teacher’ as he puts it.
“I learnt to make baskets from my Miss some time during the month of May, and I have been doing it since. I finished making seven baskets so far and managed to sell two of them while I gifted another two to my aunts,” Keneisalie modestly puts across. “Currently I am not doing it because we have online exams but once it is over, I will pick up where I left it,” he relates to The Morung Express.
The middle child among three siblings, Keneisalie says, “I have an elder brother and a younger sister who is studying in class 5.” When asked what prompted him to start weaving baskets, he expresses, it was out of his own sheer interest that he picked up the art. The son of a bus driver and a homemaker excitedly adds that “this is my first earning” from the two baskets sold at the cost of Rs 600 and Rs 800 respectively. “The price varies depending on the size of the baskets,” he highlights.
“I want to save the money I earn from these baskets and use it to pay my school fees,” he further adds. On his experience of making baskets, he relates “once you learn, it is easy to make”. The young boy enjoys playing football and basketball, “and also cooking,” he quickly adds.
His tutor, Vizokhonuo Rutsa, who learnt the art during a teachers’ training at the District Institute for Education and Training (DIET) Chiechama some years ago, has been passing on the knowledge to whoever is willing to learn. “During the lockdown, since there is nothing much to do, I have been making baskets and Keneisalie would observe us,” she states.
“Keneisalie is very easy to teach. He mostly observed us while we were making baskets and applied his mind. He learnt very fast, actually it took him just a day and he could manage on his own after that,” Vizokhonuo Rutsa expresses.
“He is also not like other children. He is always very obedient, helps his mother cook, he is a diligent boy,” she goes on to state. Observing that most boys his age are not into serious pursuits such as this, she further shares that “he is so passionate about what he is doing” while impressing upon that he will go a long way.
The teacher is also clearly motivated to see that the young boy is planning to use his little earnings to pay his own school fees, which is a rare thing among students his age. “Since he won’t be able to go and buy the materials on his own, I get them for him when I go out and he is just waiting for his online exams to get over so he can indulge in it again,” she puts across.
