19th ZONA Fest 2024 at NU Kohima Campus underway

Our Correspondent
Kohima | April 25

The two day long 19th ZONA Fest 2024 under the aegis of Nagaland University Students’ Union (NUSU) Kohima Campus, Meriema  got underway today at NU, Kohima Campus, Meriema with the theme “Commemorate the past: Unleash the imagination.”

Gracing that inaugural ceremony as the inaugural guest, Nunese Sale, proprietor Nune’s Construction and president, Vision Trinity Club said that the world is moving at the very fast rate and also, modernization and urbanization are taking place at the very fast rate.

“But one thing which should not be moved is our rich culture and our identity,” he said.

Sale maintained that people from around the globe come to Nagaland not to see the modernised buildings but to see “our rich culture and our rich heritage.”

Stressing on the need to take care of the rich culture, he said “Please know your own identity wherever you go.”

He called upon the students to play an important role in promoting the Naga culture and traditions.

Urging the students to accomplish their dreams through hard work and dedication, he said “Your dream is like a tree. You have to water it. You have to nurture it. You have to take good care of it.”

‘Devise new modalities to translate our past into a renewed relevance’
Also speaking on the occasion as the special guest, Dr Theyiesinuo Keditsu, indigenous feminist, poet and educator, encouraged the students to have a healthy conversation through this Zona Fest, speaking to each other about their dresses, stories, custom. One of the most profound lessons we can learn from the past is the importance of our indigenous wisdom, she maintained.

She said that at the heart of our commemoration lies the imperative to research and document the past—a task that goes beyond the mere cataloguing of dates and events to delve into the deeper currents of human consciousness and cultural evolution.

“Through meticulous scholarship and interdisciplinary inquiry, we must seek to unravel the complexities of the past and glean insights that can inform our present-day challenges and aspirations,” she said.

“To commemorate our past is not simply to remember, but to honour these age-old relationships and customs and to use our imaginations to deliberate, not how to copy-paste in the sense of importing obsolete, irrelevant practices from our past to oppress those in the present. But to use our imagination to devise new modalities, to interpret and translate our past into a renewed relevance for our present,” Dr Keditsu said.

“We must not only challenge the entrenched systems of power and privilege that perpetuate injustice and inequality but also cultivate a new ethic of care and stewardship towards the earth and its inhabitants. This requires a radical reimagining of our relationship with the natural world—one based on reciprocity, reverence, and respect,” she said.

Towards this end, she said “I find that each one of you present here is uniquely placed with the potential and power to realise this vision within your own communities and our collective society.”

Dr Keditsu also urged the students to consider the education and research skills “you are acquiring in your time here as not only personal enhancement with individual benefits, but as expertise that can be offered towards communal improvement.”

As you go through your respective courses here at NU, ask yourselves, how can I help my people? What skills do I need? In What areas do I require more knowledge? she said.

She asked the students to use their holidays and off times to spend time with elders and members of the community to listen to their needs and aspirations.

“There is so much to be done, so much we have lost that we need to retrieve that it would be the responsible, one can even say, right thing to do, to embrace our obligations to our people,” she added.

NUSU-KC general secretary Chutatu Thurr said that ZONA Fest is about celebrating talent, creativity and bringing people together for memorable experience.

The inaugural ceremony was chaired by NUSU-KC Social & Cultural Secretary P Lopyoni Ngullie while vote of thanks was proposed by NUSU-KC Assistant Social & Cultural Secretary Senthunglo Patton. Cultural show, ethnic food stall, folk song and sessions on traditional re-imagined in folk dance, cultural mosaic, heritage tales and expression of identity marked day one event. 

Day 2 (April 26) programme will take place from 10:30 AM onwards. Avinuo Kire, author & poet will be the academic guest. Slam poetry, extempore speech, quiz, advertisement, spin a yarn, debate competition, musical night will mark the day.