The Last Of The Old Guard From Khonoma
Kaka D. Iralu
Viselie Talie age
89 years was laid to rest at Medziphema on July13, 2010. With his death the last of the Old Guard in Naga political history from Khonoma has passed into the pages of Naga history. Viselie as a young man of 26 years was there when AZ Phizo went with an eleven member’s delegation to Delhi to register Naga rights before Mahatma Gandhi on July 19, 1947. He was there again on 14th August 1947 when the Naga flag was hoisted with Gandhi’s blessings at Mission compound in Kohima. And he was there when Nagas rose up to defend their declared independence with arms against 53000 Indian soldiers who invaded Nagaland after Gandhi’s death.
Most of these old guards from Khonoma village were illiterate people. But that did not stop them from doing what that period in history demanded of them. Yes they did a man’s job. They also did a fathers job so that their children can have a country they can call their own. They were hunted like animals in the jungles where most of their children were born in the most desperate situations. But they never gave up. No, they never surrendered to adversities and terrible sufferings in their quest to give a future for their children.
Some of them came back to civilian lives in the late 1950’s. Uprooted from their original village; they started new settlements in Medziphemas, Nagarjans and Sochunomas. They build new thatch homes, cut new terrace fields and started life all over again. And despite their poverty, they sent their children to schools so that the next generation could carry on the fight for national identity and geographical identity as educated people.
But the question is: Did the next generation carry on their father’s legacy? Yes, I know many did. And I know that many of their bones still lie unburied in many foreign jungles as they struggled and fought across foreign countries to bring back arms to carry on the fight to full victory. Their heroic deeds and sacrifices are clearly imprinted in my mind because I wrote about them. Indeed different batches from different age groups have sacrificed their lives for the cause that is so very dear to every Naga heart.
And one day when I went to attend a function of my son’s age group (Thetshu Peli), I turned aside and wept when I saw all those vibrant young people joking and laughing away. I wept because pictures of older age group members who have died in the Indo- Naga war came flashing across my mind. And I prayed to God that my son’s generation would be spared from what I, my father and my grandfather’s generations have been compelled to experience and witness. As a father, I did not want my son’s generation to experience the blood and the tears that older generations before them have experienced in our long drawn sixty two years of struggle..
But fellow Nagas, there is still an unfinished task lying in front of us. And as the Old Guard from our village and your villages, passes away, where is the educated cream of the New Guard? God and your country demand an answer from you.
Rest in Peace Apu Viselie. Our generation is proud of you for all that you and your friends have done in your generation.
NB. A few elderly people like Miakonyu who was the oldest soldier in the first 1962 batch to Pakistan as well as Sebi Dolie are still alive. But by the term Old Guard, I mean those who were there when the most important political decisions and actions were undertaken.
