Tuisem A Shishak
“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14 NAS).
Just over a week before Niketu’s passing, we were chatting and laughing over the phone relating to our mutual eye problem. It never dawned on either of us that exchange of those few words would be the last while still friends in the flesh. Thank God at least I have something to cherish till I meet him in the presence of Jesus Christ in our transformed body.
I first met Niketu in 1953 at Union Christian College (UCC) along with the late Isak Chishi Swu of NSCN. Being pioneers, I and three other fellow Nagas were already there a year earlier (1952). Isak was older and Niketu was younger than me; in class, I was a year ahead of both. We were all interested in things spiritual; we also had a mutual interest in music. It din’t take long before we decided to form a quartet by adding a Lotha boy (sorry, I forgot his name). It so happened or maybe providentially I had in my possession a copy of that great Billy Graham Crusade hymn “How Great Thou Art.” When we were ready, we got the opportunity to sing in the English service at the Welsh Presbyterian Church, Police Bazaar, Shillong. I am almost convinced our group was the first to sing “How Great Thou Art” in North-East India. That great hymn sealed the relationship of three of us for the rest of our life. Praise God!
In 1955 Niketu, Isak and I travelled together to Sri Lanka for the triennial conference of India, Pakistan and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) Student Christian Movement (SCM). Isak being away from Nagaland, fighting for the Nation’s freedom, Niketu and I were physically closer for a longer period. Naga elders sent Niketu and I to meet with Thuingaleng and Isak in Bangkok, Thailand on behalf of the Nagas. I remembered Muivah cautioning me and Niketu saying, “Be careful what you say because the public listen to both of you.”
Kuldip Nair’s group in Delhi sponsored a special seminar on Naga political movement. A committee helped me prepared a paper. Niketu, Huska and D. Haralu were members of a committee that helped me prepared a paper to present at the seminar with me.
In 2007 when I had an unfortunate confrontation with the NSCN (I-M), Niketu stood with me; many must have read his two opinion pieces in local papers defending my position. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Last, but not least, Niketu served on Patkai Christian College (PCC) Board of Trustees and remained active for several years, stepping down only in November 2023.
Suffice to say Niketu and I were friends, indeed, for a long, long time. Now that he is absent from the body but in the presence of the LORD God, I can only look forward to meeting him, Isak and my wife Margaret too when God’s perfect moment for me arrives.
To conclude my tribute to Niketu (and Isak too), let me quote the last verse of “How Great Thou Art”: “When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, “My God, how great thou art.”
