Vareso Ningshen
Small efforts have been made to sell our Ethnic arts and culture; printing indigenous Tee shirts, calendars, cards mugs, etc. though they are very occasional .It’s only when the Student union or the fellowship need to raise funds that we usually put our heads together and think “Business”, else for a living hardly anyone of us think about putting our efforts in commercializing our Ethnicity
An American sees his culture everywhere .When he comes to India he finds the American shoes, American shirts, American soft drinks, American food, American music and American movies flooding the market. Woodland, McDonald’s, Coca cola, Microsoft are America’s pride. They carry American resources, culture and skill, they carry America’s identity and every part of the globe bears their name.
It is this conversion of culture, resources and skills into products which will put a price on our Ethnicity .To make inroads into the world, Nagas need to make inroads into the market .The ability to innovate our originality, putting them at par with the market standard will give commercial value to our arts and culture and the usage of these products will keep Naga’s world relevant to the times.
It’s only when we celebrate special occasions that we are reminded of our identity, else we hardly see our originality reflected anywhere, if we can innovate our originality and put them at the cutting edge! Our Ethnicity is always a USP (Unique Selling Point).
The only true Naga economy will be realized when the Ethnic resources, skills, culture, lifestyle are integrated with products.