Imlisanen Jamir
Time and again we are reminded of just how fragile Naga society is. Amidst the veneer of calm and ‘normalcy’ that we force ourselves to believe in, pop up incidents that showcase the feeble structures that tether the fabrics of our tragic and violence laden history.
We are at a point where there is a lack of introspection from within the Naga community and the unappetizing parts of our history are not talked about and attempts to discuss them are not paid any heed. What this has led to is a social and political condition of shallowness, shame, hatred, anger, apathy, and most concerning of all, an aversion to irony.
So, let’s attempt a different way to think of how our history works. We’ll use the history of science as an analogy, and for some pizzazz, let’s attempt to do this while thinking that we’re at the ‘drinking up time’ and are discussing the history of brewing alcohol. The ‘drinking up time’ is a short period legally allowed for finishing drinks bought before closing time in a pub or bar. Never mind the fact that drinking is technically ‘illegal’ here.
The first important lesson is that we cannot change the past; even by getting drunk and shouting at it. We may fall victim to an explosive release of cosmic energy or get indicted for treasonable offences or people may simply not pay us any attention.
A lot people think that the history of science is one of awkward progress towards goals everybody agrees on. When they think of past scientists, they imagine people who kind of thought like us but haven’t quite got the whole picture. If only some like us, they think, had come along and told them what was right; and they would have understood it immediately.
And that is a view which couldn’t be more wrong.
This is not a progress story. Different views in interpreting the world come and go. To Issac Newton, it was obvious that the reactions in beers and wine and metals were all part of a universal life process. William Thomas Brand knew alcohol to be a clump of atoms to be weighed and measured. Michael Faraday saw fermentation as a chemical reaction influenced by electricity.
But later on, scientists like Louis Pasteur replaced this view with the idea of fermentation as a life process driven by a microscopic fungus. This led to the culture of hygienic thinking which both inspired a lot of modern medical practice and also brewers in their search to create keg beer.
Some of these ideas survive. Brands used these ideas which gave rise to the modern measurements of drinking units to help us decide how much is enough. Most ideas do not survive though. They change or they are abandoned. For instance, when keg beer was first produced, many were unhappy. They preferred the traditional methods.
To sum it up, all the people we’ve talked about here were products of their own time and their ideas were the ones they found helpful to get along in the world they lived in. In an important sense, they were not wrong compared to us. Although having said that, Issac Newton was a vindictive sod; and the fact that keg beer is horrible is a universal truth.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
