What is a T? It is a Topha. In Western Angami usage, that is the native name for ducks. It is customary practice to bring gifts of topha to the sick. More than chicken soup, a broth of topha is said to be very good for different ailments. If the patient has an open wound, chicken broth is not recommended, but topha stew is very healing. In today’s world, however, one hears of the humble topha gift crossing borders and expanding its usefulness. A highly qualified person was approached to help with a document. It is actually what she does for a living.
At the end of the laborious task, she was paid with a topha! Some people may argue that the barter system is part of our heritage. But let us be more practical. Imagine that person trying to pay her electricity bill with the topha. Or her rent. Or phone top up. Or WIFI connection. Or even buy weekly rice rations. You get it.
The point is, here is a young person who might be able to make a livelihood using her language skills. If she is paid traditionally, it would defeat the purpose of her exercising her skills. The other point is, we live in a day and age where editing skills have become a necessary part of our lives. There is always some kind of writing to be done. Churches, educational institutions, offices and lay individuals are almost always writing something or other, be it souvenir magazines, or yearbooks or other chronicles. And most of these want their writing to be presentable. It is only fair that editing services be paid properly as any other service is paid. After all, editing is a professional service.
Perhaps a forum needs to be establishedwho can work on approved rates for editing services with separate rates for separate tasks. Would that be an effective way of clarifying that services for editing are expected to be paid? Preferably in cash since the rates indicate rupees and not topha. The other thing that is a time and energy thief is making people feel obligated to help. Again, talented young people are being exploited and their labour and time are used for free. Criminal. (No wonder so many are running after government jobs). How do we remedy this mindset of not paying for professional services not sold in a shop? Big think needed. My electrician always clarifies what his rates are before he takes on a job because he wants to be assured he will be paid after he finishes. He prefers to be paid daily because he has two children to feed. I am not sure you can go to a barber shop and get a haircut on credit. Baki haircut. Never heard of it. Back to getting paid for linguistic labours then. It is a problem begging a solution. I wonder if the typical Naga approach would work. You know the slightly back handed humoristic approach where the service provider laughingly asks the potential customer, ‘Is grandfather Gandhi in any way part of this job?’ And most people 10 years and above should know who grandfather Gandhi is and what he stands for. Hopefully that should lead the way into an amicable discussion on payment and preferences of both parties. To sound even more professional in our context, the service provider can state, ‘That kind of work would cost you approximately 17.5 topha, but maybe the best thing is I can just take cash payment. After all, as you can see, I don’t have the space in my rented room to store that many topha. And, in any case, my neighbours would surely complain. It is not as though the birds would sit around quietly all day. Some people don’t mind a little squawking. But you would be surprised how many people there are in the neighbourhood who cannot stand animal noise. The lady upstairs, she immediately complains to the landlord if I keep a topha for more than a day. The last time that happened it was this customer who brought me three topha in lieu of payment for a job I had done. I could not eat them fast enough as far as my neighbour lady was concerned. So you see, in the end, it is more convenient if you pay in cash.’ I think that should do it.
