Dr Asangba Tzudir
In a book review of “Vannyaü: Telling Tales”, Y. Nuklu Phom writes, “When our generation loves to go forward without a root, I think we have many things to learn from our ancestors and the rich history they have preserved for us.” For those who value the rich tapestry of traditional cultural heritage, every passing away of a raconteur adds to the painful list of one more knowledge keeper no more, and more painful it will be if the knowledge and stories are not recorded or preserved. This is not only true but also raises a very pertinent question – What kind of a future of Naga Identity and culture are we building?
Storytelling has been a tradition that predates the printed and online press, and which is found in many civilizations. Stories communicate different types of knowledge and practices, including historical, sacred, social, political, and cultural knowledge. Through generations ‘our story’ has been handed down through an oral tradition, and with every passing generation the originality gets lost even losing its form and content as the raconteurs and knowledge keepers leaves us one after the other in quick succession. For instance, in the context of Naga history, one may wonder how many of the Naga World War II veterans will be alive today? They were and are the original knowledge keepers of the Naga encounters and experiences during the Battle of Kohima of the WWII. So what will be left of them will be the stories they handed down and also those that were recorded. However, the feelings and emotions they carried are no more.
When Nuklu says that our generation loves to go forward without a root, it aptly highlights the condition of a people unmindful of its roots. And when people are not mindful of their roots, there cannot be knowledge keepers even as the raconteurs are passing out. Even the case of Naga folktales is such that there are confusions over the different versions of the same folktale, and there is also the issue of identifying a folktale with its tribe. While this is also a problem with oral tradition, it is also compounded by the lack of raconteurs.
As science and technology and artificial intelligence continue to advance each day, it has also reached a stage where we talk about robots bearing babies. One would wish for Artificial Intelligence to act as our ‘knowledge producing raconteurs’ as well as knowledge keepers to preserve history and culture for future generations, but ironically that is just another wishful thinking.
So, considering the passing away of our raconteurs and knowledge keepers, each individual needs to salvage whatever stories of the past, and while it is already late, yet, before the last of the few raconteurs leaves us, their stories should be recorded for posterity. Without our stories, our past history, we become a people without roots and thereby without identity. Our stories of the past are integral to help us creatively imagine and envisage our future, and without which one can only ask – Where is our future? It is not just a bleak future but a people without a future. Time is now over ripened to engage in acts of meaningful discourses in regenerating our whatever stories that is left to salvage.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
