What really is Thepfulhouvi Solo? A Breath of fresh air? An iconoclast? Writer, thinker or just a retiree enjoying his time at the expense of others? As much as we wish, he cannot be called a writer in the true sense since he’s yet to publish any critically acclaimed books. He is not much of a thinker either since he is not known for any original ideas or philosophical treatise. So to talk about him in the same breath as the philosophers whose writings inspired revolutions and changes would be delusional. All of Thepfulhouvi’s writings so far have been based on his personal experiences as a civil servant, which is at best one-dimensional. If Thepfulhouvi is an avid follower of MMA (mixed martial arts), he’ll soon realize that fighters with one-dimensional skills get knocked out pretty fast. A boxer, skilled as Tysons and Alis and unafraid would be pretty useless in an MMA ring even against lesser skilled or smaller opponents jabbing and almost at the same time pinning and locking your arms, Ju-jitsu style. At best Thepfulhouvi is an arm-chair activist. This is not to say that we do not need arm-chair activists. On the contrary, we pray for more persons like Thepfulhouvi to rise and become agent provocateurs and wake us up from our negatively-entrenched social, religious and political dogmatic positions. However, the problem with armchair activists’ of his ilk is that they’re not activists in the practical sense of the term, period. They’re as soulful as the B-52 bomber bombing the hell out of Vietnamese villages from 30,000 ft up in the sky. When the pain, misery and death caused thereof underneath is unregistered in one’s visual field, concept of conscience is simply superfluous, not to talk of “good conscience”. From the comfort zone of his retirement home in the Capital town, sipping tea and presuming to measure the “good conscience” of Naga Council is as good as horsing around since facts get thrown about as the easy chair on which he reclines, deep in thoughts! The arm chair becomes too comfortable indeed for him to rise up and verify the verifiable. Of course, his “I’m too proud to ask” cliché makes things worse. The result is a bad writer trying to juggle with garbled facts in the sweetest possible vocabulary and a fan following to boot, getting the occasional “chhabhash” pat on the back which reinforces his belief that he is as good as it gets! As bad as it is, any hint of Thepfulhouvi’s modesty is also flatly flung out of the Canadian embassy window when he regales his readers of him having an engagement with the foreign embassy thereby subtly accentuating his eminence! Here, having been confronted with his bizarre view of Naga Council Holy Land tour, we outdo him in our respect for his person which drops far down below our navels. Or consider the part about his good person donating (the undercurrent theme being his magnanimity) some elephant tusks to the Speaker’s office in the New Secretariat which he gleefully claimed as the sole hero having discovered it on the alpine Dziikou. Truth is, the real rustic hero to find the tusks was Vilehu, a Khonoma elder (now deceased but his sons would testify) whose crown he stole. Surely, this is not how he defines good conscience? One does wonder how a self-righteous man can display such hypocrisy and get on to pen with impunity taking a dig at every conceivable organization from NBCC to NSCNs, NAGA HOHO to FNR, NAGA COUNCIL, etc! Would he take courage to risk walking in their shoes for one day if not for one year? Exhibiting skill and bravado of sorts in lone-ranger style in the safety of home is one thing. Crossing swords every next day with people or organisations who sacrifice despite personal limitations and who serve on a voluntary mode in an environment where rule of law has long drifted beyond reach is surely a different ball game altogether. The last thing civil society needs is stupid rationalization of issues by once respected intellectuals whose erudite façade one would later discover as punctured with holes.
Thepfulhouvi seems to take the position of the Devil’s advocate now and then. However, the constant glare of the arc light can be tempting enough and if one is not careful, the role engulfs you and one can easily lose himself in the quagmire that follows. These people love to provoke, to shadow box really. They imagine landing the jabs, and the occasional knockout punches but they’re never in the reality of action and this makes them less credible, wobbly in fact. They expertly employ humour in their writings to maliciously attack others and this has more to do with their missed chances at life’s glory. Apart from his over 30 years in Government service signing files and travelling executive style, we have never seen Thepfulhouvi in the thick of the tumultuous Naga world of social work anywhere or participating in the hostile environment of Dimapur’s anti-social theatre which Naga Council braves through with the support of peace-loving citizens of Dimapur. We don’t know Thepfulhouvi’s contribution to his prior profession but flattering one’s own achievement and making not-so-generous remarks about others is hardly the stuff of good writing by a supposedly good conscience ‘writer’ living under the “weight of honour”. Or is he a good conscience person with bad conscience writing skills?! Thepfulhouvi’s “good conscience” should be able to guide him as to whether mocking Naga Council’s tour of Holy Land as simply an “exciting pleasure trip” and an “all expense paid trip with the help of funds collected” from “some rich made-to-measure well wishers of overflowing wealth” is not crossing the threshold of decency as he so unhesitatingly pointed out when “an upcoming Christian institute of repute” made diners sign “promissory note of contributions” after serving guests sumptuous food! Casting aspersions and shadow boxing can be dangerous especially when there are planks in your eyes.
PS : Provide us with your list of collection which “rich made-to-measure well wishers of overflowing wealth” had purportedly donated ! We’d love to have a copy of your list for the record.
By Councillors T. Bangerloba Ao & Dietho Rhakho
On behalf of the 30-Member Naga Council
Holy Land Tour Team.
