Witoubou Newmai The onset of winter heralds the so called ‘festive season’. But does this ‘festive season’ emanate the feeling of conviviality in a true sense, in the Naga context? No other idea of ‘festive season’ is worthy sans the atmosphere of geniality. However, we have been witnessing that cases of kidnapping for ransom, extortion and ‘donation’ have become rampant in our society during ‘festive season’ compared to any other time. Our society needs to delve into the issue and discern the reasons. It is time for our society to engage in a fuller discourse on whether today’s morally sequestered society that we live in has anything to do with impacting the air of affability. It appears that, as our society has become indifferent to corruption and people continue to build auras around that class of people who have accumulated wealth without known sources of income, and as the stench permeates the society, we lay flat in considering the “end justifies the means”. As our society grows indifferent to corrupt indulgence, the people who have no chances of hobnobbing with the ‘power corridor’ become power-struck wannabes by taking extreme steps to be ‘there’. And hence, the rise of crime rate. Another aspect that we need to observe is on how the ‘powers-that-be’ and the ‘haves’ try to present the ‘festivities’ only relevant to their classes. Such is the ‘world’s way’ in making the ‘have-nots’ suffer the feeling of alienation, as the people with status and the ‘powers-that-be’ become virtual owners of all the events in this Naga festive season. We need to check whether ‘Naga-ness’ has been substantially displaced by this ‘world’s way’. There is no denying that the world will always belong to the ‘haves’ and the ‘much-haves’. However, given the cultural aspect and egalitarian belief of the Naga society, there is a need for heavy introspection/retrospection to understand the ongoing trend. Today’s festivals and any other celebration, right from the village level to the government level, have become a link between the gaping hole of tradition and modernity. But, people working to preserve and defend the ‘Naga-ness’ may take special pleasure in finding out whether these modern festivities/events are also creating a gaping hole between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in Naga society to a degree of incorrigibility. It is time to rethink on how events are organized in overt hostility to the needs of the ‘have-nots’. The crowded ‘powers-that-be’ in organizational structure of events needs to be reconfigured based on egalitarian belief. Barriers which dispel the feeling of allegiance of the ‘have-nots’ to public events need to be identified and make necessary redressal. In other words, efforts are to be invested to enable us to identify circumstances in which allegiance of the ‘have-nots’ is inimical to the public events. The best of these endeavours can deepen the understandings of the egalitarian belief of the Naga society. Such endeavours can also bring us good lessons about humility, one important motif of ‘Naga-ness.’ In short, to soothe the ‘winter alienation’ of the ‘have-nots’ in this point of the era when the growth of inequality in our Naga society is startling, it is important for the glaring display of Naga-ness, at least when it comes to upholding the spirit of the festive season. This approach does not mean to undermine the argument about practical amenities. When the hurt feelings of the ‘have-nots’ in the Naga society are soothed, so are the needs of the entire Naga society.
