We all grew up reading the story of the mother whose ear was bitten off by her son before his execution because she never confronted him about his thefts. It is Minister Imchen’s good fortune that the public intervened at the right time and saved him the loss of his hearing apparatus or more. For, this case is even more depraved than our moral science story. While the mother abetted her son’s crimes by her inaction, our esteemed leader appears to be the perpetrator of the crime. (We will not make the son an innocent victim here. He is an equal participant.)
If his father wrote to the Union Minister for a seat in medical college, it would be fair for the public to assume that Daddy may very well write again for a MBBS certificate. It is not unfair to question the possibility that a boy ranked 464 in the JEE will be able to complete one of the most rigorous courses in academics. Statistics will always be concerned not with how many students we SEND to study medicine, but how many RETURN equipped to serve the public. Let us now turn from the externalities of the crime to its intimate and therefore more tragic dimension.
Research has shown that toddlers who are left to pick themselves up when they fall, grow up to be more independent adults than those who are always rescued and pacified. The point is that there is not ONE child who has not benefited from being left to fight his own battles. (Even God turned away and let Jesus fight his ultimate battle at the cross alone). While we do not want to accuse our honorable minister of harboring ill intent for his son, we do question his intent as a father. What was running through the mind of this great man when he wasted a golden opportunity to teach his son to fight for himself and reap what he sows?
And it is our sincere advice to your son that any chance he has left for his ‘betterment’ will be to NOT follow your example; to return from whichever medical college it is that he has illegally entered into; to hand the seat to its rightful owner and publicly apologize for participating in this farce. There is a drop of public sympathy left for him yet.
We may anticipate rejoinders from our honorable minister, the likes of ‘leave my son out of this’ or ‘don’t ridicule him so’. We will answer these fatherly sentiments in advance. That we are merely walking in through the door which you unlocked and opened wide.
It is no secret that something is dreadfully wrong in the mechanism of parenthood in Naga society. The youth alone should not take sole credit for their synchronized fall from grace. However, it is hard for parents to own responsibility for their mistakes and many harbour their errors as secrets. So we must justly applaud our Minister Imchen for having the audacity to not only commit a terrible crime against his son in full view of the public but to also remain unrepentant.
History has shown us that only the greatest of men, heroes or the least of men, fools have committed grand mistakes. We will grant our honorable minister the benefit of doubt and consider him a hero who ‘fell’ in a moment of madness. Like David. But our generosity comes with the caution that although David kept Bathsheba and repented, he paid a price. What grieves us is not that you took a seat that was not yours to take (some may call this stealing). For, to err is human. The tragedy for you is that WE are not Divine.
P. Angami, Kohima
p-angami@hotmail.com
