S Varah
As a result, security and serene existence of other life forms is being seriously threatened as the Naga eat them all. All creations are at great risk to move, crawl, fly and roam in the woods; many of them are on the brink of total annihilation.
There are huge talents and values to be tapped from the Naga young. They are unstoppably enterprising in technical as well as evangelical theft. We are aware of the reason(s). Maintenance of law and discipline is also very simple when money is involved. Therefore, we do not require many police as we do moral police who are successfully bringing down the level of moral, social and other problems plethora, huh? Being Christian has also made us very innovative in prayer and lecture with shortage of practice.
A maxim of an elder in some southern part of Naga’s lands sums up some of the outstanding characteristic features of the Naga like this: “If you encounter a Tangkhul early morning, he is looking for leadership. If the other-----in an early hour of the day----- happens to be Mao, he is all out for dog meat”, said he smiling. “If Rongmi, then, he must be searching for a huge earthen pot for brewing ruksi” (Asaba, in Meitei term). We can well make out as to what an Angami or Sumi and so on, may be up to. Very enterprising indeed!
Naga are fiercely territorial when it comes to land and ownership matter. In no other parts of the world do other peoples spend so much as Nagaland does in fortifying their home fronts. Nagaland is hence in the “Geniuses Book of ‘Wall’ Record,” as CM Rio arrogantly pronounced the other day to a big crowd. And which is why the district administration was once compelled to exhume a freshly dug grave to settle and to make sure no illegal encroachment is allowed over a zoological park.
No doubt Naga world view is very creation-centred; in the fact that no Naga undertakes an oath in the name of Mother Earth that is the ‘foot stool’ of the Creator. “Dust thou art and unto dust shall thou return” is an ancient religion of the Naga long before Genesis Account came into their knowledge! Naga’s relation or the symbiosis that has been in existence between this so called backward race and Mother Nature is an excellent culture and therefore, much-talked-about by other experts. Take, for example, an old Naga going down to his knee to implore the giant tree that was about to be felled for Morung purpose or for common and immediate use; knowing that the fall of this big refuge for other lives in the wood to die and at the same time harm other smaller plants or undergrowths; or to cause imbalance to co-existing system! Any taboo on hunting and fishing during spawning season was judiciously ordered and obeyed.
It is not only the recklessness of commercial logging; it is our departure from the ancient symbiotic mindset that is bruising our land today. Does this involve entrepreneurship in far broader precept? Naga traditional value, inter alia, is Naga rock bottom upon which we will build our economy. We talk so much and glamour greener grass across the fence. Why not embark on how Naga mothers and fathers, unsophisticated though they were, far better informed than those ‘techno-docs’ in relation with seeds: how and when they are sown. They could best select soil for a particular crop; well aware of climatic factors and the right season, with high yield. They were strict when it is a matter of seeds and their values, seeds and varies that have natural resisting elements against pests or deceases of crops. Today we know the adverse affect of genetically modified seeds feeding the disastrous whims of consumerists. Indeed, we immensely owe our great grandfathers and mothers for the legacy we inherit from them: The legacy that what we have today we simply ‘borrow from the next generation.’ Our mothers and fathers strongly and invincibly believed that everything is designed and created; there is nothing that is not made for the good of human race except the grave that we humans make. That is the only thing we might claim as ours. For them life is all about ‘give to take’ in the first place.
Naga can live aplenty if linked with indigenous technology wisely fused with modern sciences. This is one way Naga can contain elites migrating to other business centres; attract others to ours, too. State road show can identify talents; it can attract crowd. It has become more of one of Naga’s carnivals. Money involved with road show can also be directed to recognisable and promising talents. These talents have no money in their villages. Forfeiting the Naga indigenous values for imported enterprises is eating Naga inside out. Balanced growth of both modern and traditional values will immensely impact upon our economy and long term growth towards all Naga fronts.
As the ‘year of entrepreneurs’ is at the fag-end, so also many of the Naga values in the persons of our aged mothers and fathers, to be buried for eternity. We must retrieve all of them before it is too late.
