A Night at the Carnival

Jonah Achumi [dropcap]A[/dropcap] very big Kudos to the Dimapur district administration, DMC, DCCI and BAN for organising the Dimapur Night Carnival successfully which received an overwhelming response. Comparatively, we can say, it was far better in terms of organizing and conducting because it did gave a “very carnival” kinda’ feeling by bringing the carnival mood to the town. Unlike previous years’ where space constraint for commuting and parking was found to be a major problem as the public main road proved to be inconvenient for most of the town-dwellers, the organizing team made a great effort for efficient parking and commuting and hence they deserve our big salute and a bow. For most of us, the Carnival was indeed a breather and sundry to refresh and relieve from the hectic schedules of one’s daily routine of the modern society which has become a very monotonous and a stereotype run-of-the- mill, robotic, tedious and repetitive lifestyles which has drain all our physical and mental energy by much social obligations and personal deadlines or commitments .If anything that could herald and foretell of better things to come and our society yearns and craves is just peace and a progressive society, the recent Night Carnival of Dimapur says it all. The hot-humid almost year round climate of Dimapur which even the town’s residents loathes, the short wintry season of festive mood with launching of this carnival was an added flavor to be a getaway from daily malaise. Personal careers , over-burdensome familial and social commitments with myriad compulsion of attending numerous responsibilities of one’s job and enormous errand and tasks of villages, areas, clans, colony, unions, groups ,associations etc fill throughout our yearly calendar and so no wonder the modern individual seems to be caught in a vicious circle of and a web of entanglement finally exhausting the individual’s caliber and resources thus many at times resulting in health problems like stress, tension ,blood-pressure, diabetes, strokes, anxiety attacks etc. For those who want a break and cannot afford a holiday in some expensive hill-station resorts or sunny beaches, this type of Carnival provides a time out with family and loved ones and also bump into many long-lost friends, associates and acquaintances both pleasant and unpleasant ones of course. The young entrepreneurs running varieties of stalls like fun-games, fast foods, fancy costumes etc. sure was thrilling. The cosmopolitan nature of Dimapur was clearly showcased to its fullest with people of all community and groups, both old and young thronging and swarming the stalls to satisfy their appetite as well as clogged delights through amusement stall and games.Besides the numerous stalls of almost same style, the ones with a different were the Korean food stall, the Dimapur Muslim Council stall, the Manipuri and the Bengali food stall proved a big difference where many people swarmed in these stalls contradictory to the otherwise scarce or almost empty traditional Naga cuisines though some did brisk business by their contacts with good number friends and known people. Some stall had to stop midway of the carnival maybe because of not able to make a good profit or assumed sale and shortage of man-power. The pay and click photo with comic super-heroes to raise some charity fund for some orphanages was indeed a one stall thronging with many little kids and teenagers waiting eagerly for their turn to pose for a photo. A very good example of recycle, reuse and reduce was making of a Christmas tree by small mineral water bottles by some creative and talented people.The one-of a-kind stall was the organic vegetables stall which many health buffs and health conscious individuals were seen buying from it. In an age of junk food and chemically fertilized foods and fruits and many health enthusiasts found it really as a rare opportunity in Dimapur and took it home. Such initiative is indeed and encouraging step. Another platform promoting the ‘Dignity of Labour’ was the Survival Nagaland stall manned by a group of educated hardworking youngsters selling eatables at a very cheap rate comparatively lower than most other stalls. Many people from all background visited this stall out of sheer curiosity and ate because it was not just another stall selling some eatables but some new young Nagas coming together to let Nagaland survive and become ourselves self-reliant and economically by highlighting work culture. The stall was run by the contributed amount of SN members and all profits given to the sellers except the key-chain with free car stickers for future SN activities. The talented singers at the centre-stage kept enthralling the crowd which featured many young talented individuals and bands that included our honorable minister Dr. Nicky Kire and our former retired Chief Secretary, sir Alemtemshi Jamir who seems to be men for all season as many people from every age group enjoyed their melodic numbers from even from faraway the main stage thumping their feet and humming along .Man, these big boys never gets tired, what awesome spirits they have. Apart from all this, what was overheard from many stall owners was the stall- fee which was a bit expensive of Rs.3000 for ten by ten and Rs. 6000 for ten by twenty for middle and the lower class. The last year fee was said to be a reasonable amount of Rs.1000. It was also learnt that some bigger stalls had to pay as much as more amount but they were seem to doing brisk business while advertising their items at the same time. Maybe the organizers surely had their own reason to charge such amount. But our Naga people also need to go a bit reasonable with the prices of items selling as many revelers and carnival attendees were ruing about the high prices. The usual getting rich quicker was told to be the main cause of things sold at such exorbitant rates and this seems to be one main reason many people attending the stalls of non-locals and it was not only for their sumptuous and mouth-watering delicacies but the prices they maintained proved to be a major dynamic force drawing plenty of customers. A 100ml of some fruit punch was sold at prices ranging from Rs.200-Rs.300.The concept of sell cheap-attract many still seems to be absent among many of our local entrepreneurs. I too brought coloured a wig for my little boys for Rs.200 from a non-local without any bargain which was sold by our local people at Rs.300 though I tried finding a suitable one with our own people I could not. But we all know any type of bargaining with our local people either invites a big frown or a dejected look offered with lavishness without any hesitancy. The local made fruit and mixed vegetable wine was selling like hot-cakes, because they were selling with their original price tags. A friend of mine who makes runs a local sausage business was finding it hilarious that the same was sold five times of the cost. Yes of course the young entrepreneurs who were running the stalls had to bear the cost of the stall fee and other costs like transportation, plus other miscellaneous expenditures etc. On the last night during the final hours many stalls were found selling items at discount rate so as not to incur loss or carry it back home. Whatever may be it, the carnival indeed proved a very good platform for everyone not only to have fun and relieve the yearly burden and a way of earning some extra-pocket money for Christmas unraveling the untapped potentiality and hidden skills of the younger generations of our people. In many other countries these sort of night-markets provide a part –time job for many daytime university students throughout the year and the Dimapur Night arrival was sure a harbinger and things going for a positive change in our society .Here at the Dimapur City-Tower area we see many food hawkers and roadside mobile eateries ,mostly run by non-locals making a very good earning but now some young Nagas finding it as a way of earning through the sweat of their own brow at some other place in the town which is indeed an encouraging step and some change is taking place here at our land and among the young people. Some grumbled why gambling should be allowed or a “Tambola” game be allowed but it was a carnival after all, fun ,merry-making with earning and enjoying at the same time was the aim .Also quiet contrary to the guidelines laid by the organizers some stalls were found to be selling banned IMFL discreetly at much expensive rate .The going home proved to be a big headache for everyone as massive traffic snarl due to haphazard parking was found to be a main factor with the notice to tow away such randomly parked vehicles was not much seen in deed after the initial day.But Dimapurians sure are looking forward for such events and occasion in the days to come.