“Nagas then and now”

JOHN KIPS YIMCHUNGER The Nagas of old were feared as head hunters but trusted and for their sincerity, honesty, simplicity, Strong Community and Family ties. Today the Nagas no longer hunt heads but hunt souls (so they say). Our undying gratitude to the Christian missionaries. Who with their genuine hunger to serve Christ spread the message of Christ’s love to the heathen head hunters and clothes the ‘Naked Nagas” with the garment of Christ’s love. The age-old practice of head hunting give way to soul hunting. But let us ask ourselves today, how many souls were really hunted? How many of us can say, I have been faithful to my faith? The conditions that our society is in today speak loud and clear of how faithful we have been to our faith. If only we are as faithful and enthusiastic as our for-fathers were in hunting heads as was the tradition then. Sometimes I wonder what is really happening to our society today. Everything seems to be going haywire. I was told that, once upon a time-the Nagas were down-to-earth and earth-friendly, tilled the soiled with their hands to make a clean living. Everybody took bright in working hard for his living. If there is one thing the Nagas fervently believe in, it was in the dignity of labour. Life was hard yet at the same time it was fun. Sad to say, the long cherished ideal of the dignity of labour seems they been push to the background. Now everybody (with the exception of a few) to not want to keep their hands clean and are bent on making a dirty living. Easy and fast money seems to be the order of the day. Nagas work hard no doubt but to make easy money, who is going tell them that there is as much as dignity and tilling the soil as in driving car? With the idea of dignity of labour having ceased some time ago, the idea of unemployment seems to have undergone a change. When we talk of employment the first thing to come in our mind is, ‘white-collar job’. Our concept of employment has become so narrow and wrong. We cry ourselves hoarse over unemployment problems if we do not get a white collar job. If we all go for Government jobs there won’t be a breading space; we well die of suffocation. The Government offices over crowded as it is, mostly by the people who in the slogan “workless and talk more”. We seem have lost the idea of employing ourselves to stand our own feet. We think that we have to have degrees after degrees to our credit to exhibited ourselves as educated we think that if we don’t have one or the other degree, we are misfits, good for nothing since we cannot get a white collar job. We are being brain washed by our educational system which say that the only respectable job we can have is the Government job. Without holding one we are another frustrated unemployed youth in the never-ending statistical list of ‘Educated’ or ‘Uneducated’ unemployed. Along with our educational qualification we have to have another equally important qualification. We must have parents loaded with money; relative in ‘High places’ make all the ‘right moves’ with all the right people. Kudos to a handful of true sons of a Nagas. Who have with all their bottomless sincerity, faith and tine of hard work rose to height of triumph against all odds to stand out from the maddening crowd, as heroes to look up to and to imitate. A persons worth once measured by good he contributes to the community, now is measured in terms of number of cars he has, number in size of his buildings, bank balance and the amount he generously (?) donates to the church. No wonder it’s a jungle out here; rich man’s jungle were justice is out of place. Altruism has simply being replaced by individualism and materialism. Nagas not so longer ago prided itself of being a classless society; now we can only hang our heads in shame for the ivory towers and iron gates (as high as the skies). Securely looked by gains locks that separate the rich and poor; the educated and the uneducated. The Naga of yore took pride in the lavish expenditure of his wealth for his community. Being earth-friendly cared and shared the rich natural bounties. Wanton destruction of the rich and beautiful natural resources for, greet was never a Naga style. He lived closer to the earth in was nurtured in the late lap of Mother Nature he was content with simple thing that nature generously bestowed on him. He was never in want now we are faced with the consequences of our own greedy actions if only we realized that natural wealth was never meant for our greed but only for our need: Age-old values like simplicity, honesty, integrity, respect for elders and authority, helping out a friends seems to have become things of the past. An illiterate village elder who never held a pen in his soiled hand, once leads his people to victory and was trusted respected by his folks he was ever ready to sacrifice his all for his people. Can we say the same of our so-called educated leaders, preachers and teachers of today? True, there are still some unsung Heroes even today who equally deserves our respects. May their people increase. Why do we go on fighting among ourselves? Why do we robe and killing our brothers? Why do we dishonour our own sisters? Why do we cheat our own parents? Why do we put own that holier-than-thou attitude? Forgive me for being so ignorant. But I am only spelling out the silence scream of every perplexed and confused youth you pass by in the street. Why do we go on slavishly copying the western? Our youths are today talking big about pop culture, movies and videos, drinks and drugs, violence and crimes, sex and sin, the list goes on and on. Every society has its own vices and virtues. The vices (not the virtue) of the western society seem to have more attraction for our youths. We think whatever of the west is better than our fore-fathers have let us with. Here in lies our identity crisis. We are neither here nor there. Our identity lies in our rich culture and tradition. While marching forward with the modern time our feet need to be securely standing on the ground were fore-fathers once proudly walked on? In the present Naga society the youth play a very limited role. Youth is the most dynamic and productive period. Training ground for a more responsible adulthood. But our Naga youth portray a very poor picture. Who is to be blame? What lies behind the mask they put on? One need not look far to see the emptiness, the frustration and confusion in their eyes. Why don’t we give them another chance? Show them that we care? Hard times, trying times, shape and mould us for the better, people live through the hard times with the faith that good times will come again. What we ‘do’ or ‘do not do’ will shape our today andtomorrow. I know that there is still a world of good tucked away in every corner of our big Naga heart. We put on a mask trying to hide our real self, lest people say we Are ‘old fashioned’. Why don’t we put our mask away, forget what others say and bring out the good, all simple Naga to the surface and let it shine?