Jonah Achumi
Akavi Zhimo, a 21 old year young lad,sells egg-rolls and pakoras during the evening hours at his shop located at Darogapathar situated opposite to the Delhi Public School junction which he runs by paying the monthly rents all by himself without even depending on his parents’ support after he graduated from Dimapur Government College two years back.
He hails from S. Hotovi village of Kuhuboto area near Dimapur and among the eight siblings of a family whose parents earns their livelihood by cultivation. I met him last year,when there was a Students’ Spiritual Conference at the Agri- Expo Dimapur as I too was one of the moderators there at the conference where he also came to attend it.Akavi, as I came to learn was a very religious young chap,and was one of the regular attendee of all the sessions of the conference,so by chance I happened to give him a lift in my car once and while going together I took a look at his small night-time eatery.With just an old gas stove and a cylinder,two frying pans and some knives, a cutting board and some small spoons.This was how the young hardworking fellow survives. But not only egg-rolls and pakoras, this young enthusuatic self-made enterprenuer,sells dish-tvs,mobile phone top-ups,recharge vouchers and small stationeries too during the daytime.I was quite impressed by his catchline ‘Why buy from others when your own brother is selling?’ Sometime back,he was offered a govt. job by some touts through a backdoor appointment but he flatly refused saying that he could never do such thing which was not only a sin against God but as well as his other fellow beings. Akavi says it will be depriving the rightful and the deserving persons and so wants to set an exemplary life. He just goes on selling his items and eatables that rarely makes a little or no profit.
But one thing Akavi carries on with him always is the hope he has in himself and his trust in God that he will become a successful businesman in the near future.
Temsu Walling, a mid thirty something fellow,from Khar village, Mokokchung district sells chicken in the Notun Basti juction Dimapur. He was working as a teacher in some private school but his health conditions made him to give up his job and had to struggle painstakingly to make himself survive against all odds in a place where almost all the business activities from whole sale to retail are caputred and monopolized by non-locals.
The Notun Basti market which is being mostly filled by the IBIs and non-locals,Temsu stands as a lone warrior that throws a picture of a resilient,a never giving-up spirit of a true survivor of one of our Naga brother in this selfish,corrupted and in a world of materialistic rat-race of a concrete jungle making his ends meet. I often used to pass by and tried to strike a conversation but Temsu being a shy nature fellow, was bit reluctant at the beginning whenever I asked him any questions.But after we became familiar and were no longer strangers anymore,I asked him if I could put up his photo and a piece of his inspiring story in the social media so that our people too may learn something from it ,to which he agreed. He says he sells chicken worth around Rs.1500 to Rs.2000 on normal days and sometimes if lady luck smile upon him his sales even goes up to around Rs.3000 to Rs.4000.
Due to time constraint he cannot rear chickens but buys from others at a wholesale rate. He mostly buys from our Naga people but he candidly says our own people are very hard to bargain with and most of the time stocks are not available when demand increases so he has to go to other non-locals mostly IBIs. He wishes only if our people also become a bit down-to-earth and humble down by changing our attitude of doing business.He just prays that Nagas too will start controlling our own market and economy but alas only our own people connives with the outsiders especially IBIs and control the whole poultry supplies which our young upcoming enterprenuers does not stand a chance at all. Temsu says his sale rose up and customers increased after I threw his story on social networking sites. Of late,another one Naga young lad has started selling chicken just beside Temsu at the same junction.
Atomu Zhimomi,is a 21 year old lad of Zukihe village near Dimapur who passed class 12 and in order to start doing a business no matter how small, gave up his academic pursuit and borrowed some amount from his parents to make a hand-cart stall that sells chow and momos near the Axis Bank at the city tower junction. He sells around Rs.500 to Rs.1000 per night and faces stiff competition from other stall owners mostly non-locals.He starts his business around 6pm in the evening till 9pm to 9.30pm.
Many youngsters throng these hand-pulled roadside eateries at night times braving the humidity and heat of Dimapur while rich kids who loves street junk foods orders their menu from the insides of their cars with the boom of the music and AC still on.On rainy days he have to stay indoors and go without any earning but nothing deters him. There’s a huge building coming up and there is a worry that after sometime they may not find a place to carry out their profession.But he believes God will help him survive for sure.
These three brothers are now almost some heroes of some sort in their own right after putting their photos and touching little stories last year with their permission in one of the most popular intellectual blog of the Sumis called the Sumi Kukuputsa. It’s the least a layman like me can do for my struggling brothers who doesn’t have any sort of assitance from the government, the local authorties or any others. Without any guarantee of what will happen to their business tomorrow,yet they just carry on without giving up because they all share the same thought that they can, those who believe in themselves.
One prominent young Naga IAS in his interview some years back said Naga parents should discard the attitude of IAS/ Doctor/ Engineer syndrome and let their children explore in their own interests and encourage and nurture them to earn their bread by honest sweat. No matter how big or small it’s the dignity of earning by the brow of our own sweat that matters. When I was in Shillong during my college days,most of the young local students out there help their parents at their shops selling vegetables, drive taxis or be a part time butchers,newspaper hawkers and even do manual labour works on their off days. With their earnings they use it as their pocket moneys,buys books,other necessities and also pays their own college fees and rents. I sensed this was somewhat missing in most of our Naga youngsters and in our homes.Maybe children in our villages do help their parents in the fields, to carry water,fetch firewood,look after cows and pigs but the very dignity of labour seems to be missing in most of our towns,especially in the homes of the higher stratas.
Majority of their times are spent on online games, social networking sites,partying,etc.As they grow up,inorder to meet the demands of the luxurious lifestyle parents have to spend more for their gadgets, clothes and accessories,cars etc. With this the essence of earning by oneself or struggling through one’s way in life is failing to be imbibed in their children by most parents.Consequestly when demands are not met, children tend to look for other outlets in the form of alcohol,drugs and harmful company of friends which have negative impacts on our society in the long run. Parents also either have to struggle more or even indulge in corrupt ways to maintain their expensive children where the seeds of corruption are sown in the young fertile minds of tomorrow’s citizens and leaders. Almost all our people only think of pursuing white-collar jobs and so should give up this thought.
It is heartening to see that many of our Naga youngsters are exploring unchartered territories to earn and eke out a living as well as pursuing it as hobbies,which they have not done before like photography,music,painting and many more. Some are shining out in both national and international levels.
These stories about our three brothers above is just an example of how and what we make out of our lives by ourselves. They all shows us that we must be the change ourselves if we wish to see a change in this world. We can never expect to live a positive life with negative thoughts. We blame society but aren’t we the socitey? We cannot change the whole world around us but we can indeed change it within us.
Many of us live with the belief that the system we live will never work,it has never worked and there is a very little chance it will work.But let us make ourselves work and change it.Are we teaching our children the right way to live for tomorrow? With our society in a state of complete moral bankruptcy and our moral fabric in tatters,there’s a famine of truth in this land and honesty has been diminished to almost oblivion,are we living our lives right so that our children too live their lives right?
Children, as said by psychologists,remembers only ten percent of what they read, twenty percent of what they hear but almost a hundred percent of what they are taught. Are we teaching them what is right in our homes? I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand,says the great Chinese philosopher Confucious. Let’s ask ourselves and not turn away the page thinking who cares. If you and I don’t, who will? Yes, who will ?The Dimapur Ao Baptist Church’s innovative way of launching the Motivational Living Utility Service by their Youth Ministry to promote local entreprenuership and self employment in every possible sector is a step which is indeed worthy to be emulated by all.
