EM Exclusive, Nagaland
A brighter 2021? People see light at the end of the Covid tunnel
Kohima, Jan. 6 (EMN): The new year provides an opportunity to reset, as most people are coming off a busy season of packed schedules along with the ebb and flow of daily life, notwithstanding the novel coronavirus pandemic.
If there is anything to be learnt from the year 2020, it is the importance of staying healthy, taking care of near and dear ones and doing something meaningful for the people and the planet.
With the arrival of the new year, Eastern Mirror reached out to some individuals who shared their aspirations and expectations from 2021.
Rev. Fr. Victor Renthungo Odyuo, secretary of the bishop of Kohima diocese, said that he would like to call upon the society to live by the “gospel value of respecting each other”, and that humanity needs love, which is ‘enhanced by the family’.
“The pandemic has a greater lesson to impart; that all of us are equal. Much of our perspective on life is determined by what we think and do and not what others say,” he shared.
He further encouraged the people to live a meaningful 2021.
Mezhüvonuo Suohu, a leader of a church youth association in Kohima, shared that regardless of the ‘chaos of 2020,’ there is always “an opportunity to realise that dreams do come true despite the many adversities in our lives”.
Her motto, she said, is: “There is always another day, another year and another opportunity to fulfil our dreams and aspirations.”
“We can transform those dreams in many ways,” she added.
Esther Pongen, a class 11 student of Baptist Higher Secondary School, Mangkolemba in Mokokchung district, said that “new year ignites a lot of hope and aspiration for each of us”.
“I hope and believe that this year will be an exhilarating year,” she shared. “Our country will grow more tolerant in accommodating the aspirations and struggles of a billion people. Our state will overcome the Naga political issues and be counted as a peaceful and progressive state,” she added.
For Carmila Lhousa, a banker and mother of four, getting closer to God is what she aspires for this year.
“To come closer to God and become a woman of prayer, lead my children and friends by example are some of my aspirations for 2021,” she said.
“I expect and wish this year, people may become more civilised and sensibly protect ourselves from the pandemic,” she added.
Meanwhile, Vikethotoulie Sekhose, who is a graduate in BSc. (Honours) Agriculture, ‘aspires to see a wave of opportunities and innovative solutions that will bring a new desirable change to our society’.
He wants ‘a generation that faced a pandemic yet stood strong to build a better future for generations to come’.
Orenthung Tungoe, a class 8 student of Charity School in Kohima, dreamed of competing in basketball and athletics events at his school before the pandemic played spoilsport.
“Unless we reach class 8, we are not allowed to play basketball in the sports week,” he shared.
Tungoe, who loves sports, also expressed dissatisfaction over the school cancelling sports events due to Covid-induced closure of educational institutions in March last year.
Another student, Medovi Alex Kiso, who is in class 9 at St. John School in Kohima, said that he wants to learn guitar and painting this year.
John Suohu, an instructor at ITI Kohima and a father of two, wants a self-sustainable Nagaland. He expressed apprehension that, had there been a shortage of supplies and essential goods in the country during the pandemic last year, ‘Nagaland would have undergone a shocking doomsday’.
He said that the state needs to be prepared for any future eventuality, ‘as it cannot go on depending on the Central government for survival’. He added that the right time has come for Nagas to engage themselves in agricultural and allied activities for self-sufficiency.