Zhulika Aye
It was winter of December 2012, back when I was in my tenth standard, preparing for my matric exams. Our family was going to attend the wedding of a close relative in our village. Having lived and studied in Dimapur since childhood, I couldn’t even remember the last time I saw my village or even travelled so far from Dimapur for that matter. As we passed through the state of Assam, I noticed the bright green rice fields that stretched far out into the landscape and merged with the trees in the horizon until my eyes couldn’t even follow. I couldn’t help but feel amazed and envious of how fortunate the Assamese people were, blessed with such vast, rich and fertile lands to cultivate and live in. I thought to myself and concluded that this land of theirs is the source of all their wealth and richness, forming the very backbone of their dominant economy in this North-eastern corner of the country. Soon enough, we entered Nagaland and we were greeted with the evergreen flowing hills of our state. We stopped by a roadside to refresh ourselves, beneath of which flew the mighty Milak river. As we were all taking in the beauty and sanctity of the land around us, I couldn’t help but view in awe the majestic forested hills in front of us that rose from the other end of the river. Their giant, intimidating size and the variety of trees thriving on them was truly a sight to behold. For someone like me, who hardly travelled out of the plains of Dimapur, this was all just overwhelming yet elating for me at the same time. My aunt came up to my side and, noticing the bliss I was in, told me, “Every inch of these hills and every tree on them belong to us, Nagas.” The moment I heard those words, a deep feeling of joy and pride overtook me, pride from the fact that I was also a Naga, whose forefathers roamed and hunted in those forests. From then on, I knew that I would look at Nagaland and everything within it’s boundaries in a whole new light.
I can state with utmost satisfaction and content that we Nagas are among the most fortunate of communities on Mother Earth in the present age of unprecedented development and scientific progress. Humankind’s never-ending and unchecked hunger for knowledge coupled with a ruthless endeavour to tame nature in search for the highest quality of life has unfortunately altered the sanctity and purity of our earth. And so, in an era of unchecked environmental degradation and rapid climate change, our tiny Nagaland stands as a tiny but bold bastion of greenery and undisturbed virginity, an oasis brimming with life and every possible richness offered by mother nature. Our state has one of the highest percentages of forest cover in the country, an impressive 75.33% (FSI,2017). Lush green tropical forests adorn the undulating hills of our state, coupled with prolific streams and rivers flowing among their midst. JJ Thomson’s plum pudding model of the atom is an interesting analogy that comes to my mind. Though not the most accurate of analogies, it reminds me of how our state is like a verdant green carpet of vegetation embedded with tiny villages and towns, much like the plums in a plum pudding. Thriving with vibrant life, from the majestic Mithun (Bos frontalis), which also happens to be our state animal , to the beautiful and rare Blyth’s Tragopan, Nagaland is a living repository of some of the most spectacular forms of wildlife.
Since time immemorial, we Nagas have always taken our lands and forests very seriously. Our culture, our traditions and every part and bit of our roots, be it folk songs, folk tales or even the motif and pattern of our rich clothes, are deeply engrained and intertwined with the never-ending hills and deep forests around us. Our people have hunted the quickest and deadliest of prey and predator that inhabit the Naga hills and have managed to form a bond, an unexplained affinity with the land around us, such that we treat these lands and everything in them as an inseparable part of the fabric of our lives. Our forefathers and ancestors roamed these hills and called it their home. They hunted and they cultivated in them, they shed blood and hunted heads and built majestic villages on their tops. Thus, it comes without surprise that the sacred bond that the Nagas shared with their land was noticed firsthand by the Indian government, right after independence. As a result, our central government has furnished the ancestral-rights of our people and our land in the form of Article371A in the Indian Constitution, further cementing the evidence of the inseparable relationship of the Nagas with their ancestral lands.
Former American president, Franklin D. Roosevelt once said. “We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future.” In concurrence with these words, our youth today stands on the threshold of modernisation and western ideas. In an ever-progressive and liberal society, increased proliferation of Western ideas and trends in the form of music, fashion, language, lifestyles and numerous other sub-cultures poses the ever increasing threat of our people losing the unique and sacred bond with our land, a bond that has been passed down from our forefathers since time immemorial. Occasionally wearing a piece of traditional wear in school or college functions or performing a roughly put-together folk dance in an event is not enough to keep our legacy and our heritage alive. Sure, they certainly are small steps in the right direction but our young Nagas have to indulge in greater and more intensive steps to truly understand the vigorous and deep traditions of our people. I remember how my parents would tell me and my siblings stories of their childhood, and we would listen in awe of how they were able to figure out the type and species of birds inhabiting a particular tree, just by listening to their calls; or how they would go swimming safely in rivers even during monsoons and could tell where the water was deep or shallow just by looking at the colour of the surface. A person like me, having lived in towns my entire life till date, could never comprehend the amount of skill and woodcraft our parents had back in their childhood days, when they would go cultivating in their jhum fields, collecting firewood or fetching water from the streams deep in the forests. The Naga youth of today is hardly a shadow of what our forefathers were back in the days. It is sad and unfortunate that a lot of our youth today have no clue of the worth and value of our land, our rivers, our forests and our wildlife. They are ignorant to the fact that this land and these forests moulded and shaped the very culture and traditions which we identify with today.
Having expressed all my thoughts on the Naga youth of today, I would like to assure and reaffirm that we have not lost yet. We can still prevent the catastrophe of cultural extinction and reclaim the affinity our ancestors shared with their lands. Awareness and education, cultural education to be precise, is the need of the hour. Parents and elders have to make their children understand that education alone does not complete a person; rather it is values and traditions of our roots passed down since time immemorial that truly defines a person and solidifies the place he/she occupies in the larger community of human beings.
I am an avid user of Youtube and I have subscribed to a number of channels covering numerous themes, fields and areas of interest. In recent years, a number of young Naga youtubers have sprung and have created little niches for themselves from which they can create content and keep viewers entertained. I have noticed that a good number of these youtubers create videos about our state, it’s raw and unfiltered appeal and the people in them. They visit villages, tour around the remote areas and jungles of the state, go fishing and camping and undertake all sorts of activities where they basically appreciate and show us the beauty of our state’s landscapes, forests, settlements, people and all sorts. This is such a good and positive trend, deserving of the highest form of appreciation. In my opinion, this is the best means of educating today’s youth on the richness and beauty of the land on which we live. Channels such as Jungle Infinity, Jamir Vlogs, Renny Vlogs, Kents vlog, Vekuto vlogs to name a few, have earned my subscription and have become a staple in my usual Youtube-watching sessions. It is time we the youths of Nagaland discover who we truly are. Kuknalim.
This is the second prize winner of the Kohima Education Society essay competition in Category B with the theme ‘Affinity of Naga youth with land, water, forests, and wildlife’
