(From left) Nungsangmanen Aier, Tsungden Kichu and Sangwanet Longkumer of Bristle Enterprise, Mokokchung.
‘Help people, even when you know they can't help you back’
Morung Express News
Mokokchung | August 3
If there is one thing winning over the current pandemic then it is perhaps the humanity and service to mankind which continue to evolve in different natures in various nooks and corners of the state.
However, there are also those who serve humanity with publicity and those who serve silently without expecting any publicity or gratitude in return.
Here is a group of three young men in their late 20s who are quietly helping the less privileged with essential needs maintaining anonymity in and around Mokokchung town. Their modus operandi is that they do not personally handover the packages to the receivers but through other persons and maintains anonymity of all those involved in the process.
The trio are carrying out the act of kindness under the name of its joint business venture called Bristle Enterprise, Mokokchung.
The Morung Express came across a social media post which stated, “At this unprecedented hour, the Bristle Enterprise would like to share our blessings with the people who are struggling and are less fortunate in and around Mokokchung town. Therefore, if any person/family is going through such troubles, please approach us without any hesitation. You can also reach out for people who you feel need the help.” This reporter contacted them through one of the given mobile phone numbers requesting them to help a certain family. This was how The Morung Express got in touch with them and the following is their story being published with a request from this newspaper.
Small start, big purpose
The trio namely, Nungsangmanen Aier (28), Sangwanet Longkumer (29) and Tsungden Kichu (29) are childhood friends who studied together from Class A-10. All of them are unemployed and they decided to start a joint business for which they collected Rs 3000 each. With that amount, they started Bristle Enterprise dealing with home decors made out of wood in the last week of June 2020. They craft the home decors by themselves with locally available quality woods mainly pine. They derived the name ‘Bristle’ from the Bristlecone pine tree, which is said to be the oldest known living tree thus connoting their time-tested friendship. They also chose the word ‘Bristle’ to name their business house to denote their coming together in unison to start a business similar to the cluster of hair forming a bristle brush.
“After a month of our business, we profited few thousand rupees and we decided to use it as a blessing for the people.
Many people shared their well-intentioned opinion with us as to why we were doing this (helping less privileged) when we have just started the business but we decided to go ahead because there are those who are less fortunate than us,” said Nungsangmanen.
The trio keeps compiling the number of packages to be delivered till the end of a month based on number of phone calls received seeking assistance. Then during the first week of the next month, they start delivering the packages by themselves. Besides this, they also give a token (Bristle home decors) to the person who made the phone call on behalf of the people who need the assistance.
Help with a different perspective
Tsungden, who is a self-learned artisan said that they would continue reaching out to the people whether they profit or not from their business. “This is not a one-time assistance although we will give preference to those unreached but whenever possible we will deliver the package even to those who have received earlier.”
“When we started this initiative, there were people who volunteered to donate but we declined politely since we thought that if we start accepting donations, the motive and objective of us sharing our blessings with the people might get diluted and there might also be unsavoury criticisms based on assumptions. We just wanted to share our own blessings (profit) with the less fortunate,” said Sangwanet Longkumer.
Nungsangmanen who is a theology student at CTC, Mokokchung added, “We are helping someone knowing that they cannot help us back. We are also happy that many people have called us on behalf of others who need our assistance and we thank all those people for taking the initiative for others. They are doing another level of humanitarian work.”
Create a better place with humanity
To the unemployed youth, the trio says that one cannot always depend on parents but need to start working even if it is a small venture. “Earning clean money is akin to eating uncontaminated sweet honey; so work hard, try to earn by yourself and try to help others,” they were unanimous in this statement.
To the public, the three bosom friends have this humble message, “during these unprecedented times, let us not only think but feel and do more for each other. Let us all activate our positive thoughts into actions filled with humanity and the world will be a better place.”
Anyone needing the assistance of Bristle Enterprise, Mokokchung or those willing to reach out for others can contact the following mobile phone numbers: 8615095118, 8974752502 and 8787841613.
