Growing up as a child who unfortunately never had the privilege to see nor address someone as “Obu” (grandfather) from both my paternal as well as maternal side, I naively associated the term with my paternal uncle late Gen. A. Maken who was married to my father’s eldest sister Mrs. Yashilemla. But as I grew older over the years, calling him “Obu” became very significant and it always felt like I was in the presence of my real grandfather. He was a man of principles. A man with immense knowledge, always ready to share it with the people that took an interest in it. As a child I often wondered how people from different walks of life would continually visit him and sit for tedious hours. Tedious indeed from a child’s perspective. I vividly remember how hours would just fly by like some few minutes when I engaged in a conversation with him. From what I could tell, he was always looking forward to immerse himself in deep conversations which never ceased to provoke the mind. On one such occasion, while I had just started doing my M.phil dissertation, I consulted him regarding some historical facts and socio-cultural practices of the Ao tribe, Longkhum village in particular. I had my questions answered and we drifted away from the topic. He said, “Do you find anything wrong with the word ‘Educated’?” Like most people often do, I scratched my head. I knew what the word ‘Educated’ meant but I definitely knew that it was not what he was asking for. So I remained silent, still trying to utter a word. So he went on to his next question and said “what is educated unemployed/unemployment?” This seemed fairly easy to answer and I mumbled all those we read in the newspapers about our youth being unemployed even after obtaining degrees and qualifications, the high level of corruption so on and so forth. So far so good. Then his third and final question was, “why are you/they educated to be unemployed?” This left me baffled. There was no other way I could explain so I ultimately sought for his answer. Firstly, education has no end. This I presume we all know it as a fact. However, in the literal sense and from a Linguistic perspective, the semantic content of the very word “educated” stands in contrast to its actual meaning which is ‘there is no endpoint’ in receiving education.
Secondly, if we claim to be ‘educated’ per se, doesn’t it imply that we are capable of doing anything since we have already reached that milestone of being educated? It is fair to say that this notion is arguable. But what he meant and what he wanted to point out was that we Nagas are not practical in our approach. We do not engage in self employment. We receive education but we do not bother to use that productively and make our society a better place. He was a very practical man. And I understood that he wanted to make me think and be intrigued first and set the tone to question myself deeply.
Not only did it provoke my mind, it also led me question myself on ‘how practical’ I actually am and ‘how much’ of that education for all these years have been actually put to use.
He was an active social worker but for most of his later years, he led a peaceful life. I came to know of his immense social contributions and his dedication towards Naga Nationalism as he narrated his experiences and events that took place in his lifetime. He was one of the last surviving General amongst the Nagas. To me, he was the perfect example of a patriot, a visionary, a statesman and a man who knew and strongly believed that ‘truth is sublime’. While he was pursuing his matriculation in Government High School Mokokchung, the then Headmaster alleged 24 of the senior students to be members of the Naga Youth Movement. To quote, “Nineteen of us refused to surrender to these false charges which ultimately led to the closure of the school on the 13th August, 1954. At this juncture, I was one of the five who pledged allegiance and signed with our own blood for serving Naga Nation”. This marked his entry into a lifelong dedication towards Naga Nationalism based on his firm believe in truth. Even on his dying Bed, his last words to me were “Obulai alizung tashi asemogoto na?” (Grandpa has finished the race, haven’t I?) to which I replied “Yes Obu. You did”. He was a man of few words yet those few words were capable of penetrating our thoughts and altering the way we perceive things as they are. His last words to me proved that he stood his ground and never faltered in his belief till the very end. He took a pledge with his blood at a tender age of 19 and ran the race until his dignified demise at the dawn of a new day, the 30th of May 2016. He knew that his job was done. He knew he had given his all and above all, he knew that God was always by his side. Will we ever run our race with such conviction without losing ground? Can we hold on to truth and make it lead the way? These are the questions I ask myself and possibly to the readers as well (if it meant something). The people who knew him, knew who he was, and I am sure they too are holding on to his precious words from their own experiences as I do.
There is a lot that I have learnt from him and I consider myself very fortunate. But perhaps the most important thing that surpasses the others was his repeated message which was “tsungrem dak amangang ma no” (always trust and believe in God). Farewell Obu. Rest in peace.
Arenlong Essener Longkumer
