•-Recently there was an article in the local dailies objecting to the stalls run by the lady wives of legislatures and bureaucrats . It took me aback, for the simple reason that their food stall has always been one of our favorite for the past three years. My friends and I don’t belong to the category of the rich or the high class, like the article portrays, but just a simple group of young people who love good food, presented in hygienic environment and greeted by friendly hosts. Couple of years back when we were surveying the different food stalls we found this to be the best to our liking.
Of course we had no idea who was running it. We were told that it was an initiative of the Nagaland Women Voluntary Association (NWVA) comprising of the lady wives of legislatures and bureaucrats and senior lady officers. We were very impressed because they were all coming together, taking out their time, contributing their resources to make and sell food to raise funds to help the under privileged. So coupled with enjoying their food, we would also be always happy eating there as we felt we were also contributing to a cause.
I did think of letting the article pass by though I did not approve of it, but on second thought I felt that I should react because we really do feel this is a wonderful initiative of the NWVA, and we applaud their work and we do not want them to be disillusioned by such petty writ ups. Hornbill is a festival to be enjoyed and participated by all irrespective of class or creed or status, so why should anyone not take part just because he/she belongs to a well to do family. Women from ‘high class’ should not participate is a wrong attitude and in fact creating class divide. Secondly, I believe many guests and tourists visit their stall because of their variety of delicious food of various tribe, cleanliness, presentation. When people attend festivals their objective is also to enjoy the best of everything and to get the best deals. We also need to understand that visitors and guest comes from all over India and abroad and Hornbill festival is a time to showcase our best. NWVA stall is definitely one of our pride.
Healthy competition makes business and people grow. This small incident shows that our people are so used to be given concessions and reservations that people doing better has also started to be looked upon as threats. We totally agree that ‘common people ‘ need opportunity like this ,but at Hornbill there are thousands of people attending and with only few food stalls, logically, every stall gets enough customers. It is also sad to see how cynical our people have become. No one likes to appreciate but everyone likes to criticize. Nagas need to be more positive. There is enough room for everyone.
Of course we had no idea who was running it. We were told that it was an initiative of the Nagaland Women Voluntary Association (NWVA) comprising of the lady wives of legislatures and bureaucrats and senior lady officers. We were very impressed because they were all coming together, taking out their time, contributing their resources to make and sell food to raise funds to help the under privileged. So coupled with enjoying their food, we would also be always happy eating there as we felt we were also contributing to a cause.
I did think of letting the article pass by though I did not approve of it, but on second thought I felt that I should react because we really do feel this is a wonderful initiative of the NWVA, and we applaud their work and we do not want them to be disillusioned by such petty writ ups. Hornbill is a festival to be enjoyed and participated by all irrespective of class or creed or status, so why should anyone not take part just because he/she belongs to a well to do family. Women from ‘high class’ should not participate is a wrong attitude and in fact creating class divide. Secondly, I believe many guests and tourists visit their stall because of their variety of delicious food of various tribe, cleanliness, presentation. When people attend festivals their objective is also to enjoy the best of everything and to get the best deals. We also need to understand that visitors and guest comes from all over India and abroad and Hornbill festival is a time to showcase our best. NWVA stall is definitely one of our pride.
Healthy competition makes business and people grow. This small incident shows that our people are so used to be given concessions and reservations that people doing better has also started to be looked upon as threats. We totally agree that ‘common people ‘ need opportunity like this ,but at Hornbill there are thousands of people attending and with only few food stalls, logically, every stall gets enough customers. It is also sad to see how cynical our people have become. No one likes to appreciate but everyone likes to criticize. Nagas need to be more positive. There is enough room for everyone.
