From the Heart: Walking the Naga Day by Rev Dr Wati Aier

January 16, 2018 1024 Views No Comment

By Rev Dr Wati Aier —

Our hope for Naga Day was for shared humanity and solidarity, even in the midst of stormy weather. Engagement in the Naga world requires us to imagine those predictably unpredictable storms that are inevitable during extraordinary times. These storms, however, do not define the times. The times are defined by transformative moments and small measures that are ignited by seemingly small acts.

The professionals managing the stage and sound system, the event management crew led by Theja Meru, the young volunteers from the Naga Students Federation and the Kohima Village Youth Organization willingly made substantive sacrifices for the success of Naga Day. Nagaland Contractors’ and Suppliers’ Union supplied those in attendance with bottled water. The Public Health Engineering Department and the Kohima Police Department oversaw sanitation, traffic and security, the Music Task Force, Department of Information and Public Relations and the Kohima Municipal Council took the charge of its share of good will towards the Naga Day. Groups charged only half the cost of the equipment for the event, and a young entrepreneur’s words summed up the spirit of the day: “For the sake of our nation, I will donate what I have.” FNR is humbled and our heartfelt gratitude goes unreserved.

Yes, lunch was cooked for 1500 persons by seven bodies defying harsh winter chills for the love of the Nagas. These were contributions from their respective pocket books. The Dreamz Unlimited, Naga choir members, musicians, and singers—a number of who are notable professionals with legitimate fees, performed for free. Dozens of speakers, readers, choreographers, and cultural troupes further contributed to Naga Day, in the process displaying a collective love and sacrifice for the Nagas.

The free-will financial contribution from individuals, churches, and “tribal” bodies, allowed the Naga Day to happen with ease. Nagas, young and old, reached out to us and to each other with excitement and hope. Angami Public Organization’s magnanimity towards the FNR and the Naga Day spoke of APO’s farsightedness beyond the here and now. What an honor we felt to be under APO as our host. N Pezie!

To all, thank you. Your kindness of what it means to be a Naga has undoubtedly helped deliver the Nagas to the extraordinary moment in our history.

Naga Day has announced that Nagas are without borders and that we are part of Naga history. Naga Day has made it clear that that our history is one of common belonging and does not belong to individual groups or destinies. Naga Day is not in the past, but it is alive and walking. Walking becomes a speech and, in this sense, walking the Naga Day is a cultural speech, a speech of the people.

With another lesson learned, I along with my colleagues in the FNR will move on. On that day, 10 January 2018, there was a great Naga potential, where everyone converged around the idea of each other’s “relative rightness.” If Naga ecology can muster such energy around the idea of common belonging, can one fathom the resultant outcome? No matter how one tries to project, a person or an organization turned inwards is never going to be healthy, not only for society but more so, for being itself. We cannot simply let others heal our own psychic hurts and pains.

In a small measure, the Naga Day will walk and make efforts to heal the communal wounds by healing our own individual wounds first. The primordial spirit of healing and belonging without borders will form the basis for the Nagas in this age if we are to survive and thrive as peoples with our neighbors. I implore all to think seriously about this before simply dismissing it.

The act of “not being together” lies not in drumming up personal constituents to shy away, but in self-negation from the common belonging. Was the “Declaration” adopted and sanctioned by the congregation on the Naga Day a deterrence to the larger interest of the Nagas and our neighbors?

Finally, let us exorcise the culture of highlighting differences and flocking only with the birds of the same feather. Let us try to emphasize shared humanity and belonging instead.

God’s Shalom,

Rev Dr Wati Aier is the Convener of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation