[Assam] Fwd: Something on Nagaland

Thu Apr 5 20:09:08 EDT 2007

  On CHIZAMI

  Dr. Syeda Hameed
  Member Planning Commission. 

  I had never seen the shades of green that unraveled before my eyes as the car revved up the winding mountain road. It was a verdant world of greenest of green and bluest of blue. Pillows of white fluff were thrown here and there for cloud which ran along with me all the way from Kohima to Chizami. 

  Nagaland. A small state tucked away in the North East which is too far, too remote too unconnected. Ask anyone, your neighbour, your chemist, your mechanic. Chances are it has never crossed their mind. Only exception is when momentarily the eye glides over news headlines; NSCN, ceasefires, protests, demands for Nagalim. On the cultural front there is greater recall; Naga costumes in brilliant colours, dances, war hoops and war cries. This essentially is all we urbanites know about Nagas.But I was more fortunate. Not only Kohima and Dimapur I had the good fortune of visiting Chizami.

  It is situated ninety kilometers from Kohima through a winding mountain road. I don’t like mountain roads; have never enjoyed car journeys to hill stations. But had I gone on a chopper I would never have seen the slender bamboos rising through dense forest cover and the plethora of colours splashed on green foliage; poinsettias, hibiscus, bougainvilleas, and scores of varieties of orchids. I recall when I was a small girl my brother in law, a brigadier in Indian army, was posted in a place which I could hardly locate on the map. My sister wrote inland letters to ‘Kohima’. Fifty years later I was to travel to that very place. Visit to Nagaland completed my parikrama around the North East.

  My friend Monisha Behal had been regaling me with stories about Chizami for two years. She had started working in Nagaland with women and youth on issues of health. She had a small core group of women Chizami Women’s Society, women who dreamed of improving the lot of their people. They worked from homes. Then someone gifted them a piece of land. A resident of Chizami, N. Lohe had watched them working for two years. Their dedication and commitment won his trust. He had a piece of land on the hillside. North East Network Resource Centre, Chizami thus came into being. Villagers of Chizami donated materials and labour. Seno a woman from the village became the focal point and moving spirit. The building came up like a crest rising from the mountains—inspiring, promising.

  Its sight is pleasing. With sloping roof and cheerful façade it is an emblem of ‘communitization’ a new concept of community ownership which has taken root in Nagaland. The careful arrangement of rows of marigolds lining the various paths which led up to the main building is a visual feast. The place was buzzing as if it was the centre of the universe. Momentarily, that universe was also mine!

  Chizami is all about the President of India’s theory of PURA (Provision of Urban facilities in Rural Areas). Bringing urban facilities to rural hinterlands is to give youth a level playing field and incentive to stay on instead of flocking to cities like Kohima and Dimapur. It is a centre for village youth where they can work and play; where they can get involved with village development—from health and education to handlooms and handicrafts. No magic mantra, just simple common sense of engaging young men and women in development, giving them a sense of ownership and responsibility. This is what I saw as the spirit of Chizami. I saw many 12 to 14 year olds called ‘green volunteers’ rushing around. These were kids from the village who had come to the centre to offer their services and be part of the grand endeavor.

  I learnt that villagers had to cut 139 trees to construct the centre but had already started planting tree for tree. 43 had been planted already and the rest will be planted soon, all fruit trees. The building has been carefully designed by a young woman architect; she designed a structure which would include many existing trees and plants. We sat on a platform built entirely of green bamboo. Our audience, villagers of Chizami, sat on the mountain slopes, a unique natural amphitheatre. Boys and girls appeared in their Chakkesang regalia. Music and dance seemed to flow down the slopes. A Naga skit told the story of a dying mother with three sons, each wanting to be her heir. The dying woman was Earth and her three sons were Tiger, Devil and Man. She did not want her inheritance for her tiger son who would eat everything in sight, or her devil son who would trick, mislead and spread canard. It was only her man-son who could preserve the heritage and save the earth. So man
 inherited the earth. What he did with it was beyond the scope of the skit. The point of the play was respect for environment and ecological consciousness of Naga youth.

  Members of the Village Development Board accosted me. ‘In November we are going to commission our very own hydro electric project which will generate 200 kvs. After our needs are met there will be surplus. Will you help us to set up a mini industrial park for the youth of Chizami? It will give them skill development. We can teach them woodwork, food processing, granite, even gems
’ Big plans were unfolding before me. I looked at the young girls and boys rushing around the campus, bright faces full of laughter and fun. Just the right age to learn and benefit from these schemes being devised by their elders! 

  At lunch I was served the best Black Forest cake I had tasted anywhere in the world. ‘There was no oven. So we used hot sand to bake’. Athsole confided. I marveled at their innovativeness.I left Chizami, laden with jams, preserves, juices made by young women and men from local pineapples, guavas, passion fruit, amlas, with help of Zinobia Schroff of Mumbai. It was 4 PM. In the east the sun sets early. Mountains wear a different look. Happy faces lined the hillside to wave goodbye. I left with regret which stems from being wrenched away too soon when you are having a good time! I decided then to remain linked with these people, women and men who aspire to bring development to their village without disturbing their equation with their natural surroundings.

Partha Gogoi < @yahoo.com> wrote:   Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 20:28:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Partha Gogoi < @yahoo.com>
Subject: Fwd: Something on Nagaland
To: Network <northeastindia at yahoogroups.com>,
Friends <friendsofassamne at yahoogroups.com>,
Umesh Sharma <jaipurschool at yahoo.com>

Friends,
This is positive stuff about Nagaland. There are too many stereotypes existing - it is
refreshing to see reports like this.

Note: forwarded message attached.

Partha Gogoi
Fairfax, VA
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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover 
-Mark Twain 
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http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/arp/sponsoredsearch_v2.phpDate: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:57:39 +0530
From: "Monisha Behal" <monishabehal at gmail.com>
To: "Partha Gogoi" <partha_gogoi at yahoo.com>, 
"Ankur Bora" <ankur_bora2000 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Something on Nagaland

Dear Partha and Ankur

Attached is an article of Dr. Syeda Hameed, Member of the Planning Commission of India on her first visit to Chizami in Nagland. She witnessed the inauguration of the NEN Resource Centre in October 2005. The chief guest was Shri Shyamal Dutta, Gov of Nagaland. I first met Dr. Hameed when she came to Tezpur to conduct a public hearing through Tezpur Mahila Samiti in 1999. Eversince then she has been a great supporter of the NEN and its women too. I hope you can circulate this article to your friends who might be interested to see something on Nagaland. 

Best
Monisha B.

-- 
Chairperson
North East Network
J.N Borooah Lane,Jorpukhuri
Guwahati,Assam
PIN 781001,India
Telephone:(91-361) 2603833, Telefax:(91-361) 2631582
Website: www.northeastnetwork.org 

Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

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