From Rice Beer to Mojito Cocktails

 

It has not been long ago when Nagas used to go for war and bring the heads as trophy. I remember my grandfather narrating the story of the great battles and legacy of brave warriors which echoes across the field and household till today. Their fathers were mostly naked and ugly, they split bamboo in two and throw it up in the sky and take decisions according to how the split bamboo lands on ground. They worshipped the spirits and gave offerings, some of them even claimed to have practiced lycanthropy- a myth that some humans had the ability to transform into animals like wolf, lion, python etc.

Now we pay bills through internet, make video calls across countries, watch movies on 3D glass and eat beautiful food- yes, beautiful food. The present generation has been fortunate enough to have lived in both 20th and 21st centuries. We can easily make out the difference of how the people have changed drastically and dramatically. The same guy who used to sing folk songs day and night in the 90s has now become the die hard fan of Yo Yo Honey Singh, from rice beer to mojito cocktails, from glorious head gear to Snapchat headband filters and from loin cloth to Zara clothings. Nagas have smartly caught up, more or less, with the rest of the world in the race of fashion, technology and music but we have left our brain somewhere in between, we have skipped some era and jumped from rice beer directly to Mojito Cocktails. We only want to look and feel like western people but does not act like one. We’ve skipped hard work and made a short cut to “success”.

The headhunting days are no more but our habit of toppling the head still exists. We want our house and clothes to be clean but dirty streets and dusty roads don’t bother us much. We bribe from office peon to God. We have missed a great deal of moral etiquettes, we have missed humanity and we have missed integrity. We have lost our culture and adapted alien culture. We have accustomed ourselves with such habits that taking money to vote even in College students’ election does not seem wrong, praying only for rich people by rolling on the floor like carpet itself feels holy, democracy has spoiled many of us and minorities are always wrong.

We talk like Americans, we dress like Koreans but act like Apes. Change is good but if needed be, everything should change- that includes mentality- and not only our dress and lifestyle. We’ve always been spoon-feed by Indian taxpayers, we’ve been pampered with schemes and subsidiaries, we have lost the zeal to work hard with integrity. Let’s pause for a while and go back to where we have left our brain and carry it in our head as we run the race alongside the rest of the world.