There is this young Naga woman working in a highly professional office. She is a mild-mannered perfect lady—warm, friendly, highly educated and exceedingly intelligent. And yet she exhibits simplicity and humility, and is happily married with three children. When it comes to choice of food she is a typical Naga oldie—pork boiled in chilli powder, Galho (Angami porridge) and sorts. She reads Thomas Hardy, Orhun Pamuk, Paulo Coelho and all those best selling items. She has a flair for good, straight, clear and very evocative writing. She does not have a grain of religious prejudice in her and is a very amiable person, easy to get along with. What comes as a pleasant surprise to me is that she has put so much of her soul into promoting Naga values. Not a mechanical, professional indulgence but something which she’s into with all her emotions. Sometimes she dresses up as if in Cannes film festival—knee-high boots and goggles perched on her round, fair forehead. At times she wears a sporty look with T-shirt labeled I Love Nagaland emphasised with a big red heart sandwiched between the words I and Nagaland and a pair of black tight jeans to match. When complimented she brushes it off with a teenaged-giggle. She is keen to promote Naga traditional values. She loves everything about Naga-ness. She loves entertaining people and it is evitable in her culinary skills.
This shy looking woman socializes. She also attends highly academic seminars. She is comfortable with topics ranging from Halloween, Parikrama to Noam Chomsky and from Naga political issues to the plight of Phesama landslide victims. She is so disturbed and concerned whenever we discuss the suffering of the Phesama villagers. She also expresses her concern on the violence prevailing in the state of Nagaland.
One gem of a trait I find is she is hardly affected by her opulent affluence she does not permit such trivia stand in her way. Her low opinion on those babus in beacon light vehicles adds to this great quality. I discovered a second loveable aspect of her character. As Khushwant Singh would say, ‘unlike most glamorous people who seek for excuses to fish for compliments,’ this young Naga woman avoids talking about herself.
On her home front, the lady in question would never let her husband feel the need for a help to do the domestic chores. She cooks and serves him well. She makes sure that her children are safe and tidy. She does not like messy rooms. She is a perfectionist in that count. Her husband who is also equally a busy person is supportive to her profession—he provides all she requires. She will be always on time at home to tend to her large family including her in-laws.
Perfectly, this young Naga woman exemplifies the embodiment of harmonious traditional and modern values in one virtue.
