A relative had very decided food preferences and she
wouldn’t allow anyone in her family to bring home and eat the food she didn’t
like. She had equally categorical likes and dislikes of people. So as far as
she was concerned, everybody should abide by her food choices ~ her pets and
peeves ~ or people and pretty much everything else. However, people don’t eat
only at home and in Naga society there is always space and food in everyone’s
dining table; then there are increasing numbers of eateries all over the place
offering the yummiest of Naga and all kinds of food. So, while members of her
family eat their favourite food elsewhere, in her queendom they would strictly
abide by her dicta ~ the matriarch that she was ~ simply not to disturb the peace
at home.
Another relative detested the colour Green ~ so much so that
she inculcated ~ nay indoctrinated ~ her detestation in her daughter right from
a tender age, to the point the latter believed that she too hated the colour
Green. So both mother and daughter never wore Green or had anything in Green in
the house. But Time turns its own tricks and as the daughter reached the age
when she outgrew looking at life through her mother’s eyes ~ the age of
independent thinking, as it were ~ she discovered the numerous shades of Green
and saw their beauty. Her perfect example was the forest and the different
shades of Green each season brings. She not only loved all shades of Green but
also discovered that she must look at life, at people, at situations, through
her own eyes ~ not anybody else’s.
Sometime in 2020-2021, some animal lovers of mainland India
made a huge noise about Nagas eating dog meat and in what it imagined to be a
politically correct thing to do, the Nagaland Government banned the sale and
consumption of dog meat. Now, Nagas having been dog meat eaters for centuries
naturally there was much hullabaloo against this ban. Finally the matter
reached the Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court, which deemed the ban
unconstitutional hence had it lifted. Fact is not all Nagas eat dog meat ~ it
isn’t everyone’s cup of tea; we also have great animal lovers. The interesting
thing is that even those who don’t eat dog meat protested against the now
lifted ban on the grounds of personal freedom and cultural practices.
Nagas eat everything including creepy crawlies, which have
now been scientifically proven to be the best source of protein but not all
Nagas consume them. Interestingly, there are also Nagas who do not like mutton,
fish, beef and so many other food that are favourites in some cultures. It’s
ultimately a matter of personal choice.
Circa 1990s, some student and women organisations at Dimapur
that claim to represent students or women respectively banned Naga girls and
women from wearing salwars/churidars suits, which of course never took off.
Perhaps initially these organisations may have imposed fines on a few
unfortunate girls/women but no organisation can go to every home and/or strip
women in public. Our women merrily wore their dresses of choice and went about
their lives. Ironically, it was also around that time salwar suits become the
uniform in some schools and colleges and it is so till today. Salwar suits are,
after all, decent, comfortable, pocket and climate-friendly.
Beef is banned in several States and there is this movement
to “protect” the cow. This was of course much protested in Nagaland when some
leaders of this movement planned to come to Nagaland and propagate the need to
“protect” the cow because they were of the opinion that the cow is their
mother. Well, for Nagas the cow is an animal and beef is a delicious source of
protein ~ it’s cultural. Thankfully, this time, our State Government did not
even allow these “sons of the cow” to alight from their chartered flight at
Dimapur ~ having burnt their finger with dog meat. Ditto Meghalaya and Mizoram
did not even allow their flight to land in the State. There is much to say on
this “cow is mother”/beef issue but suffice it to say that democracy and
secularism also means not imposing one’s beliefs and prejudices on another.
It is always people with and in power that impose their
beliefs and prejudices on powerless and defenseless people at both the
individual or collective levels. Banning beef is a prime example. In this
county we simplistically reduce this to a majority-minority political issue but
it is much more than that. It is more the individual/groups of individuals in
power that appear to have some psychological disorder/issues ~ indicating the
absence of logic, reason, sensitivity, empathy and humanity that dictate their
social, cultural, political and economic thoughts words and deeds. Examples
abound of the nature of political, economic, social and cultural suppression
and oppression of numerous communities, races, religions and cultures through
the ages till now. The deadly combination of power and prejudices, especially
when it manifests in state power is inimical for the human race and nothing
justifies the consequences of the thoughts words and deeds of people with such
psychological disorder/issues. Such people direly need specialised treatment.
There are a large number of people, not least in Assam, who
have been put behind bars because their religious beliefs, faith and practices
have been criminalised under laws that should never have been enacted in a
democratic and secular country. For centuries, religious beliefs, faith and
practices have been the reasons for killing, murdering, maiming, raping,
imprisoning and exterminating people ~ the root of which are the deadly
combination of power and prejudices and not necessarily in that order. Does
this make any sense in today’s day and age? Have we not learnt anything from
history? The thing is nobody’s race, religious beliefs, faith, practices,
culture, skin colour and accent, whatever, is perfect therefore nobody has the
right to dehumanise, suppress, oppress, exterminate and cancel another human
being. This is a gross abuse of power and history will not be kind.
As the number of people there are across the globe, so are
that many preferences in food, clothes, music, beliefs, everything under the
Sun. The problem arises when the freedom to one’s preferences is violated and a
person is forced to like/dislike another’s preferences or live according to
somebody’s dicta. We don’t live in a liberal and tolerant world so extreme
measures have been adopted to stop people from smoking, imbibing alcohol, beef,
etc., in public places. Inarguably, such habits, especially substance abuse,
are unhealthy and adversely impact lives, families, communities, society,
states, nations and the economy but there are other preferences best left to
the individual. However, because we live in a multi-polar world, those who
aspire to create a kind of “unity” and “one” everything that negates human,
political, ideological, philosophical, economic, social, cultural, geographical
and religious diversities are building castles and blowing bubbles in the air
because these diversities are the primary components of Mother Earth’s DNA.
May the days ahead bring peace and goodwill to the human
race.
Monalisa Changkija
(The Columnist, a journalist and poet, is Founder-Editor,
Nagaland Page. Published in Assam Tribune issue of December 28, 2024)
