EMN
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 18
The Department of English, Kohima College, Kohima organized a lecture program titled ‘Naga Writers
Speak-1st Series: Temsula Ao on her writings’, on Ocotber 27 last for the faculty and in particular the
English honors students of the college.
The much acclaimed writer in the course of her lecture detailed on the definition of oral tradition in its broad perspectives which we the Nagas lamentably conceive of as merely some folklores and folktales.
“That Nagas lack in tangible culture, hence the rich store of our intangible culture such as our language, our indigenous knowledge, culturally significant landscapes, folk stories which we inherited from the past generation should be maintained in the present and restored for future generation,” she said.
The writer asserted that Nagas are still not fully engaged with the task of looking deep into our origin, therefore she urged the youngsters to keep their eyes and ears open, to jot down when something of traditional value is said by elders, to use it as fodder to generate one’s thinking and rationalization and to perpetuate our culture.
Reciting one her poem The Old Story –Teller, she further added that our folk tales and folklores may appear simple on the surface but has deep inner meaning of great value. It contains codes of moral behavior, it teaches us how to live, hence we should respect the wisdom of our folktales and folklores.
Further, she warned that once we lose our culture we lose our history, our territory, our intrinsic identity. The English Department of the college intends to have a series a year of such discourses from Naga writers to enable students to listen to live lectures from the writers whose works are included in their syllabus.
