‘The ugly duckling Nagas’ released in Kohima

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Aug. 28 (EMN): A book ‘The ugly duckling Nagas,’ written by a contractor from Nagaland Avitho-o Loucü, was released on Saturday with an explicit message to the unemployed Naga youths to be self-employed by venturing into business, entrepreneurship and blue-collar works.

As the title suggests, the book is a metaphor of the ‘the ugly duckling’ fairytale, which is used as a comparison to the Nagaland context.

“In the Naga society, the normal ducks are those government servants and employees. The ugly ducks are those few people who do not hunt for government jobs but venture into entrepreneurship. Later, the normal ducks realised that the few ugly ducks are now swans creating jobs for the unemployed youth”, the book summarised.  

At the launch event held in Kohima, the 29-year old author shared that his inspiration to write the book was drawn from a quotation composed by a Kohima-based pastor, Shan Kikon, who also launched the book.

The main purpose of the book was to inspire and encourage the unemployed Naga youths, Gen Z (born after 1995) to venture into entrepreneurship and the business world, he said.

“It is my desire to see unemployed Naga youths not only to keep trying for NPSC exams but become self-employed and start their own business like outsiders do in our land,” Loucü wrote.  

The author hails from Zhadima village under Kohima district and runs a construction company called ‘Eulogia Constructions’ that hires locals (Nagas) for work.

Senior pastor at Faith Harvest Church Kohima, Reverend Shan Kikon, while releasing the book, said it was not a surprise that the author chose the "less travelled path" (venturing into entrepreneurship) instead of seeking government jobs.

He pointed out the 'wrong mentality that we have today is assigning too much importance to bureaucrats, technocrats or politicians who serve the people and not job producers'.

On the other hand, businesspeople and entrepreneurs, who are the creators of jobs, were frowned upon in the past and considered second-class jobs. This mindset, Kikon observed, has crippled the society from advancing. He hoped that the book would speak to all its readers.

Entrepreneur and proprietor of ‘Ete Coffee’ in Kohima, Lichan Humtsoe, remarked that entrepreneurs are the main character in the book. At the same, it tried to bring all the expertise together and urged readers to be the ugly duckling in whatever they do. He added that emphasis was also given to people rushing towards government jobs and thereby creating unemployment.

'The crux of the matter is not only people but it was emphatic and mindful of the unemployment issue caused by the lack of dignity of labour, of visions and ideas to pursue among the youngsters, he added.

Entrepreneur Yanpvuo Yanfo Kikon shared that the book came out at a time when the society was right at the paradigm shift, of people rushing for government jobs to realising the importance of blue-collar works.

He went on to observe that competency is a long felt need in the Naga society and once developed, Naga society would "truly shine". Further, he remarked that the book is simple and straight to the point and appreciated the author for picking up examples of local entrepreneurs in his book.