Look around everywhere today. Trumpets welcoming the election are blowing off. For us, the Nagas, election is not on the 3rd of March 2018. It is a month long process. Dictionary doesn’t defy us though; we will keep on.
Let me firstly throw off a query here. What is election and why is it conducted or held for? Is election a time for youths to have access to free booze or for the parents to earn easy bucks?
During the past 2 years all we have observed around is ‘talks about change’. Facebook, Whatsapp, etc. Thanks to Reliance Jiofor better facilitation
.Yet,are we at present keeping our word or are we walking the talk? How many of the keyboard warriors have succumbed to prohibited liquor or money or promised backdoor appointments or personal secretaries of our candidates? If none have done so, pat yourselves on your back. However, if any of us have, it is better late than never to change and clear it off our conscience.
Let us not divert or misinterpret the meaning of election for personal gain.
A big point to ponder on is.
How many of our brothers and sisters have passed away? How many of our parents, family members are dropouts? How many of us are paralysed physically and mentally? How many of the voters of our constituency are being appointed backdoor?
Summing all the above questions here is a “How?” And not a Why.
All these time we have been blabbering on why are these happening and concluding with a reason, for instance, the candidate is corrupted, bias and unjust. However, let me here present you a viewpoint.
Once there lived an imaginary family in a remote village of Nagaland. The husband was of 66 years of age and the wife 60. They were blessed with 6 children; 3 boys and 2 girls. Poverty was at peak in their family because father and mother had never seen school nor ever heard of the importance and value of acquiring education. They struggled hard to feed their children and themselves a meal a day. However, with the responsibility of raising their kids, they never stopped toiling. Despite all the hardships they faced, the couple realised the importance of acquiring education and admitted all the children to government primary schools in their village. The kids however started complaining that there were no teachers to teach them and rather there were no other kids in their school. The rest of the well-to-do kids were all in the neighbouring town’s private school. The couple thought hard, had sleepless nights and finally after prolonged deliberation resolved to send their kids to the private school so as to acquire quality education. However, managing the expenses of 5 kids in a private school with their meagre earning was an Everest to climb. Thus, as always in our Naga culture, had to stop the girls to stay back home. The 3 boys were,then,admitted to the school, and were treated with new uniforms and were showered with fresh smelling textbooks and notebooks. However, that didn’t come without a price. The couple sold a plot of land to have all the three lads admitted. Kids doing well, coming home every Christmas was both happy and sad moments for the couple. Every report card of theirchildren was splendid. That meant they had to sell off another plot of ancestral land. As always, Here comes the twist in the story, a lad among the three who was considered to be the most brilliant of all, fell seriously ill. All the family could afford was to have him treated to the nearest PHC where a doctor supervised once in a month, while minding his private clinic in Kohima. Moreover, there was no facility for the patient to be treated. And the child passed away. Life carried on though, the other two lads did seemingly better and cracked AIEEE and CAT respectively. The two lads happily informed their parents and the couple sank into thought of trouble. Where are the lacs of admission fees going to come from? The father committed suicide giving up all hope and with the shame of not upholding the responsibility of the family. However, the mother never gave up and without informing the lads of their daddy’s demise sold off her kidney and debited their admission fees into their accounts. Mom and the sisters struggled hard and life carried on. Then, Time for harvest came. The lads were established in their careers. They were coming home happily. However, Nagaland roads had a different role to play in their fate. The taxi driver failed to steer through the potholes at a curve and stormed down the ravenous mountain. Harvest for the family turned into a dual funeral.
The mother and the siblings lost all hope and joined the father.
Lessons to learn from the story? I leave it to you, readers.
Is there any family that you can relate to this imaginary story? I’m definite a yes is on your mind. Do you want that family to end this way? It’s your duty and mine to prevent it.
Let us all realize that tons of gazetted officers, sportsperson, missionaries, and other successful men and women never:
-lived till 20 years because they died in the village due to lack of proper medical facilities
- were even born to this world because while rushing to a hospital, the patient died on the way due to miscarriage just because of bumpy roads.
- were able to do so because they were kicked just for not paying regular tuition fees owing to their parents low income.
By and large, what are you going to do? How are you going to create a better future for the future generation? This is election. This is the time to decide for your future by electing a corrupt free leader. It is a time to educate the uneducated to not be a prey to money. Your parent might advise you to vote for a candidate that is of your clan so as to keep family relations, yet, educate them. Stop voting for a candidate judging on his/her religion, clan, tribe or caste. Vote for a true leader. Let us stop demanding jobs, instead work harder on our studies and crack competitive interviews and exams on our own. Let us stop demanding money, let us demand for better development instead. Let us demand for better educational institutions, better roads, better medical facilities, etc. Let us enforce our elected representatives that checking the regularity of the government employees in his/her constituency is also the duty of an elected member. Let us educate ourselves and the ignorant that development is more precious than money.
It is time!
We talk of change, let us be the change!
