A WRINKLE FREE INSTRUCTION

(For Ao Students' Magazine, 2011: New Delhi)

(Thankfully ‘I was once a Teenage Romantic Fool’, the article which I wrote for this magazine a year ago turned out to be a huge hit among the readers. For over three months I got compliments, but when the appreciations stopped then teases followed. To this date, I cannot compliment any good looking man in front of the ‘gang’ for they remind me over and over that ‘I am still a Romantic Fool’. Anyway, I love to write on human relationship and I continue to do so.)

Oral instructions have played a pivotal role in our lives; it is something an older generation gives to the younger ones for the unseen days ahead. I had this chance meeting with a lady who gave me the instructions which could not be found in finest of books or even in Google. This is how it began….

I took the window seat; the middle one was unoccupied, the aisle seat was taken by an elderly woman. Unlike other elderly people who prefers aisle for quick movement, she requested to exchange our seats which I granted. She looked like a woman who enjoyed good and long conversation, mercy; I was not wrong. She started by asking what my name was; then said she has been to Dimapur and Kohima, and that she was going to Delhi to meet her grandson, daughter- in -law and son etc. She asked my future plan, and continued to ask me, “What next?”, I knew she wanted  my answer to ending with marriage plans, as rude as I am, I was determined not to give her the answer she wanted.  It was painful to think that I paid extra luggage fine just to be with this lady, I was about to request the airhostess to change my seat but I dropped the idea.

She folded her stole and said, “In case you change your mind, what I am going to say will be worthy to consider.”

Pretending to be attentive I nodded my head. Surprise! It turned out to be interesting.

She continued, “I believe that there are five types of husband in this world. The Techno-Wiz; The Piggy Bank, The Health Freak; The Fashion Guru, The Creative Charmer.

The Techno-Wiz- He will be someone having all/almost the knowledge of latest technological gadgets.  If your washing machine makes annoying noise more than the usual, if you your juice blender does not blend, if your microwaves do not heat up the cold, if there is something wrong with your PC or television then he is there to give them a Midas touch. Good thing is that you will be saving lots of money having him around, for you do not have to spend it on technicians. Unromantic thing is that he will be very practical, especially in selecting gifts for you. Do not be shocked if he surprises you with treadmill on your 40^th birthday.

The Piggy Bank- He saves the coins; he takes care of the notes, so in short he values money. With him on your side, you will know what financial stability means. He will take care of the soaring bills and there will be little or no raging debts, in his full romance mood he will show you magic wherein he will pull out coins after coins from his socks. Good that he will not take a single cent for granted, but there will be times when you will find it hard to define whether he is being prudent or stingy.

The Health Freak- He will be a wonder man, yes! He and not you will be the first one to know when you are expecting. He has clipped in pieces the information of all the diseases, causes and prevention (lucky if there is a cure) in his pocket. He will be your doctor and your personal nurse; he will be caring and will never let you miss your mother whenever you are sick. He will keep a constant check on your weight, and wake you up every morning for jogging. The monsoon rains will be lovely and you will be tempted to dance with him, but he being the reluctant one will have no intentions to let pneumonia catch you.

The Fashion Guru- When you two go out for parties he will get more compliments than you. He will have an amazing sense of style and encourage you in doing the same, he will help you in finding the correct haircut for your face, and he will arrange your clothes for all the occasions, your friends will envy you for having a fashion expert cum hubby like him. One look and he will know what fabric the cloth is made of; from perfumes to shoes he knows what will suit you the best. But, there will be times when you could like just want to be comfortable in your faded T-shirt, to which he will say, “You look old in this. Please, believe me.”

The Creative Charmer- Dear, he will woo you every week, if you are luck then every day. He will take you out for lunch and dinner; he will cook delicious meals for you, keep the garden, garage and the kitchen clean, he will sing songs for you, write poems and place it under your pillow, will always be pleasing to your friends and even your worst of enemies. He will serenade you, provided your house has a balcony. Even though it is very delightful to hear and be a part of that moment but there will be times when you will find him so cloying, that you might hit his head with the roses he bought.”

Before I opened my mouth, she knew what I was going to ask.

“Although many a time it is only a blend of two types or three types, a balanced blend of all these husbands will be the perfect husband.”

“Under which of the said category does your husband fall?” I was still under the spell.

“Oh! I miss him, he was perfect.” She posed for a second and added, “He passed away few years back.”

“I am sorry.” We stepped down from the plane.

“Don’t be, for we had a happy married life.” She patted on my shoulders.

“I am sure you did,” I smiled.

We bade goodbye, and as I took the cab- ride to my university hostel; all the way I agreed that it was a delightful encounter made memorable by a wrinkle free instruction.

I WAS ONCE A TEENAGE ROMANTIC FOOL

(I wrote this article for Ao Students' Magazine, 2009. It was an instant hit, Oops! I was told so).

When I was told to contribute an article for this magazine, I could have written Aristotle’s conception of the universe. But where will be the flavour for the readers, they would have forgotten the title when they reach the last lines. I decided therefore to write something that was very close to my heart because a dead philosopher had once said, ‘the thing that comes from the heart touches heart’. And believe me, your brain is very near to your heart.    

During my schooldays I hated textbooks; they were ugly, rotten and bored me to dead. No wonder when I was in the seventh standard I picked up Sidney Sheldon’s ‘Bloodline’ from my uncle’s room. He said that it was a heavy read for my age, I proved him wrong. Then, when I turned thirteenth the next year, I am shy to say that Mills and Boons became my best friend. I loved every page in it. It had its spell on me; it made me believe in the existence of alpha men who were tall, dark and handsome like a sin, filthy rich, caring, faithful, talented, damn intelligent, great cook, amazing sense of humour, simply who gets 100 out of 100 in score broad of perfection. It resulted in me not admiring any guy in my class, and the reason was simple: I placed them in the category of guys who never got the heroine in the novel.

Then with years I got bored with the old cliché stories, I was introduced to Heartsongs- a series of Christian love stories where the hero was always God fearing, handsome, sweet and macho at the same time, devoted[1], and shed tears while praying to God. I was drawn to it. I started liking the ‘Halleluiah, halleluiah types’. So, when I was eighteen I wanted to marry someone who was ‘American Christian Billionaire’[2] . For your information, my interest to read romantic novels was purely a matter of choice it was not predestined.

Quite predictably I arrived at an age where I was no more interested in girlish romantic novels. Phew! With years my concept of attraction, love and romance changed. Now, that I am in my twenties, I am more interested in building my career. If I get free idle moments I drive away thinking about the big cars I will be driving, houses I will be owing and the cheque I will be signing. I do remind myself every night that the perfect man is someone who is invisible.

Cannot be said much about the taste of teenage girls in Delhi, since it is a metropolitan city. But back home teenage girls are so much influenced by Korean romantic soaps and serials. That I know for sure that their minds are dominated by thoughts to meet a man with extraordinary qualities[3], someone who loves rain and who will carry them on his back, and visit them when they are sick. It is guaranteed that as they grow older they will laugh at the imagination they have created when they were so young. However in the process, I do not want them to fail to acknowledge their one true love and I pray that they will get the right man in this lifetime so that they will not long for rebirth.

As for me, in the process of my girlish conception of love and romance, I forgot my one true love. I forgot the Man who was the beginning and the end, who was there when I took the first breath of my life, who blessed me on my sixteenth birthday, who was there in every heartbreak of my life, who was there in my happiness and the gravest of my sadness.

I am a slow learner, it took me long to realize how much He loved me. His love is unconditional and that’s the best part of our romance. His love was so great that He gave His life for me and this kind of love comes only from above. He is a man who gave everything but asked nothing in return.

A man who was full of compassion, mercy and grace and His love taught me that life is not always based on the answers we get but also on the questions we ask. He was the Son of God, who throughout the ages was a true Hero in all the right sense of the term. Sometimes, it takes us a lifetime to realize how much someone had loved us. It took me quite some time to realize but I am glad that I belong to Him….and I feel so wise knowing that.

To Him, I dedicate these lines

                                      “His hands are rods of gold

                                       Set with beryl.

                                       His body is carved ivory

                                       Inlaid with sapphires.

                                       His legs are pillars of marble

                                       Set on bases of fine gold.

                                       His countenance is like Lebanon,

                                       Excellent as the cedars.

                                       His mouth is most sweet,

                                       Yes, he is altogether lovely.

                                        This is my beloved.”

                                                              Songs of Solomon

---

[1]  Not at all womanizer, one woman’s man

[2]  Reason: America- very much a superpower, Christian- obviously you know the answer, Billionaire- because millionaires are very common.

[3] Man  who can tolerate their slaps and kicks.

JNU LETTER WRITING CONTEST: FOR MY BELOVED

*I wrote this letter for ‘Love Letter competition’, it was conducted by one of the Men’s hostel ( the name I don’t dare to cite), JNU; as a curtain raiser for their Hostel Night 2010.  Lol! It won the second prize.                               

                                                              

Beloved,

                     I was never a believer in love at first sight until I laid my eyes on you. How can you walk into someone’s life just like a summer breeze? Do you have any clue how perfect you are, even the dust below you feet shy away when you put your majestic feet on the ground. The sky blushes and the lark drop its head, when you step out from your nest. Every expression of yours draws me closer to you.  Your name is the healing balm to my painful soul, every time you walk an inch closer towards me I find the meaning of my existence.

Every day I am learning to love you more and more, for you deserve it, for you are beautiful inside out. Your laughter brings tears to my eyes for it reflects the magnificent innocence in you.  I am dying to be encircled in your arms; to feel the breath of your mind, the gentle beat of your heart. You have got the most beautiful fingers in the whole of the universe, I love to see the way you flip the pages of your book, and you do not have any sense of how I wish to be that book you hold.  But, I have to ask for forgiveness for I will not be in this world for long, so says my doctor and my parents. Time is the only thing that has the power to understand love, and it is the only thing which I could not give it to you. I dare not to count the days of my life; I hate my calendar as much as I love you.  

But, even if I bade goodbye to this world I will never stop loving you, I will love you from where I will be, like a sun or like a star in the day and in the night. I will follow you not a shadow but like bacon of light which shows you the way of love. And when you meet that special someone of yours, I know you will find me in her. I love you then; I love you now and will love you forever.

                                                         

                                                                                                                                   Call me by any name; I am yours and only yours.

PATH OF MY FOREFATHERS- A BLESSING FOR THE GENERATIONS

                                     

                                                In sands of time I have seen your face,

Your wisdom cannot be compared;

No, no matter how high I fly my intellectual plane,

The radiant glow of your love and compassion burns my pride into ashes.

Learning from thee the rules of life,

With mighty perseverance comes great prosperity;

                                               I know never will I be mislead by it,

 For in your pearly path I find the source of my existence...and so will the ones after me.

 (Believe it or not, this poem won the 3^rd Prize in Poetry category in my College literary fest/week)

*The edited version of this poem can be found in Ayangti Longkumer's Magic Quill.

TAKING TALENTS OF NAGA YOUTH SERIOUSLY

It is true that we could not be a billionaire at the age of twenty-five, nor won Grammys or Oscars or was the youngest Nobel laureate, and thanks for not comparing us with Mark Zuckerberg, for whatever your dreams and aspirations were, we are still struggling to get into the road of basking glory. And as the year comes to an end if there is a tally of all the good and bad news brought about by Naga youth then only the surveyors will know which end is the strongest. It has been a delight to be a Naga youth for quite some time. Flashback! Nagaland had witnessed a generation influenced by drugs and alcohol, life charmed by idealist thoughts; years on nails, it has seen bloodsheds and tears, violence and destruction, tragedy and agony, it was indeed like the first chapter of some revolutionary novel. But, the story does not end here; it looks as if the youth have done an appraisal of life, learning from the mistakes of big brothers and sisters, they are structuring their dreams in such a way that the best of opportunities are grabbed by sheer determination and obedience to self.

 Yes, the talents have been discovered and it is just a curtain raiser to the whole new show. Music is something that runs in the veins of the Naga people, we had witnessed the growth of local musicians and singers, some memorable, some faded away easily, and there are some who have made a mark in that profession-the example of such is Nise Mureno, the talented pianist from Nagaland, on the other hand, Alobo Naga and the Band might turn out to be the Beatles of Nagaland, rocking with them a new iconic image for the youth. On the literary front Nagaland has given birth to one of the youngest novelists of our country Sentilong Ozukum and there are many budding writers which in years will be known for the genres they scribble, unsurprisingly, in the arena of journalism there are reporters who are to be appreciated for their unbiased coverage in towns and villages, talking about newspapers in my personal judgment Al Ngullie with his satires is the best columnist of all the dailies.       Naga  models who walk the ramp like Esther Jamir and Ethel Konyak (to name a few) with grace and their distinct look, tattoo artist, beauticians, fashion designers like Atsu Sekhose and Imcha Imchen, have promoted the rich Naga cultural identity through their professions.

In all the arenas Naga youth is trying to achieve a foothold, not forgetting our young politicians who are on the verge of becoming polished leaders, private entrepreneurs who are risk takers, investing gently knowing that the road to riches is not a piece of cake. Coming to the Government service, the one cherished dream of most of the parents is to see one of their children crack the hard nut of IAS examination, but it has been made possible in earlier times too and it will continue to do so for there are Naga aspirants who really knows to slog hard from summer to winter. There are many budding scholars; their theories which I optimistically believe will be taken into account in years to come. And in the field of theology things have not become stagnant; there are spiritual warriors who in full zeal are ready to preach the gospel to ends of the world. Naga youth are NGO workers, they are soldiers, they are engineers and doctors, they are construction workers, technician, even auto driver who lives with dignity. I hope in years to come it will be known that the prayers of our parents had indeed not gone in vain.

Outside our home State, we are looked as a bunch of fun lovers, non-serious people, trendsetters, fashion divas but that is so not true for it is not always masti- maro funda; we work hard, play hard and pray hard. There are times when I have to clarify that I am from the land of headhunters and not cannibals. True, that people still wonder where Nagaland is (I mean geographically) worse is when they do not know of its existence, I believe it is our duty to let people know about our existence by doing something BIG, but knowing the ground where we stand, the task that lies before us is quite cumbersome but not impossible to achieve. Apart from all the virtues, there are also vices, the problems are still many that lie ahead of us, unemployment, tribalism, diseases, corruption, insensitivity towards gender equality, rich and poor divide. And then there is the question of cultural identity, well I feel it is a synthesis, a salad bowl rather than potpourri; so let us respect the identity but in the process let there be fusion, as so and so had said that no culture in the world is hundred percent pure and pristine for there have been confluences in the process. But whatever it is I hope that our forefathers ‘the torch bearers’ will be happy to see us going neck in neck with the counterparts.

(By the way, I have not mentioned that Facebooking is a talent if you think it is then well it is.)


(Published in The Morung Express and Eastern Mirror)

LOVE BULLET

Never did I jump from twelve storied building,

Never did I empty five whiskey bottles;

Never did I ride a plane, high up the sky,

Never did I try marijuana and got slumbered.

I don’t know what you are, yet you thrills me to the utmost extend,

I am addicted to you;

I become wild, calm, chill; hyper in my membrane when you are around;

I don’t know, and never did I feel so very I don’t know.

*The edited version of this poem can be found in Ayangti Longkumer's Magic Quill.

YOU- THE ONLY THING RIGHT

I am tired of the moon; it shows its face too early,

I want to kick the sun; it rises before my clock tickles,

The rain makes so trashy sounds; pat pat tap tap,

Yet!  The only thing that I find all right is you. 

The ceiling too high, yet; higher is the sky,

The floor so dirty; yet, dirtier is the ground,

The books scattered all over; my shoes too tight,

Yet! The only thing that I find all right is you.

*The edited version of this poem can be found in Ayangti Longkumer's Magic Quill.