All it takes is one song


All it takes is one song to bring back 1000 memories……how true is this?

Bonnie Tyler came on TV the other night on Neil Harris Patrick’s Best Time Ever show singing ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ for a karaoke game. I hadn't heard this song in years. Suddenly, I was overcome by flashbacks of people and places linked to that song and the singer. It transported me back to that time of my life and vivid pictures started playing on my mind.
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Where are the Christmas cards?


Where are the Christmas cards? We used to have them displayed on the mantelpiece or a corner table in the living room or hang them over pieces of string strung up across the walls. And we did this lovingly and excitedly together as a family as we re-read the names of those who had remembered us during this season of joy.

Christmas cards are becoming a thing of the past, a lost tradition. It’s almost a shock to receive one these days – gosh, don’t tell me someone is still doing Christmas cards, kind of reaction. Instead, it’s all about Christmas texts, social media greetings and e-cards.
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We want answers from our Government!

Another Day of Persons with Disabilities has been observed just over a couple of weeks ago on Dec 3. I issued a press release on the day and a big thank you to The Morung Express, Eastern Mirror and Nagaland Page for carrying it as front page news.

Year in and year out on disability day, politicians and officials have been delivering grand speeches on equality, equal opportunities and so on and so forth. But that’s it – just speeches, nothing more. This year I wanted to let the government know that we’ve had enough of speeches……..now we want answers and action.
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Sincere apologies



Sincere apologies to all my readers. I’ve been caught up in some engagements and have not been able to post any updates for several days.

But I’ll be back soon……….take care of yourselves.


Love you all………

















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Kohima Smart City must be disabled-friendly & inclusive



To,
The Administrator
Kohima Municipal Council


KOHIMA SMART CITY MUST BE DISABLED-FRIENDLY & INCLUSIVE

With preparation underway to make Kohima Smart City a reality, I write this on behalf of the disability community to underline the absolute necessity to make the planned city disabled-friendly and inclusive.
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Life is a one-time offer


Life is a one-time offer - use it well!

How about that for bumper sticker wisdom? Have you noticed that there is a surprising amount of real good insight and wisdom to be gleaned from bumper stickers? Simple and usually with a humorous twist, they grab your attention and make you think.
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Be a rainbow in someone’s cloud


The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God - if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That's what I think.
-          Maya Angelou

In her 2011 appearance on ‘Oprah's Master Class’, Maya Angelou explained where she first heard the ‘rainbow in the clouds’ metaphor, which comes from a 19th-century African-American song ‘God put a Rainbow in the Clouds’. In the video below from the episode, Dr Angelou sang the powerful lyric that resonated so strongly with her and spoke about her rainbows.
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Again, let’s think inspirational!

St Joseph's College graduating class of 2015. Photo: DIPR 

I’m sure you read about St Joseph’s College graduation day ceremony held recently. Reports of the event made the front page of all the papers since it was addressed by Governor PB Acharya.

According to the reports, the governor, in his address, emphasised on skill development and said the central government has earmarked 30,000 crores for skill based education in universities with the idea to equip students with skills so that they become assets to the country and not liabilities.
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What’s so great about Coriander?


Coriander, Cilantro, Chinese parsley or Dhania – people in different regions call it by different names. But we’re all familiar with this aromatic seasoning herb. It’s a favourite in many households and we use it quite regularly to garnish and add flavour to our curries, salads and chutneys.

But did you know that it does a lot more than enhance the taste of your food?
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Our weddings have become ostentatious & tasteless displays


The Turkish couple Fethullah Üzümcüoğlu and Esra Polat, still dressed in their traditional wedding clothes, seen behind the counter serving meals to the Syrian refugees on their wedding day in August

Did you read about the Turkish couple Fethullah Üzümcüoğlu and Esra Polat who celebrated their wedding day with 4,000 Syrian refugees? Their story had gone viral a couple of months ago.

Instead of having an exclusive and extravagant wedding in a swanky hall, the young couple from the city of Kilis in southern Turkey decided to share their joy and a meal with the thousands of Syrian refugees displaced by armed conflict as they tied the knot in August earlier this year.
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Golden harvest and after in Nagaland

Golden fields ready for harvest at Khonoma village in Nagaland India
Bridge to the golden side: Terraced fields ready for harvest at Khonoma village in Nagaland India
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The star-crossed voyager

Music……it’s so profoundly linked to personal memories, isn’t it? Hearing particular songs can stir powerful emotions and take us back in time – to a moment or event perhaps, a person or a phase in your life.

Elton John’s ‘Can you feel the love tonight’ is one that does it for me. It always brings back this beautiful person who flew off to be with the angels too soon. The song drifted out of a shop window yesterday and he’s on my mind.
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When the River Sleeps



Vilie, a guardian of the gwi, the majestic mithuns that walk the enchanting and enchanted forests of Nagaland, sets out on a quest to find the river of his dreams and to wrest from its heart a charmed stone that will give him untold powers.

“When the river is asleep, it is completely still. Yet the enchantment of those minutes or hours when it sleeps is so powerful, that it turns the stones in the middle of the river bed into a charm. If you can wrest a stone from the heart of the sleeping river and take it home, it will grant you whatever it is empowered to grant you.”
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Set your priorities - the rest is just sand!


A friend forwarded this to me and though I’m sure many of you must have already come across it, it’s such a great lesson that it would be a shame not share it………

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Time to dump the ‘chief guest’ culture


We Nagas love our ‘chief guests’, don’t we? In fact, we love it so much that it has reached ridiculous proportions these days. Every little programme - be it a shop opening, regular school function, sports event, concert and even tribe festivals - apparently require some big shot chief guest to make it complete, so much so that some of our so-called VIPs, particularly the legislators, seem to spend most of their time chief guesting and lecturing at various programmes rather than attending to their jobs.

Even church events are not spared. Nowadays, we often find God relegated to the back bench while politicians and other ‘important’ people take centre stage as chief guest.
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8 compelling reasons to start eating cucumbers today!

Organic Cucumbers being sold at a roadside stall in the Chakhesang region of Nagaland, India
www.thatangamigirl.com/ Photograph - Chizokho Vero

Wow, the cucumber is one cool fruit! Yes, cucumbers are fruits and not a vegetable. The general rule is that an edible plant can be categorised as a fruit if it has seeds, but if it is seedless, it is generally a vegetable. In a cucumber the seeds run through the middle of the plant, so botanically it is a fruit.

Cucumbers are made up of mostly water, and so eating them on a sweltering summer’s day is refreshing. We all knew that. But did you know that there are many, many health benefits that make eating cucumbers all year long a very good bet? It is so full of health that it has in fact been labelled as one of the World’s Healthiest Foods.
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This Angami Girl’s Life Lessons



Life is a great teacher. There are so many wonderful lessons that we all learn as we journey through life. Ups and downs, joys and sorrows, successes and failures, our relationships, people we meet………..there is always something to learn in every life experience.

Taking a page from the many life lessons written by others, famous and not so famous, here I am sharing some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way.
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Amazing Terraced Fields of Nagaland

A beautiful scenic view of Porba Village surrounded by terraced rice fields. Porba is located in Sakraba of Phek district in Nagaland. www.thatangamigirl.com/ Photograph: Chizokho Vero
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No ease in doing business in Nagaland


Nagaland with a score of 3.41% stands second last among the states in India as per the World Bank state-wise report on the ease of doing business.

The report was released by the central government along with World Bank with the aim to enhance the country's image as a friendly investment destination.
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Let's mind our cellphone manners please!


There’s no getting away from cellphones these days, is there? They are everywhere – ringing, vibrating, beeping, lighting up. Everyone has one and some have two or three and all have to go wherever they go. We have become so addicted and dependent on it that it has become our 24x7 companion. We grab our phones even before getting out of bed in the morning and it’s the last thing we check before going to sleep.
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This Sarah Palin I like

We know her from her outing as the Republican nominee for vice president in the 2008 US presidential election. Our impression of her has hardly been positive with the Americans loudly and constantly mocking her apparently limited knowledge of history and geography, her home-grown style of functioning and numerous faux pas.

Well, I recently saw a CNN interview with Sarah Palin and really liked the person that came through there. When the outspoken politician was asked about the Ohio state bill that would bar women from getting abortions solely because they do not wish to have a baby with Down Syndrome, you could see that she answered from her heart.
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Don't look away



Don't look away from me, let's work together, with hopefulness and share our gifts and talents too…………I came across this lovely poem just after posting my last piece It makes good sense to employ people with disabilities. It conveys so much so beautifully and I wanted to share it with you.
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It makes good business sense to employ people with disabilities


It makes very, very good sense to employ people with disabilities. I’m guessing that this is news to many people.

Oh, he/she is disabled – this dismissive attitude and perception that a person with disability is incapable of any productive work rule in our society. And this is exactly why there is practically zero employment opportunity for the disabled community in our State.

After my car accident which left me with a spinal cord injury and limited motor functions, I have been fortunate to have had supportive employers and people to work with. But even then, I have faced many situations which clearly demonstrated people’s inability to see beyond my disability.
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What’s this big deal about turning 30?




Oh wow! I never knew turning 30 was such a big deal.

While reading an article online, I came across mention of 33 things to quit doing when one hits the 30s. Finding it quite interesting and funny, I googled it to get the full and original post. And boy, did I find it!

Turning 30 is apparently such a momentous milestone that everyone has something to say about it. I found many versions of the 33 things to quit doing……and many, many more. I found blogs dedicated to the 30-year turning point, numerous articles giving advice about turning 30, dealing with fears of turning 30, the things that one should do before turning 30, personal stories and thoughts on turning 30 and so on and on and on………
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My close encounters with NNWs

Women cadres of the NSCN-IM seen during a function at Camp Hebron (PTI file photo)

If you’re wondering what NNW is, it stands for ‘Naga National Worker’, a term and a group of people that we’re all only too familiar with. “Do you know who I am? I’m a Naga National Worker”…..many of us have had such threats thrown to our faces, threats intended to make us cower in fear and give in to their demands as they come accompanied by guns.
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50 Rules: Just had to share this


I came across this while browsing around the net and liked it so much that I just had to share it with you……….



50 Rules kids won’t learn in school
By Charles J. Sykes


1. Life is not fair. Get used to it.

2. The real world won’t care as much as your school does about your self-esteem. It’ll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

3. Sorry, you won’t make sixty thousand dollars a year right out of high school. And you won’t be a vice president or have a company car. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn’t have a designer label.
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All about that perfect shot

Delivery room makeovers for that perfect first mother-baby picture have apparently become a thing these days. According to a report in The New York Times, a growing number of women are booking hairstylists and makeup artists to come to their hospital room for postpartum grooming, typically with the first photographs of mother and child in mind. Curling iron, hair dryer, boar bristle hairbrushes and makeup kit have reportedly become part of the crucial ‘equipment’ needed in these hospital rooms.

Today it's all about posting that perfect shot on social media
And what’s fuelling this trend? Why, social media of course. Childbirth is one of the most awesome experiences in a woman’s life, but definitely not the prettiest. So expectant moms are said to be increasingly shelling out hundreds of dollars to look pretty and polished after delivering their babies just so they can show off their babies in that perfect first photo on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Unbelievable, right? What has happened to celebrating and enjoying the arrival and bonding with your baby? Clearly, the priority is no longer the baby nor the mother’s health, but getting that perfect shot out as quickly as possible.
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No more secrecy please

Modi-Muivah bonhomie at the signing of the framework document on Aug 3

After the signing of the Naga peace document between NSCN-IM and GoI was sprung on the people on August 3 without warning causing much consternation, it is now being explained as a ‘framework’ and a ‘formula’ for the real deal which is to come. So then, if it’s just a framework or a formula, why the big photo-op announcement like it’s a done deal? It has only led to a lot of confusion, speculation and even anger among the people.
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Shame on Us!


So, let’s play a game of Spot the Difference.

All those keeping track of news happening around the globe will be aware that Lord John Sewel, a senior peer in the UK House of Lords, resigned his peerage and quit the House some days ago after a video emerged of him cavorting with two sex workers in his central London flat. The married father of four was filmed necking champagne and vodka before using a £5 note to snort lines of cocaine from a table and later from the breasts of a sex worker.
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Good Traditions, Bad Traditions

Beautiful Angami Naga girls looking gorgeous in traditional finery. Photo Courtesy: EM

US President Barack Obama has just made a historic visit to Africa, returning to his ancestral homeland Kenya for the first time since he reached the White House and also becoming the first sitting US president to visit Ethiopia. It was a significant visit on many levels, not the least being the very personal connection for the president.
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Unplug, Pause, Listen

Staying connected – that’s what it’s all about today, isn’t it? We’re plugged in, keeping in touch, updating, informing, getting informed…….we are obsessed with staying connected.

We have our smartphones practically attached to our bodies which we check and fiddle with incessantly. We have hundreds and thousands of ‘friends’ on Facebook and spend our waking hours liking status updates and photographs and sharing links. We ‘chat’ with people we have never met and give opinions on any and every topic. We ring, tweet, skype, email, text, instant message, post on walls and add each other to circles. We are tagged and notified constantly.

Yes, it would seem that we are eternally connected and even fearful of being out of touch.
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Nurses and Traffic Cops


Where would we be without nurses and traffic cops? And street cleaners, garbage collectors, electricity and water supply maintenance personnel or ‘linemen’ as they are known and so on.

This thought has been on my mind since the Nagaland Nurses went on strike recently to voice their grievances and press the government to remedy what they feel are certain injustices in the implementation of their service rules.     

These are the unglamorous and thankless jobs that go unnoticed. We know that the jobs are getting done but never give it any real thought and many times even mistreat the people doing them. We don’t think about what would happen if suddenly there's no one to do these jobs.
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It's nice to know



The musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ is one of my all time favourite movies. I’ve watched it over ten times and cried every time. No doubt there’ll be more tears the next time I watch it. All the drama surrounding Tevye and his family, particularly with his three strong-willed daughters who wished to marry for love, always manages to tug at my heart strings.

There's a lovely moment in the movie when a touching conversation takes place between Tevye and his wife Golde.
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I wish.......

UPSC topper Ira Singhal is the inspirational story of the moment. And it is indeed a story of grit and determination, a story that speaks of an exceptionally strong person who refused to be treated like a second class citizen. If that is not inspiring, then what is? More power to her!

Her story has impressed so many and it is great that someone like her has stood out to put focus on the gross injustices faced by people living with disabilities in this country.

But once the flavour of the moment changes and all the gushing and rounds of interviews by earnest reporters fade away, will it have changed anything for the country’s disabled population?

Well, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disability, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is now assuring that steps will be taken to address the problems as highlighted by the Ira story. We will just have to wait and see, won’t we?

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Sunday and Family on my mind


Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. Even God took one day off after a busy six days of creating the big wide world. He certainly deserved the rest. We ordinary mortals look for the slightest excuse to plonk down on our behinds, while He definitely had good reason to want a quiet, undisturbed day to recoup His energy. It couldn’t have been easy creating the world!

But restful Sundays? Not the ones I remember growing up…..the mornings anyway. Those who grew up in a household like mine will know what I’m talking about.
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Living with more heart



The world needs people who live well in their places……..

I love this thought. It comes from college professor and author David Orr’s 1992 book Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World:

“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane.”
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Much more than just a parking slot

Parking space reserved for persons with disability in Dimapur Town. Photo courtesy: Dimapur Police

Excluded and ignored – that’s the lot of people with disabilities here in Nagaland. They are the invisible group of people shut out of buildings, homes, schools, businesses, sports and community life – in other words, they exist but have no life. How can you have a life when you’re completely immobilised and isolated…..when all areas, both public and private, are inaccessible and nobody seems to care? How can you have a life when most people don’t even seem to be aware of your existence?

That is why the reservation of a parking spot for persons with disability in Dimapur town by Dimapur Police (Traffic) is a huge step, a very important step forward.
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A season or a lifetime…..

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. An inspirational piece I read on this somewhere came to mind as I went through my collection of poems and thoughts scribbled down over the years.

Some in this collection are mine, some belong to others……..well known and not so well known. Some are joyful, some nostalgic and some others sad, but as I go through them I realise they tell stories of times in my life, experiences that have shaped me and people who have crossed my path. Some of these people were quickly gone, some stayed for a while……some of you came and stayed.

And you will stay on…….you are important to me – my life would be incomplete without you.

The people who stayed for a while and left, they may have come only for a season but I know now that they were there because it was time for me to share, to grow and to learn. They may have brought experiences of joy and laughter, of peace or even of sadness and heartbreak, but they left footprints that led me towards self discovery.
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Intolerance on Social Media and thoughts on ongoing debate


Compromising photographs of some of our legislators leaked on social media is the hottest topic of discussion currently. There are debates going on and opinions being expressed in various groups and forums.

Firstly, let me be clear that I strongly believe that political leaders, public leaders must be held to a higher standard. If there are no moral standards a leader ought to honour, then what would prevent his being a liar, a perjurer, an adulterer, a thief and a deceiver? Therefore, leaders must be held accountable for their actions, as in the current case. This was what I told the reporter of a local newspaper, though it was left out when I was quoted in the report that appeared, due to space constraints I presume.
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Waiting for real change


A new face has been emerging in the state political scene in the last few years. The trend began in Election 2008 with a number of fresh entrants and has since caught on as more and more young people have taken the plunge. The present state assembly is also made up of a substantial number of young legislators, most of whom are first timers.

This is, of course, a welcome development signalling a new era in state politics.

But sadly a ‘however’ is forcing itself in here.

While this shift is definitely a very good thing, it has been a little difficult to dispel the uneasy feeling that, except for getting a younger look, things may not change much even with the change of guard. Disappointingly, we have seen that the young lot breaking into the scene have simply settled themselves into the old mould instead of carving out new paths apparently quite satisfied to follow the pack rather than torching a new flame.
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Awe and Wonder

An awe inspiring view of Dzükou Valley (Western Range) Photography: Kevi Talie

Remember the innocence of childhood when anything and everything was a mysterious wonder? A simple thing like a box of colourful crayons brought so much joy and wonderment and also so many possibilities of the things you could do with it. A plane passing overhead, a bunch of balloons twisted into animal shapes, a rainbow bursting out after the rain or your first ice cream cone – you viewed everything with a sense of wonder and awe.
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The earth is good to us

A section of my sister’s beautiful garden. Photography: Vasino Yoho

My sister, the passionate gardener, has been super busy these past couple of weeks. She decided to go for a full scale reorganisation of her flower and vegetable gardens this year….rearranging certain sections, shifting and shuffling flower beds, general landscaping all around and so on. The soil is soft with these first rains and easy to work on, now is the right time, she had announced some days ago, and since then it’s been all available hands on deck for the major operation that best be finished before the real monsoon downpour begins. Thankfully, that kind of activity is beyond my scope now otherwise I might have been a little reluctantly roped in too.
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The kings of Nagaland

A farcical situation is currently ongoing in Nagaland. And who should be at the centre of it all? The politicians, of course. No big surprise there.

The ridiculousness of the entire situation is underlined by the daily reports appearing in the local newspapers. In yesterday’s edition, the front page of all the papers had the Congress party, or whatever’s left of it, desperately trying to make itself heard as it criticised the ruling DAN government for what it called ’12 years of rule and ruin’. Turn the page and there you have two reports of two happy Congress MLAs attending department functions as part and parcel of the DAN government.
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Please don’t touch my walker



I still can’t quite believe what happened to me today. I reached my office and was getting ready to get down from the car when I saw someone come and stop close to my door. I looked up thinking that it was a friend or an acquaintance stopping by to say hello. It wasn’t anyone I knew but a complete stranger and he was just standing there staring at me. I wondered what he wanted, but since he did not say anything I too did not talk to him and just got on with my business of getting down from the car, which involves quite a bit of shifting and lifting and turning. Being gawked at by all and sundry is nothing new!

Then, as my assistant got my walker out and was unfolding it, the man grabbed it and started adjusting the locks. The folding walker that I use has locks that can either be put in or not according to the user’s convenience. I don’t use the locks because that way it is possible to twist and turn the walker through narrow passages and doorways and the like. Given the absolutely unfriendly environment everywhere, this makes negotiating around easier for me.
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Dear NSF

Dear Naga Students Federation,

Firstly, allow me to congratulate you on successfully holding your 2015 General Conference. From all I’ve heard, it was a grand affair worthy of a premier student body such as yours.

Towards a Just Society – what a great theme and one that is so right for a student body to shine the spotlight on. Who better than the youth to take up the cudgels for the oppressed, to speak up for those who face injustice and to fight and work towards a world that is just and equal!

But I am curious to know whether this just society that you speak of includes fellow citizens with disabilities? From the information I’ve gathered, there was no effort at all to make the conference venue accessible for all citizens. Months of planning must have gone into making sure that the event was a success. In all the meetings, all the discussions held over arrangements to be made, I wonder if there was even a single mention on the need to make it possible for all, including those with disabilities, to attend the conference. Was there even any awareness in this regard?
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‘Amicably settling’ our way to hell


There is a report in The Morung Express today about a murder case in Bhandari and the controversy that has cropped up over a ‘compromise letter’ whereby the accused murderers who had been arrested have been set free. Stupefying, isn't it? This can happen only in Nagaland!

If you read the news report you’ll find so many things that are just so wrong with the entire murder investigation, if you can call it that. But this is not about that particular case per se. It just brings to the fore all the ‘compromising’ and ‘forgiving and forgetting’ that we Nagas have become so dangerously fond of.
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I’m not a person, I am my disability


I recently met an acquaintance whom I haven’t seen for quite a while. Her reaction was typical – awkward and unsure of what to say, then came the commiserating noises and comments of how difficult it must be for me and how I must be suffering.

Most people are very uncomfortable around disabled people. They don’t know what to say or how to behave and therefore become very awkward and nervous and ultimately end up saying and doing all the wrong things. Many times they simply avoid them because then they don’t have to deal with such a ‘situation’. When they dare to acknowledge and talk, they make pitying remarks or ask silly and sometimes offensive prying questions.
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Little Things

Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realise they were the big things,” said Robert Brault………or was it Kurt Vonnegut? There seems to be some confusion over whom to credit these words of wisdom to…..rbrault.blogspot.in

But no matter who said it first (though of course it does matter to the one who actually said it first :-)), the point is that this wisdom rings so true. The big moments, the extraordinary experiences, the dramatic stuff in our lives – these get all the attention, as of course they should too, but when it comes down to it, it is the little moments, those seemingly insignificant experiences and the little pleasures that bring so much joy and add so much more meaning to your life.

A spinal injury in a car wreck a few years ago has meant that I have had to make major lifestyle adjustments as I am now unable to perform many everyday functions and activities that I never gave a second thought to earlier. And no, I don’t sit around wallowing in misery and crying over the things I can no longer do - that’s such a waste of time, don’t you think? But if I do miss anything at any point it is never the big things considered ‘very important’, rather it is the little things I would never have imagined mattered that much at all.
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The Cupcake


Recently my sister returned from a wedding reception and gave me a pretty little wedding cake favour box that guests had received. I opened it in anticipation and to my utter disappointment found an ordinary plain cupcake sitting flat inside.

Now, I’m told that cupcakes have become quite the trend at our weddings. I’m really not in a position to attend too many of these crowded events these days, so I’m a little out of touch with trending flavours and have to go by the information I get from others.
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That Angami Girl!

Conforming – it’s comfortable, easy, safe…..
On the other hand, carving out your own path rather than cruising along the old beaten track, that’s more of a challenge – it takes a whole lot of strength and courage to be what you want to be rather than what others’ expect you to be.

Growing up in a society where women especially are expected to obediently fit into the predetermined little round holes no questions asked, choosing not to settle and instead be a square peg that refuses to be pushed into the mould certainly makes for an interesting life. Not the easiest perhaps, but really, is there any other way to live, really live?
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