Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Whenever I See...


Whenever I see

I have a fixation for the word whenever...

I started loving the word whenever in 1996 when I first heard the Christmas song of Jose Mari Chan. The first few words of Chan’s famous Christmas melody “Christmas in our hearts” are Whenever I see... This song reflects the Filipino Christmas that I used to enjoy starting 1990’s. 

In the 1990's, in Metro Manila, I used to see children selling lanterns on the road, in signal stops and junctions, from the month of October onwards and that was a wonderful sight to my eyes. I enjoyed it as the beginning of Christmas festive season. A wonderful memory to cherish… A longer Christmas season in the Philippines than Naga Christmas; here it only runs a few weeks in a month. Jose Mari Chan, the Filipino-Chinese musician sees it as the beginning of Christmas season, as the symbol of Christmas in our hearts. Fantastic…After fell in love with the song and the Christmas memories of Manila, I was so fascinated with the word, fascination went beyond words, I am keeping the word Whenever as the first word of my much-awaited book on Architectural Psychology.

Below is the first stanza of the song.

After coming to Nagaland, these days, my fascinating word  Whenever I see give two mixed thoughts, whenever  I read the newspapers, breaking the dreams of Nagas and their aspiration for Nagalim. 

Thought One:

Whenever I see the governor of Nagaland appear in the front pages of the Newspapers, almost every day, as if he is the most favourite sought hero in every function in the land, my heart bleeds that this honourable man, who symbolizes the ruling Central Government in Delhi, whom many Naga (true) elders see as a bane to achieve their dreams, stands as a hero, almost in every function in the land, sends a covert message to everyone, you belong to…

To my understanding, Governors of the states are in a powerful (powerless) position; he is a dummy piece, rubber stamp. There are stories of corruption, womanizing and all other crimes by these political pundits. However, after the *** came to power in Delhi, all the Governors in non-B j P ruling states took a Vishwaroopam (much more than the actor Kamala Hassen’s Vishwaroopam movie)  and act like super imposers of democracy. The Delhi government handpicked some hardcore Hindutva, RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad fundamentalists to all the Christian dominated North-Eastern states with a hidden (open) agenda, probably with some special instruction too… With this background, the governor acts, talks and enjoys the comfortable life, however, the desperate Naga mind, in their identity confusion, places him in the centre stage almost every day, everywhere, including in the newspapers. Whenever I see…..

Thought Two:

Whenever I see some political leaders from Delhi come to Nagaland, the Naga (true) leaders (I say, true Naga leaders referring to those who have a dream, fought for a dream, fighting in their hearts a dream) look at him as a saviour of the land, coming to give freedom to the people of Nagaland, give the long-sought liberation and freedom to the people, without fully realizing that he comes to tell a different story that you belong to …….
The desperation of the Naga (true)  leaders I see almost every day in the Newspaper editorial writings; however, the editorial on Monday, December 3, page 6, Morung Express (Rajnath’s earthy Wisdom) touched me a lot, I feel pity for the Naga (true) leaders. This honourable leader came to inaugurate the Wonderful Hornbill festival because according to him, India celebrates a world festival and the ruling government takes pride in its achievement. The desperate Naga (true) leaders visualized him as a saviour, messiah (probably because of the Christmas fever, due to some strong dose of Sunday sermon on Advent Christmas day) who has come to liberate the whole lot of Naga people from their years of slavery etc.. etc.. etc.. are disappointed,  and the editorial is the outcome.
After reading the editorial I want to get out of my disappointment too, just switched on my computer to listen to Jose Mari Chan’s Whenever  I see... as a music therapy this time.


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