Return of Santa – Banta: Here they come calling again
By: R Jagannathan
Article published on 3/3/2009 12:03:39 AM IST	Font Size:
Santa – Banta are back for those who have a funny bone and this is one thing that all Nagas certainly have it in common for they can laugh on themselves! Although Jury may still be due on exact number of Naga tribes and who all are Nagas yet nobody can deny that we have an amazing sense of humour and capability to see the lighter side of life. Those with a sense of humour and good memory will recall the ‘Santa – Banta’ series of articles that became an instant hit in 2003 – 2004. There were nearly 20 of them and they evoked a good response going by feed back in letters to Editors and even on e-mail. Well the first news is that ‘Santa – Banta’ have a new mail ID, nagasantabanta@gmail.com, so please up-date your address books and let your mails keep coming as they help us to improve and refine. Even your criticism is worth it and very welcome, so dip your pen in acid and let it loose! The first question from readers could be, where have you been and why this prolonged silence? Well, there can be large number of excuses and reasons like our politicians give, but the short answer is that they have been out, where most ‘Sardars’ go. Yes, in Canada and they just got back. In this period of five years they realised that they not only have a Naga funny bone but besides they have a Naga muscle connected to heart the aches and pains when they miss Nagaland for its people, Madhu, Japfü and music. While net kept them connected specially Geoffrey Yaden’s Nagaland Post, Nagaland Page and Eastern Mirror but seeing is believing. So, the first thing was to visit Nagaland. Santa – Banta came back, saw and felt motivated to again put pen to paper but their nib is dipped in love, affection, care and concern. There are a large number of issues but they require detailed analysis so more will follow soon. For this time it is a simple issue and one contemporary one at that. Santa- Banta were overwhelmed by the Awards fever, starting with the Horn bill till early March, it is the awards seasons with Republic Day awards, Personality of the Year awards by various media houses Grammy’s’ and now the Oscars, where “Slumdog Millionaire” made India’s day. Do we have Naga content in these national awards? Unfortunately the answer is - very little. RD Civilian awards list had the lone Naga entry with K. Asungba Sangtam winning the coveted. Padma Shri Award. RD awards had couple of deserving entries in form of Lt General RK Loomba, GOC of Rangapahar Corps and Maj General JP Nehra, IGAR (N) winning AVSM. At national level, the famed Naga gate made it to the “wonders list” of the North East. Please vote for our own gate to push it into the national finalists list, if we can pull it up the hilly slopes, let us not falter in the SMS contest, and just push it. Nagaland state won the honours as the best State for growth in tourism. We in the Nagaland had our share of other recognition and honours. RS Pandey our ex-chief secretary, received the coveted UN Public Service award for community participation in Schools, hospitals, water supply and tourism. Pandey, who can qualify to be a non-resident Naga, is doing wonders as the Petroleum Secretary. He has earned a reputation for unflappability in most severe crisis; of course no one deny that when you handled the routine crisis in Nagaland all problems appear trivial. We have crisis brewing every day and every hour. In fact it may be a good idea to groom potential high ranking civil servants in Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Phek, Peren and Zunheoto, etc. Getting back to our core competence, Nagas once again had a large number of festivals, beauty contests and music extravaganzas. So, who were the winners? Well, Naga Idol for year 2008 was Toshinaro of Kohima with 1, 66,294 votes but more importantly a brand new car and Rs 1 Lakh for shopping. Inatoli of Dimapur with 1,41,017 votes was close on heels, literally on heels, for he got 1 lakh but no car, behind them were Kevin, Sheneita and Mathung. Hornbill festivals once again rocked with the tunes of ultimate national winners ‘The Verbs” of Meghalaya and the real ‘adverbs’, close behind were our very own Naga bands Diatribe and Eximions. Of course the ultimate tunes that every one rocked were provided by Airtel, who sponsored the contest with winners pocketing Rs 5 lakh and a lot of goodies. Once again Miss Nagaland contest got a stupendous response at Hornbill with coveted honours, going to Abin of Peren as winner, Nyeie Leinak Phom from Longleng and Chumlano Kikon of Wokha were close behind. We hardly had a “women of substance” recognised this year, the only notable being, Jasmina Zeliang, honoured by FICCI for her entrepreneurship. Getting on to the serious note, what was our Event of the year, well, without doubt that was the Assembly elections and success of Neiphu Rio and DAN. But more important is that once again the event we waited for so eagerly just did not happen. Nagaland broke all records and even surpassed Kashmir in number of civilians killed. Who killed them - it was neither security forces nor Assam Rifles not even IRB or Nagaland Police; well it was our groups engaged in the turf battle. As per independent and verified estimates 144 innocent Nagas made the ultimate sacrifice. Santa- Banta have their own limerick on daily stand-offs that occur at Shiroi and Seitheikema. By the blue streams of Nagaland; Ten years of cross fire and still waiting, hey ho! Buzz was to their agreed camps; Cadres of all the groups will go!! They discussed, argued but agreed; Naga Hoho and both groups said so! Many dead lines gone by, trust belied; Broken promises, going no where, Brother Joe? Guns still blaze, cadres at large; Will blood of innocent Nagas continue to flow?? Even Slumdogs become winners, Jai ho? When will Nagas sing-‘Jai Ho’?? For those who have got used to these sense-less killings and regular reconciliation meets like the recent one, just consider these facts. The figure of 144 is a 50% jump on 108 killings in 2007 and 91 in 2006. It is also the highest since 1998, the so called golden years were 2002 to 2005, when this ghastly count was down to less than 50. Santa-Banta has picked up their pen once again to roll back these figures and to zero if possible. Their pen was active in this period, this time they add their prayers to pen and hope for that elusive peace. While we have our share of achievers this year – Issac Chishi completed 50 years of Public life, Justice Sema retired from the Supreme Court, SC Jamir continues to make headlines as an effective Governor in Maharastra, one of the most important states, Neiphiu Rio led DAN back to power, yet the Naga of the year award goes to 144 innocent Nagas, who laid down their lives. We pray for peace to their departed souls and hope that next year, we all be able to sing our own version of ‘Jai Ho’, in a peaceful Nagaland. Harpal Singh, Commandant (Retd)
	Font Size: