Dear Netters,
I am now "under orders" (for which I really thank everybody!) to complete my story which I left half-done day-before-yesterday! I am repeating the beginning part to give the link: When I was in Nagaland, posted in Mokakchung, a young, educated, "first-generation Christian" Ao lady fell in love with an Assamese Hindu young man. They disclosed their quandary to my wife, Juthika, who told me that I must help them. The bride told me that she had a very powerful aunt in the underground, might be next to Phizo in the Ao area. "What did your aunt say?" I asked the bride. "My Aunt asked for two tablets of Novalgin." Novalgin was a kind of a powerful head-ache medicine in those days! If a powerful underground lady wanted two tablets of a very powerful headache medicine, the problem must be very hard for an "Asomiya Naga" like me!! However, I did not give up. "Did you tell your father?" was my next question. "Yes, I did." "What did he say?" "He asked me "What will happen to your religion?"" Now this was an interesting turning point. Holding my breadth, I asked, "What did you say?" "I told him that I would go back to my grandfather's religion", the bride replied. Sensing some danger, I blurted out my next question: "What did he say?" "He did not say anything. Instead, he gave me a such a slap that I fell down three feet away" was her sad reply. I could now see the gravity of the problem. It took me overnight thinking to find the solution. Next day, I called the groom privately to my room and told him that we would write a letter to the President of India. "What ???" the groom almost jumped off his chair. "Yes. The President of India. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. I'll draft the letter on your behalf and get it typed. You just sign it and mail it to him. It is his job, not mine---" was my cool answer. My draft of the letter from the groom to the President of India ran like something this: "Respected Dr. Radhakrishnan, .. My mother passed away many years ago, my father died last year, I am an orphan now, and I don't have anybody to advice me what to do. You are the Father of the Nation, I beg you to show me the path ." so on. It was just a one-page letter from the groom, wondering how he and his bride could get married, seeking the advice from Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India from 1962 to 1967 ---- 40 odd years ago!! We waited, waited and waited. Reply did not come from the President. The groom, who was skeptical right from the beginning, started to lose faith in this last straw of hope. In the mean time, the bride had to leave Mokukchung and go back to her University in Guwahati where she was studying for her MA degree. At this time, a friend of the groom, a young attorney from Sivasagar, came to Mokukchung in my jeep. [ That journey also was very critical. For the first time, I had to drive through bonjui (wild-fire) about which I wrote an article later. This article was never published. If I find it, I plan to send it to Jugal with a request to publish it in his journal.] When his attorney friend came to know about this letter (the groom told me privately), he burst out laughing! "Letter to the President? Letter to the President?? Are you crazy? Do you think the President of the country will have time for such a mundane matter??" I found the groom very depressed. Inside, I was also losing the confidence slowly, but I did not show it to him. I'd find some other way out, I told him, but I just did not know what to do. After a few days, his attorney friend left. The groom had received very abusive letters from his uncles and brothers who were convinced that he was deflating the entire family by planning to marry a Naga girl. My wife Juthika helped the situation in her own way: invite the groom for dinner daily so that we could take away his dejection and encourage him. He would come for dinner, play with our baby daughter Upa and would try to forget his woes. One day, the entire picture turned 180 degrees opposite. He arrived at our home with a full laughter and joy with a letter in his hand: "President's letter! President's letter!" he was in a state of ecstasy --- and we all zoomed down to see what he had in his hand. Yes, it was a letter from New Delhi --- in the gorgeous Raj Bhavan Letterhead --- from the desk of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India, one of India's top philosopher, author of 45 books --- Wedding of a couple in the distant Nagaland was NOT a mundane matter for Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan --- I don't remember the exact words, but the letter was full of blessing and love to the bride and the groom, I think there was an advice how they should be polite to their elders so as not to hurt their feelings too much, there was also a suggestion how their elders should reciprocate by understanding their feelings, and so on. As for their marriage, his advice was unambiguous (I remember this piece clearly) --- contact the local Arya Samaj and get married. "If you can't talk to her by telephone (telephone trunk-calls were terrible in those days), go to Guwahati immediately and tell your bride to get ready for marriage," I told him. "Meet the Arya Samaj in Guwahati and show them the letter from the President." "What about my uncles and my brothers?" "First you organize the marriage in Guwahati with the help from Arya Samaj," I told him emphatically, "then go to Tezpur to talk to your uncles and brothers. If they blame you, you put all the blame on me." Telephone contact did not happen. I told my driver to ready the jeep. My wife Juthika hurriedly took out the bridal dress of mekhela-riha-chadar that she was saving as a surprise and gave it to the groom. Next morning, my driver took him to Jorhat to catch the bus to Guwahati. I could not go to the wedding that took place in Guwahati after a few weeks, but there were a number of exchanges of telegraphs. Telephones still did not work. Young people today with cell phones & webcom cameras may find it difficult to believe! Afterwards, I met them in Shillong and got a complete report. Arya Samaj was great. The wedding took place very smoothly. A few dignitaries, who saw the President's letter, attended their marriage and blessed the couple. "You should have been there to give the bride away," the bride told me. "What about your uncles and your brothers?" It was now my turn to ask the groom with some concern. "Oh, that was easy!" the groom sailed through the narration like an evening breeze, "You know my uncle LC who was very tough! I first allowed him to complete his roaring speech, and then I showed him the President's letter." "What happened?" "He read the letter, and became completely quiet. The same thing happened to others. I cooled down uncle after uncle, brother after brother, with this," he jerked the President's letter that he was holding in his hand. Years ago, the then Chief Minister of Nagaland, the late Shilu Ao, was addressing a meeting of Executive Engineers where I was present. "In India, we have wonderful leaders like Dr. Radhakrishnan, we have the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, but we the Nagas never get to see them. We only see Army officers, vicious bureaucrats, soldiers and police who are so cruel to our people. I hope you engineers will make a difference .." Shilu Ao's voice choked when he completed his speech. In Nagaland, I met some Army Officers who were wonderful. I remember Brigadier Kane who was such a pious man! We must not generalize just because some army officers were mean --- I had fights with many of them. Same thing applies to bureaucrats. We do not have to remember their names --- or their atrocities --- that's my advice to Ankur who asked a related question. We should go forward to the future, with love, understanding, mutual respect, honour, and build a wonderful country. With love to everybody, Himendra PS: By the way, what happened to me in Mokokchung in the aftermath of the controversial marriage? Well, people are very forgiving by nature, you know! The sisters of the bride helped me to cool down the father-of-the-bride with whom I had a discussion in my home. Pointing to a picture of Jesus in my living room, I told him about forgiveness for his daughter and son-in-law, without telling him that I was the prime candidate for his forgiveness! Everything ended well. The bride and the groom lived happily ever after! I am now trying to find out their telephone numbers so that I may ask their permission to divulge their names!! _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
