New Delhi: To preserve the unique historical experiences of its people, a heritage museum was constructed at Zapami village in the Phek district of Nagaland in 2017.
Today, the museum houses items such as shields of ancient warfare, instruments of war and friendship treaties in the form of spears and Bible, closets for women known as lüna-labu, musical instruments and remnants of World War II. There are empty bombshells, gas masks, metal water containers, a leather belt, spades, and fuel tanks.
It also has items such as the special rice beer container, known as letsii, that was used exclusively by the mewu (priest) during feasts.
While the museum building was being constructed, workers had also stumbled upon an ancient grave that contains remains of a human being and a dog, in separate stone enclosures.
Elders of the village recalled how whenever a mewu (priest) or a great warrior died, a live dog was buried alongside with a kabo (pipe trumpet) inserted for air passage. People would listen from the pipe to know how long the dog would survive. In some cases, the dogs survived for about 10 days.
An abuse survivor, this Assam man trains over 500 cops to become ‘child-friendly’
Miguel Das Queah was barely 12 when he was sexually abused while travelling. Shame and taboo surrounding abuse had then stopped him from sharing his trauma with his loved ones.
Today, he is one of the most well-known child rights activists in the state and has trained over 500 police personnel to become ‘child-friendly’. Queah has also played an instrumental role in designing the Assam Police’s Sishu Mitra (APSM) Programme, a child-friendly policing and police reform initiative.
A St Stephens College alumnus, Queah told The Better India, “I started with small training sessions and workshops with the Assam Police. Over time, with support from current Director General of Police (DGP) Bhaskar Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and ADGP Harmeet Singh, we designed the APSM programme.”
He added: “It has several components of child-friendly policing including training, resource support and social media campaigns where the police directly engage with other children to address their anxieties.”
Multilingual singer becomes first Naga to make Bollywood debut
Ngukavi Naga, popularly known as N.K. Naga, has become the first Naga to debut as a playback singer in Bollywood. Naga was appointed by Find Studioz in Mumbai on 2 January as a playback singer for its upcoming movie project.
He can sing in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Nepali, Kannada, Gujarati, Rajasthani, English, Spanish etc. The 30-year-old singer told The Morung Express that he began singing at the age of nine. “I’ve never approached any music school so far. By dedicated listening, I got to learn singing by myself.”
In his free time, Naga said, he composes songs and also watches videos detailing struggles of some famous singers. He has performed in more than 600 shows so far.
Meghalaya district rings in new year with midnight swim, plastic-free drive
The South West Khasi Hills District Swimming Association (SWKHDSA) of Meghalaya rang in the new year by organising a midnight swim at Phot Umnew in Mawkyrwat, and clearing the area of plastic waste.
H.S. Diengdoh, president of SWKHDSA and sub-divisional officer of Ranikor, said it was the first time that such a midnight swim was being organised for the people. The swim, he added, was an effort to keep people healthy.
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