Having never actually lived in my native place I was aware my knowledge of our traditions, culture and livelihood was both limited and superficial. Hence, it has been my continuous endeavour to learn and imitate as much as possible. I must report that I am disappointed. There are so many things, which have at once saddened my heart and set my mind thinking, trying to know why?

As I reflect on some of these things there are two points to be noted:

(a) Much of these disappointments are only because I had high expectations. For, I thought, we are a Christian society, a society which seems to draw inspiration directly from the advanced western countries, and a society which considers itself much superior to the 'vais'.

(b)Secondly, I write what ever I write not as a casual visitor who claims to be above and beyond all these problems. But rather as one who will be working and living amidst these problems, searching for answers to our problems.

1.We are human beings and need food to stay alive. Today, from my limited exposure to the conditions in the remote/interior villages; I find that almost all our villages do not produced enough food for self consumption. This is something very serious. If we simple, lowly-educated and unorganised tribal people do not produce enough food through the working of our hands ( I t would have been OK if our land has rich mineral deposits).

This and reality is made doubly worse by the fast that we are not realizing the gravity of our circumstance. From history we see that a society which does not produce enough food (or the money to buy food) is a dead society. Many of us might be unaware of the fact that one of the deeper causes of the collapse of the Soviet empire was its food shortage. As we know, the SOVIETS were as good as any in arms and armaments, science research, space exploration and industry. However, even such strengths could not cover-up for their basic problem in food production. For man does not live by bread alone never meant that man does not need bread.

As a consequence, today, the smarter ones among us clamour for government employment. And even here I can say we are one of the worst group of employees. Someone remarked that, after seeing the quality of work in Manipur, he has started to think highly of the Biharis - who are notorious for their inefficiency and unreliability. We are lazy, insincere, irregular, corrupt, and half of us never had the proper qualifications for the jobs we hold. If government rules were strictly followed and all our missions and commissions were properly inquired into, very few , very few indeed will be found worthy to continue service.

This then means that we are absolutely useless both in self-employment (e.g, farming, cultivation, business etc.) and wage employ employment (e.g, government service, paid labourers etc.). As of today there is no third category of employment!

Today we are surviving only through the benevolence of a Government of India who, we think, would continue to give us money forever, To top it all, the smarter ones among us continue to divert these money for buying pork, liquor, lottery and votes. Remove the Government of India and tomorrow all of us would be beggars crying for a bowel at rice. In this proud Zogam of ours I don't see much to sing happily about!

2. There are many evils besetting our society. In fact, may of us are suffering terribly because of these vices. Our sons and daughters are languishing in jails, or stealing from our own homes. Our husbands and wives are frittering away the little we have in chasing the elusive single-digit. Outsiders dread to visit our land for it is notorious for mindless killing, heroin-addiction and HIV.

Considering all these I don't see enough people standing up and fighting. Have we not yet suffered enough? Have we not yet reached the limit our tolerance from where, I hope, there would be spontaneous and gearless attacks on the Destroyers of our Lives. The evils besetting our society have claimed precious lives. To eliminate such deadly evils, I think, requires fearless men and women who are ready to sacrifice their lives for a noble cause. I hope we see such courage soon!

3. As a society our condemnation of corruption is weak. Many expect the men in high and powerful places to be corrupt. An equal number, I find, admire corruptly rich and wealthy people. In fact, many of us patronize them, hoping to share of their loot.

If we continue to have such condescension of corruption, the evil will not only survive, but increase and multiply. Considering the harm they inflict on society, corrupt people are no better than swines and dogs. To check corruption the social stigma has to be very strong. We should completely reject he donation of corrupt people. Rather than feed on tainted money. I think, it is better to have nothing. May be, if we display such integrity God will bless us more abundantly!

4. By now most of you would be wondering why I have become such a Jeremiah, proclaiming only the shortcomings of our society, IT is only because I am afraid we might suffer the Frog in Warm water syndrome. What is this?

Drop a frog into a jar of hot water and it will immediately leap out. Now take the same frog and put it in a jar of cold water. Slowly heat the water. The frog remains in the water, unaware of the increasing heat and ultimately dies inside the jar.

It is very easy to be like the frog and be unaware of the gradual degradation of one's condition.

(This article "OUR ZOGAM-AS I SEE IT" is extracted from the Siamsinpawl Annual Magazine 1995 - Editor / SB)