Girl Guides administer pulse polio in Chandmari area of Guwahati. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Simply divine

Gospel music with its stress on sombre tones and passionate text urging the re-dedication to god has of late become quite a rage in Mizoram. Many frontline songsters in the state, who reaped a fortune by belting out lilting love songs and raucous semi-pop and country music, are now branching out into gospel songs.

Following in the footsteps of Sailova and Robert, Mizoram?s two singing sensations, who had merrily abandoned their craft of singing love songs to join the gospel bandwagon, Joseph Zaihmingthanga, another popular crooner and chartbuster, has also plunged into gospel singing. A young man from Darlawn village in Mizoram, Zaihmingthanga, who rose from rags to riches and recently rode the popularity charts with his love songs, has now teamed up with Sailova and Robert to spread divine love through gospel music.

Music is the staple food of soul for the Mizos, who are never embarrassed to gyrate in open spaces to the thud and strains of music, be it pop, country, rap or simply divine. At a recent musical soiree in Aizawl held to mark a campaign against drug abuse and spread of AIDS, the Blue Corn, an all-woman band, enthralled the audience.

Nature worship

They offer oblation to the sun and the moon (Donyi-Polo) god and all the elements of nature are sacred to them. Arunachal Pradesh is still continuing its age-old tradition of giving due importance to nature and is extremely aware of conservation. The success story of conservation at Namdapha wildlife sanctuary is one such example. A three-day Namdapha eco-cultural festival was recently celebrated at Miao, a sub-divisional headquarters of Changlang district, which speaks volumes about eco-conservation. The sanctuary is an enchanting paragon of natural beauty nestled in the easternmost tip of the country.

The festival was celebrated with great fun and fanfare for the second consecutive year. Chief minister Gegong Apang inaugurated the festival by sounding the gong amid wild cheering from the crowd. Miao got a new lease of life with the festival showcasing the rich cultural heritage, textile and handicrafts of the district.

As many as 22 cultural troupes of various ethnic groups of Miao subdivision performed at the festival. While appreciating the efforts to promote and preserve the cultural heritage of the people of Changlang district and the rich bio-diversity through the Namdapha festival, the chief minister said the ?mosaic of cultural diversity? will turn the place into a tourism hotspot. Apang called on the intelligentsia to adopt certain resolutions to work out a solution to remove the development bottlenecks since the area is gifted with rich natural resources.

Community kitchen

Relatives of patients will not be hounded by the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, for cooking inside the hospital any more. Tired of trying to shoo away and hound out those relatives who cooked for the patients, the institute has finally provided them with a ?decent place? to cook. The ?community kitchen? was inaugurated by the institute?s director Prof. L. Fimate on Wednesday. The construction of the kitchen, which finally cost Rs 22.78 lakh, began in October last year. ?The patients? attendants will now have a decent place to cook, eat and even sleep,? the director was happy to announce. For years the relatives had been cooking, eating and sleeping along the corridors and verandahs, not only polluting the hospital environment but also leading to frequent skirmishes between the relatives and hospital watch and ward staff members. The hospital is considering levying a nominal fee for the facilities.

Unhealthy facts

It may not come as very good news for Meghalaya?s health department.

The state has earned the dubious distinction of being the largest consumer of paan, tobacco and intoxicants in the whole country.

This was according to a report of the 59th national sample survey on household consumer expenditure and employment-unemployment carried out by the ministry of statistics during January-December 2003.

The monthly per capita expenditure of the rural population on paan, tobacco and intoxicants was higher in the northeastern states (Rs 30.67) and the Union Territories (Rs 30.70).

And Meghalaya spends Rs 43.28 per month per head on such health hazards, which is the highest amount compared to other states in the country.

Sankardev revisited

It will be a giant step in popularising the life and works of the sublime saint reformer of Assam, Srimanta Sankardev, all over the world. Netizens the world over will now be able to gather information on Sankardev on the Internet. Thanks to the national manuscript mission, under the ministry of tourism and culture, which is on the task of procuring and preserving all works of the 15th century Vaishnavite reformer, the data will be made available on the Internet.

The research wing of Gauhati University, led by Bhupen Goswami and T. Saikia, recently visited the birthplace of Sankardev along with 10 research scholars to collect over 100 writings and documents of the philosopher. The team is shortlisting the works of the saint and trying to put all available write-ups on the Internet.