Communication

Orality

Nagaland is home to nearly two million people consisting of 16 constituent major tribes that speak over 89 dialects (mostly mutually unintelligible between two tribes) and are without a common language and script.

According to the most famous legend regarding the Naga script, it was given to the people on animal skin which, when nobody was looking, was eaten by a dog leading to the script being lost forever. Certain variations to the legend also claim that the Assamese script was given on stone for which it endured as against the Naga script on animal hide which perished.

Staying at Home Around a Board Game (1)

Today, we have been self- confined for over a month. When I wake up, as I do every morning, I take a little walk on Twitter. Today I came across this tweet from the official account of the First Lady of Senegal, Marième Faye Sall. You can see on the post the sentence « Togg Leen Seen Keur » (stay home in wolof) followed by the hashtag #FaaxasCovid19 (#getoffcovid19). There are also three photos of the first lady, the president and one of their sons, dressed in casual clothes, playing Ludo, a popular board game in Senegal. The comments under this tweet are very diverse.

Warding off the virus with Corona Drishti in Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Floor drawings, especially those made by variously connecting a grid of dots using white rice flour powder or paste, are often seen at the entrance of people's homes in Tamil Nadu. Known as the kolam, these designs are typically executed by women as part of early morning household chores and renewed daily as a recurring motif of everyday life. This kolam depicts the coronavirus as the evil eye that will protect, but equally harm, if not heeded.

Taking the Migrants Home (3)

“These are people who have come to work in Bangalore. Once there is employment, normalcy will get established… so why go back then? Those who still want to go back can do so using their own vehicle,” said N Manjunath Prasad, nodal officer for inter-state travel from Karnataka. 

The CM of Karanataka BS Yediyurappa met prominent builders and real estate firms who reportedly expressed concern over the mass exodus of labourers on 5 May.

Samen Alleen/We are Together

One of the most useful Dutch words for all foreigners to learn the language has to be “gezellig”.  It seems, sounds and means cozy, close, comfort, accompanied, warm, etc. This “gezellig” is embedded deeply in the Dutch culture, so you can hear it often on many occasions.  For example, if you ask someone to join you for coffee, he or she will reply “gezellig”!

Spirit Continues

After the corona measures, people are required to adapt to the new situation of staying at home, to understand the abnormal quick-made measures. However, people understand them well and most of them follow the new measures because they know that it will be over sooner if everyone works together. What beauty I found in this crisis is the joyful spirit and humor of people. I believe that this will become the true drive and engine to pass through the dark tunnel. Here I would like to take two examples:

Spirit continues

Battling Covid 19 with Thalis

The sounds in the audio may resemble expressions of jubilation - a win in a game perhaps. But these aren't meant to be. Inspired by Italy, the PM of India, Mr N. Modi, in national telecast called upon Indians to bang thalis or utensil or clap for five minutes at 5:00 pm from their balconies, windows or outside their own doors as part of the Janta Curfew on 22 March 2020. The gesture was in part to show appreciation to the first responders. While it may have been meant to be encouraging. Some people burst fire crakcers.

Curriculum and Fostering Pride in Locality

Dr. Thidar Htwe Win drew small engagement curriculum to foster value and connection of the local children with their locality. To do this, the school children were asked - "what are the most beautiful and valuable places for them in their village and around it."  By asking this, we could draw out what the children unconsiously valued.

At first the children were too shy to speak in front of the crowd. We persuaded them with incentive of rewarding them with cute stickers. This helped them to become more engaged. We could even create a competitive environment among them.

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