Enlarging Territory
In this issue, Lamhil presents on „hot seat‟ the charismatic Rev. Dino L. Touthang who requires no introduction. Reflecting on him, we may be reminded of his sermon on two dia-metrically contrasting kinds of leadership—”Jesus’ way” and the “world’s way.” True leaders, he was heard speaking, make people respect them by living out values in consonance with what they preach. He sure leads us with example!
This interview will delve into themes that reflect his life, family, achievements, struggles, visions etc in an attempt to conjure up an image of a man full of life and probity: he is some-one who has „a spectacular Faith in a spectacular God.‟
Hoineilhing Sitlhou (HS) cozies up for a free-wheeling tete-a-tete.
HS: Pu Lunminthang Haokip‘s article, “Shining stars of societal hope”, recalls how Nu Dari had willingly accompanied you when you were ministering under difficult circumstances in Bastar. Given your busy itinerary, it is presumed Nu Dari shoulders a lot of responsibility at home. The answer we would like to know is not whether, but rather, how much Nu Dari has been your pillar of support?
Pu Dino: First, I would like to extend my appreciation to Lamhil editorial board for the initiative taken in this direction. Coming to your question, well, it is a truism that no one is perfect, but it is also a good practice to learn from the life and experi-ence of others. Proverb 31 definition of a good wife is relevant to define what Dari is to me. We have been together for 23 blessed years. She has a great impact in my life. She has taken over all homely responsibilities, including fund management and has been a pillar of strength. In short, she is not simply a wife but a life partner. An-other important aspect of our relationship is the ability to pray together and have God as the centre of our relationship.
HS: In your article, “Future prospects of Kuki Worship Service“, in Kukiforum in 2008, you outlined the beginning, identity, present scenario and future prospects of KWS. You concluded by saying ―the prospects of KWS...is to be an avenue for deep spiri-tual growth...especially moulding and grooming youth to lead a Christ-like life and to be-come agents of change. KWS is also a model of church unity for the Kuki society.” In your assessment, is the KWS moving in such a desired direction?
Pu Dino: The greatest contribution and uniqueness of KWS is that it provides an arena in which our roots are maintained thereby enabling the ability to understand God through our own context. In my assessment, the ideal is not yet reach, but pro-gress has been made. It should not focus on one personality but should be a move-ment to come together as one body. It is interdenominational in nature. I have great hope in the KWS to bring together, to provide a space in which there is respect of one another‘s differences. It is important that each leader understand what KWS really stands for.
HS: It is understood that EFICOR, with which you have had an illustrious career stint of almost two decades, could not operate in North-East India because of insti-tutional arrangement with NEICORD. Now that you have joined Habitat for Hu-manity India as its CEO, can we expect HFH India playing a more pro-active role in the North-East?
Pu Dino: The Partnership widely practiced and encouraged at Habitat for Human-ity India is also referred to as the One-third model. Habitat for Humanity India works in partnership with local, grass root Non Government Organizations and micro-finance organizations to reach people in need of decent housing. Habitat for Humanity India both builds and renovates home through a one-third partnership model. The cost of construction is equally borne by three stakeholders i.e. Benefici-ary, Local NGO partner and Habitat for Humanity in One-Third (1/3) propor-tion. Right now, its focus is on South India and North India. I have a proposal for its geographical spread to North East India. It will take a lot of effort to let this happen and I am hopeful that the good work of Habitat for Humanity India will also spread to North East India in the foreseeable future.
HS: Having begged a first class MA degree in History from NEHU, Shillong, well-wishers believed you would plunge headlong for Civil Services. You surprised them with your departure to UBS, Pune. What is the secret behind the powerful decision?
Pu Dino: I have always harboured a sense of feeling that God is calling me for a special mission. My earlier aim was to become a civil servant but changed my focus in life after I felt God‘s calling for full time Christian ministry in 1979 in an alter call given by Rev. Dr. Kh. Khaizakham. I compared my condition to that of Simon Peter who was called by Jesus to leave behind his vocation as fisherman for a greater call, viz., fishers of men. I have no regrets over the choice I have made in this regard. The plus point is that I am able to do what I enjoy most in life, which is travelling; meeting new people and engaging in issues that positively affect peoples‘ lives. In those days when I made the decision for full time Christian ministry, the trend was to send people who do not do well in studies for theological studies. With a first class in M.A. (History), people were surprised of my decision to go for full time ministry. Now I can boldly say, ―God honours those who honour him.‖ My family and I would not have received the love and respect we receive now, had I been in another field. Moreover, the sense of satisfaction that comes with following God‘s will is incomparable to anything else.
HS: Can you share with us one of your most unforgettable childhood memories?
Pu Dino: My most memorable childhood memories would be: during my school days in Don Bosco High School, Churachandpur, I was selected to speak on behalf of the school in welcoming an important visitor of the school. As a young child, be-ing selected to speak on behalf of the school created a sense of confidence in me. It was like a seed planted or the foundation to my future vocation as a preacher.
HS: As part of your response to God‘s calling, you and Nu Dari have travelled around the world and experienced different cultures. Experience, they say, always brings with it struggle and new insight. Would you like to comment on this?
Pu Dino: I am fortunate in that I am adjustable and accommodative to new cultures, different food habits and new environment. I enjoy and respect other culture as much as I do my own. The challenge however lies in one‘s ability to respect other‘s culture while retaining his own. In other words, one should not sell himself away by adopting or adapting to other culture. It is good to maintain one‘s own originality. The greatest test in this regard was when we moved from Bastar to Oxford, which has between them about 100-year difference in civilization. One of my fa-vourite Bible character which inspires and exhorts me is Jabez, whose prayer to God was to bless him and enlarge his territory (I Chronicles 4:10). Therefore, there is a need to understand that as God‘s children, we need to keep enlarging our territory.
HS: Who or what has been the greatest influence in your life?
Pu Dino: My mother, a very prayerful person was the greatest influence in my life. She made me believe that God can transform a person‘s life and that miracle can happen to anyone and everyone. I am an example of that miracle.
HS: You are a father to three wonderful children—David, Joseph and Kimkim. What is your plan for your children? Would you like them to follow your footsteps?
Pu Dino: I like to teach them whatever I think is ideal for them though I do not like the idea of imposing on them. My greatest desire is that they would walk in the ways of the Lord. I want them to live beyond themselves and contribute to the soci-ety. The most important thing is that they do anything that they enjoy but in the process they should also know God and be the centre of God‘s design.
HS: What is your vision of Kuki society? Are you of the opinion that we need to change with the vicissitude of time or do you support the traditionalist view that we need to stand by our age-old customs and traditions to be able to retain it?
Pu Dino: We need to respect where we come from, at the same time we need to adapt and adjust with the context and challenges we are facing today. There‘s a need to innovate and renovate in accordance with the changing time. We should retain what is good in our old tradition but be able to give new meaning and pur-pose to such traditions and customs. Culture is never static. It is always evolving and changing according to the time. We must work on transforming our culture in accordance with the time and thereby allow our culture not only to survive but to thrive.
Thank You on behalf of Kuki Students’ Organisation and Lamhil Editorial Team!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Interview with Pi Nengcha Sitlhou, IFS
I on behalf of Lamhil Editorial Team would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude for agreeing to have me interview you. Since Lamhil caters mostly to student community of Delhi, questions would mostly evolve from around your study life. Please allow me to throw your memory back in time dur-ing your student years and of the struggle you had endured while preparing for the civil service ex-ams.
Hoineilhing Sitlhou: Please tell us briefly about your family background prior to your marriage.
Pi Nengcha Sitlhou: My father, S.L. Palal, and my mother, L. Hatnu, were a working couple in the modern-day sense of the term: he was a Compounder and she a nurse. My father was also a song-writer whose songbook ―Lathahbu‖, aka Palal Labu, first printed in 1949 became the mainstay of any ‗lenkhom‘ in our society. I am the second youngest of 6 siblings.
Lamhil: Please tell us about your student life (your majors, places of education, favourite subjects, hob-bies, sports etc.).
NS: The most important part of my student life is still the first school I attended. It was called Ho-inei Bombel School in Motbung (named after the mother of the then Chief of Motbung, Pu Lunneh). The school was in the community hall of the village, we must have been around 40 kids – with only one teacher, Pastor Mr. Satjasei. He was the most wonderful and complete teacher, who not only taught us reading and writing but also how to behave in society, how to respect elders etc. After that, I changed school many times over because my parents moved from village to village as health workers. I failed my class 8 competitive exams from Adimjati High School Imphal, partly because I was attending to my mother in hospital but also because I was generally unprepared. Then my brother, Prof. S.L Boikho sent me to Little Flower, Imphal for classes 9 and 10. I was too young to understand why he did it but I have him to thank forever for that decision. Because that‘s where I had learnt to fight for my survival. As a new kid with no friends, not being able to speak English, it was pure misery for the first 2/3 months. But I learnt fast and in fact, ended up taking seventh posi-tion in the state matriculation exams. I did my BA in English honours from Lady Keane, Shillong, and went on to top the university in that subject. I was never particularly good at sports but I en-joyed a game of badminton. I always loved singing, but in a group scene I comfortably tucked myself away at the back.
Lamhil: How much time (months/ years) did you spent in preparing for the Civil Services Examination? What were your optionals?
NS: Three years I would say. I always knew I didn‘t want to do MA. So after graduation in 1977, I attended the civil services training institute that NEHU had just opened in Shillong, but it was not a serious attempt and I didn‘t appear for all the papers. Then I went through a period of drift for sev-eral months at home until my mother packed me off to Delhi all on my own; no molly coddling on account of being a girl. I got the biggest culture shock when I arrived in Delhi, everything was so huge and hot and impersonal. I knew almost nobody - those days the number of students from Ma-nipur could be counted on one‘s fingers - and the few people that I knew I didn‘t know how to con-tact. I somehow got myself admitted to Delhi University for MA and even more fortunately got a hostel seat in Miranda House. It was once again a very demoralizing experience; to have come from another university where I had topped the subject and finding that here I was barely able to keep up with the class. But somehow I managed. I mainly concentrated on preparing for the civil services, taking up English literature and a brand new subject– Sociology. I studied like my life de-pended on it. I was acutely aware that my parents were spending all the money they have in
educating me. Failure therefore was not an option. I attended Rao‘s coaching in CP for a while which was useful for the mock interviews.
Lamhil: What is your advice to the future aspirants?
NS: Focus, focus, focus. Don‘t be distracted. Believe in yourself, give everything you have, even what you don‘t have – in the sense that you may not know you have it. Draw from all your reserves of will-power. Leave the rest to God and luck.
Lamhil: Was there any specific study strategy that you followed?
NS: None that I can recall of now. Everyone has his/her own unique way of doing things.
Lamhil: Please share with us some of your experiences as a diplomat in different countries around the world.
NS: I have been posted in Mexico, Bangladesh, Cuba, the United States, Lebanon and now Serbia. Each country is different and special, and demands something different from you. This is the exciting part – you never know what to expect and how you will respond to a situation. It‘s a constant learn-ing experience that makes you evolve all the time as an individual and a professional. Yet it‘s also amazing how much you remain the same.
Lamhil: What has been your most challenging task in your line of work until date?
NS: Being Consul Commerce in New York; never having done commercial work. New York being the capital of global trade and finance, trying to find your feet there and do a decent job of promoting your country was a daunting task. Luckily for me, I had a wonderful boss – Mr. Harsh Bhasin, the Consul General, who taught me never to be intimidated and was always behind me. The other chal-lenging and demanding task was being Joint Secretary in a territorial division in the Ministry of Ex-ternal Affairs, for the amount of pressure you have to deal with, without losing your sanity and sense of humour. I did it for 3 years. It‘s like no other experience, one that I would not exchange for any-thing in the world. By the time I found myself suddenly in the middle of a war in Lebanon and called upon to do evacuation of Indian nationals, I was somehow completely prepared for the task.
Lamhil: As a career woman, do you face role-conflict in balancing it with domestic or familial responsi-bility?
NS: This can be potentially the most difficult thing for a working woman to balance but I was fortu-nate to have very good help throughout and a very understanding husband. Moreover, the way I looked at myself, I was 100% a mother and home-maker when at home with children. I hardly ever brought work home.
Lamhil: Congratulations again on winning the ―Prime Minister‘s Award for Excellence in Public Ad-ministration‖. Where would you like to go from here?
NS: The Prime Minister‘s Award came to me as a complete surprise, in the sense that I was only do-ing my job. It is an honour that I am deeply grateful for. What was really nice was to see the whole northeast celebrate. I will continue to do what I have always done, get on with the work wherever I am to the best of my abilities. That is what I am paid for. In the process, try and bring some joy to people I come into contact with, as the country‘s envoy and as a human being.
Hoineilhing Sitlhou: Please tell us briefly about your family background prior to your marriage.
Pi Nengcha Sitlhou: My father, S.L. Palal, and my mother, L. Hatnu, were a working couple in the modern-day sense of the term: he was a Compounder and she a nurse. My father was also a song-writer whose songbook ―Lathahbu‖, aka Palal Labu, first printed in 1949 became the mainstay of any ‗lenkhom‘ in our society. I am the second youngest of 6 siblings.
Lamhil: Please tell us about your student life (your majors, places of education, favourite subjects, hob-bies, sports etc.).
NS: The most important part of my student life is still the first school I attended. It was called Ho-inei Bombel School in Motbung (named after the mother of the then Chief of Motbung, Pu Lunneh). The school was in the community hall of the village, we must have been around 40 kids – with only one teacher, Pastor Mr. Satjasei. He was the most wonderful and complete teacher, who not only taught us reading and writing but also how to behave in society, how to respect elders etc. After that, I changed school many times over because my parents moved from village to village as health workers. I failed my class 8 competitive exams from Adimjati High School Imphal, partly because I was attending to my mother in hospital but also because I was generally unprepared. Then my brother, Prof. S.L Boikho sent me to Little Flower, Imphal for classes 9 and 10. I was too young to understand why he did it but I have him to thank forever for that decision. Because that‘s where I had learnt to fight for my survival. As a new kid with no friends, not being able to speak English, it was pure misery for the first 2/3 months. But I learnt fast and in fact, ended up taking seventh posi-tion in the state matriculation exams. I did my BA in English honours from Lady Keane, Shillong, and went on to top the university in that subject. I was never particularly good at sports but I en-joyed a game of badminton. I always loved singing, but in a group scene I comfortably tucked myself away at the back.
Lamhil: How much time (months/ years) did you spent in preparing for the Civil Services Examination? What were your optionals?
NS: Three years I would say. I always knew I didn‘t want to do MA. So after graduation in 1977, I attended the civil services training institute that NEHU had just opened in Shillong, but it was not a serious attempt and I didn‘t appear for all the papers. Then I went through a period of drift for sev-eral months at home until my mother packed me off to Delhi all on my own; no molly coddling on account of being a girl. I got the biggest culture shock when I arrived in Delhi, everything was so huge and hot and impersonal. I knew almost nobody - those days the number of students from Ma-nipur could be counted on one‘s fingers - and the few people that I knew I didn‘t know how to con-tact. I somehow got myself admitted to Delhi University for MA and even more fortunately got a hostel seat in Miranda House. It was once again a very demoralizing experience; to have come from another university where I had topped the subject and finding that here I was barely able to keep up with the class. But somehow I managed. I mainly concentrated on preparing for the civil services, taking up English literature and a brand new subject– Sociology. I studied like my life de-pended on it. I was acutely aware that my parents were spending all the money they have in
educating me. Failure therefore was not an option. I attended Rao‘s coaching in CP for a while which was useful for the mock interviews.
Lamhil: What is your advice to the future aspirants?
NS: Focus, focus, focus. Don‘t be distracted. Believe in yourself, give everything you have, even what you don‘t have – in the sense that you may not know you have it. Draw from all your reserves of will-power. Leave the rest to God and luck.
Lamhil: Was there any specific study strategy that you followed?
NS: None that I can recall of now. Everyone has his/her own unique way of doing things.
Lamhil: Please share with us some of your experiences as a diplomat in different countries around the world.
NS: I have been posted in Mexico, Bangladesh, Cuba, the United States, Lebanon and now Serbia. Each country is different and special, and demands something different from you. This is the exciting part – you never know what to expect and how you will respond to a situation. It‘s a constant learn-ing experience that makes you evolve all the time as an individual and a professional. Yet it‘s also amazing how much you remain the same.
Lamhil: What has been your most challenging task in your line of work until date?
NS: Being Consul Commerce in New York; never having done commercial work. New York being the capital of global trade and finance, trying to find your feet there and do a decent job of promoting your country was a daunting task. Luckily for me, I had a wonderful boss – Mr. Harsh Bhasin, the Consul General, who taught me never to be intimidated and was always behind me. The other chal-lenging and demanding task was being Joint Secretary in a territorial division in the Ministry of Ex-ternal Affairs, for the amount of pressure you have to deal with, without losing your sanity and sense of humour. I did it for 3 years. It‘s like no other experience, one that I would not exchange for any-thing in the world. By the time I found myself suddenly in the middle of a war in Lebanon and called upon to do evacuation of Indian nationals, I was somehow completely prepared for the task.
Lamhil: As a career woman, do you face role-conflict in balancing it with domestic or familial responsi-bility?
NS: This can be potentially the most difficult thing for a working woman to balance but I was fortu-nate to have very good help throughout and a very understanding husband. Moreover, the way I looked at myself, I was 100% a mother and home-maker when at home with children. I hardly ever brought work home.
Lamhil: Congratulations again on winning the ―Prime Minister‘s Award for Excellence in Public Ad-ministration‖. Where would you like to go from here?
NS: The Prime Minister‘s Award came to me as a complete surprise, in the sense that I was only do-ing my job. It is an honour that I am deeply grateful for. What was really nice was to see the whole northeast celebrate. I will continue to do what I have always done, get on with the work wherever I am to the best of my abilities. That is what I am paid for. In the process, try and bring some joy to people I come into contact with, as the country‘s envoy and as a human being.
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