109 Ramhuai

H/No 109 West Kidwai Nagar, New Delhi kha ka pa service laia a quarter awmna a ni a. Khami in aṭanga lehkha zir ho kha kan imaginative vak lo nge, kan groupchat hi 109 ni deuh thawr mai a. Puipunni ah pawh 109 tihin kan in zawng mai zel a. Mizo film 109 nen kha chuan kan in kungkaih lo.

Imaginative vak lo e, tih lai chuan kan tui zawngah hi chuan kal na tak tak vek hi kan ni hlawm a. Zeldin hi kan group hobby a ni bawk a. WhatsApp hi a lo ṭha khawp a. Inhmuh khawm tak tak hi a awm ta lo chung hian Mizoram syllabus thar ang te hi chu angle hrang hrang atangin nileng ṭhak ṭhak pawhin kan lo discuss ve vek ṭhin a. Sawi chhuah tlak vak phei chu an ni ngai lem lo a. Tlak lohna chhan pawh eng dang vang ni lovin thutak khuka khuk pui tham engmah kan rel chhuak ngai lo.

Ramhuai, aliens leh sci-fi hi kan tui tlanna ber an ni a. Mahse kan tuipuia kan buaipui ang hu hi chuan encounter kan la nei ngai lo. Neih phei chu a hranpaa han chak viau chu kan awm chuang lo a.

Hetiang vang hian Hnahthial ah min post-na lehkha ka dawn khan ka rilru ah thil 3 awm zinga 1 chu Pangzawl dai shrines ho va en, kha a nia. Mahse National Highway kawng zauhna ah an lo ti chhe tawh tih min lo hrilh a, ka ngaihtuah zui ta lem lo a.

Tun hnai tê, Independence Day leh audit leh DM&R leh Polling Station rationalise leh probable L&O leh MCS exam conduct leh Revenue office function ṭan tih vel a rualin kan han ngaihtuah takah chuan ka rilruin tlanbo na a zawng deuh nge, Pangzawl dai shrines ho hi ka vei tet tet a. Pangzawl North VCP Pu Siamtea nen kan in bia a, min hruai a peih hmel a, va en ngei ka tum.

Pangzawlah hian hman deuh khan zan khat riakin kan zin a. A tukah Lunglei lam kan pan tur hi shrines ho awmna ṭhin bulah hian kan ding a. Gypsy hnungah ka chuan vang khan a hmaa ṭhu ka nau kha, “Saw lai ah sawn monument 3 an awm, thla va la lawk teh,” ka tia. A chhuk ve mai a. Kei ṭawngthei lutuk ta khan, “Hmanah ramhuai a awm ṭhin an tih vanga an sak ania,” ka ti ta hram pek a nih kha. A rang a rangin a lo lut leh a. Kan kalpui te an lo tlan leh tawh si nen Pangzawl dai shrines thlalak ka neih loh phah ta a. Mahse kar hmasa khan Thiltlang VCP Pu Rindik-an thlalak hlui min zawn sak a, ka nei leh ta hlauh. Ka lawm hle.

109-a discussion hi lak tlak a awm lo, ka tih nachhan pawh ramhuai topic ah hian example ka han pe ang a. 

1. Ramhuai miin an hmuh hian an khawsik hluah ṭhin a, eng vang nge niang? 109 chuan ramhuai temperature hi a hniam ve hrim hrim ah a ngai deuh a. Anih loh vek chuan ramhuai miin a hmuh laia a adrenaline rush kha a hmuh tawh loh hnuah a rilru leh taksa in a zo lo a ni thei.

2. Ramhuai in min hran khum laiin lo muhil ta ila, a hrang tho ang em? 109 chuan if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? a ti.

3. Ramhuaiin min hran khum lai kha lo hre lo ta ila, kan khua a sik tho ang em? 109 chuan kan ngaihven theih hun an nghah ve mai a ngaih hmel, kan ti.

4. Ramhuai te hi an hranna hmun pangai pelin an hrang thei em? 109 chuan bureaucratic posting ang deuh hian kal theih chin an nei in a ring deuh a. Ramhuai hi tlansan theih chen a awm ve a ni mai thei. An hran khum berte hi an pem bo daih hian an jurisdiction pawn lamah an umzui ngai lem vak lo.

5. Ramhuai indo ah Reiek an chak loh avangin kum tin Tlawng hnenah Reiek Huai ten Human Tribute an pe ṭhin tih hi lei leh van indo nen a in zawm em, bâk a tel na kha? 109 hian kan hre thawi deuh a. Chungleng leh Hnuaileng indo zawk ani a, bâk tel na chu. Lei leh Van indo chu tlemin a Catholic rim nam deuh, Lucifera leh Michaela te lam chan. Pearly Gates-ah Petera awm vang maia Pialral sentry-ah Paula a awm ve emaw ti kan awm ve lo hlauh; Pawla leh Paula lam dan in ang miau hek, an dem vak theih hran lo. Helam chu kan sawi thui ta lo. Kan hre vak lo. 

6. Ramhuai ho tan hian chakai hi an ar ve ami? 109 chuan Tlingi leh Ngama te story ah mi nung ram leh mitthi khua thil te a inverse vak kha a hre kar a. Chakai chhit ho pawh khawsik ta vak te an awm ṭhin bawk nen. An ar a ni ber, chu kan ti ngam lo na in, water spirits ho ran bik te chu an ni ve mai thei, kan ti. Lasi hovin sazuk leh sanghal te an ran bik ang deuh hian. Chakai hi ramhuai ho ar a nih chuan ar tak tak hi chu ramhuai tan chuan T-Rex an ni mai thei bawk. 

7. Ramhuai man te hi an rimchhe kher zel. Hei hi 109 chuan ṭul kan ti vak lo. Hmanah Pasighat ah ka pa post laiin Arunachal ho ramhuai hlau lutuk in khanghu hmun hi ramhuai a awm emaw an tia, an suat chiam tawh. A va ho tak. An ṭawp ve hrim hrim vangin thlarau sual hi an rimchhia ni mai thei a. Ramhuai neutral te chu an rim a chhe hran lo aniang. Lasi te pawh rimchhe vek se tumahin an zawl duh lo ang.

8. Mizo ten faifuk hian thli a ko, kan tih hi Arunachal ho chuan thim tawh hnua faifuk chuan ramhuai a ko, an ti thung a. Pasighat ah ka pa awm lai khan tumah thim hnuah an faifuk duh ngai lo, tih a sawi ṭhin. Chinese anime Mushishi ah khan Ginko khan hei hi a va tawng ve a. Ramhuai ko thei naupang a lo awm a, a faifuk khan ramhuai a ko a, a control thei a. Midang ngaihah chuan thli control thei angin a lang. 109 chuan kan thawnthu te NE dang leh China lam te nen lo inmil leh fu ṭhin hi a fascinating kan ti.

9. Motor, esp bus, accident na velah hian hrang an sawi hnem thei sia, engatinge leimin naah hian an sawi vak loh? 109 discussion hi a sensitive deuh a, hei chu redact mai ang. In lo zeldin chhunzawm ve atan.

10. Kawnpui dai ramhuai/hrang hi an sawi nasa a, 109 chuan fiah a chakawm kan ti a. Mahse fiah tih lemah, YouTubers ten zuk fiah se, video in capture se, en a chakawm. Kan u pakhat, tunah chuan pastor ni tawh phei chuan: Mahni chauha 2W a tlan chuan Kawnpui daia "Isua hming kan lamin ramhuai an tlanchhia" tih lo in tar hian min thlamuan aiin min ti ralkhel zawk, a ti. 109 agrees.

H/No 109 WKN ngei maiah khan zan khat chu Member1 khan zanreiah online games a khel lauh lauh a. Chutih laiin Member2 in chempuiin sazu lian mangkheng, rattrap ban ang chi a tang, bengchheng lutuk kha phun bul bul chungin a lo vawhlum. Member1 khan earphone aṭangin sazu ṭê thawm leh mihring phun thawm leh vaw chawrh chawrh ri kha a hre riai ruai a, midang an mu vekin a hre sia, a hlau deuh a, a va en thlithlai mai ngam chiah lo deuh a. Member2 lah khan a chem a silfai a, a mu leh mai bawk a. Member1 in a enkual ngam meuh chuan light a in off vek, mi zawng zawng an mu leh tawh. A computer a shut down a, a khum ah “rei deuh ka ṭawngṭai ringawt,” a ti. 

Chu bak chu ramhuai experience kan nei tam vak lo. 

(Dik tak chuan a zawna zawng reng ta chuan kan ngah a, mahse ngaihbel tur story ho hi a ziktluak vak ngai lo a. Mi bula han sawi tur khawpa ngaihnawm kan la tawng lo. Tawng lo mah ila pawi kan ti vak lo.)

August Friends

It is good to have friends. That will be an understatement that I will not try to expand on too much because being friendless is the worst, and one can never truly capture the absolute blessing that is having a friend.

There are adjective friends. The ones that require a little description, a little qualifier – school friend, college friend, work friend, church friend, you get the idea. They’re not bad friends. They’re not lesser friends. They’re just incidental friends, you could say.

Sometimes incidental friends lose their adjectives over the course of time or an ever-growing closeness. They become simply friends. Over time, they become family-adjacent. In Mizo society, especially for women, they can become family in the event of a wedding by them partaking of brideprice. In Hindu society, rakhi.

It is easy as adults to develop frenemies. Part-time friends but also part-time enemies. It is just something that happens. Childhood friendships tend to be quite pure, mostly because there is not a lot of things children can do for each other. But as adults, especially with regards to work and even general living, you swallow up your pride and prejudice and just make nice even with people you don’t like. Transactional friends, you might say. A wise person has a lot of friends, true, but that particular brand of wisdom might not be very comforting in the end if they never developed or nurtured the non-transactional friendships along the way of acquiring more powerful friends.

There are bad friends. Of course there are. Your mum probably warned you about them. You might be them. Still friends, but not very good ones. They’ll judge you. They’ll betray you. They will always one-up you. You know those friends, right? Whatever the situation, they have it better or worse than you, or they at least know someone else who's got it better or worse than you. The friends that are determined to convince you they live Life superlative to you. They won’t show up for you. Trying times will always show you who they are. A wise person will not keep grudges in public but will always remember exactly when these friends did not rise to the occasion. You probably also will know when you were a bad friend. If you care to admit to it.

August friends, on the other hand. Ah, bless them. The very best of the lot. August because we’re too old to be BFFs. It is surprisingly not the length of friendship that define their worth. Although they do say if you’ve been friends for more than ten years, you’re probably just going to stay friends for life. The friendship version of the seven-year itch, if you will. There are friends – and one will never have too many of them – that will be the kind of friends poetry is written about. It’s not about a person being a Saint. It’s more about how they make you feel. We all need that person that will never judge us, that person who has seen the absolute worst of us, and still choose to see the absolute best of us instead. Life is hard. Friends make it easier. I choose August to describe them because of them being that grand, and also because in India, we celebrate friendship day in August. Kind of fitting.

Also, about the ten years, if you’ve been friends with someone for more than ten years and if those ten years cover college, you’re probably too far deep to cut ties anymore. They probably know too much at that point. But whether you’ve been friends for two summers or two decades does not really matter. When you click, you click. Everybody needs that person who will accept you as you are, warts and all. The kind of friends who will be your friend not because of who you are, but even in spite of who you are.

Good friends are heaven. Everything about religion is something we take on in Faith. We believe it to be True. If it turns out we were wrong, well, oops! But even then, if we had friends along the way, I guess we have had Heaven all along.

Dumde After A Hard Day’s Work

Arunachal’s Pasighat by the R Siang was where I last saw dumde, until last month in R Tuipui at dusk. There’s just something magical about fireflies. I loved Ray in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog and even now still listen to his heartfelt rendition of Evangeline once in a while. Ridiculous romantic Cajun bug in love with the evening star. Again, there’s just something magical about fireflies.

Fireflies tend to transport you to a world of imagination and fairy tales. If not, they are - at the very least - pretty to look at. And I fear their population is dwindling. Apparently, artificial lights and climate change has negatively affected their mating rituals and breeding cycles. However in India, there was significant increase in their population after 2021. Maybe the Covid human hibernation really did work wonders for firefly population. 

Sci-fi sometimes say humans are pests on Planet Earth. Sometimes, you have to wonder if there is some truth in that harsh observation. Even now, the rise in AI is apparently causing significant strain on the environment. From my rudimentary understanding, we are generating dumb Ghibli pictures and fart jokes at the cost of fresh water, it seems. AI, itself not being truly sentient, is also learning shit from its own self and running the risk of developing something like a digital Hapsburg Jaw over time. I’m guessing we are not getting Vision anytime in the future. Or more likely, if sentience is truly gained by AI, I suspect we get Ultron and The Terminator before we get Vision. Shivers.

In any case, without factoring anything religious at all, how good are humans to Nature? Just some food for thought. 

Anyway, back to dumde. I had been having a series of tough weeks, when one random afternoon, a friend randomly burst out into how we should go line fishing! I dropped everything in office, got permission from ma’am, put a little jacket on my Beagle pup, and off we went to Tuipui. My puppy had the time of his little life and even almost drowned. He was much better disciplined after the Tuipui baptism but even so, his energy burst was such that I found out I never need to carry him anywhere because he had so much energy. Boundless. He dragged me along. Mavena was definitely wary of the river water later, even on the boat. He really does not learn. This was his 3rd time full immersion, but maybe his little puppy brain does not understand that the blue swimming pool and the brownish-yellow river in full swing in July both contain water that could drown him. Tiny idiot.

I didn’t lose him because he got dragged out – thankfully! – so I have amazing memories from the expedition. It is so hard to care about government machineries, land revenue and settlement exercises, and democratic processes of election, when the rain is beating down on your tiny balu-boat, your clothes are drenched your shoes are wet and there’s mud on your hair, but your heart is light, and there’s warm fire down your throat. I recommend. 

And, after the rain stopped and we got back to shore, there were fireflies along the river bank, dancing in their own flight plans, little bio-luminescent glows that light up your eyes, if not your road. 

Sometimes I think we stop defining "work" as only when you get literal mud on your clothes. Some of our best, meaningful, and tough works that move the economy along are done in the confines of AC rooms between people who are balding from the stress of it all. And burping up acid, not to mention. 

These people need mud on their clothes too every once in a while, from roaming the river bank, laughing into the empty air and the big sky above. Caught in a downpour. Happy mud. These are simply joys that village life offers you. I never want to be dependent on it for a living. I would starve. But every once in a while, when office gets to be too much, the sound of a mighty river, against the backdrop of majestic Green that is home to myriad lives, is the only thing that effectively calms you immediately.

Our fishing expedition? We got (I think) four tiny fishes the size of my fingers each. But like Pasalṭha Biaka says, it is the number that counts. No one ever comments on how tall or fat or ugly anyone is when they take Census. They just count heads. So yes, we caught four fishes. And I went home with memories of pretty dumde as night fell and my fat little Beagle, tired and content, fell asleep in my arms. Pretty decent haul!

Mizo Thu Leh Hla

Buaina hi a thuah hnih thuah thum chuan rilru hi thil dang daihah a pakai hlauh duh a.

Tunah pawh exam leh I-day leh audit leh staff leh office 3 enkawl buai lai tak hian ka rilru ah chuan Mizo thu leh hla dangdai zia hi a ri thum dawt dawt tlat ta a ni.

School ka chhuahsan hnu hian uniform hak leh ka tum tawh lo a. Nge, school kal chhung zawng uniform ha mawi ve thei ngai hek lo i. School Schedule hi ngaihven leh ka tum tawh reng reng lo bawk. A chang chuan School ni lovin classmate te hi chu ngaih ve det chang chu a awm ve thin a. A changin zirtirtute leh zirlai te pawh ngaihtuah chhuah chang a awm ve a. ICSE High School ah “Mizo Thu Leh Hla” tih kha tunlai tak chu ka rilru ah a rawn lang a. ICSE ah chuan Mizo tih lovin Lushai tihin subject hming an dah bawk. GK nih chu ow.

Mizo thu leh hla hi an grammar a dang a, a ṭawng hrim hrim pawh hi a dang in ka hria. Mizo ṭawnga tluangtlam pangai taka sawi theih hi a un leh ulh thei ang berin sawi ila, Mizo hla chu a ni deuh ber. A awihawm leh awihawm loh pawh hi a lo pawimawh ber lo. Mizo hla ah chuan lelte kiu ril rel in lung a ti leng a, Mizo thu ah chuan thereng hram ri chuan lu a ti na. A mawi lo. A bengchheng.

A chang leh Thu leh Hla danglamna chu ṭawng letling ila, a fel der. Hla a Siar chu Thu ah chuan Arsi, chutiangin Kulva chu Vakul. A chang leh a thlum belh zeuh. Thu a Mumang chu Hla ah chuan Tawnmang, Silaimu chu Ngenmu. A chang chuan enge hla phuah tu hian a sawi tum ni ang aw tih rum rum theih khawpin thumal a dang. Ramhnuai hi Lentu tih in hre bik ami?

Thu khuh ṭhin hnam, a nihna ang taka thil sawi mai lo mi kan nihna hi kan Hla ah hian a lang lehzual ṭhin. Ṭah pawha ṭap satliah lo, luaithlipui nul thin kan ni a mom! A loh theih loh. Hnuk te lai lai a ulh. Hnuk sawi takah chuan, Thu leh Hla chu sawi loh, Hla tel miah lo pawhin hnuk ulh leh a chat kar te hi a hla lutuk reng reng a ni.

Thlado kunga chawnpui par tir hnam kan ni bawk a, Lungtat pawh kan par tir ang. A dik vek zel mai. Pial te hi enge a nih reng reng min hrilh thei in awm em? Ka nu hi Pialtu a ni a, Piallei, Pialtlep, Pialral te kan tia, a thluk a in ang chiah lo na in inzawmna te an nei em, pial ṭeuh ṭheuh? 

Ṭawng lehlin te hi Mizo ṭawngah hian a har ṭalh reng a ni. Hman deuha internet a ṭhat lehzual hma, Cable TV kan la en ṭhin lai khan, movie 1 an dub ah “Ke ti tliak rawh!” an ti mauh mai a. Ka ner nghal nawk. Ka en reng lai anih vang khan a sapṭawng ah chuan “Break a leg!” an ti ang tih a hriat theih nghal a. A nih ang anga lehlin chuan a dik, a sapṭawng phrase ṭobul chhui pawhin a dik deuh ruak, mahse a context ah chuan a dik ta hlawl lo. AVBT. Vur tla a ni lo, frost a ni a, dai khal tih tur, tiha sapṭawng in ti thiam lutuk ho pawh khan khawi laiah nge dai tla in hmuh tawh ngai in sawi theih hma chu vur kha tlak tir ve tho rawh u. Context a pawimawh. Champhai ka post lai aṭanga ka hne tawh. AVBTQ.

A reng reng in, buaina hi a thuah thum thuah li chang hian mi ṭhahnemngai zawk chuan mi pali panga ni thei ila, an ti ṭhin. Kei chu pali panga a insem sawm a, buaina chinfel ai chuan Samdala School of Thought subscribe ta sa sa, buaina zawk kha tlem daih se ka ti ve tlat!

Buai nuam u!

To Soothe A Savage Beast

Elvis, Dolly Parton, Sixpence None The Richer. What three things do they have in common? They’re American, I know them from MTV and they all have gospel albums.

Unthinkable, the second and third bits, in the Mizoram music scene. There are Gospel Songs and Love Songs. Gospel Singers and Worldly Singers. Never the twain shall meet.

Used to be, I’d hoped. I’d begun hearing talks of genres and music tastes, no longer a simple division between lyrical content. But I hear people who are Born Again are now changing their tune once more. ‘I will only sing gospel now because I am made new’. Ah well. The times. The more they change, the more things remain exactly the same.

I am no musical maestro. What little I know of music is only enough to tell the difference between rap and country. Mostly. But in the past year, I have been on the road a lot. I have listened to collections of Mizo Music on Spotify in these trips and have made some observations I’d like to share. Do feel free to comment. But also be kind. Yours Truly does not take criticisms well, constructive or not.

What I noticed was that in the 00s when I was growing up, every Mizo music was either Gospel or Love. And the love song singers were considered worldly. No self-respecting Born Again Christian would sing love songs on TV or on stage. Genre did not matter. Lyrical content was it. Somehow it felt like a very peculiar but unnamed and specific sort of sin to listen to Mizo love songs. Like you were feeling things you should not be feeling.

So I started listening to English songs. MTV introduced me to all sorts of music. Henceforth there were gospel songs, love songs, English songs and Hindi songs. MTV also introduced me to the idea of genres. Which was how I discovered that I liked country music very much but was also a big fan of pop music. At the time, I recognized rock, R&B and rap but was not as big a fan. This was my realization that things were not just black and white. Growth!

It is strange but I think it’s the foreign-ness of it all but we could sing Spice Girls’ Two Become One and all the coital references in ballads. In English. Meanwhile in Mizo, even singing about missing a person felt like an anathema that would take you on a one-way path to hell. Perhaps it is the same reason why it is so easy to curse in English with all the worst words and genitalia yet in Mizo, the worst most people dare call anyone is a monkey-face; anyone who says the actual words for genitalia in Mizo is way too vulgar for polite society. Too intimate, you know.

At any rate, it remains that the Spotify collection was diverse and I adored it. It introduced me to all sorts of Mizo music. I realized that if you took out the lyrical content of it all, Mizo music came in all sorts of genre too. I might be wildly mistaken but I think we can categorise 90s Mizo “love songs” as mostly classic rock and country driven. Think of the era of Daduhi, Rebecca Saimawii, Albatross, and Dreamhunter… rock, right? I think there was a very strong western country and rock influences in both gospel and love songs in that era. Something about Shillong too there, I am sure.

I have to admit, the 90s had a really bad phase of experimenting with 90s American pop music. It made for really cringe novelty songs but I think it defined an era too, so I won’t name names but you know what I mean. Very definitely you know what I mean. We are all defined by the wider global entertainment world that envelops the current cultural era we grow up in. It is no wonder that 80s folks will always think less of today’s music. The love affair between Mizo language and classic rock was – mmhm – chef’s kiss!

However, the recent pop music scene in Mizo music with say, the twang of Gorkhali influence in H.O.M., or the Burmese influence in say Saiwannah, Mary Dawngi, Benjamin Sum etc. are extremely fascinating and I believe they have made Mizo music that much richer. The strange ways Triau Trackx has redefined Mizo lyrics has been interesting because in Mizo, prose and poetry have their own grammar. Triau Trackx has somehow defied those rules and reshaped Mizo lyrics forever. All the younger folks have come to bend Mizo prose into poetry and somehow found a way to make even rhyming schemes work. I am always delighted to listen to people like Youngfella, Mista Blow, Guru Gee, Kimkima, K Hminga etc. and listen to how they (in Avatar terms) word-bend.

What was simply “love songs” in the 80s, 90s and 00s have today become the art of singers, songwriters, rappers, crooners, cover artists, indie music… each with their own lovely places in the sun. Cool, isn’t it?

I don’t know music much so I appreciate the ones that create these various art pieces that speaks for the heart when us random folk can’t often express our own feelings and emotions. In the Japanese Studio Ghibli film Whispers of the Heart, they said that sometimes when an artist pours so much of their soul into their art, the resulting art itself gains some form of soul and sentience. I think that’s gorgeous. It’s also a bit like how Taylor Swift said of her music in her The Eras Tour that these songs are songs she’d written on some things she’d felt at certain moments of her life, but now they were out and no longer hers, that they belonged now to the people who claimed them because they felt what she’d written. Just lovely what can become when artists are allowed to grow. They tend to make the world a better place. Music has charms to soothe a savage beast, as they say.

I still do wish people would stop singing random gospel tracks in government functions. When in Rome... all that jazz. Another topic for another day.

Minglish leh Mavena

MCS anga ka DC hrawn hmasak ber Dr Naveen Aggarwal khan thu a sawi dawnin, Ṭawng min lehsak rawh, a ti ṭhin a. Ka huphurh ṭhin. Ṭawng pangai hi chu ṭawngkam thiam vak lo pawhin a leh ve mai theih. Mahse medical doctor a ni a, science term hman a ching kha chu vawi 2 vawi 3 hnuah chuan, “Sir if you’re planning to use science words in your speech, can you let me know in advance?” ka ti a. “Sure, what words would this include?” a ti a. Ka ngaihtuah a. A last speech ah khan “photosynthesis” tih a hmang tawh a, thumal hnih khata lehlin mai ngaihna a awm meuh lo kha a ni a. “Anything more complicated than photosynthesis” ka ti chu a nui ringawt.

Mizo ṭawng hian a daih lo ṭhin a ni. Word tam tak hi Mizo ṭawngah seng luh zung zung mai hi a finthlak, ka ti ta a.

Bill Bryson hian Mother Tongue tih lehkhabu a ziak a, English word leh phrase hrang hrang lo chhuah dan a study hrep hnuah a lakkhawm leh comment zuina te a ni a. Hetiang lehkhabu leh hmanlai Reader’s Digest te han chhiar hian Sap/English ṭawnga thumal tam tak an lo chawr chhuah dan te hi a ngaihnawm duh phian a. A ngai ang anga an seng luh loh pawh tlema her danglam hretin ṭawngkam an lo seng lut a, ṭawng a lo hausak phah duh khawp mai a. Ṭawngkam ṭhenkhat kum tam a lo vei a, a awmzia lehling thawk thawka lo evolve chho a awm a, a ṭhen lah a root word hriat theih tawh lo khawpa lo sap ta te a awm bawk a.

Mi tam takin sapṭawnga word ṭhenkhat hi vai ṭawng aṭanga lak a ni tih pawh kan hriat loh a tam ka ring. Word ṭhenkhat entirnan karma, purdah, yoga, bazaar, pajama, bandh, bungalow tih te hi chu a la vai sounding deuh hlek a, kan la risk dik thei ang a. Shampoo, sachet, juggernaut, thug, dacoit, jungle, cheetah tih te hi chu India ram ṭawng atanga sapṭawnga lut an ni tih risk nachang kan hre vak tawh lo ang.

Hman aṭanga ka thuvawn chu Mizo ṭawngin a daih loh chuan ṭawng dang hman mai tur. Mizo ṭawnga sawifiah a harsat zawk chuan ṭawng dang nen ṭankawp mai tur. Khawvel changkanna in min awp a, netizens kan nih vek deuhthaw tawh na ah hian tumahin Login, Password, Enter, Captcha, User ID, online, social media etc. te hi “Mizo ṭawng lo chuan ka hrethiam lo”, kan ti tawh lo. A ṭulna in min man a, kan thiam a, kan ṭawng a ni ve tawh mai. Lo in lak vai ṭingṭang chiam hian Mizo ṭawng a that zawk dawn AVBT.

Rawng tih te pawh hi Bengali ṭawng kan lak hi a nih hmel a. Ṭing, dum, sen, pawl, eng, etc te chu kan nei, a hlawma sawina hi Bengali ṭawng tho a ni kan hman. Mahse kan seng lut a, Mizo ṭawng a ni mai. Hmm.

Ṭawng chungchang ka sawi chiam nachhan zawk erawh chu uite thar ka nei a. Thil eng eng emaw han zirtir dawn hian buaina chen ka nei a. 1 na ah chuan Sapṭawng hi ka first language a ni lo a, urgent deuh hlekah chuan Mizo ṭawngin ka au chhuak. 2 na ah chuan ka khawvela mi tam zawkin sapṭawng an hmang lo a, ka uite min enkawl sak laia command an pek theih na tur a ngai a. 3 na ah chuan uite rilru tlemin a hriatthiam tur zirtir a ngai.

Sapṭawng chuan zirtir ila chuan go, sit, fetch, jump, run, come etc a tih theih mai tur kha Mizo ṭawng chuan a sak tlat. Uite rilru a tam si lo a, thui deuh zirtir a har a, one word command hi ngaihtuah fuh a har. 

Hei vang hian negative command atan, urgent deuh hlekah sapṭawnga “NO” tih hi ka instinct a ni ve tak si lem loh ah chuan “Het” hi a chhuak awlsam ber a, chu chu kan in zirtir ta a. Het tih lohah chuan “suh” hi a thiam bawk a (ani uite luhlulin a awih duh leh duh loh chu thuhran), chuvang chuan hemi te 2 hi negative command atan ka zirtir a. Maven hei chu ei chi a ni lo, tih kha awmzia a awm lo, a hrethiam lo; Maven ei suh, tih kha chuan ei ka phal lo tih chu a hrethiam ve mai. Hett hi chu sawifiah vak ngai lo in ka ngai. 

Positive command ah pawh “Ṭhu rawh” tih kan in zirtir a, one word command a “sit” tih ka zirtir dawn em ni aw, ka ti ka ti a. Mahse ka kaa ri awlsam zawk leh midang tan pawha chhuak awlsam zawk, two word command in “Ṭhu rawh” tih kan in zirtir a. “Chibai” tih hi chu sawi vak tur pawh ka hre lo, two syllables ni mah se, one word a nia, a sapṭawng pawhin a awm chuang lo a. “Fetch” tih hi a har ta a ni. Kan la ti fuh thei meuh lo. Ball vawma chhar nachang chu a hria a, a bak hi kan la thiam dun vak lo. Mizo zingah an uite light off/on tir thiam te, eng eng emaw la tura tirh theih te an nei thin a, kan in zirtir ve thei ngut ang e maw.

Beisei a sang vak hran lo.

Ṭawng chungchang hi la zirchian leh tur a ni. A ngaihnawm duh riau.

PS: Minglish hi Hindi leh English hmang kawp hovin Hinglish an tih ang deuh hian Mizo leh English hmang kawp tan chuan ka ti Minglish ve tawp mai ani.

Pet People

I’ve recently been accused of making all my posts about my new puppy. This is true. I’ve made a lot of videos because he does really cute shit which I find truly fascinating. He throws tantrums, complains/cries when he’s lonely, learns new tricks quickly, sleeps a lot, has only two energy levels – 0% and 100% – and also doesn’t ever bark at anyone. He does argue and howl passionately back when he’s angry but that was not really the point of me getting him in the first place.

Which was to make noise. A guard-dog, basically. I wanted a dog to bark at strangers or just generally act as an audio alert, an alarm system if you will, when people approach the house. His name was also designed to convey this – Brave Guardian. Or as the Mizo version of the BINGO song named the puppy: Venthiam Huaisena. Mavena for short.

Safe to say Mavena is not a guard dog. Not yet, at any rate.

I find it interesting though how true it is when people say pets tend to start acting like their humans. I thought about it and although I cannot say whatever I said of him in the first para are my traits too, I’ve noticed how very territorial he is. Just like me, he likes to take ownership of whatever he thinks is his – a ball, his dog chew toys, an old kitchen scrubber, pieces of old linen strings, old brushes, Ducky the plushy, etc. He just collects them in one place all the time. I find this oddly charming because this is me too.

I like to cherish what I own and I like what I like.

For this same reason, I thought about our other pets too. Simi is Feli’s cat and the pair of them just roam about everywhere at all the odd hours; you don’t even know when they come home. Snowy and Chia are Lee’s dog and cat and all of them can sleep at the drop of a hat. Nixi and Momo were my cats and both girls were fiercely independent and also high-strung. Lulua was Feli’s and he was extremely stubborn.

I also got to wondering how our pets would talk if they could. Based on their own little quirky personalities. 

I believe Mavena would just jumble up his words and be very emotional and no one would really understand him. Nixi and Momo would have been eloquent speakers, and used hi-fi languages and speak in Old Mizo, probably. Lulua was a Punjabi boy; no one in Mizoram would have understood him. Simi would hardly talk, and if she did, probably spoke without bothering to enunciate, and probably her favourite word would be the Japanese “Mendokusai”. Chia probably talked like a Gen Alpha kid, all fancy Minglish, or Mizo with the elite accent. Snowy probably just talks a lot, with no beginning or ending, and turn a one-liner into two paragraphs. I don’t know. I’m assuming.

It’s just one of those things to do with pet ownership. There’s just a lot that ties us together, pet people. An extremely unifying factor. We just bond over pets. And you’ll realise a lot of us don’t even consider us Dog People and Cat People per se; we are Pet People. I’d pet a rhinoceros if I could. When the snake guy Roma held it steady for me, I pet a King Cobra as well. I just really like animals and want to be their friend.

Which is also why I don’t eat dog and cat meats, as a lot of other pet owners too. It is hypocritical but I can’t bring myself to eat an animal whose species I call pet. Duck meat, too. I had a pet duck once. My parents turned it into curry while I was in school. That was traumatizing. I’ve never eaten duck. I always say if ever I go to Beijing, I will try Peking Duck, but otherwise, I’m happy to not eat duck ever.

I forgot what I was talking about.