Neikhrietuonuo Linyü: Ain’t no mountain too high

The first Naga to have conquered the highest peak in the world...how does it feel? To be very honest, Neikhrietuonuo Linyü says, “I don’t feel any different from the next person walking down the street! The realisation that you’ve made it to the top of the world does not dawn on you when you make it there because you’re far too occupied with other things – ensuring your anchor’s in place, your pictures are taken, your oxygen cylinders changed, and of course, drinking and eating something just so you have enough energy to take you down the mountain.”
She adds, “In retrospect, I think about the only thought that was running through my head at that point in time was how cold it was! But honestly, getting there is half the experience and the fun. It’s something else to read about climbing Everest and getting to climb and seeing the obstacles you’ve read so much about and being a part of history because that is really what it is. If you climb Everest, your name is irrevocably linked with that of the mountain.”

If you ask her how the great expedition happened, she will tell you that the Indian Army offers one a lot of opportunities to explore one’s more adventurous and daring side, which, she enlightens is in addition to what you are employed for. “Mountaineering is just one of those ‘things’ one gets to do and that’s how I got into it too. Having grown up in Kohima amidst the hills and mountains of Nagaland, it’s not unusual for any of us growing up to be hiking up Puliebadze or Japfü or trekking to the Dzükou Valley and I probably had a latent adventurous streak that I could explore once I donned the uniform,” she elucidates.

But apart from that, she has proved that nothing is really impossible. When asked what words of encouragement she would give for aspiring Nagas who wish to leave a footprint globally, she is quick to say: “Today we have a number of Nagas who are doing very well both inside and outside the country and if you talk to anyone of them, I think they would all agree that hard work is what got them there. We Nagas tend to be very complacent and easily defeated. We have to learn to rise above our disappointments and learn to strive for what our hearts desire. Disappointments are, hard as it might be to accept, a part of life and one has to learn from them and emerge stronger from them.”
“I don’t know if quoting my own example would be appropriate but when I was declared ‘unfit for airborne duties’ the first time I underwent my ‘probation’ to become a paratrooper, I was devastated. I had been training so hard and for so long.”
With almost a tinge of longing, she goes on to say, “At a time when I was really low, my late brother asked me if I was going to give up just like that and gave me the example of he and his team playing basketball despite their losses and disappointments. He was 17 or so then and I was deeply affected to the point that I vowed that I would go through the whole process again. Sadly, he did not live to see the day I earned my Maroon and my paratrooper’s wings.”
Well, she volunteered to undergo probation, which is considered among the toughest ‘tests’ to become a paratrooper. Although she didn’t make it the first time, she volunteered again and was selected the second time, which is also the reason why she wears a distinctive coloured cap/beret which is referred to worldwide by all paratroopers as the “Maroon.”
Becoming a paratrooper, she says, was a defining moment in her life because it meant she was a cut above the rest, among the officers considered the best in the world! But, of course, it is not easy being a paratrooper even as she expresses, “You stand out like a sore thumb everywhere you go; everyone expects a little more out of you so you have to carry yourself that way and prove yourself too. But for me, being a paratrooper and a mountaineer has given me the most wonderful experiences of my life. I may not have dreamt of becoming either but I am living a dream!”
Believe it or not, she wanted to become a traffic policewoman as a child, because she says, “I used to think the traffic police personnel are the most powerful people in the society. All they have to do is raise a hand and thousands of cars come to a screeching halt! I probably had a thing for uniforms from a very early age.”
But her childhood dream, she confesses, was to become a vet, like her uncle. “As the eldest in the family, you are constantly reminded of the role you have to play in the family, of how you have to be an example to your younger siblings and things like that. I think at some point in my life, after I became a doctor and I felt I was old enough to make my own decisions, I rebelled! And that’s how I landed up joining the army,” she recalls.
She has been in the army for eleven years now, while still insisting that she got into it army by rebelling. But honestly speaking, she divulges that ‘most people say doctors have it easy in the army and I think that does have an element of truth in it’. “It is easier for doctors to get commissioned in the army because unlike the other arms and services of the Indian Army, they do not have a rigorous system of selection plus they do not undergo intensive training sessions before they are commissioned”, she explains.
However, any job is not without challenges. In the army, she says, “You are an officer first and then a doctor or engineer or whatever your qualification is and that means, having to learn to manage men, resources, dealing with seniors, civilians, etc. In short, you have to call upon all your management skills, exercise tact and diplomacy, display initiative and resourcefulness, and know how to control damage.”
But on the lighter side of it, she expresses that the most fun part of her job is getting to travel to all nooks and corners of the country and getting to know your country in a way no textbook can teach you.
The eldest of five siblings - four sisters and one brother (who, they unfortunately lost a few years ago) – she describes herself as very stubborn, which some people would interpret as determination. She says she is possessive, inherently curious and inquisitive even as a child. But also “very passionate” about everything she does in life. One can clearly see how that has led her to where she is today.
Talk about issues closer home and the Army Major by profession, who is at the same time a doctor, a mountaineer & a keen adventurer, feels: “We Nagas are fiercely protective about our children and tend to pamper them a little more than is necessary. In addition, we are very wary and distrustful of outsiders. The two combined make it a lose-lose situation for both our children and the society because we prefer to keep our children close to us where we can keep an eye on them and the youth are unable to obtain the right kind of information or guidance especially when it is crucial.”
“We ought to understand that it is only when our children are given the freedom to get out and interact with others that they will learn more about not just other cultures but about different careers and employment opportunities and things that will make a difference in their lives. It is the only way they will become independent and learn to survive in a competitive world like today,” she emphasises.
She also feels that “many of our youth today do not seem to have a sense of direction and purpose in their lives. They simply seem to be studying because they are expected to, and even take up lowly jobs only because they are so unsure of themselves. I think the main issues we need to tackle among the youth today are self-confidence issues mostly because we are no less qualified or no less capable than anyone out there in the rest of the world. We just need to get out and find out for ourselves what we can also do.”
So, what are her dreams for Nagaland? “I often joke with my friends that someday when I’m done with my job in the army, I will return to Nagaland and become the Chief Minister, set up a dictatorial leadership and instil some sense of discipline in our people! Jokes aside, our people seem to have become very lackadaisical and laidback, no one shows up for work on time; the work we do lacks quality and substance; nobody has any sense of respect for the law and order system. Those are just a few of the things I would like to change,” she puts across.
For her, becoming the first lady officer or the first lady paratrooper from the State was never part of her scheme of things. She believes that the Almighty had some kind of grandiose plan for her when He made her.
“As for me, I would like to climb a few more mountains, skydive and God willing, become the Chief Minister of Nagaland someday….but jokes aside, I would like to return to Nagaland one day and maybe join the State government in some capacity where I can introduce a few changes and hopefully, they will in turn, pave the way for bigger changes.”