‘You have to work hard & believe in yourself’ :Hokaito Zhimomi

A National Media once described him as a Cricketer “known for his nippy left-arm fast bowling and for his right-handed big hitting prowess…a cricket coach’s ideal model when it comes to athleticism and smart fielding skills.”

Hokaito Zhimomi has come a very long way from where he first began, taking the road less travelled. When most people chose to pursue higher academic degrees, he decided to play cricket. What’s more, he excelled, bringing the map of Nagaland into the field.

By now, he has lost count of the matches he has played in several places across the country, among which, includes the famed Indian Premier League (IPL) for Kolkata Knight Riders during 2005. But that, today he is known as an Indian first-class cricketer, and the only cricketer from Nagaland to play first class cricket did not emerge overnight. For his association with bats, bowling and wickets date back to his childhood, although he started playing professionally only at the age of 16.

In his years of being in the field, he has also brushed shoulders with the like of Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly, played various matches including the finals of the Tiens Cricket Cup from Sparks CC as Captain, West Bengal under 19, Dalhousie Athletic Club, Kolkata, played for West Bengal both in the state and at the national level to name a few.

But why Cricket? And he is quick to reply, “it’s all because of my Mom”. He goes on to recall, “I was never into cricket. When I was a kid, I played both cricket and football seasonally. But my Mom was a Big Time cricket fan. And that’s how I generated the interest” while also adding, “both my parents were very supportive” towards this endeavour.

His love for cricket is evident but it’s also easy to see that it has carried more than a decade of hard work and dedication. Understandably, his most fulfilling moment was when he made his debut as First Class Cricketer a couple of years back. “I’ve really really worked hard to play for First Class. I waited 10 years to get it”, he profoundly shares.

Needless to say, his hard work has paid off. And while many people may still consider sports as an extracurricular activity, he is living proof that it is possible to comfortably earn a living through sports. “There is a lot of money in cricket”, he enlightens and goes on to explain, “if you are playing at the highest level, there is lots of money”. With sports, he further adds, there is a good future.

But he insists every bit that hard work is a dire essential. “You have to really work hard”, he emphasizes. And as far as sports is concerned, he says, “training is a must, and also because, we Nagas hate to play (referring to discipline), if you want to play, work hard, because there is so much competition.” “You have to believe in yourself and whatever you are doing, do it very honestly”, he further adds.

As for the graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, Cricket is his very life. It’s like he breathes cricket, sleeps cricket, talks cricket, dreams cricket, lives cricket, as he himself would confess. But then, it is such love for the game that has brought him this far.

Hokaito Zhimomi currently plays for the Assam Cricket Team in the Ranji Trophy, which is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between teams representing regional cricket associations. The competition, named after England and Sussex cricketer Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji (Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, also known as "Ranji") currently consists of 27 teams, with 21 of the 28 states in India and Delhi (which is an Union Territory), having at least one representation.

Zedino Seyie: Driven to help the needy

At the age of 22, Zedino Seyie is pretty much living her most cherished ambition to help the needy, even as she was driven at such a young age to initiate “Mission Love”, which is about breaking barriers, destroying boundaries, pushing for peace, and spreading compassion.

The charming young lady, who is ambitious and optimistic and also loves to read and write, apart from other occupations that engross her as Founder of ‘Mission Love’, Social Media Specialist & Intern Consultant at ‘The Connect Studio’, Nagaland's first clothing production and manufacturing brand, and Adviser of ‘The Jam Tree’, a newly launched music institute, imparting innovative education preparing musicians for creative and professional careers in contemporary music performance, recording, and related fields.

Currently pursuing her degree at Mount Carmel College Bangalore, she is the eldest of five siblings and grew up in Dimapur, Dibrugarh and Kohima, and studied at Little Flower School Dibrugarh and Kohima, Northfield and Delhi Public School.

About Mission Love

Zedino Seyie: Mission Love is about breaking barriers, destroying boundaries, pushing for peace, and spreading compassion…it is NEVER about protecting the weak and oppressed from the strong and superior, but MOTIVATING and INSPIRING the weak and oppressed to BREAKTHROUGH barriers, boundaries, bondages and limits!

The beginning of the ‘Charity Revolution’

Zedino Seyie: When I think of how it all began, I am always taken back to when I was a kid, running around with the children of the tea-plantation workers in Assam. I remember my brother and I would take our slates (every kid of the 90s had that) and chalk and hand them our rough notebooks to teach them ABC and 123. And when we shifted to Nagaland, my parents would take us along when they visited the Kohima Orphanage and Destitute Home and I found my friends in them but, it wasn't until I held this one little girl in my hands, a four months old, swaddled in a thin blanket, in deep sleep, who had just been brought to the Home...as I held her, drew her close to me, my eyes welled up, every cell of my body agitated and keyed up as to how and why an infant as lovely as her should be left alone in the hands of a stranger and many more little pairs of hands that fight to hold her next. It was then, I knew I had to do something for children who are given away or abandoned by family.

Seeing the hope that interaction brings to the children is what inspired me to start Mission Love. I always say this, "A beggar lives, but with the hope that he will find food tomorrow." When you have hope, you have everything, when hope is lost, all is lost.

The journey so far…

Zedino Seyie: It’s been a pleasant and joyous journey so far. And we have a little something called "The Love Movement" this summer, which is a series of events altogether, open to everybody - young and old, who have the heart to serve and make a difference this summer!!! So I guess that's a good thing to look forward to in the next couple of months.

Any social cause you particularly care for?

Zedino Seyie: I care for the parentless, teenage moms, single moms and those who are trapped in flesh trade. Mission Love is about sharing the heart of the Father to everybody and anybody but mostly to those who are condemned, rejected, oppressed and ignored by the society.

Goals & ambitions:

Zedino Seyie: My childhood ambition was to become a doctor, then a teacher, then a lawyer and the list goes on; but whatever my ambition was, it was to help the needy and create opportunities and avenues, where the young people can benefit from each other while generating more opportunities and paving the way for exponential growth in our state for the rising generations.

Any rewarding moments?

Zedino Seyie: When we celebrated World Orphans' Day last year, many of the teenagers testified that, that was the first time they ever heard somebody tell them they could be somebody, someday - that to me is the most rewarding moment and will ever remain so.

Where do you see yourself five years down the line?

Zedino Seyie: Five years down the line, I want to see me, still working as hard and as passionate for the children, with thousands of genuine hearts that volunteer with me.

‘My crafting life re-energizes my academic life’: Elika Sum

Elika Sumi is a self taught Jewelry designer, who recalls her first attempt to make jewelry as a funny story from picking up a couple of different toothed (shaped) pliers and manipulating wires to make shapes. Eventually, she learned the terminologies of jewelry-making and the techniques on the Internet, and started practicing, sometimes learning the hard way, which included a couple of band-aid covered fingertips.

“I am still learning to work with certain metals”, she confesses, but Jewelry-making is something she learned on her own, which is why she prefers to call it a craft rather than a profession.

For the record, she loves to work with her hands and so, crafting and art is something that drives her. This is apparent when she says, “I often experimented on working with various metals and materials, where sometimes I used to make small trinkets for my friends. I love the idea of scanning through individual materials - be it glass, stone or wooden bead and matching them up with different metals, colorful wires and the head-spin of estimating gauges along the process of creating something beautiful. I do believe that from a young age I liked to craft - so there was knitting, weaving and embroidering but my love for jewelry-making came much later and I must say that it’s something that I enjoy the most.”

Well, she got better at making jewelry with time and practice, and that’s probably also when ‘Crafty Nothings’ happened, although she confesses that the overall project of "Crafty Nothings" began as a photo album on Facebook, with the initial objective to share some of her crafts with friends and followers. However, last December she was encouraged to open a page on Facebook by her friends, to sell and to promote some of her crafts. 

“And so I decided to begin with jewelry - to be honest, since it could also be a little more lucrative. And so the adventure begins for my jewelry line which I call "ArtSanity" - it's just jewelry for now, but I am sure that "Crafty Nothings" is destined for a bit of a stretch eventually”, she puts across.

Just a few months’ old, and the response so far, she says, has been surprisingly positive – “and actually I am saying this with a bit of a bewilderment. I never thought that people would be wearing, rather buying my creations. I feel absolutely thrilled about this - one should not hide beautiful things, they are meant to be admired isn't it?” she enthusiastically adds.

But designing jewelry is not something she does full-time. She is currently writing her PhD thesis, and will be submitting in a few months. It’s only when she has the luxury of ‘free time’ that she indulges in jewelry making. “This is also the reason why my products are rather limited in stock”, she explains.

“Academics is where my passion lies, and research and teaching is my ultimate goal. In fact, if I may be cheeky I will admit that my crafting life re-energizes my academic life, but it is true that creating and making things is very therapeutic for me”, she professes.

The PhD Student in cultural studies at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, who would describe herself as a little bit of a tinkerer with a curious mind, eager to work with her own hands, an artist/artisan, an avid traveler, prone to DIY projects, a farming enthusiast and a colorful cook, feels she could be triggering a couple of minds if she were to say that she does care for many social causes in Nagaland.

However, as a woman herself, her heart goes out for the Naga women. “We may say that with education, and exposure to different cultures, the Naga woman is emancipating and her status is much better than the caste-ridden woman from the mainland. Yet, let’s not forget that the 'personal is political.' And therefore, even if we do consider social realities, or familial canons of Naga society, or even the sheer absence of her presence in seats of governance, she still has a long way to go”, she profoundly shares.

While another aspect of her concern encompasses the horror of educated unemployment in Nagaland. “If I were to deliberate on why I am concerned about this social problem, it would require more than a few lines. We are all aware of the situation, the excess of disorder that exists within our system and society. We are not fools are we? We understand perfectly the blight that hangs on to our harvest, yet we are still three steps behind from removing the bad seeds, the question is why? Only we can answer that vital question”, is  what she has to say.

Still, she believes, “We are generation endowed with a world that is open, a knowledge that is free and a life with boundless horizons”, while encouraging young people further by saying, “So, how privileged are we to be part of a world is constantly innovating, even in terms of ideas and work opportunities. And so, in a constantly shifting world, we often forget to pause and build expertise in our fields. Therefore, I believe that being an expert, or specializing in particular field could be the answer to a lot of our contemporary social problems. Yet, learning is a life-long process and our lives in this age stands testimony to this statement, and so we should never shy away or be too haughty to learn something new.”

And before going any further, she declares, “I'm afraid that my wish for the Naga society is rather lofty!” “A corrupt-free Nagaland would be an utopia”, she speaks her mind, but Elika Sumi’s wishes for Nagaland also includes a way to end/curb corruption in its many avatars, a way to solve the Naga political problem, a way to revive and re-generate the Naga youths and a way to bring prosperity and peace into our land.

It’s easy to connect the dots when she says five years down the line, she sees herself actively pursuing her academic profession, intensely deliberating a word or two for the Nagas, building research foundations for paradigm shifts in studies related to Naga society, culture and politics and last but not the least, often taking refuge in the world of art and crafting to re-energize her pursuits! 

Well, her story would be incomplete without the mention of  her parents, whom, she considers her inspiration- “My Mum is a tower of strength. She taught me to knit, weave, cook, garden and every art that I wanted to learn, she has always encouraged me. My Dad also inspires me, but in a different way. I have learned much about life and faith through him, he is super special to me!”