Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Chp 141. No longer a Mizohican

Am back!!! Woohoo!

One month sabbatical from the internet really does feel like a lifetime! Especially when studying in-depth on subjects like sociology and geography, new blog topics just kept springing up in my head! And my mind would wander off for a few seconds resulting in my concentration momentum being completely disrupted over and over again.

Screwed up my exams of course, but then, an engineer like me with a brief stint on MBA writing optional papers on Sociology and Geography is a bit something like a cat trying to learn how to bark, or my friend Amos deciding not to have any new girlfriends until next year…

I had a great time spending the past one month at home with my folks. Away from the internet, away from the computer, away from the television, away from the i-Pod, away from the mobile phone (to a certain extent), and away from the habit of reading the English tabloids every morning. Appreciating the simpler way of life really does channelize a man on an involuntary journey of self-discovery.

One sure sign of knowing nobody touched my computer while I was in Delhi all these time…

Hehe. Last login: 20th April, the eve of my birthday, the night I left for Delhi.

Perhaps the most significant thing I did during this “vacation” at Mizoram was a change in hairstyle.

Its funny how sometimes we want to remain young forever and do something to look or feel young, even if we eventually end up looking stupid in the process. People close to me have long criticized my hairstyle, saying I’ve lived way past the age of spikey hair era. Even though there are quite a number of oldies who still look good with spikey hairstyle, my situation is an unfortunate case of excessive receding hairline. Yeah I’m bald (or “follicularly-challenged” for the politically-correct). And that doesn’t go well with spikes, no sir.

Changed my hairstyle at “Mapuii Samsiamna”, one of the more illustrious and esteemed hair parlors in Aizawl. Got this new look that made me look like a complete nerd. Mom called it the “matured” look and dad named it the “responsible” look. I prefer the “awkwardly dweeby and momma’s boy” hairstyle.


Yeah, that is me with my friends, taken during my recent visit.

I miss my old hairstyle. Many of my friends have asked me why my blog is called “Mizohican”. Most of them remarked that it is a very strange and unique name.

Some people did get it right though, that it was a combination of Mizo (the name of my tribe) and the Mohicans (Mahican Native American tribe). Hence Mizohican. But I did not just come up with that name out of sudden fancy. I’ve always been fascinated by the Native American culture, especially after watching “The Last of The Mohicans” in High school. Hence I always used to read a lot about them and even fantasized about being a red-Indian brave galloping on a mighty white horse with a tomahawk in hand and making that high pitch war cry while answering to a distress smoke signal.

Me and my friends even used to imitate the “peacepipe” part of the native American culture during our college days with our own modification of course, but then, that’s another story to tell

I found out that the Mohawks and the Mohicans (Mahicans) aren’t the same people. They both belonged to a completely different set of tribes, and the Mohawks are also known by another popular name, the Iroquois (French). Those who play AOE III would know. The Mahicans on the other hand fought on the side of the white settlers during the Indian Wars and also sided with the colonists during the American Revolution.

However when it comes to hairstyle, “Mohawk” is a term used by the Americans, and “Mohican” is used by the British. They are both the same style, and they are a big hit among the “Punk” rebel culture of the modern world.

I decided to go for a Mohawk hairstyle around 2003 when I was in Hyderabad celebrating my Engineering College graduation, especially after reading about the bravery and military genius of the Sioux tribe, the Cheyennes, the Cherokees, the Apaches, the Navajo, the Crees etc, and heroes such as Sitting Bull, Little Coyote, Crazy Horse, Gall, Morning Star etc.

Below is me in 2003, the birth of the Mizohican!



I know this particular blog topic is very trivial, and as mentioned in the beginning, it’s just a post about stepping into the blogosphere again. This is just a warm-up to all the up-coming posts and pictures I hope will entertain you in the coming days.

On a parting shot, since we are discussing about tribal hairstyles, if you wanna know what kind of hairstyle our tribal Mizo ancestors had during their early days, take a look below at a picture of me and my roomies here in Delhi



Hehehe. Until then, cheers! Got lots to do in the upcoming days catching up on the blogosphere! My bloglines feed kinda gave me a heart attack when I checked it this morning.



That’s a lot of catching up!