From Naga villages to Delhi city

By Christina Belho & Deiphibiang Kharkongor

Delhi or Dilli, as fondly called by Delhiites, is in a festive mood; everywhere you turn you hear loud and soft music and people move up and down busy in their own life. Amidst all this, taking a stroll in the streets of Central Park and different metro stations you will see young ladies who are not different from any other ordinary teenagers, the only difference being that they wear a uniform with short crop hair.

These ladies move up and down the streets with heavy responsibilities on their shoulder and they are none other than the all- women battalion of the Nagaland police who are deployed in Delhi with guns in their hands to guard the city during the Commonwealth Games.

These young and fearless ladies, fresh from their training, are ready to take on a risky task in a completely new avatar. They come from the interiors of Nagaland belonging to different tribes. They belong to the 15 NAP IR Mahila Battalion from Nagaland comprising 662 cops and staff, divided into six companies.

They are of the 18-25 age group and some have just finished their matriculation while a few have completed their graduation. Sazhule said, “After my graduation, I was searching for a job and saw an ad in the newspaper, so I applied and got selected”. They were trained for three months and got their first posting in the national Capital.

These Naga policewomen came to Delhi on September 15 and are deployed, especially for the games from September 21 to October 15. They are located in different areas like metro stations, parks, roadsides and Games venues and have different duties.

When one look at them, their jobs seems easy. However, they have a different story to tell. They have to do a shift duty for nine hours from 12 noon to 9 pm with one day off. Mosang Konyak said, “We work for nine hours from 12 to 9 pm.” When asked about the food, she said “we have our breakfast in the morning and dinner after our duties are over.”

Though they appear shy, they are confident enough to handle weapons like AK 47, 303 riffles, 7.62 SLRs, 9 mm pistols and other rifles. When asked whether the rifles are heavy for them, Abei, an 18- year-old said, “At first they are but with training we got used to it. We are confident that we can fight with the weapons.”

On questioning them about the language barrier since most of them do not speak Hindi, this is what they have to say: “The other police personnel are friendly but sometimes we do face language problem since we don’t know Hindi so we cannot communicate with them well,” quipped 24 year- old Sazhule who is from Mima village of Kohima District.

For most of them this is their first time to a metropolitan city and they love it. “We are very happy to get this opportunity to come and serve the country since we have pledged ourselves to serve the country,” said Abei. Though they cannot explore the city even in their off days but hope that they will come again next time if they get a chance. “Since I am on duty now, I cannot explore the city but will surely come back if I get the chance,” said Mosang Konyak of Mon village, Tuesang district, with a beaming smile on her face.

Talking to some senior citizens, tourists and volunteers about their opinion on the security measures that Delhi have taken since India is a targeted area for attacks most of them echoed the same view.

Norman Hodges and Sally Rees, parents of Maggs Rees, a hockey player from Wales, currently participating in the games said, “The security is tight and we are being frisked many times but this is being done even in London. So we don’t mind that. We love India.”