An Allegory of Love and Hope: A Review of Son of the Thundercloud

Author: Easterine Kire
Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books
Month/Year of publication: December, 2016
Pages: 149
Price: 350/-

The latest novella from Easterine Kire titled Son of the Thundercloud is a fascinating read right from the start. I read it just before Christmas, and I could immediately see it as an allegory of the biblical story. Coming up fresh from winning the Hindu Prize 2015 for When the River Sleeps there is certain anticipation from the readers. And Easterine didn't fail to awe them! There is an interesting thematic connection between the two fictions as they both are closely sourced from the time tested legends that continue to wield its influence in the present imagination of the Naga world.

The plot of the novel is a straight forward narrative of a man, Pele, who left his village after severe famine took his wife and children away. He became a traveller to the unknown, partly to escape the distraught of the pain and loss, partly to escape death, but not sure if he would survive the journey. His path led him to a drought affected “abandoned village” where he met two sisters who were several hundred years old and had been living on “hope”. They told him of their wait for a prophesy, the birth of the Son of the Thundercloud, which would regenerate the land to its fruitfulness once again. While there with the ancient sisters the rains came extraordinarily. Shortly, he travels with them to the Village of the Weavers, where the third sister, known to others as the tiger-widow for her husband and seven sons were killed by the tiger, has been impregnated by a “single drop of rain” that fell from the thundercloud. Pele continues to stay on as the guardian of Rhalie, the Son of the Thundercloud. True to the prophesy Rhalie kills the tiger, but also dies in the hand of his friend who became envious of him.

It is interesting to discover how Easterine seamlessly weaves the biblical narrative of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ with a Naga creation story. Any Naga reader would be able to decipher that the birth of the Son of the Thundercloud is closely drawn from the oral story of the primal woman who was overcome by a cloud and gave birth to the proverbial three brothers. As a myth it is told with latent meaning to explain how things came into being and its relevance in understanding of the world around us. And in the Naga cosmology even today there is a close proximity between the worlds of the animal, spirit and man. In fact, they continue to interface, though not in a friendly way as it used to be. Things have become more violent. This is where Son of the Thundercloud has a lesson for us.

Metaphorically, the story of Pele is the story of mankind in search of a meaning in life. The two sisters of several hundred years old in the famine struck village of seven hundred years stood for mankind's wait for a saviour to reverse the tragedy. The prophesy has it that “... the great hope of the ancestors who used to say that our ancient misfortune will end when the Son of the Thundercloud is born. Everything will be transformed then” (p. 19). Their watch over the stars every night for the sign of the promised birth reminds us of the Magi who followed the stars to pay homage to baby Jesus. The birth of the Son of the Thundercloud was shrouded in suspicion and distrust from the people of the village, much like the people during Jesus' time was steeped in disbelief. The birth of Rhalie restored the land to prosperity but the people refused to believe the signs. On the contrary, his own friend Viphrü grew jealous especially after he killed the tiger.

Interestingly, the tiger is “no ordinary being”, it is spirit tiger that cannot be killed with “worldly weapon”. The “well-tempered spear” that the two sisters kept for Rhalie was the only potential weapon to kill the tiger. By its sheer power to incite fear the tiger has influenced people to make sacrifices to it. In essence, the tiger is the embodiment of the evil that has dominated the imagination of the people. This again, echoes how the Bible warns that the battle against the devil is a spiritual warfare which has to be principally fought in the spiritual realms. Rhalie was able to kill the tiger because he has no “pride” and his “heart was pure”. Just as his name mean “the redeemer”, his killing of the predator brought relief to the people. His mother, Mesanuo exclaimed, “what joy you have brought to all of us!” But men loved darkness instead.

The arrival of Son of the Thundercloud is quite timely. Christmas is the time of celebrating love, peace, hope and joy. It is a reminder of how God loved the world dearly that He sent His only Son to redeem it. Easterine's story reveals the shortcomings in human beings and their inability to change the reality. Only a divine intervention can reverse the tragedy. And while that message is being powerfully told, the novella is also beautifully woven together with many endearing wisdoms of cultural specificities. The generational transmission of knowledge is shown time and again in the older ones' conscious teaching of the young Rhalie. The people's need to preserve and protect God given natural resources for a sustainable future are asserted through the various conversations. And one of the most enduring picture is the 'hope' of meeting the departed loved ones in the afterlife.

First published in Eastern Mirror, December 27, 2016
http://www.easternmirrornagaland.com/an-allegory-of-love-and-hope-a-review-of-son-of-the-thundercloud/

The Innocence of a Child

In one of the most profound moments recorded in the Bible, Jesus took the example of children to teach his followers by saying, “I tell you the truth unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom” (Matt 18: 3-4 NIV). In another instance too he invited the little children and blessed them: “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt 19: 14 NIV). Though Jesus made it very explicit that the likeness of a child is a quality that we must cultivate I have often wondered what must be in a child that made Jesus really wanted us to become like one of them. Until some incidents in my life made me understand…

Once while I was traveling in the Delhi metro train I was caught by an innocent act of a child. As I got out of the train and walked into the escalator a tiny hand grabbed one of my fingers. The kid was holding his mother’s hand on the other but needed another hand to hold less he falls off. My hand happened to be the nearest support he could reach out to. So natural was the child’s action that he didn’t bother to look up at me to see who I was! All those time even the mother didn’t notice what was going on. While I was still amazed at what had just happened, the kid walked out of the escalator with his mother letting go of my finger without even a glance at me! That moment stayed with me till today. What struck me was the sense of universality in the mind of the child. The child didn’t know me. By sheer chance I happened to stepped in to give him the support he needed there and then. To the child the incident would not have meant anything new, but I learned something extraordinary. It was one moment that reminded me of the simplicity in children which Jesus talked about.

When my daughter was born in November of 2010, she instantly became the center of attraction and the topic of all talks. Everything seems to revolve round her! It was such a joy to behold her then as it is now also. And back then, I have to admit, the little fragile being commanded all my attentions like some kind of a magnetic force! As I cuddled her and look closely at her she would utter some unintelligible noises as if talking to me. But I knew she’s too young to even know who I was at that stage. I was just anybody to her. Yet I loved her for that too! She’d go to everyone or smile at anyone. She’d even smile while sleeping! Sometimes I fear to think that someday even my child would grow to understand the world we live in and comprehend the complexities around her. And that the innocence in her would go.

It is a pity that we have to lose so many qualities of a child as we grow up. From the simple innocence to humbly ‘forgive and forget’ attitude of the child, we somehow have laid them in the past as if they belong only to childhood! Sometimes as we progress in life we are stuffed with foreign things that we forget to nurture what was instilled in us originally. Yet, Jesus wants us to become the children we used to be. Ravi Zacharias, in his book Recapture the Wonder (2003), laments the lost of childhood innocence like this, “The tragedy of growing up is not that we lose childishness in its simplicity but that we lose childlikeness in its sublimity”. We do not like to see an adult being childish for its connotation with the negative values, but we love the childlike ease in a person for it brings out the innocence of the person. Much of what the world has to offer us will distance us from the true values that God has bestowed on us. Yet, what we’ve accumulated for ourselves may not give us the chance to see eternal life in heaven. Therefore, I think it is good to be reminded that unless we change and become like children we cannot hope to see the glory of God. This, in other words, require a lot of unlearning of the worldly things, which is by no means an easy task! If we want to see perfection, or something close to it, perhaps we should seek the company of children and understand the universality of their language.