A radio transcript on Jomin Tayeng

An autobiographical radio
transcript from the first epi
sode of the programme on Jomin Tayeng. It was recorded and produced by Transmission Executive, Iddong Pertin under the North East Special Package Programme 2007 – 2008. The 1st episode of the programme was broadcast from AIR, Itanagar on Feb 22, 2008.
“ My name is Jomin Tayeng. I was born at Dambuk – a Adi Village in the then Lohit District of Arunachal Pradesh. Dambuk is considered as one of the biggest villages in the entire Arunachal Pradesh and before earthquake of 1950, the village had three groups – Lupong which consisted of four villages, Ebung consisted of three villages like Budum, Busham and Bungkong. Tapat consisted of three villages – Patku, Patbuk and Patsam. In all, there were eighteen villages and it was a prosperous village. The exact date when I was born is not known because my father was not educated, he did not keep any records. My father was late Bapang Tayeng and my mother was late Oshor Lego. We had two sisters and three brothers. I am the youngest of the sons and I have another brother from the second mother, who is senior to me whose name is Makpel Tayeng. My parents and my elder brothers died very early. I don’t know the exact date but in between 1940 to 1945 my parents died and one of the elder brother also died. The eldest brother who took care of me lived upto 1950. During the great earthquake and devastation thereafter there was an epidemic at Dambuk and my eldest brother died in that epidemic. Therefore, I was left nobody to care for.
My childhood has been a painful one because after my brother‘s death and even before his death my aunty did not like us and ill treated us. Sometimes when elder brother was not at home I was not given food and beaten up. It was my neighbours who took pity on me and many a time I had to take shelter with them. During off hours I used to go to the area which is the old course of Pangkom river and collected tubers and boiled them in the fire and sustain myself. Fortunately my uncle came from Bolung and took me to Bolung in end of 1950. I was at Bolung for six months but the conditions there did not improve my position. My foster mother, my uncle‘s wife did not like me being with them, so I was tortured time and again.
At Dambuk, sometime in 1946, one Dukyon Lego started a missionary school. I got myself admitted there in 1947 and the first school in Dambuk was knwon as Pangkom school, it was located on the bank of Pangkom river which separated Ebung village from Tapat. After the independence, the Education Officer from NEFA late Smt Indira Miri, visited Dambuk and the only missionary school at Pangkom was taken over as a government school finding that hundred of childrens who could be enrolled at school were available but did not have adequate schooling facilities. The education department started two more schools, the one at Lupong, the other at Tapat.
In 1948 the government started construction of ten bedded hospital on the bank of Sine river. The hospital was formally inaugurated by Governor of Assam Shri Sriprakash in 1949. We were all very happy to see a jeep which was pulled up from the Nizamghat came rolling upto Dambuk in which the Governor arrived. It was also our first experience to hear somebody speak in a language which is unknown to us. The Governor spoke in Hindi to the people of Dambuk and the Hindi sounds – sound very peculiar to our ear. There was one UDC from Political Officer‘s office in Sadiya who belonged to the Miri community who accompanied the Governor‘s team. He was brought as an interpreter. His name was Dibakar Morang.
After the earthquake, the hospital has been damage. The village communication has been totally dislocated The hills were greatly disturbed and destroyed. The fields were destroyed and Dambuk was rendered totally uncommunicable and the development activities that took place were also shattered. Yet the people of Dambuk continued to shift to a place called Poblung from Lupong and Ebung and settled there and a new village was started. Large number of people from Dambuk also crossed dibang river and started settling at Jia, Bolung, Parbuk and Kangkong.

At Bolung, as I said, I had horried time and my old teacher late Dukyon Lego who was then teaching at Bolung pitied on me and he took me to Sadiya and admitted me into the orphan school attach to the education officer‘s office for training of teachers. The teacher who were recruited were trained for a year and our school was known as Demonstration school. In the Demonstration school, we were taught by the trainee teachers and only after they gain an experience they were sent to interiors of Arunachal Pradesh to teach independently. Bolung at that time was located on the bank of Dibang and there was a motorable road from Nizamghat, which was the assistant political officer‘s headquarter nearest to Dambuk across Dibang river. From there to Sadiya it used to be 40 km a jeepable road, all along the road a number of Adi villages including Bolung, Khiriim, Jerat were located and they were prosperous villages those time.
At Sadiya in the Demonstration School, we were taken care of by the teachers. When the morning comes, we were taken out in the field, we did physical exercise then go back to room to study. Each room had four students and a teacher and the teacher took great care of all the students. Towards the middle of 1952 there was a huge flood. The waters of Dibang river which were blocked for some year upstream broke the mountain barrier and came down. When it came down, it also took Tapi, Getor and Gourmara rivers with it and hit Sadiya directly, a prosperous beautiful town in which the roads were lined up with different trees. In some sector both side of the roads were planted with flower trees and when they bloom it presented a very beautiful picture. In some areas, eatable fruits like guava and jack fruit were planted. Towards the approach to the hospital and to the Deputy Commissioner’s house and Baptist Mission headquarter, Nahar Plants on both sides and pine trees in some places on both side of the roads were planted. Sadiya was the biggest trading centre at that time, headquarter of the political officer, who look after present Lohit and Anjaw distict, two Dibang Valley and Three Siang District. It had lots of history and our people in the first part of 1950 had lots of opportunities for getting education at Sadiya, primarily at the Mission School. Infact, the first Matriculate from amongst the Adis late Sri Daying Ering also studied and matriculated from Sadiya – a government school.
When the headquarters of Sadiya were washed away overnight by the flood waters of Dibang river, we lost the town forever and shifted north east wise towards Goushala. But that also did not last too long. Ultimately, the headquarter of the Political Officer had to be shifted to Tezu and the Education Department‘s headquarter was shifted to Margherita. As such from 1951 to 1952 we remained in Sadiya and in 1953 we shifted to Margherita. I studied at Margherita till 1956 and appeared in the ME final examination. That time ME final meant final examination of class VI which was conducted by the Assam Board of School Education. The education colony which was developed for accommodation has now been converted into TB hospital at Margherita.
From Margherita, after passing class VI I went to Pasighat. In April, 1956, I joined Pasighat Government High School and after a year I also function as monitor of the old hostel. Pasighat was the only matriculation centre at that time for the entire present Arunachal Pradesh. All the matric candidates from different schools used to come to Pasighat for the final examination. I was very lucky that I got a very good academic atmosphere at Pasighat. The teachers were very kind to us. They took personal care of almost every student. Infact, we had great respect for our teachers. Their dedication towards the people of NEFA, their commitments for educational development of children of NEFA was unparallel because inspite of all the difficulties they faced, they served us very well dedicatedly and as a result I feel and I attribute my success in life to the dedicated teachers who gave their best to me.
In 1960, we were ten students in matriculation who were appearing for Matric Final Examination and all of us passed in the matriculation examination. It was record for the Pasighat High School because at no time hundred percent result was achieved. Alongwith me, Sri Pratik Potom, who retired as Director School Education, Sri Morge Ete, who retired as Labour Commissioner and also served as member Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission, Sri Yommut Perme, who retired as Secretary to the Government, Sri Aduk Tayeng, who retired as Director of Research, Sri Katon Borang, who prematurely retired as Deputy Commissioner, Late Sri Tinggolong Borang, who unfortunately expired before he became a Deputy Commissioner and Mrs. Omem Moyong Deori, who served as President Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee. I secured first division in Matriculation. Four of our friends secured second division and remaining five secured third division. Infact, I became the first Arunachalee candidate to secure a first division and I scored the highest mark in Assamese subject from amongst the Arunachal students. And the Assam Sahitya Sabha, the Literary Organisation of Assam was kind enough to give books worth one thousand as a reward for securing highest mark in Assamese.
Our life at Pasighat was very colourful. We not only studied but we conducted students tour to different villages to encourage our people living in the villages to go for school education, clean life and to keep the villages as a clean environment. Social service was our regular routine. Every year we used to adopt two – three villages for this purpose. We also excel in other activities. Infact, one of the Political Officer Major Johri was very enthusiastic by looking at us. Every afternoon during dry weather, he would come down to the hostel and call us out for various games. Hockey was introduced at Pasighat for the first time. Then cricket was also introduced. Apart from that the Political Officer himself played football with us.
Pasighat was one of the oldest township in the entire Arunachal Pradesh. Infact, when we studied at Pasighat we had been told that Pasighat was the only centre where we had a primary school in 1947. The Missionary school at Dambuk was converted into Government School and therefore it became the Second Government Primary School in 1948.
From Pasighat I went to Shillong and got myself admitted into St Edmunds College in Intermediate Science. Infact, I was one of the last students in the Intermediate Science class because in 1961, the Intermediate Science or Arts classes were converted into Pre-University classes.
After two years of studying Intermediate Science, I appeared in the final examination and secured first division. The Adviser to the Governor, Col. PN Luthra was so happy because I was the first student from NEFA to secure a first division either in the Intermediate Science or Arts. And therefore, he awarded a merit scholarship of twenty five rupees in addition to the normal stipend.
I was allotted a medical seat in the Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh. Infact, I went to Dibrugarh for medical studies. But I did not like the atmosphere. My senior in the room had a full time skeleton in one corner and a skull of a human being on the side table. This disturbed me during sleep. So, I requested the principal of Assam Medical College, Dr Mathura Bhattacharjee to permit me to back to Shillong for few days. He was kind enough to allow me to go back to Shillong and I never returned to Dibrugarh. I continued my studies, I got myself admitted into BA with English honours and thus I continued my studies at Shillong. In the meantime, the Adviser had changed. Mr NK Rustomji became Adviser and he became our local guardian. He was very insistent that I go back to Medical studies. But when I explain my difficulties, he asked what I proposed to do. I told him that first I will study the Law and after completing Law, I will try for the Indian Administrative Service. Then he jumped. He was very happy that somebody was planning to sit for the Indian Administrative Service Examination. He, time and again asked me whether I meant it seriously. I told him yes I meant it seriously. Every two – three months, he would come to the NEFA hostel where we were accommodated and look after whether we were studying or not.
Fortunately, for me, I passed BA with English Honours and till then nobody from NEFA had taken Honours in any subject. So, I was the first Honours Graduate from NEFA. And then I wanted to study Law. But the Directorate of Education wanted me to study MA. When I refused to admit myself in MA and took admission in LLB in Law Faculty of Delhi University, they refused to give me stipend. Their argument was that I had disobeyed them. When I pressurised them, they agreed to pay me stipends which was admissible to the undergraduate students. That time BA students were monthly paid rupees eighty and MA students were paid monthly ninety rupees. So, i insisted that I should be paid rupees ninety. But they said LLB is not a Master‘s degree. My argument was, it was a post graduate degree may not be Master‘s degree, therefore nobody could study LLB before completing BA. This argument went on and ultimately I took the assistance of the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. I told him my plight and I want money to continue my studies. He was kind enough to sanction two thousand rupees from the Prime Minister‘s Discretionary Grant. With that I pulled on for six months but that was not enough. So one day, I approached late Gulzarilal Nanda, the Union Home Minister, mainly because NEFA that time came under the control of the Home Ministry. I submitted a petition. The Union Home Minister was a great man, a great soul. He was almost a saint. The Home Minister of a country had given me a long time to explain my difficulties and immediately he told his Principal Secretary to ring up the Governor of Assam, that time Mr Vishnu Sahay and tell him that my stipend at the rate of rupees one hundred fifty per month for nine months should be delivered to me at Jubilee Hall of Delhi University. Lo and behold ! in about ten days time, an assistant from Education Directorate came personally and delivered my nine months stipend alongwith rupees four hundred fifty of book grant. Therefore, I was very grateful to the Union Home Minister for all these assistance and that is how I could complete my study of Law. I passed LLB in August 1967 and sat for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) examination conducted by the Union public Service Commission in October 1967. Luckily for me, I got selected into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and joined the National Academy of Administration at Mussorie in July 1968.” (to be concluded)