A disappearing if not neglected site, abounded with history and legends in the bygone era of yore, lie just a stone thrown from NH 44. One of the most collapsed monoliths is lying on the ground shown in the picture. The locale where the ruins are located on a hillock is now also called, by the local villagers as Loomdaija, besides its ancient name ‘Yawdaija’ in Mookyndur Village, West Jaintia Hills (i.e. the market where boiled rice was sold). The site of the ruins, had it been restored is worth visiting especially for academicians or researchers and also can become a tourist destination.

Ever heard of an Urdu poet from the Northeast? Presenting Rohan Gogoi – the ‘Chasing Maya’ famed English novelist, who has now debuted as an Urdu poet with the launch of his maiden Hindi-Urdu poetry collection, “Rahgeer-e-Rehguzar”. The multi-lingual Corporate Communicator, who debuted as a published author in 2012, has penned over 100 Hindi-Urdu poems and lyrics so far. Remarkably, his works have been endorsed by none other than the superstar Bollywood lyricist, Sameer Anjaan.

The Bharatiya Janata Party Government of Arunachal Pradesh celebrated the completion of its one year in the state at Namsai on 23rd January in a grand way. Namsai was fully decked up for the celebration, witnessing the presence of all the BJP legislators in the state. The government led by Pema Khandu turned saffron in January 2017 and no major hitches were observed in the last one year. Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, who is also one of the three legislators of Namsai district, made all-out efforts to host the event along with the other two, Chow Tewa Mein and Chow Zingnu Namchoom.

Scrub Typhus which is also known as ‘Bush Typhus’ is a disease caused by bacteria called ‘Orientia tsutsugamushi’. Scrub typhus is spread to people through bites of infected ‘chiggers’ (larval mites). They are mostly found in areas of heavy scrub vegetation. Its origin can be traced back in the 1930’s in Japan and spread out to the far-eastern Russia and to the territories around the Solomon Sea into Northern Australia in the south and to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Orientia Tsutsugamushi is derived from Japanese word ‘tsutsuga’ which means illness and ‘mushi’ which means insect and in common language it can be described as ‘Insect Illness’.

The recent outbreak of Scrub typhus was witnessed in ‘Phullen village’ in Aizwal district which has been reported to infect around 47 people while killing one. Phullen village is 125 kilometres away from the district headquarters Aizwal which is the State capital of Mizoram. The first case of Scrub typhus virus in the State was detected last year in the month of November 2017 and the recent case was identified on January 2018. Apart from ‘Phullen Village’, it is noted that cases of scrub typhus infection have been detected in Chaphai, Aizwal and Lunglei districts also.