The Other Indians: A Perspective

What makes an Indian….. an Indian? Is it the skin colour – chocolate to light brown, or the love for spicy, masala laced food, is it the language - Sanskrit based or Dravidian, is it the nose – sharp & pointed, is it the attire – dhoti, sari, salwar kameez? If the above describes your typical Indian, what about the rest of us who don’t fit into that description? There are millions of Indians in the North East and Ladakh who are snub nosed, yellow skinned, who love eating light boiled fare and who speak languages not even related with Sanskrit or any of the Dravidian languages.

Yet you will find these Indians everywhere – in the armed forces, on the border, defending the country from its enemies; in your favourite restaurant – cooking and serving your food; in your apartment building – helping to protect your home and loved ones; in corporate offices; in call centres; in banks; in schools and colleges. Because they are so different from the typical Indian, they find it much more difficult to assimilate or as the saying goes, ‘to melt into the crowd’ unlike say, a Tamil in Delhi or a Bengali in Bangalore. Since their homelands are impoverished and do not provide ample opportunities for education, jobs or a decent life even, thousands of people from the NE have, over the years, been migrating to other states. There, many of them find jobs, get admission in good schools, colleges and universities and get to live a decent secure life. However, there’s a price that they continually pay for this privilege of living among their countrymen from the mainland and that is to be ridiculed, insulted, made fun of and generally to be made conscious of their ‘differentness’. Sometimes they are not even acknowledged as Indians but as Nepalis, Chinese, Korean, Thai … etc.  

Our country is fast on its way to becoming one among the developed countries of the world. Often, we read and hear about the enviable growth rate, the booming economy, the latest military acquisitions by the armed forces, etc. But the question is – can India really call itself developed and advanced when a large number of its racial minorities are made to feel lesser by their own countrymen.

My Brother: The flawed rebel

We were two sides of the same coin, attached yet radically different from one another. As a matter of fact, we had different tastes in almost everything, be it music, books or even clothes. We even looked very different. I idolised him though. I remember, as a child I used to have an inexplicable fear of him. Since there was a gap of 6 years between us, I was always in awe of him.

While I am essentially a conformist, he was the quintessential rebel. By the time he reached his mid teens, he had long hair and was into heavy metal. I was just a little boy then. Along with some of his friends, he even started a rock band called Hell’s Angels, presumably one of the first such in Manipur. This was in the late 1980s. I remember the constant arguments between him and my parents who, naturally, were not pleased with his lifestyle – his hair, his music, his friends, his leather jacket et al. Before all these happened, before he decided to rage against the system, my brother was apparently a very good student who would bring home good grades.

Then, as events unfolded, he got kicked out of school because he refused to cut his hair. My parents used their hard earned money to send him to Shillong where I was also studying. However, he still refused either to cut his hair or to sever his relations with his friends/ band. As a matter of fact, his band followed him to Shillong where they even gave a performance at the State Central Library (perhaps the first concert tour by a rock band from Manipur outside the state). This was in the year 1987. His all time favourite band was Iron Maiden. In fact, his stage name was Eddie, the monstrous mascot of Iron Maiden (he told this to me years later).

My parents, however, never gave up on him. Using every possible tactic, they managed to make him complete his 10+2. I think, by this time, he had also started realising the error of his ways. But his lifestyle had already taken a toll on him as he was to realise a few years later. After his 12^th, he got nominated for an engineering course at the Regional Engineering College in Patna, Bihar.  

 

It was 1996, I was in my B.A second year at Ramjas College, Delhi University. My brother had completed his B.E. I was staying with some of my friends at Mukherjee Nagar near the North Campus. In the month of October that year, he suddenly turned up in Delhi and told me that he wished to spend some time with me. I knew he had not been feeling well lately but I still had no inkling about why he would come all the way from Imphal to ‘spend time with me’.  Anyways he spent one month with me. As it turned out, it was to be the last time I was ever to see him.

I still think about that month even today. I am happy that we could spend that time together. We were able to do many of those things that we never could do before together. We went shopping, watched movies and even drank together…. He told me so many things that he never did before. He told me about his life and took a keen interest in mine. Once or twice, we spent the whole night chatting away and only went to bed after sunrise. I will always treasure that month that he gave to me.

The absolute last time that I saw him was at the New Delhi Railway Station. I dropped him till his berth. He gave me a hug and that was it. I came back to my place little knowing that I was never going to see him again.

He passed away on 17^th April 1997, exactly 16 years ago. It was in the middle of my Second Year Exams. His death changed everything. It shattered my parents and me.

Even after death, he still has a hold on me. He left me a note in his diary, telling me to take care of our parents and never to let them down. I have tried to do so. I hope, wherever he is, he’ll be satisfied. But I can’t help wondering how things might have turned out if he were still here.

Those moving pictures' promise

My love affair with TV and cinema began at a very young age. Those days... there were no DVDs or CDs. Heck, we didn't have a TV even. I remember my dad bringing home our first TV. I was in Class 1 or 2 then and it was just before the 1984 Olympics.
There were many cinema halls in Imphal then. There was Imphal Talkies, Pratap Talkies, Usha, Victory and Friends Talkies in Paona Bazar; there was Shankar Talkies in Lamphel and Asha and Jina Halls at Awang BOC. This was years before Hindi Cinema was banned and all of these cinema halls would play the latest hindi releases. I remember watching films like Akhri Raasta which had Amitabh Bachhan in a double role and Ek Dujhe Ke Liye which has Kamal Haasan and Rati Agnihotri with the entire family. Once in a while, the whole family, which included aunts, uncles and cousins would  take a trip together to one of these cinema halls to watch a movie. We were living in a joint family then with edhou and abok and there were quite a few of us living under the same roof. In the absence of TV and computers, we were all crazy about movies, particularly Hindi movies. Stars like Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit etc were houldhold names. Prem Chopra, Pran and Amrish Puri were names that evoked fear among young and old alike. Of course, now and then, my parents or my brother would take me to see an English movie. I saw many of the Bruce Lee flicks like Fist of Fury and Game of Death and also the Superman movies with my brother.

Look East ...

People from the North East, particularly those with mongoloid features, have always suffered discrimination from those in the so called mainland. And if you look at the reports coming in, it's evident that it's a countrywide phenomenon and not just confined to Delhi or the North.
Of course, it would be wrong to paint everyone with the same brush. Not everyone in the mainland exhibits the same discriminatory attitude towards people from the NE. Having said that, I think we need to know the reasons why so many of us with mongoloid features from the NE go through these harrowing experiences.
I think it all has to do with the mindset of these people. Their attitude stems mostly from ignorance and their inability, reluctance or even unwillingness to treat us as fellow countrymen. The govt. is also hugely responsible for not doing anything concrete to change this mindset. A lot of Indians, even semi-educated ones don't know much about the NE or the people living here. They don''t know anything about the history of the NE, the diverse communities settled here or their rich cultures and traditions. One of the main reasons why this is so is because nothing is taught to these people about the NE either in school or college.
If you pick up any history, geography or even language textbook prescribed by NCERT, which is the main body responsible for framing the curriculum in schools in India, you will hardly find any mention of the NE and the people settled here.
This has also given rise to some pretty ironic situations. For instance, the students reading in CBSE affiliated schools located here in the NE do not learn anything about their own region whereas they are taught the history of the Rajput kingdoms or the Maratha Peshwas or Tipu Sultan or Razia Sultan. They know all about the exploits of Shivaji and Bhagat Singh and Prithviraj Chauhan but they know nothing or next to nothing about the heroes from their own region. Most students have never heard of Lachit Borphukan who defeated the mighty Mughal Army and prevented the NE from becoming a part of the Mughal Empire. They know nothing about Bir Tikendrajit or Kiang Nangbah and dozens of others who defied the mighty British and were punished with death for this defiance.
The disconnect that exists between the NE and the rest of the country is also not helped by the fact that most of us who go outside the region tend to construct ghettos of our own when we reach there. We stick to ourselves and usually don't reach out to others just as they don't reach out to us. This particular problem is compounded by the fact that we look different, we eat different, we dress different, we speak different. What I am trying to say here is simply that I think we also should make an effort to assimilate with the locals there. I mean, don't those mainlainders who come to our region to work and settle - don't they learn our languages and eat our foods... I think those of them who do fit in just fine.
The token measures taken up by the govt. whenever any crisis comes up - when a Richard Loitam is killed or when a Dana Sangma commits suicide apparently because of racial discrimination will not be enough to solve the problem, I feel. It is just too deep rooted. There's a need for much more wide ranging and drastic steps. For starters, the NCERT and other curriculum framing bodies can start including NE centric topics in the syllabi. This will make those children in places like Meerut or Bhatinda or Nasik know about us and our history/ culture and what we look like just as we know about them. The mainstream media can also do its bit by giving more coverage to NE related issues. On our part, we also need to start taking a more inclusive attitude towards them.

 

Am I a maverick

I inherited my love for Western novels from my father who is a huge fan of Louis L'Amour. My dad has a very good collection of novels written by Louis L'Amour and other Western writers like Oliver Strange, Max Brand , Zane Grey and the like. But it was those by Louis L'Amour that he loves the most.
As I was growing up, I would see him absorbed in these books and I would wonder what it was that was so interesting about them. I think I read my first Louis L'Amour when I was in Class XI or XII. Like a child who had just learnt to ride a bicycle and just couldn't have enough of it, after finishing the first one, I picked up another one and then another until I completed reading all the books in the collection.
What attracts me and other fans of the Western novel to Louis L'Amour is not the intricacies of the plots or the techniques employed. Louis L'Amour tells his stories from the heart. If you read his biography, you will realise that he himself led a very eventful and colourful life - dropping out of school, sailing around the world, doing odd jobs and writing his stories all the while.
His stories are about love, family bonding and enjoying the simple pleasures of life but most of all, they are about incredible courage in the face of insurmountable obstacles. In many of his stories, such as Utah Blaine and Flint, you have the hero who has the zeal, courage and strength to take on the baddest ass in town who has all the resources and teach him a lesson or two.
In the Sackett series, you have this extended family called the Sacketts who are dirt poor but fiercely loyal to one another. My favourite Sackett novel is the one where Tell Sackett's wife is molested and murdered and he himself is hunted down by the murderer and his cohorts. He is finally trapped in a small stretch of forest and completely surrounded by the bad guys. However, as the news that a Sackett is in a difficult situation spreads, all the other Sacketts, even those who don't know Tell, come rushing to his rescue.
I remember my friend Anthony who was like a brother to me. He passed away many years ago and may God rest his soul. I used to share Louis L'Amour novels with him. He was an avid reader himself. I believe his grand dad who was a friend of my dad also was a fan of L'Amour novels.
This initial fascination with Western fiction perhaps developed in me a love for reading which is still with me. I don't know how I have benefited from it but I do know that I have passed many a wonderful hour, sometimes late into the night, on the bed, or the sofa or the phak lost to the world, riding on my gelding, rounding up the cattle or sitting around the campfire with my hat pulled down and a cup of dark coffee (strong enough to float a horseshoe) in my hand.




 

Here and there

Have you ever taken a drive from Shilllong to Jowai or from Jowai to Dawki, on the border with Bangladesh? It's really enjoyable. The road is smooth, well made and the view is really worth raving about. The road kindof winds through the hill slopes which are dotted with pines and other mountain vegetation. The hills in Meghalaya are not very steep and abrupt like they are in say Sikkim, Shimla, or even Nagaland and Manipur. You can literally smell the pine trees and see the hill tops rolling away as far as the eye can see. Because the road is so smooth, you have the luxury of taking in the spectacular view as you drive along. During the summer, you can also see the fruit trees laden with pears, peaches or plums.
Having stayed here in Meghalaya for the past 6 odd years, I really can't help comparing it with Manipur, my beloved homeland. Meghalaya has really changed over the years and I am not referring only to Shillong or the roads. It's everything. Somehow things seem more transparent and clear here as opposed to Manipur where everything is shrouded in a cloud of dust.
It's not that corruption doesn't exist here. I think it does... as it does everywhere. However, it's not that apparent.... and the rich and powerful don't seem to flex their muscles as much as they do in my beloved homeland.... or at least they seem to respect the law. The elected representatives here also seem more sincere, educated and concerned about the common man.
You can judge the efficiency of a society or government by the way civic services are maintained. Take traffic for instance. Shillong has a very high vehicle density and so there's a lot of traffic congestion, esp. during the rush hours but I have always found the management of traffic to be very efficient. Overtaking is not permitted and I have seldom seen road rage like I have in other cities.
The bypass connecting Umiam on the Guwahati-Shillong highway and Mawrynkneng on the Shillong-Jowai highway has been completed and now the congestion in Shillong city because of all those trucks and interstate buses will ease considerably. My point is that the authorities here seem to be able to identify the problems being faced by the people and take rectifying steps to solve those problems.
Or take electricity. Forget the urban areas, even in this backwater village that I stay in, there are absolutely little or no scheduled/ unscheduled load sheddings if you discount those caused by accident or acts of God. Just yesterday, there was a power cut because the strong winds that we have been having for the past few days apparently snapped a wire somewhere but it was repaired within a few hours and lights came back on. This year, in January, the transformer supplying power to my locality, Nagamapal right at the heart of Imphal broke down. Guess what, it took two and a half months before lights came back on. That's my beloved Manipur for you.
I have been visiting home sporadically over the years and I have not really seen any positive changes there. I mean, yes, they have built this enormous complex at thangmeiband presumably to house the State Assembly and the other important organs of governance. They must have their reasons of course for spending hundreds of crores on such a project ... which I don't presume to know. However, what about the woes being faced by the common people. What about the electricity problem being faced by the people... who hardly get 3 or 4 hours of power in a day. What about the roads which are not fit to be called roads? What about the very high unemployment rate? What about the rampant corruption... I mean you cannot get any government service without paying the mandatory 'cha thug na ba paisa'.
I wonder.... what is wrong with us? Why can't we wake up from our deep slumber and smell the coffee? Why does everyone seem to be complacent with the status quo?
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This Thing Called Education

The term conjures up so many different things. To learn to live an ethical, well rounded life; to learn some skill or trade by which to make a living; to learn to live in harmony with other members of society; to learn values and ethics such as compassion, empathy, discipline, perseverance – qualities required of a good human being; to understand that material success doesn’t always guarantee happiness; to learn to understand the threats faced by the environment and society at large and how to combat them - these and more…. isn’t this what education is supposed to mean, for our children and us?

But the question is - what does education really mean for most of us? A process one needs to go through on the path to adulthood; a necessity that needs to be done in order to progress in life; a degree one needs to secure to get a job.

We live in a world where success is measured in terms of the amount of money you have in your bank account, a world where material wealth means everything. It really doesn’t matter how you get your money… as long as you get it. We are willing to resort to any and every means possible to get what we want. We will trample on anyone. What matters is that we get ahead in life…. at any cost… even at the expense of our soul, our conscience. This is the kind of world we have created for ourselves, our children and their children.

We have only ourselves to blame for the mess we are in. We live in a world where merit is seldom recognised; after all what matters is the connections you have and the amount of money your father/ forefather has left you. If you have connections, money – well, you can get away with anything, even murder. It seems, we are slowly losing touch with our humanity… at least with what it means to be humane. The corruption, the nepotism, the utter self serving nature of the powers that be - the signs are everywhere. In our narrow minded, selfish pursuit of material wealth and fame, have we lost track of the more important things. Are we losing our humanity? If so, how can we regain it or are we even willing to?  

Education, in the proper sense of the word, can be one of the most important, if not the only way, of bringing about this much needed change. Personalities can be moulded, character can be formed and perceptions can be created through education. Of course, for that to happen, we have to redefine education first. We have to give priorities to values and ethics. We need a set of immensely dedicated teachers to lead this revolution in the schools and colleges. The very system of teacher education, teacher training and teacher recruitment needs to be overhauled. Being a teacher myself, I feel the teacher plays an extremely important role in the entire process of education. Therefore, it is imperative that talented and intelligent young people with good ethics and moral values must be motivated to join this noble profession.

I envy societies where the rule of law is respected by everyone, regardless of class, creed or position. I envy societies where the rights of the people are respected. I envy societies where people enjoy freedom of speech and religion. I envy societies where women are genuinely liberated and able to prove that they are the equal of men. I envy societies where merit is recognised and acknowledged. I envy societies where corruption is negligible. I envy societies where the elected or appointed officials truly perform their jobs and serve the people. Don’t you wish to live in such a society?? Well … it isn’t impossible to create one right here in India, you know.