An Open Letter to No-One

At the very onset, I would like to make it very clear that I am not angry. I am neither frustrated nor am I disappointed. This may seem like the rant of a disgruntled human being, but I assure you I am not that too.

I am just a guy who happened to be born in a part of the world which has been very easily been overlooked by the people of the country. Yes, I am from the North Eastern region of India.

India, which so greatly (and I must admit, quite effortlessly) boasts that it is the largest democracy of the world and is the ultimate example of “unity in diversity” has forever remained silent about the plight of the people from North East. I am proud of being an Indian as it is probably the biggest melting pot of diverse cultures, people, launguages and most importantly, cuisines (pardon me, but I am a foodie!) 

So, one may wonder, why am I suddenly talking about North East and the people from there? Well that’s because the treatment meted out to us is slowly taking the shape of the Germans’ attitude towards the Jews during the erstwhile WW II. If we condemned that behavior then we should very well condemn this too. The same goes for how we have always condemned the treatment meted out to the African-Americans or the Asians in general. But in retrospect, we have failed to do so and actually went ahead with the same. 

The recent incident where Nido Taniam, a boy from Arunachal Pradesh was beaten to death in Delhi over a trivial matter like the color of his hair has again rattled the belief of the people of NE on the Indian sense of justice and reason. This belief has been shattered a multiple number of times, but like all good Indians, we are reluctant to give up. We still believe that “sense and justice will prevail”.

This isn’t the first incident and I fear that it won’t be the last too. Over the last many years, people from NE have been systemically targeted and singled out on reasons like their looks or their dressing sense etc. What fails to register with me, is the fact that why should looks of an individual matter so much? I know we Indians are very worried about how we look and the multitude of fairness creams which flood the market are testimony to this fact. On closer examination of our marriage ads also we would see this trend where an educated person is not recognized to be worthy of marriage if he/she isn’t fair or of the proverbial “slim/average build”.

But this unholy obsession with looks is not what hampers us who are from the NE. It’s the way people perceive us and our habits. Just because there is rich forest cover in the NE, people automatically presume that we stay in jungles. Apparently, we are also charged with eating any and everything making us the veritable forefathers of Bear Grylls. Even if you are not a so-called “chinky” even then people would question you about your background and how the “chinkies” behave over there.

I don’t say that every person behaves the same way, definitely not. There are a lot of educated and aware people who know what being a North Easterner means. It means that you come from a place where still nature takes a front seat and also a place where being married to a guy doesn’t mean that you become his slave for life and he needs to respect you equally. It is also the place where you would find a rich culture of music, dance & art.

So yes, if you think I am angry about what’s happening to us, then you are right. This is because I don’t expect the people of India to act the way the mighty Aryan race did, but when the same thing starts happening then it does make you come out with sporadic bursts of anger.