Recently, I met a boy named Ricky, who came to my office in relation to some work. I asked his details as where he studied, where he works etc.. He stated that he studied in Australia and now he works there too. I liked his manners. So just in a funny way I asked him- How Australians treat you??? His reply was surprising. He said that he tell Australians that he is an Indian but they never believed him. More so even people from Northern or Southern India also do not believe him.
Although it looks quite funny, but it puts a very serious question to the identity we carry- Indian. How still we are unable to integrate with eachother...Even for an educated person any person having Mongoloid features means either Nepali or Japanese or Chinese. The awareness in the rest of the country about North East can be summarised in few words like:- Insurgency, Very Dangerous. Manipur has got some identity because of its dance and sportsmen. Nagaland because of Kohima and its association with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Mizoram is bamboo dance. Arunachal because of its border problem with China.
I feel, Inner Line Permits have to be blamed to a large extent, ILP has ensured that the small communities and their culture are protected but it has also isolated them. I am strong supporter of ILP but I feel that at least for tourism and investment purposes it should be liberalised, so that people from other part of country can come and enjoy this beautiful place and let the economy grow. India's 1st Prime Minister realised at the time of Independence that these areas have to be given a special status so that their culture remains protected. The small communities even at the cost of isolation should be able to retain their social, cultural and religious values. Still it is holding ground to a large strength.
I remember one of our distinguished guest in Saiha district narrating an anecdote. Once Indian Army was on a peace duty posted in Kongo. The rebels there wanted to hold some talk with peace keeping forces and they wanted only Indian Army to come that too 3 officers. The three officers went into jungle unarmed and waited there for 3-4 hours but none came and then they returned back. Next day local head of peace keeping forces called up the representative of rebels as why no body came to meet the Army Officers. The representative stated that Indian Army officers were not there. There was one from Africa, one from Caucasian region and one from China. The Indian Army forces commander there held his head in disgust. He stated there was one Colonel from Tamilnadu, one Major from Punjab and one Captain from Nagaland. All are from India not from any other country.
So this is the stereotype exist in other countries. Our own states are also like that. India I feel is like a vast ocean. We cant have any identity based on racial feature, language, religion etc alone. I have seen in Delhi, students from NE feel that people in Delhi treat them differently because of their racial feature, here my observation is in India we have made stereotype for people belonging to different place and different community. Even in my state Bihar, we have 5-6 different regions and every one has got their own stereotype and knowledge(??) of other region that...they are lazy.. they eat dahi(yogurt) too much.... they are so.. they re so so....
There is no end to this stereotype. I feel this is what define different color in a beautiful garden called India. Slowly with globalisation, ICT a rapid intermixing has started not only in the field of economy but also in social life. But there is one danger... it will be difficult to save smaller culture in the era of globalisation, ICT ,rapid sharing of information through internet, television etc. Even in Mizoram one can witness that now smaller tribal languages are slowly dying. Even I do not know what is the answer to this problem. I feel language is the carrier of culture and culture is the byproduct of thousands of years of wisdom of our forefathers. If a language dies, however tiny it is, a piece of culture dies, wisdom dies which could have enriched the world in its own way.
How to define an Indian identity so that all the one billion persons living in this beautiful land are covered.. one inclusive definition. It is a difficult attempt which at least I do not want to make. Several anthropologists, social scientists have tried to define it which I do not want to reproduce. I fell, Indian identity is not a typical racial feature, language feature or religion feature, it is our shared values, ethos that define it. Traditionally we have remain very much secluded from each-other, may be in another 30-40 years when integration will be much more, this identity will become much more pronounced but I do not want that to happen at the cost of smaller cultures, languages. I do not want it to be plain and monotonous identity rather it should be vibrant one with different colors and shades.
10 comments:
Dear Kunal Sir,
What a wonderful piece of work. I agree with you. Since we all live together in this great nation-state of us, we need to treat each other equally and with respect. And we need to know each other better as well.
One thing that worries me is the rapid migration of plain people, none-tribals if you will, to NE regions which is swing demographic balances. As we can see, before Independence, original sons and daughters Tripuris were the majority in Tripura. Now they have been reduced to the minority. Other NE states could follow suit. This will happen in spite of IPL rule in place. I do not know what would be the solution.
And by the way, do you ever notice that lists of regions in our national anthem does not include NE region.
Thanks.
Dear Kunal Sir,
What a wonderful piece of work and observation. I agree with you. Since we live together in this great nation-state of us, we need to treat and accept each other as equals; and we need to proactively try to understand each other better.
Having said that, one thing that worries me is the trend of migration from plain areas, non-tribals if you will, to NEI regions. As you know, original peoples of Tripura (Tripuris) were the majority group in Tripura before independence. But now they are reduced to the minority. Other states in NEI could follow suit - this in spite in ILP rule in place. This will drasticall swing demographic balances in these states. I do not know the solution.
And by the way, do you ever notice that the lists of regions in our national anthem does not include NE regions.
Once again, thank you for all the good works you are doing for Maraland.
May the Lord bless you!
Laiu
Thanks Dr Laiu for your encouraging words and sentiments. In fact I share your concern with respect to protection of natives and I am a staunch supporter for ILP. That is why I said for its liberalisation for tourism and investment purposes not for anyother purposes as it is beneficial for the local populace.
I am against removal of ILP as it will open the floodgates and Mizoram will be swamped like what we are witnessing in neighbouring districts of Assam like Silchar, Karimganj. In fact at our level best we are trying to encourage skill development of native youths so that dependence on ILP holders is reduced, particularly like Masons etc.
Our National Anthem is almost 100 years old. At that time entire NE was part of Bengal. So I feel Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore used Bang and Himachal with respect to entire NE, Assam, Bengal. Even I do feel it needs to be modified so that all the states find their mention.
Even History books are silent on this region. It also needs to be included.
See you soon
Kunal
Thanks Kunal Sir for your gracious response. The climate change because of global warming does not help the situation either. NEI regions are sandwiched between the world's most densely populated nation - Bangladesh and one of India's most populous state - West Bengal. Studies have predicted that if the global warming continues like the present trend, most low-lying areas of Bangladesh will be flooded soon. And the people will come up to NEI hills. When Bangladesh is flooded with water, NEI hills will be flooded with people, this in spite of border fences. I only foresee the problem; I do not have much solutions. You will surely have some solutions. I would like to hear from you.
By the way, thanks for installing "help line" in your office - the first of its kind in the whole of Mizoram.
On a lighter note, I am not an internet wizard. So when I posted the first comment, I did not see it appear in the comment box. So I strugled to type it again - hence two similar comments albeit a bit differences. Please bear with me.
Dear Dr Laui
In fact I opted the option of moderated comments. As you know suppose anyone posts any objectionable materials on the blog then it will be embarrassing.
I think for north east ILP should be strictly enforced. More so people should be willing to work hard and try to add value to their skills so that dependency on outsiders can be reduced, only then this flooding can be stopped. Also voter lists have to be kept clean.
Thanks Kunal Sir. You did the right thing to see the comments by yourself first. Otherwise, as had rightly said, some comments could be embarrasing.
The main problem in the "identity called Indian" is, the term "India" or "Indian" have two aspects in its popular and global understanding of this term. On the one hand, it is used as a name for a nation-state called India where different races live together. On the other, the term "Indian" is understood by the global community as refering to the so-called Dravidian and Aryan people groups of India (South Asia) excluding Mongoloid races of North East India, call it Colonial hangover if you will. For example, when I was in South Africa, Tamils or other Indian origin groups who have now hold South African citizenship are identified as Indians while they do not think that I am an Indian though I am the citizen of India. This is basically because of my rounded Mongoloid face.
That said, in India, I think the situation is improving. People are having more and more awareness. So we all can be together proudly Indians, yet preserving and conserving our respective ethnic identities and uniqueness.
Dear Puhpa Kunal, Your view on 'being Indian' is quite commendable. I'm thankful to have you in our district.
And also, ILP cannot be blamed for the alienation and isolation of the people in NE region. We can create many other ways to integrate NE people with the rest of our fellow citizens. As you have rightly pointed out in the comment, today southern part of Assam is flooded with plain people (outsiders) and the "annihilation" of the indigenous culture and identity is completed. This is quite sad. We do not want the same to be repeated in our state - Mizoram. I'm using 'annihilation' - this strong word so that we can have a clearer picture on ILP. What good it is if we do away with ILP and lose the rest! It is not worth at all. ILP is our protection and it cannot be negotiated with anything.
Dear Marapasaw
Your views are quite right on the protection of natives from annihilation. I am very much supportive of continuation of ILP. What I want that it should be modified to accommodate tourism and make the things easier for a tourist to come to Mizoram for a smaller durations for 1-2 weeks without having to go through much of ILP processes. I mean we should be welcoming tourists.
Then for investors too we should keep our doors open so that economic development of the state can take place rapidly.
Dear Dr Laiu
I can understand your predicament.
I feel our beloved nation is still in the process of nation building. Making a nation and terming a place bounded by certain longitudes and latitudes as a nation is two different thing.
The existing images, the stereotypes etc is difficult to change at once but definitely it will happen with the passage of time. Its a slow process and slowly with growing people to people interaction it will breakdown. We require few heroes who can give bridge the gaps. See in national games Manipur has topped the medal tally. Definitely, it will act as a facilitating agent in awareness about NorthEast in common man of plain area. Similarly we require someone to comeout from Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, then I feel the process of integration will gather momentum.
But lets hope for a bright future for our beloved nation and enchanting and vibrating North East.
Dear...Kunal Sir..With much respect first of all Samaw....one think I dn,t really understand is why Govt OF India,Central water Comission,Nort Eastern Investigation-II,Kolodyne Hydro Electric Project Stage-II..has put the river kolodyne as that it belong to Lawngtlai District..Please do check Mara Article by title Mara Chi Pho Thapasapa on www.maraland.net .hope u,ll see the sign board picture..thank you.
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