Highlight of April: North East India - Shillong! Shillong, formerly called Yeddo or Lewduh, city, capital of Meghalaya state, northeastern India. The city is located in the east-central part of the state on the Shillong Plateau, at an elevation of 4,990 feet (1,520 metres).
The thing with racism is it comes with very little shame associated with it. If you are at the receiving end of a racist attack, you are urged by people around you to laugh along because, 'joke hai yaar'.
Allow me to explain. I am from Assam and have been living in Delhi for the past ten years.
A couple of days ago, I was visiting a friend. Upon finding that I was from Assam one of the people present in the gathering said, "Can I tell you something? Don't be offended." Now, I have come across enough people with no filter to realise where it was going, but even I wasn't prepared for this. "I have heard that you guys eat dog meat. Also that Assamese women are very good archers and that...uh... Assamese women pee standing," said the enlightened man.
While, thankfully, there we enraged gasps, I thanked by stars that I was at a place surrounded by friends. Usually, such comments get laughed off and if you are annoyed, you'd be asked to grow a sense of humour.
So I asked fellow Northeast Indian people the racist comments that they had to bear the brunt of. And most of these were masked as 'curiosity' or 'jokes'.
1. Trisha Bhuyan, 27, Assam: This was when I was interning with a reputed newspaper around 5 years back. The other intern and I were generally chatting, when I told her that I did my schooling in Assam. She said, "Assam?...er...there are schools there? Isn't it all jhopar pattis?"
2. Priyanjana Roy Das, 25, Assam: I was in Bengaluru a couple of years ago. Upon hearing that I am from a place called Guwahati, a very perplexed friend asked if it was in Kerala. But leave that, I have been asked if a passport is required to go to the Northeast. Till this day, I hope that she was actually talking about a permit and not a passport.
3. Precious Kamei, 30, Manipur: I am a Naga, from Manipur so I have heard a lot of ignorant remarks. I still get asked, "Have you ever tried human meat?" I mean why, just because I am a Naga? "Ise gussa mat dila, sab kuch khati hain...insaan ko bhi khati hain" (don't make her angry, she eats everything...even humans) -- this was supposed to be a joke. Our ancestors might have been head hunters, but mixing this up with cannibalism is just plain mean. I grew up knowing that I am an Indian. It was only after coming to Delhi that I was made aware that I am a Northeastern.
8. R. Konyak*, 30, Nagaland: Once a college friend asked me if my house in Nagaland is made of bamboos. I was patient and replied that we don't live in tree houses. She took a couple of minutes to take this new bit of information in and said, "But I thought you all live in bamboo houses."
9. E. Kharraswai*, 33, Meghalaya: For starters, I don't think people from the "mainland" can differentiate between a Manipuri or a Naga or a Mizo. They believe that all the tribes are same and that we are all Nagas. So, naturally, there have been a number of times I have heard ignorant stuff but there is this incident that I thought was the epitome of all things ignorant. A junior from college and I were sharing a rickshaw to college, when she asked me where I was from. I said Meghalaya. She replied, "Oh, that is in which state?"
10. N. Tzudir, 20, Nagaland: When I moved to Delhi for my undergraduate programme, in my first week at my hostel a girl said, "Oh you are from Nagaland? I thought you are from India". When I gave her a piece of my mind, she clarified, "I meant from Delhi, Punjab, MP, you know."
*: name changed as requested
Shillong first became prominent in 1864, when it succeeded Cherrapunji as the district headquarters. In 1874 it was made the capital of the new province of Assam. An earthquake destroyed the city in 1897, necessitating its complete rebuilding. The North East Frontier Agency’s headquarters were in Shillong until that region became the union territory of Arunachal Pradesh in 1972.
In that year Shillong became the capital of Meghalaya, which had been newly created out of territory that was formerly within the state of Assam.
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| Police Bazzar. Main Street in Shillong |
Shillong, a popular tourist destination, is at the core of one of the largest urban areas in northeastern India. It is an important trade centre for agricultural products and has research stations focusing on dairy farm, fruit, and silk production. It also has the Pasteur Institute and Medical Research Institute and is the home of North-Eastern Hill University (founded 1973). The Barpani hydroelectric station lies a few miles to the north. Traffic congestion is a problem in the city.
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| Shillong Peak |
The Khasi people have long lived in the Shillong region. Large-scale migrations to Shillong took place following the partition of India in 1947.
So we traveled to Shillong by train. It took us 27 hours to get there from Lucknow. I took the train. All meals were served in the train. If you take the Rajdhani Train, all meals will be served on the train. This is the fastest train for this route.
I discovered that the North East India, There are many people groups. Their physical appearance is quite unique too compared to mainland India. They look more Nepalese and Chinese. For me I felt that I was in a difference country. During my journey I found that North East Indian face lot of discrimination in mainland India becauseof their complexion.
I found an interesting articule on Huffman Post highlighting what I said:
I discovered that the North East India, There are many people groups. Their physical appearance is quite unique too compared to mainland India. They look more Nepalese and Chinese. For me I felt that I was in a difference country. During my journey I found that North East Indian face lot of discrimination in mainland India becauseof their complexion.
I found an interesting articule on Huffman Post highlighting what I said:
If You Believe These 10 Things About North East Indians, You're Not Only Racist But Also Very Ignorant
A couple of days ago, I was visiting a friend. Upon finding that I was from Assam one of the people present in the gathering said, "Can I tell you something? Don't be offended." Now, I have come across enough people with no filter to realise where it was going, but even I wasn't prepared for this. "I have heard that you guys eat dog meat. Also that Assamese women are very good archers and that...uh... Assamese women pee standing," said the enlightened man.
So I asked fellow Northeast Indian people the racist comments that they had to bear the brunt of. And most of these were masked as 'curiosity' or 'jokes'.
1. Trisha Bhuyan, 27, Assam: This was when I was interning with a reputed newspaper around 5 years back. The other intern and I were generally chatting, when I told her that I did my schooling in Assam. She said, "Assam?...er...there are schools there? Isn't it all jhopar pattis?"
2. Priyanjana Roy Das, 25, Assam: I was in Bengaluru a couple of years ago. Upon hearing that I am from a place called Guwahati, a very perplexed friend asked if it was in Kerala. But leave that, I have been asked if a passport is required to go to the Northeast. Till this day, I hope that she was actually talking about a permit and not a passport.
"Have you ever tried human meat?" I mean why, just because I am a Naga?
3. Precious Kamei, 30, Manipur: I am a Naga, from Manipur so I have heard a lot of ignorant remarks. I still get asked, "Have you ever tried human meat?" I mean why, just because I am a Naga? "Ise gussa mat dila, sab kuch khati hain...insaan ko bhi khati hain" (don't make her angry, she eats everything...even humans) -- this was supposed to be a joke. Our ancestors might have been head hunters, but mixing this up with cannibalism is just plain mean. I grew up knowing that I am an Indian. It was only after coming to Delhi that I was made aware that I am a Northeastern.
8. R. Konyak*, 30, Nagaland: Once a college friend asked me if my house in Nagaland is made of bamboos. I was patient and replied that we don't live in tree houses. She took a couple of minutes to take this new bit of information in and said, "But I thought you all live in bamboo houses."
"Oh you are from Nagaland? I thought you are from India".
9. E. Kharraswai*, 33, Meghalaya: For starters, I don't think people from the "mainland" can differentiate between a Manipuri or a Naga or a Mizo. They believe that all the tribes are same and that we are all Nagas. So, naturally, there have been a number of times I have heard ignorant stuff but there is this incident that I thought was the epitome of all things ignorant. A junior from college and I were sharing a rickshaw to college, when she asked me where I was from. I said Meghalaya. She replied, "Oh, that is in which state?"
10. N. Tzudir, 20, Nagaland: When I moved to Delhi for my undergraduate programme, in my first week at my hostel a girl said, "Oh you are from Nagaland? I thought you are from India". When I gave her a piece of my mind, she clarified, "I meant from Delhi, Punjab, MP, you know."
*: name changed as requested
