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Northeast India: Pride and prejudice
Passports to prove nationality, prejudiced home owners, snide comments: how discrimination can affect one’s sense of belonging
Justice, liberty, equality, respect. Such simple yet meaningful words. While growing up in my tiny part of the world, I never thought of these words much. Only when I moved to a different part of my country did I realise I actually wasn’t treated equally. I was judged by the way I look.
I’ve had to bear dirty looks, derogatory remarks, name calling, presumed opinions and discriminatory behaviour. Only a few people treat us with the same love, respect and humanity as most other Indians.
Recently, a tweet I posted about a sportsperson got a lot of attention. It said: “If you’re from Northeast India, you can become an Indian ONLY when you win a medal for the country. Otherwise we are known as ‘chinky’ ‘Chinese’ ‘Nepali’ or a new addition ‘corona’. India is not just infested with casteism but racism too...”. That’s the magic of sports! Sports help you broaden your horizons, it makes you see things that went unnoticed earlier and, above all, it gives you a sense of unity. But, the tweet was also criticised for its ‘negativity’. If that’s negativity, I want to share some of my bitter (sweet?) experiences.
1. In 2015, at the Taj Mahal in Agra with my friends, I was asked to produce my passport. When I said I’m an Indian citizen, the official laughed and said, “Then show me your passport”. Since you don’t roam around in your own country with your passport, I did not visit the Taj Mahal. But now I carry my passport with me, affecting my heart and sense of belonging.
2. Looking for places to rent in Bengaluru and Delhi, every time I’d talk to the owner of the house over the phone, they would be warm. However, as soon as I met them in person, I’d be told they “can’t rent at the moment”. One landlord even said, “You people from the North East party too much.”
3. While attending a friend’s wedding, his mother said: “You guys eat stinky things, na?” Though I tried telling her about our diverse traditional delicacies, it seemed she did not want to understand any of it.
4. Once when I landed at Bengaluru Airport from abroad and waited in the queue for the immigration formalities, an official directed me to the queue for foreign passport holders. I showed him my Indian passport. He left and returned with another official and both of them began checking my passport. It was as if I had committed a crime. Only when I raised my voice and spoke with the immigration official at the counter did the officials leave. I felt humiliated and was close to tears.
Such incidents have become part of my life. Change only happens when we raise our voices. So, I write this in the expectation that perhaps there’s still hope for our country. Perhaps, humanity will beat the hatred and discrimination and there will be a better India after all!
Ankita Konwar, 30, from Guwahati, Assam, is a former cabin crew with Air Asia Malaysia.
From HT Brunch, August 15, 2021
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