HOLI-daying in my city!

Guwahati city was resplendent with all the hues of love on Wednesday and the streets were a riot of revelry. There was a lot to look forward to than just the screaming youngsters in war-paint. General happiness seeped in to every person on the road as they shook hands and exchanged colours in spite of being complete strangers. 

Dancing, singing and then lunch with family and friends was the highlight for the day, with very little untoward incidents. The police though were on high alert and did their rounds on testing drunken drivers. 

Guwahatians have become pretty conscious about using the right type of colours and most of them were noticed to be buying skin-friendly colours. All in all, a wonderful Holi this year! 

Como por arte de Magica

I felt world class as I sat in the cane chair of my balcony, propped comfortably against two cushions, waiting for day to break. The rain poured, each strand of water drenching everything in its stead. The leaves were painted a new colour and there was only the call of two cuckoos in the distance. And I had absolutely nothing to complain about. I just sat there as my mind flew into oblivion.

I watched the clouds change shape. One piece of cloud almost looked like a person with arms wide open; to enthuse the rays of the sun to play with it while it coloured the rims of the clouds an orangish- golden hue. The sun did peep through for a minute but was soon blanketed by a layer of grey clouds. My world seemed to start and end there, so awestruck was I during this enchanting, mesmerizing, mystic moment. 

Rain, do you know?

Do you know

That you create

Magic

With her?

She dances,

Sings

And the musky 

Aroma

You leave 

Behind

On her bosom

Is a heady

Concoction

Of your

Endearment

Of a lost

Love

Reunited.

Rain,

Do you remember?

Of the 

War-dance 

Of the 

Yester-years?

With her?

Where are the Indigenous People?

Long many years back, during a seminar on race and ethnicity, I had asked the then President of Axom Xahitya Xobha, Birendranath Dutta why he kept mentioning the original people of Assam as tribes and not the indigenous people. Interestingly, he didn't have an answer to this most vital question. He only loosely said, "Well, some people say tribes and some say indigenous." Not a very satisfactory answer for a President of such a pretigious organisation of Assam. 

If we were to take the history of Assam, the whole place was a region covered in swamp and surrounded by hills. Mughal historian, Sihabuddin Tahlish said that "...it rained for more than 8 months in Assam and it rained for the rest four months, which was during winter...". Insects of various kinds, wild animals of all species roamed freely making it totally uninhabitable for any other people except for people of the land. 

The first inhabitants were the Khasis and the Garos of Indo-Austric origin. They came from Kampuchea, now Cambodia and also from Laos. All this occured before 2500 B.C. These people were able to tolerate extremes of everything, which Assam was famous for. 

Then came the people of Tibeto-Burman origin; the Koch Rajbongshis, the Bodos, the Kacharis and the Mech Kacharis. 

These people were the only people who could survive under such extreme conditions. Food for them was available in the wild and without any doubt, they have to be said to be the original , the ethnic, the indigenous people of the land, Assam. But where are they now? They have been marginalised to such an extent by the later settlers, that their very existence is at stake now. They live in small pockets of the state, bereft of several opportunities that a mainland Indian enjoy without a care in the world. But why such injustice? Their land has been taken from them and they are left with very little to be proud of of their ethnicity.

Today, I happened to have a brief interaction with Prof. C. Mathew Snipp, Department of Sociology, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University at the Administrative Staff College. The seminar revolved around the topic 'Immigration and Conflict Resolution'. Prof. Snipp is a person of Cherokee origin, one of the first Red-Indians of the USA and he spoke at length of this world-wide phenomenon of depriving the original people of the land. He took four countries, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US as case studies. For each of them, he spoke of the conflict between the indigenous people and the immigrants, who immigrate to a particular country for political freedom and economic opportunity. Colonialism was another topic he spoke at length.

My question to Prof. Snipp was, "The Government of Assam and also of the 6th Schedule states of Northeast India have done a lot of injustice to the ethnic people in the garb of giving them 'a lot'. If I may mention about Arunachal Pradesh, a voter would be anxiously waiting for the election times when he will be given Rs. 10,000/- for every vote that he casts. The victory feast that follows leaves the voter unable to contribute towards his work front for more than 2-3 days. Also, on my visit to Canada, I noticed that the original inhabitants of the country, the Inuits were given everything by the Government; Free homes, subsidised food and health care. However, the government might have a hidden agenda as all these people have become unable to do any hard persistent work. They have become totally dependent on the Government. In context to Northeast India and Canada, is the government slowly trying to destroy these indigenous people?"

Prof. Snipp did elaborate on this but I was not completely satisfied with his answer. Though over lunch, he did say that he would have loved to give a better answer. 

Anyway, going by my title, I am still wondering where are the indigenous people of Assam; where are they in politics, in high-end jobs,  in the centre, in the state, in important decision-making rituals? What is their fault that are not included? Is someone thinking that they are less intelligent or not capable enough? Have they been given a chance? Will such injustice continue till they completely disappear?

Well, I know what all of you would say, "Hey, there they are calling for bandhs (forced closure) and being violent?" However, why are they violent? Do they have something to say, some frustration deep within their hearts? Do we even talk across the table on issues as vital as this? But my statement is, even in spite of the government providing them lucrative sops, which they are yet to avail of, they are a lost generation, until they help themselves. And like Prof. Snipp says, "The only indigenous community that is alive is in the museum." A sad situation indeed!

Why the animosity?

Out on my streets of Guwahati, I can feel a certain tension, a stress, a strain somewhere stemming maybe from an inane aspiration to rise above the other. Why don't I have a house as large as theirs? Why am I still driving the same car for 10 years whereas they have three huge SUVs? Why is their child studying in that prestigious school and mine in a non-descript one? Who the hell is she? 

And then one fine morning, when I am all dressed up as brightly as the sunshine with a disposition to match my ensemble, I chance upon this man driving his car, looking thunderously dangerous. My fault; he has been honking too long at the crossing and I was not letting him go 'cause the signal light was showing red. How was I to let him pass? So with equal force to match his blaring honks, I roll down my glass and point my forefinger at the signals. But he still continues to honk! I feel helpless at this point of time as he irritates me. As the lights turn green and the cars move to take a turn, the man who is behind me makes a move to almost hit me with his car from behind. Hapless so to say, I let him pass and he swerves past me, glaring at me for a few seconds to wish me to cinders and continues honking at the other cars. I smile back and he quickly turns his face away. He looks pretty stressed, I thought. 

But isn't it somewhat dangerous to carry your stress, anger and depression around the busy streets of Guwahati, or for that matter anywhere else in the world? Doing so, one has the chances of putting other people at risk.

For example, a man might have had a fight with his wife before leaving home for work. However, once he is out on the streets, he tries to take out his angst on the first person who is in his way. 

Reminds me of a story I read back in school by Lakshminath Bezbaruah "Phiringotir pora khandob dah", which meant making a mountain out of a mole-hill, where the protagonist has a fight with his wife for the simple fact that she forgot to add salt to the vegetables she had cooked. The man asks her why she hasn't added the salt and she speaks back rudely telling him he should have got married to someone else instead of her, to which he reacts to hit her. Their young adolescent son, who was sitting next to his father, grabs one of his legs, as he gets up from the floor, where he was sitting and having his food. In the process, the man trips, falls, breaks two of his teeth in front and bleeds profusely. The man is stressed out. His day starts on a bad note. As this disgruntled person walks to the court, there are strings of incidents, all culminating in either a furious fight or a vicious argument. The whole story ends on a high note of  the police swinging into action and the protagonist's anger reaching its zenith. All in all, a day wasted!

Similarly, I feel that we should keep our stress, problems and anger at home before we hit the streets 'cause our day might just end up as disastrously as the protagonist from Lakshminath Bezbaruah's story. 

But I am not saying that all people are glum and unhappy when they are on the city streets. There are some wonderful people on the roads, who have the sunniest of disposition. It's a pleasure to see them as they stop their cars to let children, women and elderly people cross the roads. They are happy as happy can be and they spread this infection to other people driving. I have seen these people many a times and instantaneously my lips crack into a broad smile. I carry this 'awesome' feeling all throughout the day and obviously my day is made. I wish everyday is a happy day not only for me but for every person on my streets of Guwahati.

Mur dhuniya Axomkhon (My Beautiful Assam)

It's spring time in Assam and the place is looking breathtakingly beautiful. The cuckoo is already singing its love song and the river Brahmaputra is a silent spectator to all this bounteous beauty.