IDENTITY CRISIS: Stranger in my own land.

It is not easy being away from home and people from the North-East part of India feel the pangs of it the strongest.  For example, I, like thousands of young men and women from North-East work away from my home. It’s not easy, especially when there are so many differences. I understand India is a huge country and there is diversity everywhere, forget the nation as a whole, but even the states here have that diversity. I sometimes feel that the unity of this nation is hanging by a thin rope which might break loose sometime. With that said, let me get back to the point.

There have however been a lot of incidents where I get asked about my nationality, and sometimes it takes a lot of time explaining where the North-East is and how North-East is a part of India and how much Indian we are and how Indian we feel. There have been instances where I had to explain the North-East with a map and literally show them where it is. There have been times when I had to convince them that we don’t eat human flesh or live in jungles without any clothes, well I get these kinds of questions thrown at me by people who think they know about the North-East. Not that I am angry about all that, but the fact that bothers me the most is that a lot of people don’t know us, and that includes a lot of educated, in fact well educated people.

Though spending my entire life in Delhi has taught me to adapt to any situation or survive in any place, there are however a lot of instances where I can’t help but feel a bit alienated in my own country sometimes. Discrimination towards North-East Indians in our country is nothing new to report about, and I am no exception to that. There have been instances in the past which have highlight how deeply bigoted our fellow citizens can be towards their own countrymen.

Having been brought up in Delhi however doesn’t guarantee that I will be spared of the constant stares, name callings and verbal harassments on the streets, from kids to teenage people and sometimes from the adults as well. It is never easy to go through that situation, to be honest. And the worst you could do in that situation is to raise your voice and that, let me tell you, could be very dangerous, especially for people like me. If you don’t think that way, then probably the killing of Nido Tania might ring a bell, and there has been a lot of cases like that where people have been gravely injured, taken to hospital, and sometimes even girls sexually harassed. It all starts with these stares, name callings and then, when it becomes hard to just ignore it, retaliating.

India for one has got to be one of the most racist countries in the world. Racism prevails everywhere, be it in the states, counties, districts and even in small localities and like if that was not enough, then comes your religion and the caste you belong to, so you can say the scope for racism and discrimination in India is huge and it has flourished throughout the history.

Without a doubt the worst hit community is the North-Eastern community, which has been alienated for I don’t know how long. No matter where you travel or where you live, you will find people who would give you that hostile treatment, just because you belong to the North-East. Few cases of sexual harassment, violence and even deadly attacks make it to the news, but for the North-Easterners who live in other parts of the county, especially the North, the abuse is consistent and relentless.

Apart from these beatings, even killings, there have been minor cases of discrimination, and trust me it happens every day. Things like being treated unfairly when you enter banks, malls, or even when you hire a cab or an auto. You are either completely neglected because of your looks in the malls and the banks, or you are overcharged by the cab or auto drivers for the same reason.

Not to forget the kind of silent harassment meted out on daily basis at work places, the streets and even the local markets. I am not sure if we are actually misunderstood or just profiled in that way, but there has been a lot of wrong perception towards the people from the North-East.

We are fun loving people, who could be the nicest if you’re nice to them and could be your worst enemy as well. We have our own way of having fun, we love enjoying our lives and we are a lot more outgoing than the rest of the other people. Our lifestyle is different, I admit that, and even our eating habits aren’t the same with most part of the country. We don’t look like them, neither do we talk like them; however most of us feel just as much Indian as all the other people in the country.

For people who wear liberalism and for a nation that wear secularism as a sign of modernity, it is a crying shame that racial profiling and discrimination to this extent still exist even in the 21^st century. Being a nation of this caliber it is actually very disgraceful to allow this type of mindset conquer over and spoil the heritage and the beautiful history we have. Is this because we allow it to? Or it is because we refuse to see everyone as equal? The answer is within each and one of us, no religion, prayer or books will teach you that. It has to come from within.