North East India.

Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind geographically is Kolkata or Assam / Guwahati. To some more travelled people, it might include Shillong or Gangtok. And that is what we refer to as North East. Imagining North East, what we end up thinking of are people called chinkis, which is used in an offensive manner most of the times.

They say Ignorance is Bliss. That’s how the majority of our country lives. In ignorance, of our country and its people itself.

North Eastern Indian comprises of 7 states, also called the Seven Sisters. It includes Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura. About 40 million people live in this part of the country. Though it might be only 4% of our population, it adds to as much diversity and culture as any other area.

I have now lived here for 4 years. And perhaps no part in our country can be as beautiful, as pure and serene, and as unexploited as north east has been. It has a unique culture, scenic beauty, martial arts and so many other things to admire. But good things never come alone.

North East is the most ignored and forgotten part of our country too. The roads, are few and inadequate. Even the roads near the Indo-China border are not well maintained. The problem is not just of our own negligence, but also of insurgency, unemployment, drug addiction. These are but side effects of ignorance by our own government.

The major issue is that due to different appearance, and culture, perhaps we really do not consider north east as our own. It has become a part of our mentality to treat north eastern people separate from other part of our country. They are looked down upon. They are called chinkis, in an offensive manner. We hardly respect people from this part of the country, do we?

And when there is no sense of belonging-ness, we tend to forget. We forget people in the next locality, leave aside someone 2000KM apart from the centre. The north-east that I have seen has had amazing beautiful places, hills, and beautiful weather. The rains and the river, the birds at dawn. Uninterrupted Power, continuous internet and phone connectivity. No infrastructural problems at all. But that is not the real north east. That is my college. That is also an example of what can become, if only government takes care.

The real north east is about no proper roads, hours of tiring journey, no phones or internet. Power that is rarely present. People dying of feud, insurgency, and starvation. I feel a sense of connection to this place. It’s as if, it has given me life and it has sustained it too. I feel pained by the problems, by the disrespect to people, by the negligence of government.  Now that I am close to the end of my stay here, I feel that we have been silent for long. It’s time for people to realize that there is a part of country across Assam.

To all those who are still biased about here, i would like to invite you. Come and see for yourself. Its not all jungle. And the people are more polite, and humble than the concrete jungle cities they live in.