Indeed. They, I guess, were safe when they did not exist. It was a time when they were content in their own timid yet beautiful world. No one bothered, nor did they care. But times they keep changing. The white men came and hence appeared the need to reshape their lifestyle in conformity with a culture so alien. Slowly they embarked upon a path of change but still holding on to some of their ethnic innate roots in them. They broke out form a zone of seclusion and to adventure into a land that identified itself as their country and gave it a modern nomenclature, the North-east. All was well until a time when they started demanding—as a constituent of a vivacious and vibrant democracy—political, economic and social recognition. Some of them are now recognized if not all of them. However, these swings of events broke their relative anonymity and put them on tenterhooks. The mainland Indian society would soon know about this part of the world and, hence, their existence.
The people of the mainland conceive a definition of the cultural identity of the North-east without even knowing about it. The people of this part, as per their definition, who were not long ago lived in the wilderness, whose dress code were nothing but the leaves of the trees, who ate all the "smelly dishes" that create a "ruckus" ,who do not possess any moral integrity to value. A sloppy picture was drawn that would incite an age old society that boast itself of purity, impeccability and finest of all that human has ever evolved. This proud bunch of people would declare that every other thing as mere fatuous and would still be proud even if they belong to a society where daughters-in-law are killed for dowry, where sati is glorified, where a father-in-law rapes his daughter-in-law and declares her as impure for her own husband, where daughters are killed even before they are born, where they swear by the caste system and untouchability. The other societies of the world still fall short of its greatness. Who are you? North-east? Get lost.
What happens eventually is that the hiatus between the two different societies engulfs the whole of the country. An arrogant society, who is more skeptical about their own cultures resilience, refuses to identify those who do not oblige their codes of culture. However, the free spirited souls of the paradise unexplored wont budge and respect their fundamental rights to which they are constitutionally eligible, even though they are issued warnings and threats time and again. The controversial dictum of enforcing a dress code only for the female students of north-east in one of the leading colleges of Delhi University has by now retired from the minds of majority. The recent work of issuance of a booklet "Security tips for North-east students/visitors in Delhi" by the high profile Delhi police has once again put the onus of securing their liberty on their own (as was identified by Kalpana Sharma in an earlier column). This is a pity reality of the capital of the most vibrant democracy—a place where the temples of democracy wield their sway, a place who aims to count itself among the top brass of the world, a place which personifies the great Indian tradition and its history. Do we have anyone from those corridors of power to stand out and speak for the people of north-east? I apologize that we have only persons capable of heading a central ministry, to speak in favour of a convicted criminal or that it does not surmount such weightage to manouever a discussion?
These oft repeated cordoning off a particular section of the larger Indian society; i.e.the north-east people, is nothing but the result of a clash of different cultures. It is the lack of a logical perception that results in confusion in the society. A manifestation of such confusion finds an expression through the idea of woman from north-east. People of the mainland thinks that they are "easy-going" mistaking it for something derogatory but never realizing the fact that women from north-east have the freedom to wear their mind and enjoy the liberty their social customs has endowed upon them. Most of the North-east families have strong affinities to their matriarchal lineage than to patriarchal lineage. But the heavily biased patriarchal mainland society finds it hard to swallow it. These results in cultural conflicts and the situational realities often leave people from the north-east at the receiving end, especially women, subjecting them to discrimination, humiliation and violent abuse.
Over the time, whatever slew of measures have been talked about is more of a slipshod considering the problem at hand. Such measures may only offer a short term preventive rather than curative solution. While some of the unobjectionable safeguards may be implemented to prepare a platform from where such a huge cultural gap can somewhat bridged.
The most important of all measures to find a longstanding way out has to be sought through education. This, however, cannot be rectified by a hypocritical education system which is more concerned about fetching marks than enriching their knowledge base. There is no dearth of such educated elites, produce of the contemporary education system, who are vociferous about their age old cultural ethos. What we really need is a system of education whereby the idea of cultural flow of a society is taught People should start to believe that culture and society is not a stock but a flow concept. They are susceptible to change and to borrow the better part of culture from other societies as well. This should help to develop an open mind. Apart from sociology , the history, culture and their identity form across the country, should also find a mention in that education. This would help the future generations to know their countrymen better, and hopefully, will give birth to a society where existence will not threaten their safety.
Until that day dawns, however, the people of the paradise unexplored, along with those persons who are educated in social logic and void the impeccability of a culture, have to volunteer to guard the identity of this beautiful region and vouch for its novelty.
