Hello everyone.
I am Tribeny Rai, 25-year-old female. I live in the middle of a jungle (you
have to walk at least a kilometer from the road to get to my house). I plant
vegetables, feed the cow, mop the floor and look after hen when I am not making
films. And most importantly, I am from Sikkim (does this ring a bell?). No
Sikkim doesn’t have it’s own currency, obviously because IT’S NOT A COUNTRY.
Sikkim is a
small landlocked state in the north WEST east India. The state is bordered by Nepal to
the west, Tibet to the north and east & Bhutan to the east. It is the first
state to achieve 100% sanitation and also the first fully organic state of
India. In 2010, on the ‘World No Tobacco day’, Sikkim was declared a smoke free
state. It is also one of the cleanest states in the country.
We here sing
the national anthem with great vigor and wave the same Indian tricolor with so
much happiness and pride, so here is the million-dollar question- WHAT MAKES US
LESS INDIAN? I think it is probably because of the:
1) Mongoloid Morphology
2) Mongoloid Morphology
3) Mongoloid Morphology
3) Mongoloid Morphology
The word Chinky is synonymous to North East Indian population. It has become an identity category, so has momo and thukpa. No, we are not just good at MUSIC, SPORTS & FASHION. Even if we are, I think it’s good enough, don’t you think so?
Coming to the
crux of the matter, if it’s tough being a woman in the world’s largest democracy,
being a North East Indian woman in India is a nightmare. Because we have small
eyes people tend to categorize us as women with not such high moral/ethics as
compared to the rest. And eventually it all boils down to the way we dress up.
For everybody’s information, I do not dress up to excite men, nobody dresses up
to provoke, to be raped, molested or taunted. So if our sense of dress doesn’t
comply with many hypocrites, does that give anybody the right to call us names?
It is easy to tease and harass a woman here, but it is more convenient to
harass/tease a North East Indian woman. I believe it’s mainly because we look
like foreigners (Chinese to be more precise), hence we fail to emit the
sisterly feeling, and men (many of them) consider it provoking and inviting them.
My logic fails here.
Another rather
disturbing and alarming issue is ‘prostitution’. No, prostitution is not
rampant in our region.We wear western clothes and we are not “EASY GOING”. The
English dictionary defines easy going as – relaxed and not easily upset or
worried. Synonyms and related words are given as follows:
1) Cool as a cucumber
2) Be at peace with the world
3) Carefree
4) Comfort
5) Free flowing
6) Rested
7) Harmonious
8) Tolerant (the most dangerous word in the Indian dictionary)
If you have a
northeastern friend, you will know that the above-mentioned attributes are
absolutely correct. But if you blow a sly whistle, show cheap gestures, pass
vulgar comments, stare at my breasts I am not going to be tolerant. I am going
to be very angry, angry to an extent where I wouldn’t be satisfied by just
using a pepper spray to cause tears, pain, temporary blindness to your eyes.
Every time I
read an article about a northeastern girl being ill-treated in the cities, I
try to console myself saying, it wasn’t me or my sister. Every time I hear
about men or a family being ganged up and beaten in the cities, I silently hope
and pray that such a thing should never happen to my family or someone I know.
But I am done playing the silent observer. The mental and emotional abuse is
consistent and relentless; anybody who goes through this can seldom regain
courage or joy in life. So who exactly is responsible for the malaise? I do not
know. They say inclusion of study material on North East India in CBSE syllabus
will make students familiar with the region. And also conducting educational
tours from the city colleges to the North Eastern states will change the
scenario. Will it? I am not sure. So what will? You will. Those of you reading
this right now can definitely make a difference.
This morning I
read a Facebook post:
“ After which he started shouting and saying
mean things to me... the conversation really heated up and a huge argument
started after which he pointed out at my character and culture.
He titled us as 'ROAD SIDE CHARACTERLESS
GIRLS WHO DON'T KNOW WHO THEIR FATHER IS. HE SAID HE REALLY KNOWS WHAT KIND OF
CULTURE WE BELONG TO' and according to him 'WE WERE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF
CHEAP NORTH-EASTERN GIRLS'
WHEN ALL I DID WAS CALLED HIM UNCLEJI WHILE
SAYING SORRY'
There were about 40 people and just 2 of them
came forward to support us when he was charging me... others were taking his side
and watching the drama, and enjoying it...”
So friends what you can do is…if someday you happen to be
among those 40 onlookers, witnessing such an incident, PLEASE INTERVENE.
Suddenly don’t act like it is not your business. I am not saying we are always
right but at least make an effort to enquire. Be brave and next time you see a
woman (irrespective of caste, creed, religion) being ill-treated, step out and
speak up. It is going to make a world of difference.
India is a very diverse country and like northeastern
population many of other communities are also targeted for their appearance or
for their failure to speak in local language. The least you can do after
reading this is be extra polite and warm to my fellow friends or for that
matter to any other person who feels threatened because of his appearance and
language.
No, I am not apologetic about the way I dress up. I love
my eyes and think they are beautiful. And most importantly, I am proud of who I
am and where I come from. I think we should all be.
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