Who Do I Look Like

My heart used to breath fire whenever someone called me 'chinky' 'Nepali' 'China wala' Japanese, etc. Lately, I've learned the art of swallowing without having to chew those wrong comments. Back home, some of my friends still call me 'blackie' because I was and I still become black when exposed to too much of kitchen smoke. People from my place would roar with laughter if they know that I am called 'China-wala' or 'Japanese' in this part of India.

Recently, a young boy in a supermarket elbowed his grandfather on the knee and whispered "dadaji dekho, China-wala," sheepishly pointing his finger at me. If he were a bit older I would have made a face that will urge him to concentrate more on his geography lessons. But, that was a young child who probably not have started learning geography. Then, what does he know about China? Well, as for the boy I just gave him a schweet smile and walked on letting his childhood innocence to decide whatever it wants to call me.

The real shocker however is when even educated grown ups mistake me for some foreigners. Geography lessons that I learned in high school blurted a lot about India being multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. I learned about the various groups of people living in India. I was made to believe India is called a sub-continent because of the unique geographical regions it has and the various types of people to whom it serve as home. Are students in mainland India taught a different kind of geography? If not, why am I mistaken for a foreigner in a country I dearly consider as my own?

OK, I won't deny that people from the Northeast look different. For the difference in physical features, people from the region most often are subjected to unwanted racial labeling and discrimination. The most recent being the crack down by Delhi Police on Northeast people in the name of thwarting Tibetans protesting the visit of Chinese Premier Hu Jintao. Yes, Tibetans and Northeast people may have similar features, but was it the right approach to curb a democratic protest by detaining and harassing the wrong people? Many Northeast people working in NCR region were reportedly harassed and some even detained. To add more salt to the wound, people from the region were even asked to produce their passports as identity proof in their own country. And yeah...why were Tibetans not allowed to protest the visit of Hu Jintao, when it openly acknowledges that Tibet is being illegally occupied by China? Strange are the ways of politics!

Violence against the people of Northeast region again is no myth. Someone or the other get beaten up once in a while as if it is a special treat for being a North easterner. These unwanted things happen mainly in the National Capital Region where we are supposed to feel most secure. Molestation and rape of northeast girls is not a made up story either. Where can we buy the feeling of belonging if we are being forcefully made to feel we are different?

I still remember police in the NCR region coming up with a list of dos and don't for Northeast people so there is no trouble for them. The silliest among them are not to venture out when it is late, not to wear objectionable dresses and most of all not to cook smelly food that may irritate the neighbors. How funny are these protocols? Special chinky rules right? Whose country really is India? Are people from the Northeast political refugees? These are some politically incorrect questions we are forced to ask ourselves to which we have no ready answers. Sorry, for being so straight, but, seriously there is no room for politeness in such painful situations.

Fortunately for me, South India have treated me well, except for the occasional mis-identifications. Well, that still amounts to rejecting me as an Indian right? This ranting about the injustice and the complaining and murmuring within can go on. This also mean the insult will not stop here. It is not easy to change people's mentality so easily and we are talking about a nation. Are the various insurgent groups in the Northeast region fighting for secession from India doing the right thing considering we are treated as sub-standard citizens? Maybe or maybe not. That is so political and I don't have politics in my gene sorry, no comments!

I would be happy if people just identify me as a Naga if they don't want me to be their fellow Indian. Oh, what a wild dream! If people don't know the Northeast state names, how on earth will they know the various tribes that inhabit the isolated seven Northeast states? I just belong to one of the many tribes.

I am not a Nepali, a Japanese, or a Chinese to the best of my knowledge, and I am not an Indian according to you. Then, who do I really look like?