[Assam] mainland vs northeast in delhi

Fri Jul 13 19:11:13 PDT 2007

What do you think is a better choice :

1.  Ask the NE people to be more "mainstream like" in their food or dress habits. May be even suggest they undergo  plastic surgery to look more "mainstream" like .

2. Educate the "mainstream" Indians that India is a diverse country and not all look like Harayanvi and "honorable practises" like dowry and female infanticide.

Looks like Delhi  police will choose option 1.

Priyankoo <priyankoos at yahoo.co.in> wrote: and why  people from the NE region MUST assimilate to the mainstream culture? In case of Assam haven't we seen more than 90% of the non-Assamese population never trying to "assimilate" with the local culture?

If there is a failure on part of the NE population in "assimilating" to the mainstream culture, may be the reason is the same as why the non- Assamese population in Assam never "assimilated" to the local culture/s.

best
Priyankoo

Priyankoo <priyankoos at yahoo.co.in> wrote: "Assimilation" is not the aim of the booklet. It just forces some dos and don'ts to people from a particular region. 

In any case, a booklet is never helpful for any kind of "assimilation".

best
Priyankoo

SANDIP DUTTA <pseude at yahoo.com> wrote: There is no problem with "assimilation" for students or citizens from Assam. This advisory should be better worded and directed at our bros from Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur who stay apart not just in Delhi but in other parts of India too.

 Rgds,
 Sandip

 ----- Original Message ----
From: Malabika Brahma <malabikabrahma at yahoo.co.uk>
To:  xourov pathok <xourov at yahoo.com>; assam at assamnet.org
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 7:33:28 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] mainland vs northeast in delhi

 I wonder if similar "circular" was issued to Indians in the US ( regarding the spices we use), how would the Indians react ?

xourov pathok <xourov at yahoo.com> wrote:
 having been in delhi for sometime as a student, i see
it is getting worse.

x

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070712/asp/frontpage/story_8048182.asp

Right  intentions, wrong message
- Delhi police accused of dividing India into
mainland & Northeast
NISHIT DHOLABHAI

New Delhi, July 11: Delhi polices advisory to youths
from the Northeast studying in the capital is being
seen by most as segregating the region from the
so-called  mainland.

The minister for development of the northeastern
region (DoNER), Mani Shankar Aiyar, had only recently
discouraged the use of this syntax. There is no
mainland, you are the mainland, he had told a
reporter in Shillong.

Aiyar was unavailable for comment on the booklet
released by Delhi police, but those who responded
seemed to cringe at the thought of  someone advising
students from the region to change their food habits,
customs and manner of dressing to assimilate into the
mainstream.

Dipankar Gupta, professor of sociology at Jawaharlal
Nehru University, said the polices advice not to
create a ruckus  in the neighbourhood by cooking
smelly dishes and dress decently was gratuitous, to
say the least.

The police come up with these advisories, but there
is no implementation. There should be a departmental
memo of some sort that if a person from the Northeast
is harmed, punishment  will be stringent, Gupta said.

Moses Kharbithi, who is doing his MPhil at JNU, said
the advisory was tantamount to undermining the ability
of Northeast students in New Delhi to assimilate. I
wonder if they have given such booklets to students
from the South, he said.

Kharbithi said the fact that the booklet was
well-intentioned could not mask the sense  of
discrimination.

Asom Gana Parishad MP Arun Kumar Sarma and his
Congress colleague Kirip Chaliha said there was no
denying the need to spruce up security for students
from the region in view of some incidents in the
recent past. But commenting on food habits  and
clothing was unfair, the duo said.

How can one tell somebody what to eat and how to
dress? Sarma asked.

Chaliha said he would take up the issue with the authorities.

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