[Assam] ‘I Am An Assamese, A Bengali And A Sylheti. What Exactly Am I?’ Anurag Rudra'a write up appeared Tehelka

[Chan Mahanta]

That is a believable, poignant story, Sushanta. Thanks for sharing.

The indignities that young Anurag had to endure, hopefully, were not  
in vain and his account,
hopefully would help turn things for the better.

Many of us in this forum have worn different shoes. And we too wore  
the ones that
Anurag had worn,at times of being a minority, foreign, alien etc. and  
at times of  a dominant
group wearing the halo of being an indigenous. It has helped us become  
fuller, better people.
That said, I do realize that those of us in the US or other counties  
with a rule of law have not, would not
( except as rare exceptions) have to undergo some of the more blatant  
and overt acts
of discrimination, bullying or even physical assaults that someone in  
Anurag's shoes might have.
That is where the rule-of-law plays a critical role, one that is  
absent in Indian governance, not
just Assam's, part of the dysfunctional state of desi-demokrasy as I  
call it.

I agree with MM's advice: To be positive and ASSERTIVE. He has no  
reason to be
confused about his many identities, much less be apologetic. Long ago,  
I learned
to choose my first and foremost identity to be the human one. My many  
other identities
fall into place, without conflict and without apologies!

Pass this on to Anurag, if you can. I wish him all the best.

c-da

















On Jun 14, 2010, at 12:05 PM, Sushanta Kar wrote:

> Dear
> Friends,
> You will find this write up something interesting. Anurag is a B.A  
> student
> of Cotton College. By this time he has earned a well reputation as a  
> poet in
> English. Here he has raised a few question on the identity crisis of  
> the
> sylhetis of the state:
> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main45.asp?filename=hub190610personalhistories.asp
>
> Sushanta Kar
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org