By Babatdor Dkhar
I only recently came across a topic that had been trending globally on Twitter about a CNN documentary which dealt with being black in America and more specifically being black in Silicon Valley. Soledad O’Brien, the host had interviewed Michael Arrington, the TechCrunch Founder and the Valley’s foremost technology journalist. A controversy arose as a result of the interview when Arrington said that he did not know a single African American entrepreneur and could not think of anyone when asked to name his favourite African American tech entrepreneur. Call it whatever you want, but the more I read on the matter, the more I drew parallels to the status quo of being Khasi in a not so Khasi world.
For the million or so Khasis in Meghalaya and a scattered thousands in different parts of the world, ambitions at every level have always been small and controlled. While it is only fair that we have a sprinkle of outliers here and rays of evergreen sunshine there, a culture of very below average aspirations has become our definition. Our ambitions continue to remain stunted, not so much for a lack of opportunities but for a closed and extremely localised perspective. We fight tooth and nail for better representation but don’t pay attention to the needs of basic, primary and higher education. Our sense of pride is not only unfortunate but meanders swiftly to the right side of misguided. Like a bad (normal) Bollywood movie, we under-perform and over act.
I honestly believe that we are too obsessed with our identity and that is representative of how we think as a people, if you ask me. Coupled with the fact that somewhere between time immemorial and tomorrow, our sense of humour left us for greener pastures, any semblance of critique turns into this unwanted herculean rebuttal. Humour me, even for a tiny bit as I try and paint a picture of how we are perceived by a not so Khasi world. “Very creative and very laid back” says one. “Do you play the guitar, everyone there plays the guitar?” And praises of our football team dominate an otherwise very stereotypical image of us. It is only when the discussions change towards the more serious stuff like technology, education, writing, journalism, entrepreneurship and anything in between that we realise that we are but small fishes in a tiny and untidy little pond. While I am in no way whatsoever implying that music and football are not serious things, the ambience of such harsh realities is not lost on us, I hope.
Again, let us look at us from a neutral and blissful point of view. Democracy is not really democracy anymore is it. Every four or five years, we have the same set of morons who have no inkling and comprehension of what their office entails begging and pleading for their chance to feel important and their shot at the Meghalayan dream or the Khasi dream. It is an embarrassing cliché and you could even call it a cop out, throwing stones at the political class but facts are facts are facts. What infuriates most people that I talk to is not so much the lying and the stealing (it comes as a package) but the sheer disregard for the people who form the other half of the equation. We find ourselves in a situation where the only real choices that we have include an illiterate cartel that continues to destroy our natural resources, leaders and activists who graduate from non-governmental organizations with excellent skills in communal protection and self proclaimed farsightedness and relatives of the been there done that brigade. The only entrepreneurs that we are creating are contractors of every kind. Oh yes, the pinnacle of Khasi success. Middle class aspirations end with guaranteed salary at a government functionary and you can only imagine how low the bar has been set for everyone else.
Now, this is not a criticism or a bashing of how things have become as far as the essence of being Khasi is concerned. Rather, it is an attempt at stating some hard facts no matter how unpleasant they may be. If we are to make the strides and developments that we all crave for, the only way of doing it as every instance of invention and progress in history has shown, is by infusing confidence and necessary support and investment to the entrepreneurs and thinkers amongst us. A way of doing that and creating the infrastructure and subsequently the catalyst of creation and employment is by fostering a climate of creativity, research and entrepreneurship. And I talk about these facets in a manner that they include medicine, construction, sports, education, writing, art, music, journalism, social work, philanthropy, engineering, business, etc.
A culture of creation and contributing to the pie will usher a different kind of entitlement, one that we actually deserve, for a change. Forever, we have been the poorest and undeserving cousins in a system that rewards and appreciates meritocracy above everything else. Outlook changes when one does not have to beg for handouts. In so many ways, this is a standard opinion piece on why we need to come out of the rut that is the result of decades of corruption and day light hypocrisy.
(The writer is the Founder and Editor of NORTHEAST MONOLOGUES at www. northeastmonologues.com. You can receive updates and information by liking it at https://www. facebook.com/NorthEastMonolog