By Paramjit Bakhshi
There is an old German story about a place called Brocken where people often got scared on climbing a certain hill. When a traveller reached the summit, he would see a giant approaching him. However, if he ventured a little further, the monster would disappear. Only much later it was discovered, that the creature which apparently greeted the traveller, through the mist, was just the shadow of the traveller himself, cast by the light behind, on the fog in front.
This is what seems to be happening, in Meghalaya. Coming through the fog of isolation, people are today scared of their own projections, under the light of modernism and change.
It is kind of Prof PM Passah to suggest, that I might have a solution to the current impasse. Frankly, I have just been trying to look through the fog of issues to understand the current unrest. Different people have given different takes on the situation, and their concerns seem to have many dimensions.
Some people are very worried, about the disappearance of the local culture. Since culture is always evolving, one wonders at what point in history, people freeze this evolution, and call it their culture. Centuries ago, all mankind lived on tree tops or in caves, and did not wear clothes. We certainly do not call this, our culture. Do we then fast forward a little, and confuse culture, with our lifestyle in an agricultural society. This cannot be true, because when people talk about Western culture, they identify it with rock music, nightclubs and fast food, all of which are fairly recent developments, in the evolution of western society. The point to be made is that technology (represented by cars, jeans, cooking gas, television, internet and mobile phones) has changed our lifestyle and the bag marked ‘culture’, which includes ways of cooking, dressing, communicating, singing and dancing cannot remain static.
The other concern is one of being swamped by outsiders even though nobody has clearly spelt out who the outsider is. Is it the Bangladeshi or is it the plainsmen from India or both? Sometimes even tribals from other areas are also called outsiders. Though the census figures point to a decrease in the non tribal population, there seems to be more visibility of outsiders in the Shillong. From one’s experience, all one can say is, that while the more affluent and upper class non tribals have gradually left Shillong, they have been replaced mostly by non tribals artisans, mistris and petty traders. These people will come here, as long as work is there, and local people do not do it themselves. The ILP will hardly stop the desperate Bangladeshi, and should Indians be stopped, the vacuum will be filled up by Bangladeshis, as has happened in many parts of Assam.
Personally, I do not see much reason, for the indigenous people, to be so fearful of other Indians. In the last forty years, power, money and property has moved, from non tribal hands to the local tribal. Local tribals today have all political power, most administrative and government jobs and government associated businesses. There is no substantial alienation of land taking place, and most of the non tribals have been confined to overcrowded ghettos, such as Barapathar. Even the fear of inter racial marriage, is being hyped up. Proportionately, very few non tribals marry local girls, and the few who do, actually “fall” in love, for in such a marriage it is the non tribal who unwittingly loses out – his money is invested here and is hardly ever taken out, his children adapt to local customs, and do not follow either his food habits, his lineage, his traditions or his religion and the man alone, remains an outsider. On the contrary, some of the fiercest proponents and defenders of local culture are children of such mixed marriages.
If it the fear of Bangladeshis, such a battle cannot be fought without aligning with the rest of the country. The Bangladeshis are present by the thousands even in Delhi or in Mumbai and a national effort has to be made in this regard. Meghalaya cannot fight this battle alone. What it has to do is to raise national awareness and ensure that the existing social and legal safeguards are sincerely applied. What is lacking are not laws but their incorruptible application.
To an objective observer Meghalaya is a land of opportunity. We have an excellent climate, incomparable natural beauty and compared to the other north eastern hill states – better connectivity. All we need is to develop good roads, water supply and electricity, and we can tap into the potential offered by the tourism, health care and education sectors. Of course we also need a sea change, in our attitudes. From being perpetually scared of change, we need to move ahead a bit, and similar to the opening story we will find that the ogre blocking our way is illusionary.
Since this monster is highlighted, during politically opportune occasions, some people have opined, that it has been resurrected this time, to unseat the present chief minister. Of course there is an element of truth in this perception yet the current imbroglio needs to be viewed, from a historical perspective.
A society which has lived, hundreds of years without change, is very conservative. Since lifetimes pass, without change, people tend to think, that they have learnt, all that was needed to be learnt. They justly start thinking, that there is no need to know anything new, because with the all the knowledge at hand they already have a fine way of living. So all the old relevant knowledge gets lumped together, in a revered cluster of customs and tradition, and this assumes a significance – an importance – which newer facts and knowledge can never have. When change knocks on their doors, peoples’ minds get bewildered in having to deal with new ideas, and they react with fear, anger and even violence to the prospect of change. Then every new idea is emotionally and often irrationally opposed whether it involves new rail lines, factories, hospitals, schools or housing colonies. This battle has ranged across the globe whenever an industrial life style has made inroads into agricultural societies and it is happening here too. It is only when people realise the sheer inevitability of change and start feeling that there is some economic and practical gain by such change that the resistance dies down.
For this to happen our system of governance has to start delivering. People cannot be fed promises all the time. Very few people have tasted the fruits, of the mythical tree, named development. Unfortunately this non deliverance is the political legacy which Dr. Sangma has inherited and one wonders if it can be changed during his tenure alone. One can only hope that the winds of political change blowing in Delhi will blow this way too. And if we are alert to the opportunity and can find some good people we can catch it in our sails to correct our course.
Such a course correction is long overdue. We need politics to become fruitful, but we also need social and not mere technological change. In the social arena, it is unfortunate that no one has joined hands, with Mr Michael Syiem, who has been waging a lonely battle for a long time. He advocated, compulsory registration of all marriages – to protect the rights of women and children, and his new initiative, advocates property rights for both sexes. Though some have scoffed at this, one feels that, it will have a very far reaching effect. By depriving boys of the right of inheritance, the society, unknowingly encourages male irresponsibility, and also robs boys of genuine self confidence. This in many cases leads to subconscious anger and hurt and could possibly be the cause of youthful arrogance and alcoholism. A tradition which deprives half the population, anyway, needs to be revaluated seriously.
To end at the beginning, like the opening story, we also have the mountains, the mist and the light. One hopes that in 2014 we will be smart enough not to invent new sagas of horror. This land, with right imagination and effort, can also be a fertile ground for fresh tales of prosperity, joy, and freedom.
The writer is a life skills trainer and can be contacted at [email protected]