Editor,
My daughter, working in Bangalore was subjected to verbal abuse which I want to narrate in this letter so that our loathsome tribal brethren learn from their mistakes. She joined a service based firm few months ago and was humiliated by her colleagues who wanted to know about the contributions of the northeast tribesmen to the national exchequer since they don’t pay taxes. The northeastern region makes up only 8 percent of the total geographical area of the country and is surviving wholly on funds provided by the Union Government to the region. This money comes from the taxes paid by mainland Indians. Someone from her office even commented that the tribes of the northeast are “parasites” and it is high time that they pay income tax instead of “living off others”. She was told that despite living off the mainlanders the tribes of the northeast deride and hate them in their region but cry foul when their own are at the receiving end in the rest of the county.
My daughter, who is a taxpayer, thought of retorting but I persuaded her to face things calmly because running away is not the solution. So why do we tribals continue to bicker and spit venom on others even while those of us who live and work outside are made to suffer? Those who have not gone out of Meghalaya and the region must come out of their frog’s-well and face reality. And what is this hatred against non-tribals all about? We hate them, then we hate our own Jaintia and Garo brethren, then we hate our own tribes on the basis of religious denomination and when it comes down to the domestic level we hate our family members too. Of late, some letters in these columns have been referring to non tribals as “dkhars” and some vested interests (looks political) have been crying foul over the allotment of stalls in MUDA. But we are also not happy even with our own tribal “dkhars” from Jaintia Hills whom we scorn for buying out the entire Shillong with their liquid coal cash. So where will we end up? Is our community and race all about hatred? And despite so much of hatred and the quest for ethnic superiority the reality is exactly otherwise. We tribals are making a mockery of ourselves in the regional and national domain by our inherent hatred of the “other.”
However, the positive side is what Sushit Choudhury had said in his letter “MUDA Affairs” (ST, Dec 1, 2016) that the present generation of young tribal boys and girls are active and do not foment communal hatred, are open-hearted and have a logical head on their shoulders as they mix with people from the rest of the country. I look forward to the day when more broad-minded youth lead the way in our society.
Yours etc.
A Lyngdoh
Shillong – 4
Public libraries
Editor,
A public library has manifold uses. David Morris ,a renowned researcher , wrote a stirring piece in one of his articles stating that more than just books and computers, libraries are places where individuals gather to discuss, interact and imagine. Then Robert Putnam said , “People may go to a library mainly for information but they also find each other. If I am not mistaken RR colony was a proud locality where a Public Library functioned up to the 1970’s in the name of Vivekananda Smriti Grantaghar. Individuals rendered free service and there was a moderate collection of books in the library . But due to lack of funds and other factors the library perished away leaving the book lovers of the locality disheartened and sad . Where have the books gone ? The importance of a Library in community development is forgotten by everybody ! Moreover , the locality does not have a proper ‘SITTING CUM READING CENTRE’ for elderly people. In our country , in nearly all localities there are such centres for senior citizens. Hence a sincere effort is expected in this regard from our appropriate bodies .
Yours etc.,
Anjan Kumar Das,
Shillong- 6