WHO IS BACKWARD?

The incidents like the death of 19-year-old Nido from Arunachal Pradesh in January 2014 and the attack on two Manipuri girls at Kotla the following day often bring the plight of north-east Indians in Delhi into spotlight.

Racial discrimination is the term coined by some TV news channel. We often count the eastern states among the backward regions but as a matter of fact, we Delhiites who deem ourselves to be forward, are actually backward as we still practice prejudice against our own blood; against our own comrades!

As far as the backwardness of East is concerned, my ideas are still vague. Theirs is a women dominated society; matriarchal system exists there. Men are often seen puffing ‘bidis’ , making clouds out of it, squatting on trails; whereas women go out and fetch money. The ‘fair-sex’ is generally the head of the family.

This highlights how empowered women are in the eastern society!

Have you ever heard about the Asia’s Cleanest Village? I doubt if your mind is conjuring the images of Singapore or Japan! It’s Mawlynnong (India) which has got the ‘clean tag’. One gets stumped to see this spotless clean village near Shillong. Having soaked the beauty of the village, my friend says, “Living my entire life in the urban jungle, I just loved to stay at the village for a night which was the cherry on the cake.”

Children as young as four learn to keep their surroundings spick and span. Each and every household has a TOILET and proper public toilets as well that too clean and fresh, not stinking. I emphasized the word toilet because in Delhi, there had been a lot hue and cry over public toilets. In our so-called forward society, unabashed people draining their bladders on roads are a common sight. And ironic, we call ourselves as the developed ones!

There is this ‘Weaver’s Village’ on the outskirts of Guwahati. People residing there have elegant taste buds. Their elegance reflects in their houses, furniture, crockery, clothing and speech. They are so very down-to-earth that the simplest and the most decent family of Delhi with a tag of the most down-to-earth ones seem to abuse every sense of the word.

Their traditional occupation is weaving and they have preserved it till date. People make handsome money out of it; not even a single house is sans a car (not like Maruti or Alto). But the situation juxtaposes in Delhi where even a decent Swift Desire owner stays in high spirits; s/he flies in air looking contemptuously at others.

So here comes the moot question…who is backward??