Homeless at Home

After unsuccessfully haggling with 3 auto drivers, I resigned to my fate. At 6’2 my attempts to ‘blend in’ with my surroundings here in the North East have failed miserably. In Nagaland I’m ‘plain maanu’, man from the plains. In Meghalaya I am known as ‘Dkhar’, an outsider. I am a non – indigenous, non – local, non – foreign, Indian outsider and fare game for all overcharging auto drivers.

Living in Delhi, a city of migrants, my sense of ‘me’ is not defined by land. Who is an original ‘Dilli Walla’? We all came from some where else. Delhi has had its share of communal blood shed, but for me, I can disconnect. There is no indigenous Dilli Walla, but with time anyone can become a local.

Here in the Meghalaya semantics has been politically mobilised. A fear of outsiders has gripped this state. An indigenous minority governed by an outsider majority, is the feared future. Protectionism is the need of the hour. In the on going indigenous versus outsider movement, it is the non indigenous locals who are suffering. They are homeless at home.

The Professor

‘My family has been in the North East for over a hundred years, I moved to Shillong in 1968 (Meghalaya got its state hood in 1972) but here in Meghalaya I’m not considered a North Eastern. How long does it take to become a local?’

The Professor smiled, seemingly resigned to his fate, as an Assamese of Bengali descent, he is just not North Easterner enough for Meghalaya.

Here it’s not about being a local, it is about being indigenous.

I spent the pervious night at Tango, a club in Police Bazzar. Sitting with friends and family, discussing the logistics of the after party, I happened to mention my subsequent meeting with the professor to one of my Khasi acquaintances.

‘Aawh, don’t listen to that Begali, he’ll only tell you lies.’ I smiled, sipped my beer and left for the after party. The following morning I found my way to Lower Lachumiere, the Professor welcomed me in and the ‘lies’ began.

‘The Bengalis and the Nepalese are the original settlers of Shillong.’ Seeing my confusion, smiling he pre-empted my interjection.

‘Shillong was a small hamlet, there was nothing here. The British came in and made it their capitol. With them they brought in the Bengalis to run their administration and the Nepali Ghurkhas to protect them. The locals (Khasis, Jaintias, Garos) settled down around the British set up.’

Sir, what about all these stories of discrimination by outsiders? Is it all unfounded?

‘No, no, it is true. There was a time when the non – tribals controlled the power and money. They had a head start and made the best of it. They were horrible to the tribals. They treated them with disrespect; they took advantage of the tribals. The tribal were backward and exploited.’

‘However today, where is the backwardness, where is the exploitation? You stand at any red light, watch the cars as they pass, see who is driving them and you’ll realise where the money is.’

Later: I took the professors suggestion, I stood at a crossing and observed. The percentage of drivers is heavily leaning in favour of the indigenous.

‘There is 85% reservation (40% Khasis + Jaintia, 40% Garo, 5% Smaller Tribes) in education. The remaining 15% is open so in reality, there is about 90% reservation. There is reservation when it comes to Government jobs as well. In the private sector, pressure groups like the KSU are pushing for indigenous employment.’

This isn’t a baseless claim by the Professor - Mr. Hamlet, the General Secretary of the KSU (Khasi Students Unions), stated ‘private indigenous employment’ as one of their objectives.

‘Out of the 60 assembly seats, 55 our reserved for the indigenous. Even large businesses are today controlled by them, though the Marwari’s are still the big players.’

‘They control the political power, they run the administration, they get all the benefits of reservation, how are they exploited? Today we are being discriminated, we are the minority. There is a steady exodus of the non – indigenous. How can we call a place home if we can’t own property, if we don’t have a stake in its future, if we can never be locals?’

‘If you look at Meghalaya today, there is still exploitation, but it’s the indigenous exploiting the indigenous. There is a percentage of the populous that benefits from the reservation, but at the cost of the majority. We as ‘outsiders’ can’t fix this, it’s on them.’

The Professor spent his Sunday morning sharing his experiences with me. We sat in his rented house, sipping tea, eating breakfast, talking.

Ghurkhas for Ghurkhaland

Vrinda* walked down the slope, passed the 15 dogs scattered across the drive way, in lower Mawprem. With dignity and grace she performed her daily chores with an ease that comes with experience. I saw her everyday, but never realised she was different. Standing a foot above the other Kongs, in the Meghalian matri - lineal society, she was the only one who wore sindhoor.

Born to a Shillong based Ghurkha couple, having never been to Nepal, she has no connection with her ‘home’. Raised in Mawprem, today a ‘rented’ Nepali ghetto of sorts, she too married into a third generation Shillong based Ghurkha family. She speaks fluent Khasi, which was more than apparent as Kha Par (my cousins’ aunt) translates for me.

With a smile she answered Kha Pars’ questions, how she could smile was beyond me. Having lived her whole life in Shillong, working to make ends meet, she doesn’t own an inch of land. As an outsider she can’t, she doesn’t have the right to own her home. Ironically, Ghurkhas can buy and own land in the UK, but not in Meghalaya, because here they are outsiders, non – indigenous.

My grandparents bought land and built a house to give my parents a home. My parents bought land, built a house to give my sister and me a home. Like any parents, they want to provide us with a secure future, a house that we can come back to, our home. Vrinda is no different; she put her life saving together and bought a house for her children. A house she will live in once she retires, a house they can call their own, a house three hours away, across a state border in Assam.

Vrinda was born in Shillong, grew up in Shillong, married in Shillong, gave birth in Shillong but she will die in Assam in a house away from home.

*Name changed

Just Another Bad Blues

There I was, leaning against a black, UP registered Opel Astra in the main Laitumukrah parking lot with the Khasi Bob Dylan, Lou Majaw. Across a black roof, over the reflection of the changing clouds, we talked shop and I was struck with a beautiful realisation, only in Shillong.

‘In my grandfathers’ time, Khasis, Jaintias, Garos, Bengalis, Assamese, Nepalese, Marwaris, all communities lived together, they lived in perfect harmony. There was no problem, no violence, no resentment. What new now? What has changed?’

‘It simple, it’s all about business. It about who gets the money, who gets the job, and who get the opportunities.’

‘The only difference between the insurgents and politicians is, the insurgents are underground criminals and our politicians, well they are ‘respected’ criminals. It’s all about money, it’s all about business. Today, politics is a job, insurgency is a job and business is a job, it just about who get what.’

‘Some folks just need an excuse and this (movement against outsiders) is the perfect excuse. There many people I know whose whole life is an excuse. There are always just passing the blame. People need to wake up and see reality as it is.’

‘People came here for the 3 W’s, Wine, Women and Weather. We here have been given a gift, why not share it? There is no problem. They (non – indigenous) have been here for ages, they didn’t come yesterday. All this (movement against outsiders) is,’ he paused and his deep, raspy voice he said, ‘just another bad blues.’

When land defines our identity, non - indigenous locals are stuck, landless, baring the burden of their ancestry. I am reminded of the Boston Tea Party, as the Yankees through boxes of tea over board dressed as the indigenous, American Indians, they shouted ‘no taxation without representation.’ Amazingly, here the indigenous have the representation but pay no taxes and the non – indigenous pay taxes but have no representation, no land and are considered an undesirable ‘burden’.