Racism, reverse-racism: The uncomfortable truth

Pengba Aruuba Eshingee *

Protest in Delhi against racism and Curfew in Manipur for non-Manipuris

Yes, no one likes to be called a 'walking momo', 'chinky' is old hat these days. For people like you and me, with small eyes, flat nose, high cheek bones, hailing from what is called North East but staying anywhere in India away from your hometown, we are those people who are 'druggies' sloshed in western music spending our lives strumming a guitar, thriving on money sent by parents every month. The lazy vagabonds, who are good for nothing.

To them our women are 'easy', 'fast' and 'can be easily picked up' once they drive a nice car.

Go searching for a rented accommodation, even if you go with your real sister, they will say "you guys are good in lying, you are live-in partners, we don't keep such people. We don't like parties at our building every night. So, go away!"

Some landlords will even tell you, "we have had a lot of bad experience with stinky smell, God knows what do you people eat". Stereotypes and the list is endless.

Yes, the whole push for this write up was the recent happenings in Delhi, death of Nido Tania, rape of a 14-year-old Manipuri girl, followed by further attacks on two other Manipuri boys in Delhi. Not that the past instances of similar violence against people coming from North East in other cities of India have been forgotten.

RACISM -- don't we love to cry it aloud?

Cried we did. Loudly in the streets, on Twitter and Facebook and some career-activists inside TV studios with shrill voice.

What was worrying, however, was echo of holier-than-thou attitude coming out from these cries.

Being a Manipuri, one could not help but pause and try to understand the sentiments behind students in Manipuri calling for 'curfew' and asking non-locals to close their shops.

When we call 'them' racist, we also need to stop for a moment and ask ourselves, how about us?

Many will not like this statement but we are no less than them. We have been for a long, long time and we still are racist.

Growing up in those pre-internet era in the then Imphal, more of a dusty mofussil rather than the mini city that it is today, when one walks down the memory lane, there were definite patterns of "the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races", which Oxford dictionary sums up as RACISM.

The non-Manipuri, that we called "Mayang" was given different nicknames depending on what he came to do in our locality. For instance, the guy who came riding his bicycle with two 'tins' tied to the carrier, to deliver the highly adulterated 'mustard oil' was called 'teli'. Yes, it was his profession that bagged him his nickname, till then it was fine but the story didn't end there. The way we called his nickname, and how a thin and dark native boy was also called 'teli', just because he looked different from the rest of local boys smacked of the racist tinges in us.

Even within the Manipuri community, we Meiteis would say "hao-nai" for anything that didn't conform to the so called social norms in the valley. The people from, or with roots, in the hills would retort "Meitei-thidei" (apologies for the slang).

Our ancestors practiced untouchability, which former Chief Minister Rishang Keishing would highlight in many of his election speeches, of how he wasn't allowed inside a Meitei house and how water was poured to him from the steps to his hand when asked for a glass of water to quench his thirst.

That was then.

Very recently, when the rage on the death of Nido was at its peak, someone tweeted blaming, among many others "the silent public" at Lajpat Nagar who didn't do anything to save the boy. That in itself was racism.

Yes, but then how many people and public organisations in Manipur have come out and called for curfews, bandhs or blockade when non-Manipuris were gunned down or bombed out? If the silence of public at Lajpat Nagar in Delhi was racism, what is the silence of people of Manipur when 'mayangs' are killed? Do we need to measure in the same yardstick or use incidents to conveniently push our agenda?

On one hand, we want to be accepted as Indians, who live just like any other 'mainland' people. Many Manipuris have indeed settled outside Manipur, buying flats, properties and even their children speaking accented Manipuri. But on the other, we are demanding that Inner Line Permit should be imposed, there should be restrictions on 'outsiders' entering Manipur.

Isn't it time to pause and ponder that when we ourselves want us to be treated differently, why would 'they' accept us as one of them?

It is good to remember what Christopher Pike said: When you point a finger to someone, three fingers are pointing back at you.