Hasina Kharbhih, image from the website of her NGO |
As I was reading Ashish Kundra’s book, A Resurgent Northeast: Narratives of Change,
the name of Hasina Kharbhih caught my attention. It didn’t take me much time to
verify that it was the same Hasina whom I taught in high school back in the
late 1980s. This is what Kundra says about her:
Sexual exploitation of urban migrants pushed
seventeen-year-old Hasina Kharbhih to start the Impulse NGO Network in
Meghalaya. She offers a contrarian view of the skilling programme run by the
government. ‘Skill India turned our rural youth into labourers,’ she fumes. She
pledged to stem the tide of migration of rural women by leveraging an exclusive
source of strength of the region: handlooms. Over the years, she has created a
network of 30,000 artisans…. A Fulbright scholar, Hasina’s work has won her many
accolades and awards.
I had read about Hasina a few years back in the
magazine, Down To Earth. Kundra’s book gave me more information about
her services in less words. Though I played absolutely no role in her evolution
as a social activist, I found myself feeling proud as her teacher.
A friend of mine visited Shillong a couple of weeks
back. “It’s a veritable hell,” he said. Development has destroyed the hill
station. Monstrous buildings tower on either side of the highway. Vehicles
start crawling on the highway much before reaching the city. Too many vehicles,
too little space on the road.
That friend and I both lived in Shillong for a fairly
long period. I worked 15 years there as a teacher, first at a school and then
at a college. He was there as a student mostly and then as a journalist for a
brief period. The Shillong we knew is not the Shillong that my friend saw on
his visit. “The change is catastrophic,” he said.
Kundra’s book also ends on a note of lament.
Development has pitted many parts of Northeast against the risk of losing
everything that makes them (the people of Northeast) special, he says.
All these YouTube channels that glorify Shillong are just bluffing people, my friend says. Where’s the charm in a hill station that is smothered by a grotesque concrete jungle and creeping traffic? You can make a reel in some tourist place and project a place as Paradise.
As I read Kundra, I imagined Hasina Karbhih sitting in
her car on the last stretch of the Guwahati-Shillong highway. I wondered what
she would be thinking of the development that ate Shillong like a
cancer.
Kundra mentions, though rather too inconspicuously, that
corruption is a serious problem in the Northeast. The union government gives a
lot of money and other benefits such as tax exemptions to the region. But the
money doesn’t reach the ordinary people of the villages. The so-called leaders
eat up all the money. When I was in Shillong, I was astounded by the way the
rich grew richer while the poor became poorer in Meghalaya. All the talk about
tribal culture of sharing and caring was just blah-blah even in 1980s. The
situation must be far worse now.
I see a lot of people from the Northeast working in
the fish stalls and other such places here in my hometown in Kerala now. It is
very ironical. Earlier we from the South went to Northeast in search of jobs.
Now they come over here in search of jobs. Destiny is pretty much of a joke.
There’s a difference, however. We were treated as third-class citizens there in
the Northeast in those days. But we treat the people from the Northeast here
now as any other citizen. We call them bhais, brothers. They used to
call us dkhars, outsiders.
They had reasons to feel threatened by our presence among them. We took up good jobs there. We don’t have any reason to feel threatened by their presence here now. They do the jobs which we don’t like to do. Our youth are going to Canada and Australia and so on pursuing big dreams. The youth from the Northeast are here to fill a vacuum in a nightmarish reality. They have become part and parcel of Kerala’s day-to-day life. I wonder what Hasina Karbhih would have to say about it.
A rural family in Meghalaya, pic from my album of 1980s |
PS. This is not a book
review, obviously. Just some thoughts that flashed through my mind as I read
Kundra’s book which is a fairly good and comprehensive overview of the present condition
of the Northeast.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteThe only absolute guarantee in life is change... very often, not for the better... YAM xx
Amen to that.
DeleteCorruption is ruining everything? You don't say... Too many people in power have no concern for the little people. Sigh.
ReplyDeletePower not only corrupts but also blinds people!
DeleteSad that meaningless development is destroying pristine lands.
ReplyDeleteAlternative thinking is required in such places.
Delete"development' is a much maligned and abused word.
ReplyDeleteYes, Sabka Vikas, for example.
DeleteI too have observed Northeast girls working in hotels of Trivandrum when I was there. Development costs sometimes what we like most.
ReplyDeleteThat's it, Murthy ji. Development is a double-edged sword.
Delete