Travel Log 10/3 - 20/3/08

After about 10 days of exploration and travel in Assam, mainly in and around Guwahati and Gossaigaon, my head swirls with all that I’ve learnt and observed. First of all I feel compelled to briefly touch upon the numerous, rather offensive stereotypes that folks from other parts of India have about this region. Stuff I’ve heard since I was a kid. While they sounded offensive even before I ever came to the region, now they feel particularly repulsive. And while hardly deserving attention, they still merit a couple of minutes of censure. Of the top of my head, some of the garbage I’ve heard either first-hand or second-hand include: “Do they have schools there?” “What about roads?” “And eating habits, don’t they eat just about anything?” “Don’t they all hate other Indians?” “I’ve heard that it’s filled with jungles” “Literacy and education levels must be so low”

Let me be really brief in retorts to each of the above respectively in the order that they’re shown…

Yes and very good ones;

Yes, as bad or good as you’d find elsewhere in India;

No, what is eaten is called food;

No, and please, it’s not like folks in other regions are oh so loving to their fellow-humans…need we be reminded of the violence against Muslims in 1992 Mumbai and 2002 Gujarat or the savagery towards Dalits and Tribals in most parts of India;

No, although the countryside is much prettier and greener than what you would find in most other parts of India;

No, actually literacy levels across most of the region are comparable to Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which have the highest literacy/education levels in India. In fact Mizoram is the second most literate state in India after Kerala. Furthermore the per-capita college-going rate is the highest or second-highest in all of India

Ok, now that this painful exercise is out of the way, I would like to share some general observations that I found interesting in the few days that I’ve been here

Guwahati bus service – I know that this would seem quite amazing to believe, but the Guwahati bus service has been the best I’ve been on so far. Compared to some of the metros, it’s comparable to Mumbai, marginally better than Chennai, significantly better than Calcutta, and simply streets ahead of both Bangalore and Delhi. I have never had to wait more than 5 minutes at a bus stop thus far, and have almost always found a seat. There are times when I’ve had to wait nearly an hour in other cities and find my rather large self standing cramped in the midst of sweat and irritability. The conductors have also been helpful once I tell them that I’m new to the city and ensure that I get of at the right stop. The experience has also been far more tolerable than what one faces in other cities. One doesn’t have to deal with the annoying tardiness in Bangalore, the occasionally bizarre speeds in Chennai or the macho molesting madness in Delhi (where one can see, as clear as day, women being leered at and groped)

Strong presence of Women – The last sentence on bus services directly connects to a particularly heartening sight in Assam, and from what I’ve heard, all over the Northeast. While economic development levels in the region (due primarily to resource usurpation by the Indian state) are comparable to some of the poorer North and Central Indian regions, both visually and from data corroboration, what is astonishingly different about the Northeast when compared to North India is the significant public presence of women, cutting across age, class and community. On every bus ride that I’ve taken within Guwahati and when I travelled to Gossaigaon, almost always at least 40-60% of the commuters were women, even at night times (almost impossible to see in Delhi). It was similar to what I’ve seen in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. There was also a discipline shown by men on buses getting up from women’s reserved seating when women came in, again something missing in some other cities. Even on the streets, one sees many women, students, workers, vendors, housewives mulling around the crowd and travelling on public transportation without any hesitancy or fear.

Another noticeable feature, of course due to this large public presence of women, is the markedly lesser leering and harassment that women face here, again in comparison to what I’ve seen in Delhi and even Chennai. Now I’ve no doubt in my mind that cat-calls, groping and harassment of women very much exist in Assam and the rest of Northeast India, but so far, each and every woman I’ve spoken to, who has also been to Delhi, said they feel much safer here than they ever did in Delhi. Even many of the men I spoke to highlighted the huge amounts of sexual harassment that their female friends from the region face in Delhi, when studying or working there, facing the oppressive brunt of it as much because of their gender as their place of origin. There’s something in this place that a lot of the other cities and towns in India can learn from.

Spunk and paan-stained teeth – A particular incident stands out in my mind with respect to the public presence of women that again was uplifting to witness. On a cramped overnight train ride from Gossaigaon back to Guwahati, the compartment I was precariously standing in was overflowing with large gunny sacks filled with vegetables. They belonged to a group of about 6 middle-aged women, all with weathered feet, strong arms, red paan-stained teeth and wearing worn-out, tattered saris. They sat with the poise and strength of daily struggle. I asked one of them (who looked like the leader of the group), where they were heading and through a paan-filled gurgle, she said that they were going to sell vegetables at the weekly Sunday markets in Kokhrajar town and Guwahati. They bought veggies from across state lines in West Bengal (where there’s always a surplus and thus much lower prices) and sold them at the weekly markets for a small profit. Upon reaching the first station, Kokhrajar, they proceeded to unload these monstrous sacks, all the while barking at the men in the train to move aside. The word that comes to mind is spunk.

Of course my heart took a little dive when I saw the local Sub-Inspector of the Assam Police at the station receive his weekly bribe as they were unloading the sacks, but even here the women’s chutzpah was evident. She handed him a twenty-rupee note, and when he asked for more, she completely brushed him off. I’m not sure what she said, but she seemed to indicate the exact bodily orifice that he could shove his baton in or something along those lines. The khaki-clad lout slunk away, muttering something to himself, probably looking for the next handout. I believe this weekly exercise is because it’s illegal to transport produce on passenger trains, and that too across state lines…but then again this is India and indeed, South Asia…the people always find a way to survive. Three women got off with half the veggies as the train trundled on, and the same cycle of events repeated itself when we reached Guwahati in the wee hours of the morning. I don’t know what it was that lifted my spirits, whether it was their spunk, their attitude, their powerful forearms that heaved sacks I would find myself struggling with or their entrepreneurial spirit in the face of obvious hardship. Maybe it was a bit of each or just the picture of the hardened working-class woman, tougher than anyone else.

Adivasis in Lower Assam: Struggle and strife – While in Gossaigoan I had the opportunity to interact quite intimately with an Adivasi student organisation (All Adivasi Students Association of Assam or AASAA) that campaigned on behalf of the Adivasi community across the state. Here, as in the rest of India, the term “student organization” is quite a stretch, with many of the members and leaders married with children. Student organizations for the most part are political fronts, not especially concerned with students per say, but more as power-garnering machines before they go on to contest elections as part of some political party or the other.

I did learn a lot about the Adivasis in Assam though, who mainly came in the mid-1840s till the 1920s as indentured labour to work for the British in Assam’s numerous tea gardens. Many continue to work in the gardens till date, while others left and started cultivating their own land. The connection of the Adivasis with the tea gardens is very strong, and there is another organization called the Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA) active specifically with those working in the tea gardens, however I haven’t able to meet any members or leaders as yet. The Adivasis do face it from various angles here, whether it’s political disenfranchisement, socioeconomic hardships or sectarian violence. And even the little franchise they are able to access through reservation in educational, job-related and political seats in other parts of India as a result of their Scheduled Tribe (ST) status is missing in Assam, as it’s the only state in India to deny them ST status. In fact ST status remains the central (and often only) campaign demand for all the Adivasi groups in the state.

The situation of the Adivasis in Assam, as well as the sectarianism and violence existing between them and the other communities like Bodos and Muslims, is of course an issue that cannot fit into a paragraph in a field notes dispatch, however I’d still like to touch upon a couple of issues that really stood out for me.

Strong local knowledge and Sectarianism – AASAA did request me to work on a memorandum with regards to their campaign to get ST status, and two things stood out as I was discussing the same with them.

One was their acute knowledge of local happenings and goings-on, and this is true with activists in other communities I met as well. They knew almost every Member of Parliament (MP) and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Assam, and particularly about those who directly represented their district or sub-district. I have no clue as to who my MP or MLA back home in Bangalore is. And with Karnataka politics going down the present path, I would be hard-pressed to name the Chief Minister at any point in time. However they not only knew names, but their political orientation with respect to the Adivasi cause, honesty-levels, inside secrets and so on, mainly I guess because their campaign demanded such intimate knowledge. It was of course in complete disproportion to their knowledge of national or international affairs, even with respect to their own cause. For instance they didn’t know that an All-India Federation of ST organisations existed whom they could potentially ally with.

The second aspect of that discussion that stood out was their intense sectarianism. They didn’t feel like even traditionally sympathetic movements such as the Left or Civil Liberties ones could be trusted as allies or supporters. Partly, I suppose this sectarianism is forced upon, not just them, but other communities as well, by the divide and conquer tactics of the Indian state. However another reason I feel it exists is because, the leaders within the communities want to maintain a hold over their personal sense of power and not have it diluted in any way through coalescing with other groups. The sectarianism can also be internecine. While I was their meeting with various people, 3 Bodos were killed in fighting between rival Bodo militant groups in a clash for power in the Bodoland Territorial Council.

Hegemonic presence of the Armed Indian State – Thus far I have seen gun-toting Central security forces in every place I have visited or stayed at. Whether they’re military, paramilitary or state police forces, their presence is visible and one of absolute power. Even the lowliest police constable is armed with an Indian-made INSAS Assault Rifle (apparently as deadly as an AK-47 or M-16) or at the very least a rapid-fire sten gun. This, when in many other parts of India, cops barely have a baton when they’re on patrol. One doesn’t normally get the feeling that the Indian state is a particularly hegemonic one in many parts of India (mainly because of its bumbling incompetence), but one can really sense its power here.

I’m tempted to draw comparisons with what I saw of the Israeli occupation in Palestine. It’s a lot more cut-and-dry over there, while over here there are multiple layers of occupation as well as complexities arising out of nationalist movements fighting both with the Indian state and sometimes with each other as well as a shaky engagement with the federalist experiment. However one commonality is the hegemonic strength of the military in both operations, and the horrendous atrocities inflicted upon the occupied peoples in both Palestine and Northeast India.

And one really doesn’t have to dig deep to find evidence of these atrocities. As in Palestine, nearly everyone has some connection or the other to the bloody treatment meted out by occupying security forces...a friend tortured to death, an uncle maimed, a cousin jailed on false charges, an aunt shot in the legs…and I’ve been here all of 10 days. There are also those caught between the armed insurgencies and the military, facing the brunt of both groups, and risking the wrath of one or the other.

Workers killing workers – During an Adivasi bandh or shutdown in Gossaigaon, I had the opportunity to interact with a Central Reserve Police Force squad who were breaking for their lunch. Usually during bandhs put forward by any community, the entire town shuts down, but this tea shop was made to open temporarily to accommodate the CRPF soldiers. Famished after trekking through nearby villages, I took the opportunity to have my regular tea and bun meal and proceeded to chat with the soldiers.

Among the ones I spoke with, I found out that one of them was the son of a Public Works Department labourer in Hyderabad, another belonged to a tribal community from Central India, while the subedar (sergeant) came from a small farming family in Rajasthan. All mentioned the bad pay and work conditions, stating that they had barely enough to make ends meet. Once they found out that I was examining labour conditions in the region, the chap from Hyderabad immediately said that a union in the CRPF would be useful but was not permitted

It is a particularly Machiavellian work of art by the Indian state that puts the working class in a uniform, arms him with a deadly weapon and makes him kill and maim other poor working class people. In terms of their material conditions, these soldiers have more in common with the people they’re killing than the political fat cats and money bags whose murderous bidding they follow.

Cricket on uneven ground – After meeting the CRPF squad I roamed around some more and soon spotted a cricket match ensuing on the banks of a stream on the outskirts of Gossaigaon. The “ground”, if that is what it can be called, was basically a patch of bumpy grass mounds with scattered rocks and a few cows grazing on the side. Nevertheless the game was being played with gusto. Due to the shutdown, all the kids and youth had no school or work to go to, so it looked like cricket was going to be the day’s entertainment.

What struck me was the fielding skill of the players. On such a horrendous surface, they were judging irregular bounce and speeds with amazing alacrity. It further baffles me to think of the rather appalling fielding standards of the Indian national cricket team. Now the team is probably the second-best in the world after Australia, but is seriously hampered when it comes to the fielding department. I wondered how it was that in a country where the foundation of young cricketers was built on such uneven, rocky surfaces (even on full fledged cricket fields in the big cities) could there be such an appalling paucity of high-quality fielders in the national team.

On a lighter side – I think I will end this dispatch with a couple of interesting hoardings and posters I saw. I have always felt that my own place of origin in India and the entire South Asian region is a land and people of delicious insanity, and this just further proves my point.

At 3 establishments near the Paltan Bazaar bus stop in Guwahati I saw the following next to each other:

“Only Lodging”

“Only Fooding”

“Lodging and Fooding available”

At the tea shop in Gossaigaon, I saw this poster advertising for spoken English classes. I’m reproducing verbatim:

“Good News! Are you week in English? Want to develope your speaking power? Are you 10+? No Problem! Join SPOKEN ENGLISH. Learn to speak English in the easiest way and develope your personality. Admission stars from: 25th Jan 2008”

And finally, trust our national icon, Bollywood to come up with a lovely truism of a caption for one of it’s films starring huge stars like Saif Ali Khan and Bipasha Basu. The films name is Race:

RACE
Two Brothers…One will Play to Win…One will Play to Defeat