Confessions and reflections

No, I’m not from Nepal. No, I don’t do ‘nepali dhanda’. Yes, I belong to India. Yes, I face racial discrimination each day in its capital. Racism , discrimination and sexual violence against people from northeast region of India are nothing new. To say that North eastern people are at the receiving end of this perpetual hate crime in almost all the cities and other places in India is like giving a thumbs up to Delhi for keeping up the practice. AS Reingamphi from Choithar village, Ukhrul district of Manipur was found dead in her rented accommodation in Chirag Dilli. There were signs of brutal assault on her nose, face and legs. The reports of the two post-mortems conducted remain inconclusive about the cause of death. And the landlord and the police claim that the girl committed suicide and the injuries on her person were caused by rats! The tragic death of Reingamphi has become just another example of the continuous violence against women from the Northeast. But her death b...

I remember when I was younger; I was given these messages about beauty being fair, dainty and polished for girls. How was it for the boys, tall, dark and handsome? Well, somewhere down the line beauty and the eyes of the beholder parted ways and forgot to inform us. Why because every advertisement today about creams is no longer about protecting our skin against dryness or chafing, only because we want to, but about the colour of our skin. Ours here has extended in the past few years to that of men's as well. The TDH will no longer do, being the quintessential working woman and metrosexual man now means that we all need to be white.    Even if we choose to   ignore the warnings about mercury content in these creams , can we really ignore the racism that they promote? Now, how is that not racism? Or did we forget that   apartheid   was about being treated badly because of dark skin colour? I think that the present should not learn from history? A...