Northeast India: Pride and prejudice

Passports to prove nationality, prejudiced home owners, snide comments: how discrimination can affect one’s sense of belonging

Justice, liberty, equality, respect. Such simple yet meaningful words. While growing up in my tiny part of the world, I never thought of these words much. Only when I moved to a different part of my country did I realise I actually wasn’t treated equally. I was judged by the way I look.

I’ve had to bear dirty looks, derogatory remarks, name calling, presumed opinions and discriminatory behaviour. Only a few people treat us with the same love, respect and humanity as most other Indians.

Recently, a tweet I posted about a sportsperson got a lot of attention. It said: “If you’re from Northeast India, you can become an Indian ONLY when you win a medal for the country. Otherwise we are known as ‘chinky’ ‘Chinese’ ‘Nepali’ or a new addition ‘corona’. India is not just infested with casteism but racism too...”. That’s the magic of sports! Sports help you broaden your horizons, it makes you see things that went unnoticed earlier and, above all, it gives you a sense of unity. But, the tweet was also criticised for its ‘negativity’. If that’s negativity, I want to share some of my bitter (sweet?) experiences. 1. In 2015, at the Taj Mahal in Agra with my friends, I was asked to produce my passport. When I said I’m an Indian citizen, the official laughed and said, “Then show me your passport”. Since you don’t roam around in your own country with your passport, I did not visit the Taj Mahal. But now I carry my passport with me, affecting my heart and sense of belonging.

2. Looking for places to rent in Bengaluru and Delhi, every time I’d talk to the owner of the

THE SWITCH (Above) Ankita Konwar, who is married to Milind Soman, appeared on the cover of HT Brunch in May 2020 via India’s first shoot on Zoom

“IN 2015, I COULD NOT VISIT THE TAJ MAHAL AS I WASN’T CARRYING MY PASSPORT WITH ME IN MY OWN COUNTRY”