After high school, I moved on to pursue professional studies in West Bengal & chose to start off my career in Mumbai. The city was kind enough to overlook my Assamese origin (or was it immaterial to them), allowed me in, provided shelter, and I also landed up a job I couldn%u2019t have dreamt of elsewhere.
I fell in love with a girl from Bihar in college, and amongst apprehensions & debates with family members, also married her. In flesh & blood, one couldn%u2019t tell if she was Assamese or Bihari. Needless to say, she stood by me in every stance I took in life, no matter how risky the proposition was. Thanks to her support, mentally & financially too, today I enjoy a decent lifestyle and not only support my family well, but also pursue my hobbies & interests.
In traveling various places for studies & work, I meet people from all walks of life %u2013 some speak in English, while others prefer Hindi. It never occurs to me that I am any different from them or, they treat me differently. They are only more inquisitive about knowing more about my Homeland, its people, culture, and of course, INSURGENCY!
I, or any other Assamese elsewhere in India & Abroad welcome all such discussions, save the last. All questions asked %u2013 all of them laid to rest!
Every time this happens, I want to discuss our unforgettable quest for freedom & the victorious tales that followed, I feel like explaining the picturesque valleys & why this beautiful state is called EVERGREEN, I wish to mention Joymoti in all exuberance & narrate tales of Tejimola which my Dad used as ammunition to put me to sleep as a child.
Has this become so innate of my Xunor Oxom that every time I feel like talking about my Motherland, I am rendered speechless by a single reference statement of a heinous act by some banned, inhuman activist group in the past %u2013 which only bears semblance to barbaric groups the world has earlier witnessed & condemned?
Killing innocent %u201CHindi Speaking%u201D people to prove one%u2019s existence in itself speaks a lot about the hollow ideologies of the (in)humans behind it. This is known to all of us, and may be we all await justice.
But here is an example of what is the outcome of awaiting justice:
Why is justice selectively meted out to people in America's bad books (Saddam, Milosevic, etc) and not others like Saudi & UAE rulers (routing money for terrorism), Neighboring Nations (training terrorists), Sudanese Govt. (Darfur genocide), Pinochet (Chilean dictator who supported UK against Argentina in Falklands War in 80's)?
So, sitting home awaiting ministerial delegates & justice may just not help. It is time we openly raised our voices, not to prevent innocent killings, not to fight terrorism, not to save Assam%u2019s reputation, but to STOP THESE (IN)HUMANS.
My Wife now wants to learn Assamese fluently before she steps into my hometown during the next visit to my parents, due to fear of %u201Cgetting caught%u201D as a Hindi speaking citizen.
My Mom does not know if she should feel triumphant, (she always wished that her daughter-in-law spoke fluent Oxomia) OR, feel ashamed that her Son wed her and got her to a land where this weirdest discrimination existed.
