First and foremost, it stands to remove the stereotype that Northeast girls are beyond scantily-clad beings. Secondly, it can send a positive signal about the healthy dietary habits of the Northeasterners. Finally, Indians can understand that the Northeasterners also contribute to the nation-building process of India.
By Homen Thangjam
Now is not the right time to talk about the pitfalls of Indian diversity or chauvinism, or even racism. We are in a celebrative mood for Mirabai Chanu from Manipur has secured a Silver Medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Nevertheless, we believe it is the right moment to talk about the “slurs” given that Northeasterners of India had scarcely received positive treatment in numerous parts of our nation. Mirabai’s achievement, to some extent, can do away with many of the “stereotyping” about this racial stock who are predominantly mongoloid, speaking languages as diverse as Indians.
Beyond the looks, one of the stigmas attached with the Northeasters is their food habit. One is often reminded of the Mahars who were termed Untouchables for consuming carrion beef by the upper caste in Maharashtra. The Northeasterners love fermented food, which, as colonial British Anthropologists described, “stinks like hell”. Fermented soybeans, fermented bamboo shoots and fermented fishes are part of the staple food. Way back during our college days in Delhi, preparing our native dishes in hostels was a regular source of conflict. Most North Indians in Delhi University put up wall-posters with epitaphs such as “Spare our nose”. Landlords used to advise us, “Bachhe, ye maat khana, aap log bimar ho jayega (Children, don’t eat these, you will be sick). Only in Jawaharlal Nehru University, we could engage with others on our culinary habits, using Dipankar Gupta’s concepts like root metaphor and cravings.
Interestingly, around this time, an NDTV Food reporter drew attention to another Manipuri Olympian, Mary Kom’s healthy breakfast in Tokyo. The Report mentioned, it consisted of “a bowl of fresh-cut orange slices, a plate of scrambled eggs, sausages and steamed vegetables. We could also spot a bowl of traditional Miso soup, a Japanese seasoning made by fermenting soybeans with salt”. Perhaps, the times have changed. Or perhaps, if the foreigners eat those dishes, in typical Indian thinking, then the food must be good!
Who can forget the 2007 Delhi Police booklet suggesting a code of conduct for students and visitors from the Northeast? It advised girls from the region to avoid wearing “revealing dress” and instructed them not to cook “smelly food”. The booklet was just a tip of a cultural iceberg ingrained in the colossal Indian mindset. Racial slurs such as Bahadur, Chinky and Corona Chinky (in recent times) combined with sexual overtones are daily encounters for the Northeasterners. One need not recall the past incidents of molestations and rapes in the metros of India to indicate the sufferings faced by the Northeast girls.
An unscrupulous youth could label the Arunachal Pradesh MLA Ninong Ering as Chinese (remember Paras Singh, arrested for the racial remarks in May 2021). In similar vein, there are equal chances that Mary Kom and Mirabai Chanu can easily be victims of illogical chauvinism and uninformed racism. Majority of the Indians are yet to be sensitive to caste and racial differences despite efforts made by the Indian Government and other well-meaning Indians to remove the same.
So, the positive aspect of Mirabai winning an Olympic medal in addition to bringing laurel to the nation is the largely unspoken sociological implications. First and foremost, it stands to remove the stereotype that Northeast girls are beyond scantily-clad beings. Secondly, it can send a positive signal about the healthy dietary habits of the Northeasterners. Finally, Indians can understand that the Northeasterners also contribute to the nation-building process of India.
However, the question remains, are Indians ready to accommodate differences and abandon prejudices. This question deserves merit because Mary Kom single-handedly has been carrying on her shoulders everything positive about motherhood, sports, Manipur and the Northeast for years. Even Bollywood made a biopic on her with Priyanka Chopra as the protagonist. But racial slurs and stereotype continue unabated. Hopefully, the combined success of Mirabai Chanu and Mary Kom (hopefully) in the Tokyo Olympics, with relentless reporting by the Indian media (national, regional and local), carries the potential of enlightening the casteist and racial Indian mindset. Role of the media is immense in uniting the nation and above all, in removing prejudices. And each reporting needs to have regional “tags” such as Manipur and the Northeast to create familiarity in the political geography of India. Such tags to an extent can mitigate the overwhelming question thrown to the Northeasterners, “Are you from India?”
(Homen Thangjam teaches political science & human rights at IGNTU-RCM)