Identity Crisis (Original Post Sept 2012)

Two very different articles caught my attention yesterday -“Land and Loathing on the Brahmaputra” (S Prasannarajan India Today, September, 7th, 2012) and “What makes you Assamese” (Shanta Gokhale, Mumbai Mirror, September 13th, 2012). While Land and Loathing talks about the Bodoland crisis, of hate campaigns by involved ethnic groups, of selective memory and all other dangerous elements of the politics of identity, the “What makes you Assamese” article talks about a film ( Ekhon Nedekha Nodir Xipare by Bidyut Kotoky) that was disqualified from the 59th National Film Awards for not being Assamese enough even though the film was set in Majuli with an Assam-centric storyline. Indeed two very different articles but a common strain runs through both and that is of an identity crisis. One speaks of events inside Assam where people are fighting to protect their identity. The other is about a clueless film jury in Delhi who believe that they can decide what is Assamese identity and what is not. Is this the onset of a dangerous trend? Perhaps. This leaves us Assamese people with some real homework to do about our identity or lack thereof. Do we have a serious identity crisis? You betcha! Who are we? Who decides? How do we correct a mistaken identity? And more importantly, how do we regain lost identity? How far should we feel the strain of alienation before we call it a day and wake up? All points to ponder. If we don’t, we may just miss the last flight home because of those goddammed wrong visas. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mistrust-between-empowered-tribals-and-muslim-bodo-land-continues-in-assam/1/216434.html