The Standpoint

“I remember being labeled ‘Dihaati’ on the first day of college..”

By

Karan Deep Singh

While we went hysterical tracking every single case and updates on the alleged ‘racial’ attacks on Indians in Australia, we somehow forgot to look at what’s under the carpet in this country of 1.17 billion and moreso in the capital city and it’s acclaimed institution, the University of Delhi.

The second-largest metropolis being one of the most attractive study destination in the country hordes of starry eyed faces appear from various parts of the country including the North East region. Most of these innocent youngsters with mongoloid features undergo the worst racial prejudice as soon as they land in the city.

We ask a student of University of Delhi originally from Manipur in the North East who wishes to remain unnamed about his experiences in the city and the University. This was what he had to say:

“The way with which we are misbehaved with in buses, in markets and everywhere is excruciating. We face this kind of discrimination daily. Right from the time we step out in the day, the conductor will call me 'Oye kanchi', it is very sad to see how normally the same people behave with other North Indians. We can’t answer them back because they are always in groups. We always try to ignore.

We try to ignore them because we know they are uneducated but even the educated people are no less in the city. In the first year of college I remember being labeled 'Dihaati' by some guys from some other course.”

Do you think it is only because people from the North-East region look ‘different’ because there are many other people from other places who look different…?

“I think that definitely is the major cause because most of the locals here, whether they are North Indians or South Indians or from UP or Bihar, there is just the difference of colour and not much of a difference in features. We look different, we have our own sense of dressing but I fail to understand what troubles them. We do not say anything to them. We keep ignoring till it goes out of limit.

I think the mentality here is that we are outsiders, we do not belong here and therefore we can be made fun of, messed up with, laughed at and of course man handled.

Since we do not speak Hindi like others there is also this language barrier and then another reason for them to feel we are outsiders and can be dealt with in any way they wish to.

This is exactly what we fail to understand, why only us, why only people from North Eastern states..”

Do you think the fact that most of you are students also makes it vulnerable to such kind of situations?

“Yes, mostly we are all students so we do not have a family to support us, we live on rent, we share our houses, we travel by public transport and it does make us vulnerable to such situations. And I would say especially, girls. In fact I can tell you that I call up my sister so many times in the day just to ask her if she is safe and about her whereabouts. It is extremely difficult when it comes to girls.”

How do you think the Police respond to your call and the way they deal with people from the North East?

“This is the saddest part. I haven’t had any experience with the police but my friends have had. I remember there was an incident where a North-Eastern girl was almost being raped by some other tenant when a friend of her entered the room and beat up the tenant. Now when the landlord came, he beat up the girl’s friend just because he had beaten up a localite. When the girl and her friend went to the police station, the officials just refused to write an FIR.

They had to call up the North-Eastern helpline where I guess there is an SP or a police official at some high position in North Delhi who happens to be from the north-east and the complaints go directly to him.

That is why to our relief, at least now there is a North-East Helpline where we can at least complain.

The question still remains, we do not complain about these small incidents which happen on the road to us everyday. We can’t even think of. The Police are just like other people in the city.”

Tell us what happened with you inside the very campus of a Delhi University college.

“The University boasts of welcoming students from all over the world. It is the illusion created by the media that it is supposedly a place where people are very open-minded and a very good studying environment which the University is said to offer.

I won’t take the name of the college and the professor. I am an ST (Scheduled Tribe) student. It was the first day of college after the orientation session and the teacher was asking everyone to introduce themselves. When my turn came, the teacher pointed at me and another North-Easter girl, before we could say anything, he asked me ‘Quota..?.’ I said yes and he didn’t let me speak beyond that.

I was just stunned. He didn’t ask my name. It was like I have done some kind of sin.

Then after a few days, I got really sick. I had jaundice and typhoid and came back to college after two months. The first day after those two months, the same teacher was taking the class for some basketball match as spectators, so he just asked everyone as to who all wanted to go. When I said that I wanted to go, he just shouted at me and said ‘You get out of the class.’ I didn’t say anything. I just came out of the class. And then the next day he told me that I will not attend his class for the next 21 days.

This was shocking. I was devastated. It was just too much. I couldn’t take it anymore and I decided to leave that college. And I did.

I joined a South Campus college.

The fact is that he is a very senior teacher from that college and it was just not expected out of a teacher at all.

Now, I am in third year. And the other day in this college I was just looking at the catalogues in the library and there was an electrician who was repairing the telephone wires. When I was passing by, he intentionally started singing the song ‘Chandani Chowk to China..’ with such expressions and the library officials were present at that time. I mean when this happens with you on the roads outside, I can ignore it but when it happens in the campus of a college, that is when it gets on my nerves.”