I’ve never faced discrimination for being from the Northeast. Personally, my time outside the region has been warm, respectful, even uneventful. But I’ve heard enough stories to know that my experience is not the norm.
When the recent incident in Sohra, Meghalaya…. initially misreported and widely
misunderstood….spiraled into a frenzy of judgment and stereotype, it felt like
déjà vu. It wasn’t just a crime; it was an invitation for the country to project
its oldest prejudices onto a place it still doesn’t fully understand. That’s the
deeper issue.
The Northeast is often seen away from mainstream, but as something
adjacent to it….romantic when convenient, threatening when not. Exotic when
we’re winning medals or topping music charts, tribal when something goes wrong.
And yet, we continue to show up with empathy, openness, and integrity.
People in
the Northeast are not just defending their identity….they are creating,
teaching, building, writing, singing, and innovating.
We are rewriting the script ourselves, one quiet act at a time. But real change also requires the
rest of the country to meet us halfway.
To my non-Northeastern friends who’ve taken time to listen, question, and learn….thank you. Your curiosity and
solidarity matter. You’ve helped shift perspectives in spaces we often don’t
have access to. This is what allies looks like - not loud gestures, but steady
understanding.
True integration isn’t about how fast a train/flight gets to
Guwahati. It’s about who gets to shape the narrative. It’s about being seen in
full….not just when convenient, not just in crisis.
So if you visit the Northeast, come with an open mind. Not just to see the landscape, but to engage
with the people. Learn from how people live, how we hold space for each other,
how we carry culture with both lightness and pride.
In a country as diverse as
ours, empathy is the only real infrastructure that matters. Everything else is
just roads.
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