Ring Side View
[ Tongam Rina ]
In Arunachal, we all know someone who has been scammed online, a family struggling with cancer, chronic illness, mental health illnesses, battling drug and alcohol addiction, or a survivor of physical, verbal, and mental abuse. We also know those dealing with polygamy, battered wives, and suffering children forced to live in abusive households because divorce is still a taboo and there are financial constraints to move on, along with societal pressure to put up a facade. We all know students who have been bullied because they don’t fit into society’s norms, or maybe because they are a shade darker or fairer than their classmates. There are teenagers struggling with mental health, unable to seek help because adults are too busy planning for the future to focus on current, immediate needs. There are young people looking for stable jobs that will pay their rent, and others searching for the freedom to live as they wish and as who they are.
Some who have squandered their parents’ money because there’s no limit to how much one can spend. Some forced to give up their dreams because there was no help to achieve them.
Some are concerned about their identity and their gender because intolerance and patriarchy won’t let them be and live as they truly are.
Some children have sleepless nights and battle anxiety every day because their mother’s surname is hers alone, even though they know no other world and have grown up in communities that belong to her too, not only her male relatives. The majoritarian and patriarchal setup bestows no rights upon most, and some have absolutely no space to be who they are without paying a price for it – for a lifetime.
There are brave fathers who are content with just daughters, while others are pressured to marry again and produce a male heir. There are mothers of four girls who pray hard for a baby boy because society is such where a male heir is still coveted, therefore polygamy just a step away. People who are unable to have children, and therefore shamed and pitied, and relatives who choose honesty over deceit, only to be mocked for it.
There are middle-aged people who have paid bribe to get work done, and lonely elders looking for companionship in their old age. Families who aren’t part of the government system and schemes because a form wasn’t filled properly.
Some have never made it to office on time – or maybe just once every two months – and there are some who take up the entire burden.
Others worry in foreign languages about the vanishing of their native tongue.
There are those angry at alien religions while they dilute traditional practices and indigenous way of life because it fetches them name and fame.
An entire tribe is still unable to move forward, with the shackles of slavery and economic bondage weighing them down, struggling to catch up with an Arunachal that is constantly advancing to a newer world.
Others are frustrated with the government for failing to prioritise what truly matters and for being silent when they should speak up, because there is a huge price to be paid. Some powerful ones are silent because they just don’t know what to do or how to do it, and because they have a job to save the government that remains unmoved by any of fears or concerns of the citizens. There are young people planning to blow the whistle on corruption, while others pray that no question papers are leaked. There are farmers unsure about their next crop because the weather has been unpredictable.
Some are in the forests, saving trees and wildlife, hoping not to encounter a hunter, while the hunter avoids them, knowing someone is waiting at home for food. And there are buyers waiting to shell out an unthinkable amount for a fancy dinner with the helpless wild meat. Human need and greed is such.
We also know someone who works in the hospital, as well as police and fire personnel, other essential services, and those in newspapers and media, who will not join the celebrations of the festive season because they have work to do, and deadlines to meet, often underpaid and unappreciated.
We also know someone who will never show up for reasons that can’t be explained, and those who keep waiting.
There are mothers worried about the safety of their children when dusk falls, somewhere in Arunachal, where the state has killed and shot at citizens as targets because the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is free and a licence to kill. There are aged grandmothers concerned about displacement because of a new hydropower project planned in the name of national security. We know some politicians scheme with officers to ensure that railways, electric poles, hydropower and roads pass through their orchards and rice fields for inflated compensation, building everything faulty so that maintenance money never stops flowing.
This state we call home is a place of contradictions- a place with no opportunities for those who truly deserve them, a deep divide between the powerful and those without access to the basics. The elites seem to have everything going for them, while others check the newspaper for job opportunities -anywhere, as anything.
Yet, there is still the bluest sky that belongs to us, sometimes clouded by dust pollution because our land is still a construction site. We still have a semblance of freedom that we don’t take for granted, air that won’t choke us, twin capital towns with no plans for the future, but still home to many searching for better lives.
The dying streams, eaten by plastics, and a rainbow of hope peek somewhere after the rain soaks the half-constructed earth and swallows entire roads.
We all know of a river that no longer belongs to us, and to which we no longer belong. We all belong to a land reduced to being prisoners of corporate and state-controlled rivers.
There is hope yet, because there is no other option but hope. We can’t afford to despair, as despair offers no solution or hope for a future.
May we have a year when we don’t have to worry about power and water supply, healthcare facilities, livelihood options, freedom of speech, the right to religion, a judiciary that delivers on time, food, education, better access to roads, and other basic necessities. Maybe we be kinder to the ones in the street and in the wild.
Definitely no internet ban again, because the state does not trust its own apparatus!
May this year be better for our children, a year where they are safe and can dream about a future without fear of being harmed by adults.
For now, we can escape from the burden of living to the nearest river, waterfall, or stream to have a conversation about all of this, or simply disconnect from everyone and everything while still being part of the group. Better still, we can watch reels loudly, least worried about the person sitting next to us, and type away our anger and frustration to escape our own worries and fears. Count me in!
Trusted readers,
Thank you for reading The Arunachal Times and for being part of this journey, where we had the nearest ringside view. May the almighty and the spirits be with us all, in our happiness, loneliness, sickness, health, celebrations, disappointments, love, and death. Wishing you a blessed year ahead with good health, peace, and dignity. Happy New Year.
