Turmoil in the hearts

‘Turmoil in Manipur’ screamed the headline in the newspaper. The last few days have seen a spate of editorial columns on the ‘larger issue of neglect of the North East’. It is surprising how innocuous little things can trigger hard memories and in a similar manner, how painful news items can trigger short and soft happenings in one’s life. In case of problems in the North East, the latter seemed to be the case.

It was a rainy winter evening in Canada and my friend and I had to keep an appointment of visiting an old Assamese lady who had invited me for dinner.

On entering the house, I realized with some consternation that the frail looking lady was staying alone in the house. After exchange of initial pleasantries, she talked about the culture of the West that has resulted in her progeny staying away from her, the hardships one has to endure because of a disease like arthritis all alone, especially in the harsh winter months. However, while saying all this, the old lady never complained, nor did her confidence waver. We sat down to dinner on the neatly laid table. Facing me was a black and white photograph of a person standing with Pt Jawaharlal Nehru. Taken totally by surprise, I asked the lady, the identity of the person.

She began narrating her story. Her husband was a decorated scientist in India – that explained the photograph who later migrated to Canada. Taking liberty in spite of the usually self-imposed limitation that a first time interaction brings, I ventured to ask “But then, why did your husband decide to migrate?” This question elicited a long lost look for an answer. And then the lady took us to the year 1962 and the Indian debacle in the Chinese war. Her voice started wavering, choking with emotion when she came to narrating how Pt. Nehru in his address to the nation supposedly mentioned about tracts of barren land – a reference, allegedly to the North East. With this, tears started rolling down her wrinkled face. She said that her husband felt cheated. And our dinner ended abruptly.

More than four decades hence, we seem to have learnt little of the turmoil in the hearts of many which spills over on to the streets, from time to time!