Lightning bandh

While Assam is considering banning bandhs for the rest of the month, following violence during Tuesday's bandh (including some incidents here in Guwahati), Nagaland hasn't quite reached that stage yet. I arrived on Saturday in Dimapur to what was called a 'lightning bandh', a term I had never heard before. Note that is also spelled 'lightening bandh', although this is certainly a common misspelling of 'lightning', as there is nothing about this sort of bandh that 'lightens' / is 'lightening'.

The term was used in relation a bandh that was called on Saturday in Dimapur. You can see it reported here in the Nagaland Post: Aug 31 incident sparks inter-tribal clash in Dimapur and also in the Eastern Mirror: Clashes erupt in Dimapur. From what I gather, the term refers to a bandh that's called very suddenly and often violently, since business owners aren't given enough notice, bandh supporters go to them and forcefully make them shut their doors.

As you can read in the articles, on Friday 31 Aug, a Sumi man, Kivika Assümi, was arrested by a Kohima Village Youth Organisation 'Quick Response Team' (which as far as I can tell acted as a kind of local vigilante group). Kivika was accused of bike theft, and died while in this group's custody. Whether he was guilty or not of the crimes he was accused for, his death was clearly not acceptable. A Sumi student organisation in Dimapur called for a bandh to protest his death. This eventually led to some terrible acts of violence between groups of Sumi and Angamis, and eventually the complete shut down of a section of NH 29, the highway that runs from Dimapur to Kohima.

The part of town where I was staying (close to Supermarket) wasn't really affected, and when I came out of the train station in Dimapur, I also hadn't really noticed anything unusual, apart from the lack of pre-paid taxis going to Kohima. Unfortunately, I had a few Sumi friends trying to come into Dimapur that afternoon, and they were forced to spend the night at a church in a village off the main highway. Thankfully, they did make it into Dimapur safely on Sunday.

It doesn't take much to realise that the term 'lightning' is quite appropriate for this sort of situation. A flash of lightning is enough to set off a wild fire, if there's been enough fuel around. And sadly, there is a lot of 'fuel' building up all over this part of the world, whether it's tension between rival tribes or between migrants and long-established communities.

Hiyo Cafe, Dimapur

(I was meant to post this months ago, but only just remembered to do it after my weekend in Dimapur.)

One of my favourite places to hang out at when I'm in Dimapur is Hiyo Cafe. I like it because it's pretty quiet (being separated from the main road by a building), it's close to the hotel I usually stay at, and it's run by Sumis.


In case you can't see, the name Hiyo (hi: yɔ - someone's even written it in IPA) is a "versatile Sumi word that is usually associated with the Satakha Region of the Zunheboto District in Nagaland, India." According to the explanation, it can be used an adjective, an exclamation or a pronoun. As an adjective, it expresses "satisfaction or fulfillment", but it does seem to have a wider range of meanings which aren't listed here (more linguistic investigation needed!).

The cafe has a nice interior with comfortable couches and tables, far nicer than most places you'd find in Dimapur. They serve mostly drinks here: coffee, tea, juices and cocktails too. My friends enjoy the cocktails here while I enjoy the coffee. They also have snacks like french fries and chicken fry.

It's a nice place if you're catching up with friends, or if you need a place to sit and work on a laptop.

Also, you might catch a glimpse of Alobo Naga & the Band whenever they're in town.

Hiyo Cafe is located at 1, Basement, Aiko Building, Opp Town Hall, Dimapur Nagaland.
(If you're coming on the road from the Railway Station heading towards Supermarket, it's on the left side. Look out for Furtado's Music Store, the cafe's right behind it.)

Social Bondage

I was reading one of the local papers here in Guwahati the other day, and this headline caught my eye.

Most English speakers outside of India (and quite a few in India) would probably be wondering what on earth 'social bondage' refers to, and why on earth some students would even want it.

I think the word they're actually looking for here is 'bonding' and not 'bondage'. In standard English, bondage refers to 'slavery', or 'the act of being tied up'. On the other hand, bonding refers to 'the establishment and development of a close friendship / relationship'. The related verbs are also somewhat different: you bind someone by tying them up, but you bond with someone by develop a relationship with them.

Now the reason I thought this was something to write about wasn't to poke fun at the writer, though I can imagine a few of you gagging over the picture. It reminded me of one time I was proofreading a report written by a non-native English speaker. While her written expression was good, in my mind it seemed like she was overusing gerunds, those non-finite verb forms like swimming that also behave somewhat like nouns. For example, she would write something like "their investigating of the causes ...", where it would sound more natural for me to say "their investigation of the causes ...". Similarly, she'd write something like "the failing of the report to demonstrate ..." where I would say "the failure of the report to demonstrate ...".

She wanted to know why I had suggested these changes. To be honest, I should have just said, "I don't know. It just sounds better." Instead, I made up some grammatical rule (based on this handful of examples) that it was better to avoid the gerund forms (those -ing forms) if there was already a noun that had been derived from the verb. I mean, would you say "the starting of the race" or "my loving of dogs"?

But of course the rule doesn't quite stand up to scrutiny. Gerunds and other nominals can co-exist quite happily in some contexts, e.g. the ending of the novel and the end of the novel are pretty much the same thing. And non-finite verb forms can also be lexicalised, e.g. beginning and opening - these are the words you'd find listed as their own entries in a dictionary, unlike words like fainting which would be treated as an entry under the verb faint.

In the end, I guess the choice between 'gerund' and 'other lexical nominal' just depends on what is used more frequently in that context or in an analogous context.

Of course, looking at the headline above, I can't help but think that someone had been told something similar, and was just trying to avoid the gerund without realising the full effect of their final word choosing. Um, choice.

Assam Conflict: Not Against Muslims

Just saw this making the rounds on Facebook.

As I mentioned in my last post, the current conflict between Bodos and Bengalis isn't about religion, but it's being perceived by Muslims in other parts of the country as that. (Note that I'm not a supporter of xenophobia or the discourse that's currently surrounding Bengalis, but I do understand the anxieties people in this state have and continue to have about immigrants, and that little is being done by the government to manage those anxieties.) 

4,000 people returning to NE India?

Assam's been making the news for the past few weeks, and I suppose I should add my two cents.

It's not unusual to see conflict in this restive part of India (I might have to dedicate another post to my penchant for choosing 'restive' parts of the world to visit.). This time, it's a conflict between Bodos (pronounced 'Boros') and Muslim Bengalis in the district of Kokrajhar, to the west of Guwahati. The BBC gives an explanation for the violence here: What lies behind Assam violence?

The Bodos themselves have been fighting for a separate state, called 'Bodoland' which includes Kokrajhar district and a few neighbouring districts. One of my Bodo friends said that some people feel the need for statehood because to give them greater autonomy to protect their language and culture from such 'invaders'. The problem is, while there are many recent migrants coming from Bangladesh, there are also many of these so-called 'invaders' are actually Bengalis who've lived for generations in Assam. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there are any official figures.

From the perspective of the Bodos though, there is much anxiety over the loss of their own cultural identity. They feel like the Indian (and state) government has failed and continues to fail to provide adequate protection. This has then led to a call, certainly by more extreme separatists, for a state that is ethnically (and linguistically) 'pure'. Their attacks on Muslim Bangladeshis is seen simply asserting ownership over their own 'land'. This is not an uncommon phenomenon among ethnic groups in NE India, and inter-ethnic conflict abounds: just last January there were major clashes between Garos and Rabhas on the Assam-Meghalaya border.

The situation in Kokrajhar is still pretty tense, and my Bodo friends say there's still a curfew being imposed there. New clashes in Northeast India as tension mounts


However, what I find remarkable about this latest conflict is that the violence has 'spilled over' into other parts of India. But rather than an inter-ethnic conflict, it's been transformed into an inter-religious one. Last week in Mumbai, there were protests by Muslims who view the attacks as targeting Muslims. Unfortunately these protests turned violent, and 2 people died: 23 people booked for Mumbai violence

Now, there's reports of a mass exodus of North-easterners from Bangalore, with people receiving text messages saying that people from NE India (especially people who look more East Asian / 'Mongolian', although 'ethnic Assamese' look like most other mainland Indians to me) are being targeted and attacked.

Amid attack fears, people from NE flee Bangalore
Thousands flee violence threats in Indian city of Bangalore

One story that has emerged is that of a Tibetan student was attacked in Mysore, though it's unclear if this has anything to do with the violence in NE India. It just seems like madness right now, with 4,000 people just uprooting themselves from Bangalore to come back to Assam overnight.

I can understand people want to come back to their families, but I hope that the panic dies down soon and people are able to return to Bangalore and other parts of India, especially if they have friends and work to go back to.

(Disclaimer: This post is based on information I have read and heard, and is certainly imperfect as it is. Any other opinions and comments are more than welcome.)

Pokhara visit

It's been a few weeks since I was actually there, but thought I'd post some pretty pictures from my short visit to Pokhora.

One thing my friend mentioned, was that it rains more in Pokhora than it does in Kathmandu. And it was probably wasn't the best time to visit Pokhora, right in the middle of the monsoon. A few friends recommended paragliding there, but I think that's more a dry season activity.

It rained everyday we there, but one afternoon the clouds parted to give a few stunning views of Lake Fewa.







We also managed to rent a row boat and go on the lake for a swim.

Now, you don't want to swim along the lake's shores because of pollution, but in the middle of the lake, the water's pretty clean. Most locals will be able tell you where the paani is raamro for swimming.



For expats, Pokhora's a nice relaxing getaway from Kathmandu. I suppose if I was in Kathmandu long enough, I'd like to get away now and then. Although, compared to other places I've been in South Asia, Kathmandu still feel pretty relaxing to me!

Mongolian sweetheart

I'm used to certain labels like 'Asian', 'East Asian' or even 'Oriental' (when I'm in the UK) in contrast to 'South Asian'. But it was only when I first came to South Asia that I realised that I was actually Mongolian. In fact, 'Mongolians' are everywhere in East Asia. Chinese people are 'Mongolian'. Japanese people are 'Mongolian'. Tibetans are 'Mongolian'. Mongolians I can only assume, are also 'Mongolian'.

According to a friend in South Asia, 'Mongolians' are quite popular. One of the hosts on Indian Idol was a guy of Chinese origin, Chang Meiyang, who was born in India. The same friend even suggested I create an online profile and call myself 'Mongolian sweetheart' (hence the title of this post). As far as I can tell, what separates 'Mongolians' from 'Indian' people is the shape of their eyes (almond shaped) and their fair complexion. And given how many skin-lightening products there are here, there are many people in South Asia who want to look white.

But what fascinates me is the actual term 'Mongolian'. I'm no expert on the history of race theory, but it seems to correspond strongly with the idea of a 'Mongoloid race' which is now viewed as an obsolete racial classification label and really isn't mentioned anymore in popular discourse in the West. (There is also the historical use of the term 'Mongoloid' to designate people with Down's syndrome.) I'm also not sure if people here would use the term 'Mongolian' for Malay or Burmese people, i.e. people of darker complexion.

Of course one might argue that the term 'Mongolian' in South Asia is simply a substitute for 'East Asian' or 'Oriental'. What surprises me though is that many people who do identify as 'Mongolian' here do believe that their ancestors came from Mongolia. I was told that someone in Nagaland working on the genealogy of his tribe said that in order to get to the real origin of the tribe, they needed to go to Mongolia. Now, I'm not sure if he thought his ancestors came with the Mongol invasions of Burma or if they migrated south at an earlier stage.

For the moment, I suppose there's nothing much I can do but embrace the term. I do wonder how Mongolian neo-Nazis (yes, they do exist) would feel about Chinese people being called 'Mongolian'.