[Assam] Grumbling GAME-Swapnil Bharali (Horizon, The Assam Tribune, July 05, 2008)

Sun Jul 6 05:08:42 IST 2008

Swapnil-da,

You have certainly proved that you are a chip of the old block - when it comes to making sarcastic remarks - like many of us on AssamNet (from time to time). Only this time it is directed at AssamNet members.  May I ask you which village of Assam your family originally hails from? Why don;t you go back to the village of ancestors?  
Ofcourse, you would say there are more opportunities in the city and your children were born  in the big city and you were too (?). Your kids will not tolerate village education and infrastructure etc. 

Going from a less developed place to a more developed place is a natural progression. However, that does not mean you sitting in the big city do not think of your native village (or those NRAs sitting in the bigger cities across the globe) do not think of the same native village By the way, what have you done for Assam sitting within it? Even Gandhiji came back to India after 21 years in India (from South Africa) - without him 30 million "native"Indians couldn;t get rid of untouchability and racist British rule.

Hope I did not seem sarcastic.

Regards.

Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy

Harvard Graduate School of Education,

Harvard University,

Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)

www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )

http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/

http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/

--- On Sat, 5/7/08, Buljit Buragohain <buluassam at yahoo.co.in> wrote:
From: Buljit Buragohain <buluassam at yahoo.co.in>
Subject: [Assam] Grumbling GAME-Swapnil Bharali (Horizon, The Assam Tribune, July 05, 2008)
To: assam at assamnet.org
Cc: swapnilbharali at yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, 5 July, 2008, 2:01 PM

 regret ending an article of mine titled ‘Caring NRAs’ (Horizon, February
9, 2008) on a pessimistic note. A subject that I always want to give due
credence purely because I am beginning to slowly realize that the best of Assam
today resides outside Assam and that the present populace of Assam, including
its current political leaders, students, bureaucrats, sportsmen, artists,
terrorists, you and me, borders on a quality that hardly makes an impact on the
national scene. The article ended thus:

“If NRAs (non-resident Assamese) have to be contributive to Assam, they have
to do so with deeds and not words. They have to burn their bridges on their way
back and try and work things from the soil of Assam, against the seemingly
insurmountable odds” (instead of just giving front-page interviews while on
their brief holidays here, else) “they may please remain in their comfort
zones and not be bothered about Assam...” (and in which case) “all I can do
is quote Clark Gable from Gone with the Wind: ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give
a damn.’”

Well (sigh!)…Actually I do give a damn. And I cannot help it that I do. This
feeling of mine stems from my past experiences and my various interactions with
a number of NRAs on an internet discussion forum called Assam Net (1998-2000, if
I remember right). I had watched, observed and sympathized with the large number
of expatriate Assamese people, the sole topic of concern being Assam. Often, it
had appeared to me that these people had indeed missed out on the love for
their soil by becoming so career-centric that their desire to earn in
dollars/pounds rather than rupees after acquiring their impressive education
and skills led them to become expatriates. It had also often crossed my mind,
especially seeing the huge amount of time these people spent discussing Assam,
that in the process of earning all those dollars/pounds, they had sorely missed
being in Assam and were indeed truly concerned that Assam, except for its tea,
terrorism and corruption, did
 not find any worthwhile place on the world’s physical, political or
commercial map.

Factually speaking, the NRAs were, at that stage in time, very concerned about
the terrorism problem of Assam. Not that they aren’t now, but I haven’t had
the good fortune to visit ‘Assam Net’ in long years and so commenting on
this might just be a mistake. At that stage though, they were so troubled that
a few of them, torn as they were between their love for their motherland and
their thriving careers in the western world, took an extremely laborious
initiative to draft out a lengthy ‘Appeal-for-Peace’ and direct it to all
who they thought were part and parcel of the terrorism business in Assam. It
was a noble gesture no doubt but to all obvious appearances, a futile wish for
peace. I couldn’t blame the NRAs. They were far too removed from the ground
realities of Assam to realize the intricacy of its problems and that their
appeal would get Assam nowhere on the peace front. Nonetheless, while the
appeal was being given shape, there were
 enquiries galore and e-mails flew — the NRAs wanted the newspapers of Assam
to publish the appeal so that the ULFA would read it and stop their drivel, New
Delhi, Dhaka, Islamabad, Kabul and Rangoon would do the needful in cooperating
for peace, Dispur would respond suitably and so finally peace would be ushered
into Assam. Everything was fine except for the utterly patronizing tone that
the NRAs seemed to adopt (for what they thought was one helluva contribution by
them towards their motherland). 

One thing though, stands clear to me: the NRAs for sure, have uninhibited love
for their motherland, Assam. It is a pity that they find themselves desperately
trying to make a foreign soil their home while their hearts remain forever
attached to Assam, their homeland which, eternally, beckons them. And it is
pathetic and frustrating that these grumbling, debating, quarreling and yet
very concerned NRAs cannot do something substantially more tangible and
contributive than what they are doing now because this inadequacy on their part
only means a terrible loss for Assam. For me personally though, I can only quote
Clark Gable once again!!!

swapnilbharali at yahoo.com

Swapnil Bharali 

(Horizon,The Assam Tribune,July 05, 2008)

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