I am intrigued by the fact that the nurse from the Northeast was singled out. If the kidney racket case had to be brought up here, I would have thought a reference to (non) professional doctors should have logically led to a mention of the "doctors" (none of them Northeasterners) implicated in the case, and not a nurse. Besides - or because of - having a skewed idea of the Northeast, the correspondent seems to have overlooked this not-so-minor distinction between the professions.
In another case, a recent news item in expressindia.com ( http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Assam-businessman-murdered-in-S-Delhi-cops-on-motivehunt/270906/) on the murder of Pranab Saikia, an Assamese businessman in Delhi, misreported the name of the murdered man as Pranav Sekiya. What is more appaling than the journalistic standard of the reporter who did not even bother to verify the names of the people he was reporting about, is the rampant ignorance in "national" or "mainstream" media regarding the people and places of the Northeast. And this ignorance is commensurate only with the indifference. Slogans of "national integration" should not be shouted when such attitudes are at play. On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 12:26 PM, Sumon K Chakrabarti < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dear Mr Sengupta > I completely support what Mr Bhaumik says. I have travelled to North-East > quite often to cover the region and believe that such a generic portrayal > not only exposes the knowledge vaccum of your correspondent, but also puts a > question-mark on the credentials of your respected newspaper (which > incidentally brings an edition out of Guwahati). > > I am quite sure Ms Walia does not even know how many states are there in > North-East India, or possibly, as many in Delhi tend to do, do not > consider people from North-East Indians. > > You or I who come from East India have often faced this discrimination > earlier, and have never taken it lying down. I guess it's now time again to > educate those journalists who have not had the best of education. > > Warm regards > > Sumon K Chakrabarti > National Affairs Correspondent > CNN-IBN > > Express Trade Tower > Sector 16A, Noida > Uttar Pradesh 201 301 > Tel: +91 120 434 1818 > > Mobile: +91 9899804183 > > On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 2:21 PM, Subir Bhaumik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Dear Mr Sengupta, > > > > My attention has been drawn to last Sunday's Times Life, "Spa > > with a difference". > > > > As someone from the North-East, I take serious objection to the sentence > > "*Walk into a spa which has music, scented aroma candles, but you'll > > meet a > > professional doctor rather than a Linda from the Northeast*", to be > > indecent and > > racist . This dismissive, off-the-cuff remark reflects a mindset that > > presupposes > > superiority of peoples from India's mainstream and that those from > > the Northeast as worthless and inferior. I find it upsetting -- but not > > suprising-- that > > even top people in Delhi look at our sisters from the region as easy to > > have but > > professionally worthless. May I remind you that some of our girls are > > doing very > > well in the service industry , in the academia and the knowledge > > industry . Much > > of their personal charm can be traced to humility and polite demeanour > > that is part of > > our culture which is lacking in the brash but often intellectually > > hollow Walias, Singhs > > and Chawlas up north. > > > > Subir Bhaumik > > East India Correspondent > > BBC World Service, Calcutta > > > > > > > > > > -- Uddipana Goswami www.jajabori-mon.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
