I know Swapnil; I did not know that he writes on the side.
The human civilisation from one point of view may also be described as the
story of migration -of both individuals or groups. When one is born on this
planet, he like anyone else inherits it. He should have the ultimate freedom to
go wherever he wants to on this planet.Whether he burns bridges or keeps his
options flexible is his choice.
However, the 'real world' situation may demand something in return. As the
world is broken up into national boundaries, the value of time and resources
spent on that person by a given society may be demanded from that person or the
society that has benefitted from his relocation. Is there any such provision?
The rest depends on the person himself : his loyalty. We cannot demand it. It
depends on the person's own values. A person, who has migrated to another land,
may not have loyalty or attachment to his country of birth, yet he may be a
better human being than a person who loots or sells his country of birth and
residence.
Uttam Kumar Borthakur
--- On Sun, 6/7/08, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Assam] Grumbling GAME-Swapnil Bharali (Horizon, The Assam
Tribune, July 05, 2008)
To: assam@assamnet.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sunday, 6 July, 2008, 8:55 PM
First off, allow me to introduce Swapnil
Bharali: He is my nephew by marriage, son of my
brother-in-law, a Guahati real-estate developer
and aspiring writer on the side.
I read the article only because it is by Anup (
that is how we call him). I have been passing a
lot of posts by in recent weeks.
Here is my take on it:
When one writes an article, usually there is a
purpose. I am not quite clear what the purpose/s
here is/are. I discern a premise and an
unrelated conclusion to the effort :
The Premise:
The writer's despondence over his
perception that the best of Assam , in every field
he considers worthwhile, have left and become NRAs.
The Conclusion:
That the NRAs are a self centered and
self-impressed lot, full of hot air,
far removed from the realities that
bedevil the land of their birth, unable or
unwilling
to help solve Assam's problems.
Anup goes on to conclude his piece with the words
of Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. That
certainly was a gracious bow that Margaret
Mitchell would have appreciated from a fellow
writer, albeit at the cost of the NRAs. But
really it reads more like a weak comeback to some
personal affront or slight , real or imagined, he
might have encountered from some NRA.
So, what is the main idea here, the PURPOSE of the piece?
Would I be wrong to conclude that it is to beat
up on NRAs who have not lived up to the
unrealistic and unwarranted expectations that he
sets up? It sounds like another case of setting
up a straw-man and then going onto demolish it.
There are a number serious flaws in the article:
A: The premise of the article is
baseless. It was a rather poorly devised one,
obviously
as an afterthought, to justify the
judgements derived from scanty or mythical
evidence.
The judgements passed are NOT derivable
from the evidence presented or are related
to the premise.
B: This demon, the pound sterling/dollar
earning -NRAs is NOT a homogeneous lot
by ANY stretch of the imagination. And
EVEN if it were, the writer's assessment of
its failures to deliver on his
expectations, based on the few he knows is, at
best, a
venting of personal disappointments or
dislikes and has NOTHING to do with
being a well researched and analyzed piece about Assam expatriates.
C: A good part of the article's
justification is based on a decade old Appeal for
Peace that a
number of assamnetters put together,
which yours truly spearheaded. The author helped
with attempts at airing it in Assam.,
which almost did not get any. We did not even get
the
courtesy of a reply from English Language
entities like the Assam Tribune or the Sentinel.
This appeal was signed by barely 60 or so
out of an estimated 400 members of assamnet
at the time. So the conclusions drawn
from the experience, EVEN if they had any merit,
were superficial at best.
Also, judgements passed by the writer on
that Appeal, even though beside the point here to
this discourse, is based on factual
inaccuracies. But most disappointing of all, the
whole
idea behind that effort eluded the author
entirely. I will be pleased to explain, if anyone
wants to know.
D: Choice of words and phrases speak
volumes of a person's own sensitivities,
priorities
and pre-dilections. The writer's fixation
on "terrorism" tells us a lot about what his own
views are about the ULFA-Assam-India
conflict and is certainly not a thoughtful or even
barely-informed one.
"Patronizing" means, in this context "To
treat in a condescending manner". I will be very
interested in learning which part of the
"Appeal" Anup or his fellow RAs find or found
'patronizing' on the part of the
signatories. More than likely, however, it is a
case of that
'damned English language' that plague us
ESLs( English as a Second Language) so.
Finally, I won't dispute the fact that the
writer or other RAs ( resident Assamese that is
) may have had real life experiences with NRAs
who fit the image he portrays here. But that is a
different issue. To paint ALL NRAs , as a group,
based on such anecdotal or isolated examples
does not do anything to make the article
informative or thought provoking expected from a
mature writer.
cm
**************************************************************************************************************
A Personal Note to Anup:
I feel distraught at having led into your effort
so mercilessly here. I could have kept quiet.
But that would be unfair to all those others in
this forum who have born the brunt of my
sometimes scathing, sometimes arrogant and
sometimes condescending and as our Harvard
trained friend Umesh points out often- sarcastic
- (but always justifiable :-)) criticisms ; just
because you are close relation or because you are
the all round nice guy I know you to be. So,
Anup, I promise to make up for my
uncharitableness today when I see you in three
weeks.
That is a promise :-)!
np
At 11:31 PM +0530 7/5/08, Buljit Buragohain wrote:
> 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!)ŠActually 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!!!
>
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Swapnil Bharali
>
>(Horizon,The Assam Tribune,July 05, 2008)
>
>
> Bring your gang together. Do your thing.
>Find your favourite Yahoo! group at
>http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/
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