North East students bring in diversity

Unlike other cities, Bangalore is different. Besides being a capital of Karnataka, it is a national and global city.

Known for Information Technology, it is even termed as the silicon valley of India. People of different castes, communities, nationalities and ethnic groups live here. No other city in the country will have the diversity of Bangalore.

As for education, people from different corners of the country, South Asia and Africa come here. Some of the top colleges of the country are situated in the city. The city has been known for peace, harmony and tolerance. To make an accusation that students of North East are singled out for discrimination may not be right.

On the other hand, it is possible that people of the city have problems in including the outsiders who are culturally different. The people of the North East are meatarians (non-vegetarians), egalitarians with mongoloids physical features.

They have strong loyalties to their tribes, live in communities of their own in rented homes and are afraid of the people of the city. Due to their simplicity, very often they are cheated by the local autorickshawallas, landlords and the shopkeepers. Their lives are simple. Though some of them pretend to be rich, they come from middle class families.

There is a lot of sacrifice parents make to provide them a qualitative education outside their state. A section among them likes to enjoy and freak out. While some of them have lots of fun, several of them are hard workers and do well in their academics.

Whenever they experience group support, they perform better. While the locals take time to understand the people of the North East, the students of the North East have fears to mix with the locals since they are perceived as the ‘others’ in the campuses.

Celebrate diversity

How can institutions integrate them? What our campuses need to do is to celebrate diversity. Educational institutions should be able to provide a space for all cultures in all campus activities. St. Joseph’s College has an annual North East Festival, known as ‘Footprints,’ to showcase the talents of the North East students.

The festival has become so popular that hundreds of students who are not from the North East come to the festival to get an insight into their culture. The students have a forum of their own and conduct seminars, exhibitions and other activities and thus make the other students realise what it means to be from North East. The city needs an openness to learn from people of other cultures. 

Given the diversity of the people in the city what people of the city need to do is to celebrate diversity and resist the imposition of uniformity. When a culture is imposed, it discriminates people who are different. Educators in the city need to think of a rainbow planet. Different colours making a rainbow as students from diverse backgrounds make a campus.

Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate, speaks of how we can make diversity flourish in a world marred by identity-based conflicts. “The same person can be, without any contradiction, an American citizen, of Caribbean origin, with African ancestry, a Christian, a liberal, a woman, a vegetarian, a long-distance runner, a historian, a schoolteacher, a novelist, a feminist, a heterosexual, a believer in gay and lesbian rights, a theatre lover, an environmental activist, a tennis fan, and a jazz musician.

Being able to choose one’s identity without losing the respect of others or being excluded from other choices is important in leading a full life. People want to practise their religion openly, to speak their language, to celebrate their ethnic or religious heritage without fear of ridicule or punishment or diminished opportunity. People want the freedom to participate in society without having to slip off their chosen cultural moorings. It is a simple idea, but profoundly unsettling.”

This is what the city’s educational institutions may have to learn. They can no longer live with singular identity of the state when people from other parts of the country and the globe come to study here. Looking at other cultures with mental stereotypes is to fail to capture the richness of each culture.

There are choices institutions of higher education have to make. They can choose to live in a world of yesteryears or embrace the many different facets that make us human and enable us to live happily with our differences as members of one human family. While the city may not have done racial profiling, we have surely lacked in living with differences.

(The writer is a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla)