Say No to BANDHS

All over the country, infact the Indian subcontinent, strikes or bandhs are very common. It is quite strange that like several Indian words, the word ‘BANDH’ has still not made to the English dictionary. The worst hit area in this regard is India’s East and Northeast. Talking about it at different forums, everyone present agreed to the fact that Bandhs are by no way needed and does not achieve any goal whatsoever. While talking at political forums, the individual leaders agreed that Bands are not only useless, but also detrimental to any kind of development. Irrespective of political parties they all agreed that they have to support Bandhs as it is a political decision.

Long back with the one month long blockade at Manipur and the continuous strikes in the Darjeeling Hills and Dooars of North Bengal, I had taken a email feedback on this from the tourism fraternity of Sikkim, West Bengal and Assam and everyone 9In hundreds) opposed to the Bandhs. For the last few months at EHTTOA (Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association), a leading travel association for the entire Northeast including North of West Bengal, we have been running small workshops at local levels at the tourism destinations in the Sikkim-Darjeeling Hills-Dooars region (a single popular circuit in Northeast India) and have been able to create a common consensus against any kinds of Bandhs. All this we did to create a political will against Bandhs.

 

The recent development led by Anna Hazare has shown the way that “people’s decision is the political decision and not that political decisions are people’s decision”. This is an opportunity to put our hands and heads together and oppose to all kinds of Bandhs or Strikes and initiate passing another ‘Lokpal Bill’ saying no to Bandhs.

Northeast Festival in Delhi

Jashoda Chettri from Sikkim is continuing a training with NDTV Broadcast Training Programme, New Delhi. She made it a point to attend the Northeast Festival at IGNCA, reports

Newspapers in Delhi were splashed with advertisements of the weeklong indigenous Theatre festival of the North East at Indira Gandhi Centre for Culture & Art (IGNCA), New Delhi from April 1^st-April 30^th, 2011. The advertisement mentioned that entry and car parking were free (as if to imply this will ensure good crowd). A website says ‘ Take a look at the textile exhibition with dresses and apparels from different regions of the northeast. From apparels and costumes of Ras Lila in Manipur to Assamese Bihu dance costume, the show displays an interesting mix of lifestyle of the people and their lives.’

 

But most of the days’ visitors were greeted with empty parking lots and only participants roaming around the premises aimlessly. A food festival has also been organised which where bhel puris and paani puris seem to be doing brisk business with the North East food stalls closed owing to a fire which apparently gutted the food stalls. A handloom and handicraft exhibition is also a part of the festival but there are hardly any buyers. A Naga stall owner admitted that “sale bahut kam hai” The plays were the saving grace but even they could not salvage the festival as it was a classic case of noble intentions gone horribly wrong. Hope the seminar lived up to expectations. 

 

IGNCA the organising body of in its hand out mentioned that the festival has been organised with the objective to promote the rich cultural and traditional heritage of the North East. The website has gives detailed information about the festival. But I wonder if that helped. Delhihites hardly seem to be aware of the festival. I took some visitors for a play from Arunachal Pradesh but we had to come back disappointed as the play was delayed by more than an hour because the organisers had to cramp the events of the previous day as well as a fire disrupted the schedule of the previous day.

A bunch of French tourists were walking past the stalls. One lady went to a Nagaland stall not to buy anything but to enquire about places of interest in Nagaland. She was in a dilemma as somebody told her she will need an Inner Line Permit to visit Nagaland while somebody else told her that her Passport would suffice. I am wondering if my vote should go for entertainment (the festival) or information (to travellers).

                           Text & Pix: Jashoda Chettri 

                                         e.mail: jashodachettri@hotmail.com