There is a saying: “Everyone is the hero of their own story.” So, even I feel that I am the hero of my own story. This is the untold journey of my life – which is something I’ve always kept suppressed in my heart and never shared with anyone.
Being born and brought up in Assam – northeast India – I always wondered why our cities and villages were not like the cities and villages of other states. I was always proud to be a part of my village and state but would always wonder why they weren’t like others in the country. When I started to observe the issues and challenges we were facing, I realised that out cities and villages were far behind in comparison.
And the underlying reason behind this is not only political failure or hollow government machinery but also irresponsible youth like us. We always have the habit of separating ourselves from the problem. Even parents teach their children to look away from problems – that there is no need to take note of other people’s problems as it’s none of our business. And therein lies the origin of the downfall of our state and motherland.
We start neglecting and avoiding the problems of our neighbourhoods and start giving the excuse that it’s a matter for the government and none of our business. I’ve always believed that if our cities and villages are not prosperous, then it’s not because of the government but because of our negligence.
Even when I look back on my past, I notice that I haven’t don’t anything for my village. Because my village had poor quality education, I conveniently left it in the name of higher education. This is not only the case with me. If children don’t want to go for higher studies to cities like Delhi and Bangalore, then parents force them to go out. The majority of youth from the region are either working somewhere in the metro cities or studying somewhere in government or private colleges by spending a huge amount of money. They don’t want to take the risk of staying back in the state and contributing something for the state.
Though I received my education outside Assam, I have always wanted to look for opportunities to go back and contribute to my state. With this dream, I always try to learn new things from new experiences so that in the future, it might be helpful for my state. This is how I started the journey of expressing my thoughts through writing. I started to explore different parts of our country and tried to document the issues that they faced. A platform like Youth Ki Awaaz lets me bring these issues to the rest of the world.