I am not a rare piece when it comes to being a northeast INDIAN student at DU. What would slightly cut off the outliers in this category would probably be the fact that I was a northeastern student at Delhi University during covid-19.
I LOVED the experience. But I also consider myself lucky to have always been surrounded by my human shield of extremely protective friends. When I was not surrounded by them, I was surrounded by sheer luck,.
But I have heard about real-life encounters. Horrific and gruesome. People with hooded eyes getting spit on the face, being thrown out of their rented apartments, and sexual harassment.
my heart goes out to the people who had to suffer this mindless cruelty. Reason? Our looks. I don't know if there'll ever come a time when North Easterns would be accepted for being Indians by mainstream India.
I had people calling me cute because they believed I look like a Korean. I had people calling me "You are so lucky you can get inside Korea (which Korea dude?!) and not be recognized?" Yes, because passports don't exist.4
There are flagbearers of this hatred and fear from both ends. Hatred and fear are complimentary, aren't they? Maybe, for now, I'll blame the vast size of India. I know it's stupid. But with diversity, not always comes unity.