Tickling my taste buds: A Kimchi experience

The ‘hobbies/interest/passions' sections of social networking profile pages have often left me wondering what are the things that really interest and appeal to me. Usually I just put up things as randomly as they appear in my mind. Or else, I just leave them the way they are...blank.

However, if I had taken them a little seriously I would probably list them as follows: good food, good people, and good music. Poetry and, photography, too!

On any lonesome days, I would long for any one of these things from the list. Not necessarily in chronological order though.

Talking about food I realised I was a foodie that fateful day when I ate three lunches with three different set of people on the same day. Initially out of my weakness to say No to my friends, I ended up enjoying all of the three meals to my heart’s content. I remained a faithful foodie since then. And, I never said NO to food again.

From here come my dislike for people who act so fussy when it comes to food on some pretext or the other. My distaste for those who don’t possess a taste for good food is also well known. Jokes apart, I must admit that I have lost quite a few friends for the same reasons.

Do not be scared away if I tell you that some of the pet names of my good friends are like “Piggie”-because she eats like a pig; “monkey”-other than her antics, she eats like one of our ancestral forefathers; and, “catty”-who always cribs about the lack of good food in town, but hardly eats like a greedy cat.

And there is this almost mysterious Korean restaurant in town which I once discovered by chance. Knowing my girl friend’s fetish for Kimchi and all things Korean, I decided to take her there on a weekend. The food was delicious and filling, just the way I love my beef to be grilled with all the side dishes that accompanies it. Except the Kimchi which was not really to my liking.

Last January, this craze for Kimchi and Korean food was passed on to Felina who kept insisting that I take her there before she leaves town. I eventually gave in to her constant demand and she totally fell in love with the place.

The following week I decided to try my hand at my favourite Korean dish, Bul Go Gi. Henceforth, I don't foresee myself making any more visits to this restaurant. Don’t ask me to take you there anymore. I will cook for you! That is an escape route that I look forward to apply next time around.

In case this could be of some interest, here is the recipe for Bul Go Gi. It is pretty simple and the ingredients are easily available. All that you require is your love for food, and some common sense.

Ingredients:

• 500 gms beef
• 1 table spoon of sugar or honey

• 2 table spoon of cold water
• 1/3 table spoon of black pepper
• 1 table spoon of minced garlic
• 1 table spoon of soy sauce
• 2 table spoon of sesame seed
• 1 table spoon of cooking wine (white wine will do just fine)
• 2 spring onions cut into thin slices along with the greens
• 2 table spoon of sesame oil

Directions to cook:

Cut the meat across the grain in very thin slices (may be half an inch) and then place it in a glass or plastic bowl. Then mix in water, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, pepper, sesame seed and sherry with your hands till well blended. Refrigerate the meat for 4 to 8 hours. The more the better. Stir it two or 3 times while marinating in the refrigerator.

Once done, add the spring onions before you start to cook. It could be either cooked over a barbeque grill or in a frying fan, which will be even easier for you. Cook till the meat turns brown on both sides and it should not take you very long before you can taste it. You can also slice a tomato into four cubes and add it before you take the meat out of the oven.

Will taste good with a bowl of sticky rice; some greens; a beef vegetable soup; may be some kimchi (why not?), if you can buy it prepared from somewhere or source it from some Korean friends that you might know of.

Women in electoral politics in Mizoram and the Northeast: time to sing for change

In the recently released Electoral Roll of Mizoram the population of the state’s total voters stand at 6,33,455 voters with a registered increase of 4,002 voters as compared to last year’s Electoral Rolls. It marks an increase of 0.63 percent.

These figures give us an idea of the state’s political contours nowhere seen in any other states in a country of more than a billion people. Female voters in Mizoram outnumbered male voters with the figures standing at 3, 20,207 and 3, 13,248 respectively.

Ironically, the state doesn’t have a single women member in the state legislature. It is unbelievable but unfortunately true!

And, it is surprising that this anomaly has not yet called the attention of the state’s intelligentsia to warrant a discourse on this issue.

During the last Assembly polls 10 women filed their nominations which is the highest ever in the history of the state’s Assembly. Those who eventually went on to fight the election did not smell the sweet scent of victory.

Since 1972 there have been only three women legislators: Thanmawii in 1978, K. Thansiami in 1979 and Lalhlimpui in 1987.

And, perhaps this is the only state in the country to have such a skewed representation of gender or the lack of it thereof in the history of its Assembly.

Nagaland also cut a sorry figure with not a single women legislator being elected to the present Assembly. And Meghalaya, a state that prides itself in being a matrilineal society where women are supposed to be more powerful than elsewhere in the country did manage to send only one woman to the Assembly. Tripura has comparatively fared better with 3 women members in the state Assembly during the last Assembly elections.

Mizo women by custom and practice have always played a very important role in the socio-economic development of the community. Generally, women in the north east are far more empowered than most in the country. The same can be said of Nagaland and Meghalaya or for other north-eastern states where women are comparatively far more advanced in all spheres of life. Their role and position in society has earned them command and respect not enjoyed by their counterparts in mainland India.

For instance, in Mizoram we see most business establishments in the state are run by women. In terms of access to education, women get equal opportunities if not better than their male counterparts. And, they have proved their mettle in different fields and determined women are carving their own niche in every field including those which were entirely male dominated.

Then, why have we not seen women’s participation in politics in the state? What could be the possible reasons that keep them away from entering the fray or what are the factors that stop women from entering politics?

Generally, it is often pointed out that many women find it difficult to participate in an effective manner in politics for the following factors: Issues of domestic responsibilities, lack of financial clout, growing criminalization of politics, threat of character assassination often witnessed in politics, and politics being male dominated, and absence of women in leadership positions in political parties

Women in our society don’t seem to lack any of the skills required to become a politician. They have proved to be good housewives, good mothers, good cooks, good musicians, good sportspersons, good teachers, good administrators possessing equally good business acumen and other sets of skills required for success. And, they have it in them to triumph over gender based obstacles and other challenges that they have to face by virtue of being women.

And these points to a pressing need for us to analyze the role that women can play in politics and in the overall development of our state.

Women’s role and participation in politics should not be merely limited to exercising their votes at times of election or to be confined to doing kitchen chores during election campaigns or after election win parties. They must be made a part of the game.

Male dominated political parties and male centric policies adopted by them wherein women have not been given any space to break into this male dominated political sphere is one of the primary reasons why we don’t see women politicians in the state. First, very few women have been nominated for contesting elections and those few who did get to contest did not even stand a chance to win it for reasons apparent to us all. Often women were made to contest elections from constituencies where the political party she represented knew that there was very little chance of even a surprise win. And, those few determined and daring women who chose to fight lonely battles as independent candidates found the going tough to surmount in the face of monetary might and other advantages enjoyed by their already established male opponents.

Perhaps, the absence of a Sonia Gandhi or a Mamata Banerjee in our society has not left any role model for our women folks to draw inspiration from in threading a similar political path. This could also be a factor why not many Mizo women do not think of politics as a viable option to opt for.

Now the onus will lie on political parties in the state whether or not to force a change in this scenario. The political parties must give sufficient representation to women during ticket distribution for the state assembly elections. Political parties must also encourage women’s participation in the village council and municipal elections and women must be made a part of the decision making process in the party offices.

Civil society and the educated class must start a discourse to discuss and debate and highlight this democratic folly through their shared belief and press for a change to the hitherto male dominated Mizoram politics.

The state’s powerful non-governmental organisations like the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Mizo Zirlai Paul (MZP), the Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP), and the influential Church should also press for similar demands with the same vigour and determination as they often did for other less pressing issues.

And, of course women must also start to reassert for their rightful stake in every sphere of life, most importantly in the political arena. More and more women should show interests in contesting elections; starting from village, the municipalities and the assembly and Lok sabha polls. And, political parties in the state can contribute to this by encouraging women party members to contest elections starting from the grassroots level itself.

In the aftermath of the Assembly elections in Meghalaya, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh which together sent only 4 women members in the Assembly, Padmashree award winner Patricia Mukhim has said, ''It is paradoxical, and despite all the pandemonium, the fact remains that men do not consider women capable of carrying out the duties of an MLA”.

This rightly sums up the realities of the northeast when it comes to women’s participation in electoral politics. Women’s participation in politics is significant not only on grounds of gender justice or for earning legitimacy to the democratic credential of our system but to also bring competency and an array of skill set which our male politicians have failed to demonstrate so far.

But, will we see the wind of change in the coming years? The state will only gain from women’s active role and participation in the decision making process. We need this wind of change. And, the sooner we see it happening, the better it is.

A pigeon by the porch

There is a bird nest (pigeon) in one of the corner windows of my hostel bathroom. I discovered its existence only after the eggs were laid. Yes, the eggs did come first.

The eggs were hatched nearly two weeks ago and two baby pigeons have come to life. The features have grown thick by now. One of the baby pigeons appears to be sick; it is much smaller in built than his/her brother/sister and looked rather frail whenever I saw them by the window. Yesterday it fell down to the bathroom floor and some good soul has put the poor baby pigeon back where it should be. My friend thinks that the poor baby pigeon might be having some defect in its vision and going by the look it could be true.

I hope it survives and grow up into a healthy bird before they decide to fly away into the wild. I hope it is able to follow his/her parents to a safer destination.

Will they leave him/her behind if it is not able to fly like it should?

I have a phobia of chicks just out of the nests. Or else I could have taken a keener interest in observing this poor baby pigeon.

Deconstructing the "Foreigner" discourse in Mizoram

Partly inspired by one ‘Helen pari’ who made the following comment in a thread on Chakma related post at misual.com, a popular online Mizo portal:

“.....these same helpless people are mostly illegal immigrants, accepted into our fold as part of our land due to the short-sightedness and greed of our previous leaders and now we will be paying more and more for their mistake. Assam stands as a living example to all these illegal immigrations and problems caused by them”.

Chakmas in Mizoram have often been branded as ‘foreigners’ or ‘illegal immigrants’ from neighbouring Bangladesh by the majority Mizos. This myth could be attributed to the widespread anti-Chakma propoganda started and carried out by political parties to mobilise vote banks by playing the Chakma card as and when considerd appropriate and which subsequently has been passed on to Mizo youth groups and organisations like the YMA, and MZP who carried the baton of anti-Chakma propaganda for many years since with the covert support of political forces in the state who could no more alienate the sizeable Chakma vote bank in the state.

Interestingly, it was happening at a time when the anti-immigrant issue in Assam was at its height and which ultimately fell into the hands of the ULFA to spearhead the movement against illegal immigrants in the state which took place at an alarming proportion.

Back in Mizoram this issue of Chakmas being 'illegal immigrants' has been likened by many in the state to the incidence of immigration that took place in Assam and Tripura. And, this issue which was otherwise non-existent in the state has started to attract the attention of the state media who eventually played an important role in developing a non-existent issue into something that looked real and believeable by the people in the state. Merely an upshot of the anti-immigration issue in Assam, the Chakma issue in Mizoram has found quick acceptance among the politicians and then the people.

Most people who continue to hold this view actually never had the chance to undesrtand the real picture as the history of the Chakmas in the state would otherwise tell them. And, of course they canot be faulted for this since they grew up on news feeds that highlighted the anti-Chakma propaganda which projected them as aliens from a foreign land. For the new generation of young Mizos the media in the state and other anti-Chakma forces have successfully managed to install in them this myth of the Chakma being "foreingers" in the state.

How many of those Mizos who buy the thoery of the Chakmas in Mizoram being "foreingers" have actually been to the Chakma areas and made an effort to study and analyse what they have been fed on by the politicians and the media at Aizawl? They could be wrong too. Think again. Can't they?

This belief that the Chakmas in Mizoram are ‘illegal immigrants’ from Bangladesh has gained much weight due to certain developments, political or otherwise that took place at various points of time. And, many other factors also helped in the construction of the idea of the Chakmas being "foreigners" in Mizoram as the following paragraphs will try to show.

Chakmas are Buddhist unlike most of the other tribes in Mizoram. Interestingly, the Maras, and the Lais who are Christians by faith have been spared from being bracketed as ‘illegal immigrants’ though they also have their fellow brethren on the other side of the border in Myanmar like the Chakmas do in Bangladesh. Their religious and cultural affinity and other similar traits which they share with the Mizos seemed to have earned them ready acceptance in the state unlike the Chakmas who are completely distinct in their relegion, culture, language and other attributes. Needless to mention that obvious attempts by the Christian missionaries on conversion have not yielded the desired results in the Chakma areas and I hear some people jokingly attribute this to their being ‘foreigners’ which of course is a very nice joke for a good laugh.

Similarly, the Chakmas are culturally and linguistically very different from the Mizos. Their reluctance to embrace the culture and language of the Mizos like other tribes did has not gone well with Mizo nationalists who are of the opinion that all those who reside in Mizoram should and must “speak’ and ‘act’ like Mizos. Discussions and comments related to similar issues in various posts on popular Mizo portals have convinced me of this. As a matter of fact, I have often been asked by my Mizo friends and even by attendants at Lengpui airport help desks as to why I don’t speak in Mizo in spite of being from the state. I fail to give them any answers for at times I pity myself for never having the chance to pick up such a beautiful language. At hindsight a suitable answer on my part would have been to counter ask them the reasons why majority of Mizos have not learnt to speak Hindi in spite of them being a part of the Hindi speaking Indian union.

Other than the religious, cultural and linguistic factors that helped construct this notion of Chakmas being “foreigners” are certain political developments taking place in the eighties in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladsh.

There has been an influx of Chakma refugees in the late eighties after they faced religious persecutions at the hands of Muslim settlers and the Bangladeshi army in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Hundreds and thousands of them found a safer shelter in the neighbouring state of Tripura till they were repatriated back in the late nineties when relative peace prevailed in their homeland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Bangladshi Chakmas who sought refuge and humanitarian shelter in the state of Mizoram at the height of ethnic conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts were brutally thwarted back by the Indian military forces. Understanbly, the Mizos have feared that poliical turbulence and ethnic violence in the Chittagong Hill Tracts might lead to influx of Chakmas to Mizoram. And, perhaps many Mizos are of the notion that many Chakmas could have possibly crossd over and illegally settled down among the local Chakmas. Beside, news of the influx of Chakma refugees into Tripura where they found a safe shelter for many years have been wrongly misinterpreted in many circles as all Chakmas being "refugees".

Another factor could be the setting up of Shanti Bahini miltant camps and settlements along the Bangladshi side of the border in the 1980s. The Shanti Bahini was the Chakma militant group who were fighting against the government of Bangladesh for autonomy before they gave up arms after a peace treaty was signed with the government of Bangladesh in 1997. With tacit support from the Indian security agencies, the Shanti Bahini found easy access to the Indian side of the borders for various purposes strategic to both the militant group and the Indian security forces and this in many ways facilitated people to people contact between Chakmas from across the border and border trade often followed. Not only Chakmas but also Mizo tribes from Bangladesh enjoyed the increase in people to people contact and the benefits of trade which received a boost during the presence of the Shanti Bahini elements in the boder areas.

Those temporary Shanti Bahini settlements on the other side of the border have ceased to exist after the Peace Accord was signed in 1997 and they all retreated back to their own villages and towns deep inside the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Perhaps, their presence along the border for more than two decades has understandably given rise to this fear and suspicion among the Mizos: the prospect of Bangladshi Chakmas illegally settling down in Mizoram.

However, these assumptions have not come true. I have not known or heard of any persons or family who have crossed over and illegally setteld down in my village, situated right across the Indo-Bangla border. And, I have not heard of any others in neighbouring Chakma villages that I have been to. Had it been otherwise I would have certainly known them since the dialect spoken by the Chakmas in Bangladesh is distinct from the one spoken by Chakmas in Mizoram. Beside, everyone knows almost everyone in the village and in the event of there being an influx of foreigners in the villages the Chakmas in Mizoram would have been the first to report and complain. Mizos who have been living along with Chakmas in these border villages for many years will certainly testify on these.

Having said that it is very much possible that a few Chakmas could have illegally settled down in some parts of the state. It is also probable that many Mizos and other tribes from the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Chin Hills in Myanmar could have settled down in variousn parts of the state. Without doing a proper study on the same it is not fair and justifiable to brand one particular tribe as "foreigners" based on assumptions and factors which are more political in nature.

This "foreinger" discourse in Mizoram has often made me to wonder how and why we came to be termed as "foreigners" in our own land. I remember once passing by a poster in an Aizawl street that read, " Chakmas-foreigners, go back" during the Quit Mizoram notice served on Chakmas in the early nineties. And, I still did not forget how terrible, unwanted and unsafe I felt as a small kid in the land of my birth.

The increase in the Chakma population over the last few decades is another factor for facilitating this notion of Chakmas having crossed from the Bangladeshi side. Before associating this increase in population to the issue of illegal immigrants it would be pertinent to understand that majority Chakmas being illiterate have not had access to family planning resources like the progressive Mizos did as a result of which most Chakma families that we see today are very large compared to the Mizos.

Lack of documented history of the north east region is another factor why such misconceptions are easier to preach and politicize.

History will tell us that Demagree which in present day is known as Tlabung has existed from the time Lt. T.H. Lewin made his first foray into the Lushai Hills through Chittagong Hill Tracts. His accounts in his book, A Fly on the Wheel stand as sufficient proof that Demagree (Tlabung) has been a part of the unregulated Chittagong Hills Tracts, the Chakma Kingdom whose influence and territory extended till the outer reaches of the Lushai Hills.

The fact that the Lushai Hills and the Chittagong Hill Tracts came under one single administrative unit during Lewin’s reign should explain why there certainly could have been migration and movement of people from one place to another given the nomadic and semi nomadic life hill people led then.

Partition in 1947 which led to breaking down and creation of fixed geographical boundaries that we now identify as borders cannot put people from a certain ethnicity on the wrong side of history and nationality. Like it will be wrong to consider the Mizos and other sub-Mizo tribes living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts as ‘illegal immigrants’ in Bangladesh just because they might have possibly crossed over from these Mizo hills at different points of time in history, the Chakmas living in Mizoram also does not qualify to be looked upon as ‘illegal immigrants’ for the same reasons.

These tribes, mostly the Chakmas have been living in these regions since those times when T.H. Lewin made Demagree his home in the 1870s. They were not foreigners then. And, they are not foreigners now.

The parents of my parents and their grandparents have lived, and tilled the Lushai hills long before the times when the idea of India as a nation has shaped up. May be their ancestors have crossed over from the other side of the hills beyond where the Lushai hills end or begin, but then which tribes in the region didn’t cross other hills and boundaries? Like the Mizos, Maras and all other tribes have crossed over from unknown historical places to have finally made Mizoram their home at various points of time; likewise the Chakmas did the same; perhaps, much earlier or a little later than the rest? Does that make us qualified to be called as “illegal immigrants” or “foreigners” in a state where the majority Mizo tribe has failed to understand, accept and connect with the distinct religion, culture, language and history of a tribe called the “Chakmas”?