adversity
noun
: a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
~ Martin Luther King Jr.
In exactly 10 days, it will be 13 months since violence erupted back home. A recent news article stated the following:
Dr Irfan Engineer, the director of India’s Centre for Study of Society and Secularism told us: “Riots that are spontaneous in nature [in India] can be controlled within 24 hours…there are two necessary conditions for riots to continue beyond 24 hours – it should be well planned and the administration, including police, should want it to continue and should be otherwise complicit.”
Full article here: https://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/1/2790/why-the-global-community-must-hold-india-to-account-for-atrocities-in-manipur?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaa6u0H8mMFdHtSKORb1-bM_zimTsA-scHMhlLcr7__i5qZOu9qblDDauFk_aem_Ad3ukOIYKWGApoK5F8dvcoRTVBcJDMQ10ZShFEBknXrLKlyrM1JAwV0ogxpURj8avXTyi03_nHA5VnC7iv23RGDD
387 days since May 3rd, there are no prizes for guessing as to why the ongoing conflict in Manipur remains unresolved. A state rendered effectively into fragments, with the majority of its people living in terrible conditions, with little or no hope of peace in sight.
For those living in the valley that can, have either moved away or are in the process of moving out; those that have no option but to stay, have to contend with not just the bare minimum but also the addition of a new, armed militia, a bunch of trigger happy, newly trained, albeit not necessarily skilled, self-proclaimed ‘guardians’ of the land. With easy money through extortion and abuse, and intimidation that has often resulted in fatalities, this is now the new normal.
For the people in the hills, life is well, extremely challenging. Thousands continue to remain in relief camps, having lost almost everything, their homes and possessions; many others, cramped in relatives’ homes or local church premises.
Education, health facilities, even the distribution of rice scheme for the marginalized continue to remain out of reach, and therefore, in essence, what we are witnessing is the systematic, methodic starvation and denial of basic amenities, rights to its people.
And yes, not surprisingly, there has been a deliberate silence, a conscious collective of non-reportage of any news related to crimes, vicious and continuous, once almost every other day, now if we are fortunate, weekly assaults that continue to take place, be it the valley or along the peripheries.
The mute, abject apathy from the central and state governments, as also the fourth estate is now something we have come to expect. What, however, has been more telling, has been both the vocal diatribe justifying this horror, as well as the deafening silence of the rest of the nation.
And by the rest of the nation I mean, colleagues, acquaintances, family even, that have chosen to remain mere spectators and worse still, armchair pundits.
For it is in the events that have unfolded, in the absolute, sheer pain that has been inflicted, one thing has stood astonishingly clear, and that has been the rank rabid hate that had been festering all along.
In the rallying cries and indignant replies, the ‘oh there are so many of them now’, the in your face name-calling, infiltrators, breeders, immigrants, terrorists, the fear feeding onslaught and demonization, has laid bare the true nature and heart of folks we once thought or believed to be if not good, or at least affable.
To that end, therefore, I am thankful.
When women were paraded naked and when you justified it with whataboutery and the ‘it is war, all things are fair game’ statements, it makes me glad because I know now that your conscience no longer exists.
When a child is burnt alive and you ask me but why aren’t you talking about the others who have suffered, I am grateful because I see the evil in you and that I will never ever trust my children around you.
When in the name of ‘war’, limbs and heads are decapitated and you say, ‘yes regimes often become authoritarian, but you have to recognize that so were the previous governments’, I am thankful because I know that tomorrow if I were to face you, you would not hesitate to cut me into pieces.
When you consistently flaunt words like nationalism and pride and the influx of foreigners and 'oh there wont be any of us left', I am grateful because I know now that you never considered me an equal, a citizen of this country.
For many of you, whether you know it or not, acknowledge it or not, you were and always will remain a bigot, a racist, fascist, misogynistic, entitled suffering fool.
And yes, while this past year has seen some horrendous evil, I am glad because it has brought out the face we would have never seen otherwise.
And for all those that remain gloating, oblivious to the pain of their fellow man, woman, child, there is this.
"They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind…"
Do not for a minute be fooled into thinking that they will not come for you. One day in some measure or the other, the hate that you have poured out will come back to you.
Just so you know, it is already here. Much sooner than you think.
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men…"
~ T.S. Eliot
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