Though I thought I would just fall asleep on the overnight ride, it was such a fun, interesting group I was happy to stay up and talk. One of the first questions I asked as we rode through the dark, winding roads surrounded by deep-green tea gardens, was about insurgent groups in Assam. I got a long, complicated answer which Ashok ended with “just look it up on Wikipedia…” I then asked about a bombing I had read about in The Assam Tribune that morning—
“What was that bombing about?”
I was brushed off, “Oh just insurgents groups killing innocent people for attention.”
“Oh… where was it?”
“In Nagaon District.”
“Where is Nagaon District?”
“We’re driving through it now.”
At that point I stopped asking questions…
Around 5:00 AM Ashok and I arrived in Golaghat District. We met Bhupin, the District Coordinator, who showed us a room in his home. We went to sleep then, but at about 7:00 AM I woke up when I heard Ashok on the phone.
“Sorry to wake you, Pushkar, but it was important: one of our District Coordinators was just attacked by a jackal.”
“What?”
“Well it seems that a jackal wandered into his house and when they saw each other both of them got very scared. The jackal attacked our District Coordinator and cut up his face, hands, and stomach—but he’s ok now, he’s in the hospital getting stitches.”
Fortunately this seemed to be an isolated, fluke incident. But unfortunately jackals aren’t the only ones picking on Pratham Coordinators.
[Derhasat Brahma, Pratham Block Coordinator]
In Kokrajhar District, I learned of the story of Derhasat Brahma, a Pratham Block Coordinator who visited the Sarpanch (village mayor) in the village of Gomabil on May 21st in order to try to get support for a Pratham summer camp in the village. After having a relatively productive meeting, Derhasat rode his bike back to his home in another village.
Just as he was getting to his front door, he was approached by 2 men who asked him for identification. It turns out that these men were from the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and that Gomabil village was in NDFB territory. The men suspected Derhasat of “spying” on NDFB activities for a rival organization under the cover of Pratham. After trying to confirm Derhasat’s identity, the NDFB men took him to a NDFB office and with a group of others interrogated him.
After 4 hours, the NDFB guys finally let Derhasat go. Derhasat said although it was a very intimidating atmosphere, the men were actually pretty kind.
Since then, the Pratham District Coordinators in Kokrajhar have announced to key government— and non-government officials— that Pratham will be hosting camps in Kokrajhar, in order to avoid these kind of problems in the future.
At the end of my conversation I asked Derhasat if he would go back again to Gomabil. His answer? “Yes, I have to go back there—it’s my job.”
______________________________________________________
www.pratham.org
www.readindia.org
www.prathamusa.org
No comments:
Post a Comment