Not just that it is the most beautiful month with the rains bidding goodbye and the harvested fields displaying their own charm, November has been an eye opener of many kinds. First there was a medium long flight to Dimapur where I had to wear a wrist brace to support an injury. I have never been on the other side of disabledcy. It was very surprising to see how people react to a person who looks like she needs help. The elegant air hostesses who normally just watch you stand on tip toe to push in your cabin luggage in the hold, suddenly leapt to attention and took the box from me and deposited it safely. I thought it was simply my senior citizen status that elicited that helpful and unusual reaction. But mid flight or a little before mid flight, the young woman next to me began to be very concerned every time I tried to do stuff such as open an Indigo biscuit tin, and open the plastic wrapper of the sugar free biscuits. All of this she insisted on doing for me. Took me some time to realize it was because of the wrist brace. What did I do? Sat back and enjoyed it and felt very glad that this was the normal people’s reaction to the more vulnerable members of society. I felt proud of our region, our culture that always respects physically challenged members of society and makes it a taboo to mistreat such people. I bless all of you who instinctively cared for a disabled passenger. It’s good to live in a world where the weaker ones are cared for and they need not be anxious about getting places safely.
The caring did not stop when the flight ended. As we prepared to disembark, my co passenger lifted down my box and insisted on carrying it to the luggage retrieval area. Bless her soul.
The other November thought was a short trip to Arunachal Pradesh University, thereafter to their literature festival. The university first, and onward to their admirable campus set on a hilltop plateau with beautifully black topped roads, a comfortable guest house and excellent accommodation for the different departments. The food was simple, healthy, wholesome and the service very satisfactory. The students were hard at work late into the night and took great pride in showing us their radio station, a project initiated by the students and run by the students themselves broadcasting news about new ventures being started by the Mass Communications Centre.
From the university, the next stop was the Arunachal Literature Festival, a huge Government sponsored program bringing together writers from the Northeast and beyond. The arrangements were faultless, the hospitality surpassed other states and there was a bondedness in many of the sessions. I recognized that we were bonded by our Northeastness. The funding and support for the Arunachal Literature Festival was spontaneous. The government of Arunachal was a proud host to guests from outside the state, putting us in an excellent hotel, and providing the sweetest and sincerest volunteers to help each guest get around the vast spaces. We enjoyed their huge hospitality and were left with the thought, where have we gone wrong? What lesson can we learn from Arunachal and its lovely people? Their roads are well paved, their universities are functioning at a par with other Indian universities and their government fully supports their literary activities. Can we copy them? Can we push our pride aside and admit that other states have gone way ahead of us because they prioritized unity and peace?
On the way back, because it was a road trip, we saw several cars parked at the Kaziranga gate. We joined the phalanx and were rewarded. At least forty to fifty elephants were majestically crossing from right to left and marching into the wayside tea gardens. We, humans, had to halt in our tracks and take in the sight of creation’s most powerful members repeating a traditional custom. I must say, November has been a truly rewarding month. I am grateful.
