To all our brethrens especially Karbi Anglong's

Question on God, can God be unkind to us? Not long ago in South-East Asia, the God just spreaded the Chakmas like butter outside their permanent domicile!!! In this way, our Chakmas are spreaded over the farthest eastern frontier of India known as the North-East India! A substantial Chakma population is found as half-foreigner and half-citizen along the belt of Himalayan foothills and tropical forested areas of the Brahmaputra valley in Arunachal Pradesh. Their main source of livelihood is subsistence farming. Their lands are known to be exquisitely fertile and cultiviable, yielding rich paddy crop and mustard seeds year after year. While the paddy stock meets their two squares of meal daily, the mustard seeds harvested during winter earns cash. In India, the cash or currency is called 'rupee'. In addition, families are bound to own a pair of trained bulls for the purpose of tilling their lands. In case not, you've just discovered the poorest family in a Chakma village! Their annual economy essentially banks on a plot of tillable land, a good summer followed with a good winter and a pair of trained bulls.

An equal chunk or higher live in Mizoram, admist the Christain Mizos, are well settled with full citizenship status, and better positioned by far than any Chakma family from Arunachal or Tripura though trailing far behind their Mizo neighbors in sectors more than one. Thinking of our Mizoram brethrens, the foremost object that comes to the mind is that they live in the only town in India which is built for the Chakmas by the Chakmas. There is abundance of business and trade both domestic and cross-border trade handled by Chakma business family and traders. What is less attractive about them is that, sometimes, they have this image that they do not push their children hard into pursuance of higher studies at university level. The tend to find comfort in mediocrity. Their region has, otherwise, got the right ground and economic strength to launch their wards to the finest university campuses available throughout the nation and produce brilliant gems who could lead their local community forward plus extend helpful assistance to brethrens beyond Mizoram borders. There is the splendid gift in their hands - an autonomous district council - bestowed by the Gandhis and Congress.

The situation of our brethrens in Tripura is plainly alike to Arunachal or Mizoram. There is nothing significant except that they may have gained some extent of powers in the field of active politics and civil service division of the state govenment of Tripura. This is a very direct statement though I don't mean to be impolite, however, their unfortunate aspect is that they may have absorbed too much culture, fashion and language of their Bengali neighbors. This is sad. The best deal though is at their hands, geographically, they live closest to the ancestral CHT. If they wish anytime, they can plan and wrap up a CHT trip with a flick of a finger, which is a real blessing judging from the envious eye of an Arunachalese Chakma. It's requires a good measure of budget preparation, lenghty road travels and above all a strong conviction for the man from Arunachal to make a make a trip to CHT to meet the relatives who still live there, the brave one who defied communal flares, hostile governance and ruthless military operations throughout decades to retain their original spot on earth. Coming back to the main point, there is something that I really admire that will not go unhighlighted: I am continously impressed with their fondness of traditional music and folklores, initiatives, experimentation and producing commendable arts! They keep aside the time to practice and create music for our ears! We look forward to each year for a nice piece of art work release. There's quite many out there awaiting some form of art work release around this Bizu! Lastly, those of you not belonging to Tripura may protest, but the most romantic youths in our whole tribe are to be found in Tripura only.

Looking beyond the Indian border, my deepest respect to our brethrens in CHT who did not falter and braved the worst of times to protect and retain the traditional homes, villages, culture and heritage. When dusk befalls and the body is willing to surrender, they can breathe their last on their own soil with dignity, honor and peace of inner mind. There is one thing for which it is worth a man's life, that is for the defend of one's birth place. Had we a rosy past, had we a nation to call our own, something unlikely to ever have, you could get these sentimental feelings. As a Chakma, there are many things that we will never understand in our life, like fighting for the nation, sacrificing for the nation, winning for the nation. I will carry a deep regret to my grave that I have never lived in a nation of my own....
Coming back to the main topic, the modern generation of Chakma women in CHT has a prized place in my heart. First of all, they deserve three-big-cheers for re-inventing the 'khadi'. I heartily appreciate the women society for transferring the new weaving skill to their sisters living far across the other side of the international border. (I've seen a new khadi from Tripura and Mizoram, but not sure having seen one from Arunachal, hope some girl out there did that, probably I just need to sniff out who ;-) Secondly, my metta specially goes out for the women again for helping nurture a Dhamma bent of mind among their family members - be it a son or daughter, brother or sister, husband and parents and old grandparents. (In every dhamma publications released from CHT, I am impressed to see the sheer number of women Buddhist devotees, their respect for the Triple Gems, heartfelt reverance for the living dhamma gurus, and participation in dhamma activities in support of their local viharas.)

One more para dealing with Karbi Anglong brethrens would do very good in the blog, unfortunately, can't produce any about them from me. Last evening I attended a phone call from Bodhgaya. I spoke Phra Ratna, who told me that our brethrens in Assam are suffering being left stranded from all of us - all of us includes the Chakmas residing in Arunachal, Tripura, Mizoram, Delhi and CHT. Our brother and sisters living in Karbi Anglong do not seem to be progressing at all! They are stalled. Their livelihood could be very toiling and harder than anything we meet daily. If you are a student or an officer in any metropolitan city in India, please ask a question to yourself: Do you know of a Chakma brethren belonging to Karbi Anglong living in your city for studies or job? Phra Ratna's answer is blank! So is mine! What is your answer?

Somebody who's been to and mixed with the brethrens in Karbi Anglong could fill the left over space in the blog by making a comment. Interested? Please forward a short one to me at your convenient time. I will have a little trip to Northeast, not sure if I can squeeze a quick visit to Karbi Anglong. If that can be, it would be great.

Wishing HaPpY BIZU GREeTiNg to all Chakma bhei-bhon lock!
Have a colorful time!
Lots of Metta!

*living under the indian democratic instituion as an half-baked citizen, but riding on the liberty to full speech and expression, these are liberal opinions of an individual. if readers disagree and/or words or comments may have hurt sentiments, which is not in the intention, my sincere and advance apologies. if you believe that author may have overshot in his opinion, please comment and freely feed updates to the author. i welcome it.