Post # 34 # Strange City, Stranger Stories

It is a trend in my hometown, Imphal. After Xth Class, half of the students go outside the state for further studies, and most of them after the XIIth. People are worried, more than the critical situation of our civilization, about this trend which has reached an epidemic proportion in the last decade. In our parents' generation, most of them did pursue their higher studies outside, but they went back home for the jobs. Now the story is different. We study outside the state and have started working here. The reasons are obvious: lack of job opportunities, worst socio-political conditions blah blah blah.

So we arrived in strange cities, with sackful of dreams. Legally, we are in our country but the difference between us and our host-cities is stark. Needless to say, racial discrimination is rampant, cultural stereotypes are ripe and there is a sense of the proverbial us-and-them in many facets of our daily lives.

THE STORY
There is a place called Rohini in northwest Delhi. One day, a group of thugs came and snatched a necklace from a lady, who was left dumbfucked. A few days later, the same thugs came again, much to the horror of the passers-by and of course, the lady who was so unfortunate to meet twice her adversaries. Then the worst part of the story unfolded: the goons started beating up the lady. When asked by a gentle old man, they barked they had snatched a piece of jewelry from the lady but it was a fake necklace. So they barked repeatedly like a mad dog while punching and kicking the lady, asking her why she wore a fake necklace, while everybody was waiting was Shaktimaan.