Tura is a city still picking up the pieces from over a
decade of violence, slowly tries to emerge from the ruins that were left in the
wake of a movement that still doesn’t make sense to most. Make no mistake when
I use the words ‘ruins’, you won’t find any, and it looks like a happy place to
be, but one doesn’t need to look too deep within people to really see the scar
every one hides, sometimes not too well. Little spurts of events emerge to
celebrate a certain sense of unity, and a hope to forget, even if for a while,
all the little things that make up the chasm that divides them and the rest of
the country.
I tagged along with a newfound friend to an annual event
hosted by a department of the university here, posing as a researcher and a
photographer. We drove in unaware of what to expect, and what not to expect in
my case. When we compare the scale of such events to the ones anywhere else, it
becomes a little unfair; things are always a little toned down here.
Armed paramilitary personnel surround the place, instantly
reminding you of the things you may have temporarily forgotten. They stand,
stoic and seemingly nonchalant, probably hoping they won’t have to pull the
trigger tonight.
My friend had been invited to judge a beauty pageant and a ‘manhunt’
which is part of the event; needless to say while we thought we were late, we
were a little under an hour early. Suddenly, in walk this strange looking band
all set to rock the place apart, armed to the teeth with a slideshow of his pictures
(!). Turns out the band’s frontman happened to have auditioned for the Indian
Idol, but got shot down somewhere down the line, thankfully. Apprehensive? Its when
he started singing, I started cringing. The first 3-4 minutes of the song, I couldn’t
quite understand just what language he was singing. The dude was assamese, so
it only made matters worse!
Turns out it was English.
After much fanfare, in walks this girl on the stage, to ‘sing’.
If the dude was bad, this chick was from another planet where painful shrieks and
wandering wails are probably mating calls of some sort. I couldn’t quite make
up my mind about what was worse, the fact that this condescending douchebag had
the galls to think he ruled the world, or the photographs of his ugly mug receiving
awards for his obvious mediocrity on constant slideshow.
Oh the horror.
