Nice gets you nowhere

Subani Rai
Aug 22, 2017 · 1 min read

It is said of the Gorkha’s that we mingle well. That we are amicable and peaceful, quick to make others feel comfortable.

I’ve taken this character certificate with a certain sense of pride. Until now.

Now, I want to shrug off this shawl that the world has draped around us, like one does to a retiring poet. I want us to cast it away and do what we should have done from the start.

Fight. Demand. Seize.

Because while we were being nice and polite, the rest of this country was writing us off as those that will never ask for a seat at the table. And even if they do, will be quietened to servitude by lofty ideals of nationalism,or by the loud barking of those who simply by virtue of birth, large eyes and geography think they are superior. And if that does not work too, by guns and bullets.

We need to be rebels. We need to make the rest of this neck-deep-in-themselves country feel uncomfortable. Squirm with guilt.

And, no, this is not us changing because of them. This is us rising to change the way we are remembered.

So, the next time they tell you ‘Darjeeling is beautiful with nice people’. Thank them. And then remind them it’s Gorkhaland, the land of the unrelenting Gorkhas.

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    Subani Rai

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