Hello Mayur: Welcome to assamnet.
I am delighted to see a newcomer starting out not only participating, but taking a lead on a discussion. That is very commendable. I hope you will continue to be a contributing member. I also invite all the others to participate as well. The net, after all, is what WE make of it. Our good friend, and often my adversary in many a debate,Ram Sarangapani told you "---I am sure you are going to get a earful, specially regarding the negatives,". Obviously he was alluding to my positions :-). He may be right, under certain circumstances. But he is wrong in its essence. Be all that as may be, while I appreciate your efforts at cataloging our ethnic attitudinal traits, I will be remiss if I did not point out one fundamental fact about such attempts at attributing qualities to a group of people, be it positive, be it negative or be it neutral: There rarely is any scientific or rational basis to such labeling. Why I say that is this: Almost all of the positive and most all of the negatives too, could be attributed to any other group of people in the south Asian sub-continent with about the same degree of accuracy. Furthermore, some of the attributes that you might present as positive, could very well be negative, depending on who is doing the grading. There are no RIGHT/WRONG, GOOD/BAD measuring standards for them. Any qualifying is entirely subjective. Allow me to give some examples: Among the pluses you put forth: Strength of Assamese People / Assam 1. Diverse and rich literary and cultural traditions 2. Favourable climatic condition 3. Healthy and relatively spice less cuisine 4. Great hospitality and relative simplicity of people 5. Fertile land 6. Rich flora and fauna 8. Major producer of tea and oil 9. Tremendous tourism potential 10. Absence of dowry **** Items 1 thru 4 could apply to any other group depending on who is doing the grading. Item 5 may or may not be applicable to all. But there might be other equally useful attributes to make up any land fertility deficiency, such as rich in minerals. 6 thru 9 also could have parallel other attributes to make up for. While absence of dowry in Assam USED to be an unique characteristic to the region, from what I hear that it changing rapidly now. Is that true? Even if it is not so, still out of ten, only one attribute could be solidly presented as an unique positive quality of the people of Assam. Similarly on the negatives. I could examine those too. But in order not to scare you off with an earful hat Ram warned you of :-). I would let you and others think that thru. Ultimately it all boils down to individuals in a certain group acting to preserve and promote one's own unique needs, with the resources available, within their various constraints and under the circumstances they are in. In that the qualities could not be attributable to everyone else in that group as a group characteristic, is how I see it. But it is an enjoyable exercise. Certainly no harm in tossing them around, unless they are used for promoting a particular political agenda in the guise of a cultural study, like some of our friends sometimes tend to do. I have no reason to think that you would attempt any such devious tactic to peddle something instead of presenting them in a forthright manner, should such a need arise. Best to you. cm At 10:17 AM -0700 9/13/05, mayur bora wrote: >Dear Friends, > >I am new to the mailing list of [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Some of the debates among the netizens on issues >concerning Assam are really interesting. I am sure we >would be able to provide a new perspective on some >issues in respect of Assam with the help of our >collective wisdom. One of the most important issues >crossing my mind is to find out the relative strengths >and weaknesses of Assamese people in relation to other >people of India. I am trying to list below the >strengths and weaknesses of Assamese people and >solicit your opinion on that. I am using the word >Assanese in a broad sense encompassing all those >people whose mother tongue may not be Assamese, but >they have some concern for the state. Moreover the >traits indicated below are general in nature and >exceptions are not ruled out. The objective of this >exercise is to find out whether our weaknesses >outweigh the strengths resulting in the current >condition of the state vis a vis other states of the >country. > >Strength of Assamese People / Assam > >1. Diverse and rich literary and cultural traditions > >2. Favourable climatic condition > >3. Healthy and relatively spice less cuisine > >4. Great hospitality and relative simplicity of people > >5. Fertile land > >6. Rich flora and fauna > >8. Major producer of tea and oil > >9. Tremendous tourism potential > >10. Absence of dowry > >Weaknesses > >1. Alienation of tribal people from the mainstream due >to the cavalier attitude shown by caste Hindu >Assamese. This has resulted in disunity and a sense of >mutual mistrust among different tribes. (I am a caste >Hindu myself) > >2. Emotions getting precedence over logic in the minds >of the people > >3. Public memory is always short-lived. It seems >shorter in case of Assamese. > >4. Inclination to take things lying down. Chalta hai / >hobo diok attitude. > >5. Havoc caused by the annual floods > >6. Poor law and order condition due to activities of >different insurgent groups. > >7. All pervasive feeling of tension and terror in >different parts of the state > >8. Lack of business sense and entrepreneurial skills > >9. Aversion for many forms of manual labour and over >dependence on others > >10. Indifference to explore different legal ways of >making money like trade in equities, derivatives etc. > >11. Disturbed demographic composition due to unabated >immigration of Bangladeshis > >12. Divisive vote bank politics of all political >parties > >13. Govt apathy and indifferent bureaucracy (This is >more or less common for all the states of India) > >14. Peculiar tendency among Assamese people to >denigrate or denounce any other Assamese who has >achieved something. Soku saraha sabhab > >15. Poor connectivity > >16. Infrastructural bottlenecks > >17. Lack of industries. > >18. Overdependence on the traditional methods of >agriculture and lack of mechanisation. > >The list is only indicative not exhaustive. You are >most welcome to add, modify or delete any trait as you >deem fit. Moreover, it has been listed out randomly >and not as per increasing or decreasing order of >importance/priority. > >Looking forward to your valuable opinion on the issue. > >Mayur Bora >Chandigarh >13 Sept 2005 > > > > >__________________________________ >Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 >http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
