The Feeling of Otherness and the Movie ‘Axone’

I have had so many friends from Ladakh who studied twice as hard when they came to Jammu. Whether it is the difficulties with language or acceptability, or simply the pain of being away from home, it makes focusing upon studies harder. 

Today, when I saw a Ladakhi girl, Stanzin Sharap, top Class 12th in Jammu Zone, I was ecstatic. 

On a similar note, I was watching the movie “Axone” and it gave me a reality check about the troubles people from North-east have to undergo, the cultural differences and the general apathy of people in a strange city.

I remembered when I was in college, I used to go out of my way to befriend classmates from Ladakh who used to remain huddled together among “their own”. And I never found anything but kindness and compassion in them. My friends and I would compliment their dressing style, their hair and their voice, on their face AND behind their backs. Because to us, being different didn’t mean being odd. But I realise now that one person’s niceties does not negate the bad impression many others must have made, with their odd remarks and hurtful taunts. 

On behalf of all of them, I apologize. ‘Juley’ was the only word of Ladakhi I learnt from Chozin Palmo and Lobzang Angmo, my fellow batchmates who learnt how to pronounce my name earlier than I learnt theirs. And to conclude this small rant, I believe the word suffices. 

Juley