Observing big changes, digging in to the best cuisine & humming Kishore on Assam poll trail

iWitness — the story behind the story of ThePrint journalists’ experiences on assignment.

Guwahati: It is never quite easy to cover elections. There’s always the challenge of getting people to open up and talk. Then, there is the exhaustion of hours and hours of travel and meeting deadlines. But the toughest of them all is the many calls and messages that come your way to ask who is “winning” the election. A question to which I never quite have an answer.

As a journalist, it is not our job to predict election results. That is neither our craft nor our ability. That is best left to psephologists. What we can do is talk to as many people and stakeholders on the ground and convey the mood and sentiment of the voter and the election.

Many things make election travels special. For instance, what made covering the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election special was the digital aspect of it — that was the first time I had set out alone to report in both text and video formats, armed with nothing but my selfie stick and mobile phone. 

The Tripura elections the next year became memorable because it was the first time I had travelled to the state, and I found it fascinating that a party alien to the state had managed to spread its tentacles so wide, that it created a wave for itself, and unseated a well-entrenched giant.

Why the Assam polls are special

This assembly election in Assam, meanwhile, has had many exciting highlights — from travelling to new parts of the state, to reporting amid a pandemic when crowds around aren’t conscious of it, noticing both the obvious and subtle changes and the constant nostalgia of being home. I have travelled to Assam all my life, since my mother is from here, but it is only on work assignments that I have gone around so extensively and to so many parts of the state.

While all eyes are on West Bengal and the ‘khela’ that is unraveling there, I personally believe Assam is the more exciting election. 

The mandate in Assam is critical for Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s governance model, and to prove that the state wasn’t a fluke and that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has truly managed to penetrate the Northeast.

The one week that I was in Assam, I travelled to several parts of central and lower Assam — Barpeta, Nalbari, Nagaon, Morigaon, Kaliabor, Titabor, the long drive to Dhubri and, of course, Guwahati and its surrounding areas. My driving help, Harmuz, has been incredibly patient despite the erratic travel, the long hours on the road and the quirks of a journalist.

What struck me the most is how Assam has changed, both in terms of its facade and what lies deep within — the state’s socio-political fabric. And yet, with all the changes, much remains the same.

What’s different and what isn’t

BJP has evidently ushered in a new era in Assam. It has brought to the state massive infrastructure that has quite literally changed the face of Assam. The voters are lapping this up.

But there is another, far less conspicuous but far more deep-seated change that seems to be seeping in. 

I have known Assam fairly well, having spent months every year in the state while growing up. And yet, I have gone there after a gap, so in that sense, I am perhaps reasonably poised to know there has been a change and sense the transformation (something we can’t easily do in a place where we live everyday).

The state has always held deep resentment against ‘outsiders’, but the ire has been directed at everybody from outside, while clutching on to ethnic identity as the basis. 

But now, ethnicity seems to be receding into the background, the staunchness of it diluting, and the indigenous Assamese seem to be increasingly speaking the language of the ruling party, where words like Hindus and Bharat seem to be smoothly creeping into the state’s lexicon. 

For me, noticing these changes and letting them sink in was perhaps the biggest highlight of this trip.

Despite these changes, however, Assam still feels the same with its luscious landscape, its quaint villages and simple people.

Lighter moments & people’s warmth

If there was a way to describe how much I love Assamese food, I would. But even my most articulate description would fail. It’s the best, healthiest and least greasy kind of food, even if eaten at roadside dhabas.

The meal breaks, infrequent and untimely as they may have been, were therapeutic. Just a look at the Assamese thali and a lot of my stress would dissipate.

Then again, the warmth of just travelling through a state I have known as home, speaking the native language that I hardly get to speak in Delhi, and just soaking in the sights and sounds of Assam all made the trip even more special.

I have lovely childhood memories of being in the car amid hills, with Kishore Kumar songs (thanks to my elder mama) playing. As I drove through Assam this time, I couldn’t help humming the healing ‘Musafir hoon yaaron‘ in my head. 

(Edited by Arun Prashanth)