Remember Gurmehar Kaur's placard campaign? Entering the national imagination after his post over nexus of insurgents and politics went viral, Daniel Langthasa a.k.a. Mr. India, an independent musician from Haflong in Dima Hasao district of Assam has since made several parodies lambasting cow vigilantism, inter-tribal conflict, religious extremism and highly criticised government-funded festival ‘Namami Brahmaputra’ that has allegedly promoted sanskritisation of the river. Behind a humorous tone, the musician delivers hard hitting sentences in Haflong Hindi creole.
Q. The most iconic element of your videos is the yellow-coloured glass of two hands covering the eyes. Is it custom-made and does it signify anything related to keeping eyes shut and ignoring injustice? Why have you chosen to wear it as a trademark?
A. No, it is not custom made. I like collecting funny, interesting eye gears. It just happened to be a piece I picked up from a flea market in Goa a couple of years ago while I was touring the state along with a band. I wore it for fun when I recorded the first Mr.India video Sab Goo Khao and I liked it so I decided to use it since then. But yes, keeping our eyes shut and ignoring injustice is definitely what I see people doing around me and that was the first thing which came to my mind when I picked up this eye gear. So yes, you are right.
Q. You always choose Haflong Hindi as the medium of communication in your videos which itself is an assertive statement. Was it an attempt to reach out to the pan-Indian audience along with maintaining the uniqueness of Dima Hasao’s capital? Will you use English in the future or will you stick to Haflong Hindi?
A. Haflong Hindi is the only language I have been speaking continuously since my childhood. I speak a little bit of Dimasa, Assamese, Hindi and my English is just about okay. I used to speak Mizo (my mother’s language) but it’s going from bad to worse due to lack of practice. At home, everyone speaks in Haflong Hindi. Haflong is a multi-cultural town and its unique Hindi unites people. Today, I feel lucky to be fluent only in Haflong Hindi instead of being partial towards any of my parent’s languages. I have seen that communal and ethnic tensions are rooted in languages and even though I respect an individual’s right to use any language that they prefer, it makes most people biased and insensitive towards other languages and the people who use them. Today, more than ever, we need to communicate and understand each other instead of blindly holding onto our languages and losing all good ideas in translation. And I feel that Haflong Hindi is a brilliant language! It’s very easy to learn and adapt. Someone whose Hindi is weak can still understand Haflong Hindi as it is a combination of so many languages of India. It’s the best, worst, corrupt form of Hindi and it might be the future choice of language across India, who knows?
Q. Please tell us something about your childhood experiences, education, you as a person, current work as artiste in Mr. India, founder of The BiG BANG and singer-songwriter at Digital Suicide and future plans for expansion?
A . I’m a simple person who likes to create and do fun things most of the time. I’ve had a wonderful childhood thanks to my parents, siblings, friends and of course my beautiful town, Haflong. When you grow up among the trees and clear blue skies and wonderful weather all year long, everything feels like a dream. I went to a catholic-run school, Don Bosco in Haflong. Then, I went to Guwahati for further studies and joined Cotton College to study Science. After that, I joined Assam Engineering College to study Mechanical Engineering but soon grew disillusioned with the environment there and after what felt like ages, finally gathered enough sense to drop out and pursue things which motivated and attracted me the most -- Arts, music, film, books, politics, nature, adventure. I felt connected to all of these and I strongly feel that institutional education only makes a robot out of everyone in the end and prevents you from using your own imagination to contribute to this world. I’m lucky to have never joined a workplace to work under a ‘boss’. I’ve never taken up a traditional job. I’ve always worked for myself. And it has been wonderful. Mr. India, The BiG BANG!, Digital Suicide, Haflong Vlogs are all part of what I keep creating in this cosmos which is but just a small dot. I would like the readers to explore all of these different ideas of mine on their own instead of me trying to explain what it’s all about. I have no idea what else I will keep doing, inventing and discovering but as long as I’m alive, I will definitely keep creating.
Q. Since expressing your photo series after Gurmehar Kaur episode till the latest Gaurakshak No. 1 video, have you been subject to online hatred? How do you deal with them? Some of your admirers have also expressed concerns over your security. How do you respond to that?
A. Oh yes. But then, I think sometimes we focus too much on the negative and how can that be positive for us? When I posted the photo series, I admit that I got upset by the numerous hate comments because I took it very personally as I was speaking about my father whom I loved very dearly. I replied to a lot of negative comments and it only made me more upset. It took me a while to realise that there were more positive responses. So many people who have no connection with me shared my story and helped it reach out on such a massive scale. The hate was nothing compared to the love I was receiving. I realised that it’s our fault that today, we, who speak about love over hate still get dragged into concentrating more on the hate instead of the love around us. In this way, we let the hate-mongers win. We are playing into their hands. Since then, I’ve decided not to respond to most online hate comments. Hence for all my recent work, I just check most hate comments, read them and have a laugh and send them my love and light. Then I focus on the ‘love’ that I receive instead and it’s amazing the amount of support I receive. Young boys keep writing to me telling me that I inspire them and they are in the fight with me too even though they know the world today is a tough place for those who prefer to speak the truth to power. It’s overwhelming at times. Yes, I know my well wishers are worried about my well-being and it’s understandable with the rise in violence in our country. I don’t know how I can explain this, but somehow I have never had this fear of safety of my life. I think we are here only for few seconds and life does not come with a guarantee. It is this fear of death which makes us compromise, which makes us corrupt, which makes us blind to injustice and evil. We are all going to die. More people get killed everyday riding their expensive beloved cars than by criminals. We don’t look at cars with negativity and with constant fear in our minds now do we?
Q. Several times you have spoken about issues of Northeast. What do you think may be the way out to deal with violence (inter-tribe, tribe-non tribe and inter-religious) in the region?
A. As long as we have institutional religion in the society, we will have to deal with violence. It’s not politics, it’s not poverty, it’s not corruption, it’s not insurgency which is our main enemy. ‘Wars’ are rooted in division created by religion and our preferred choice of ‘gods’. Unless we start preaching that we come from the same place and we are all the same, cultural divisions will be used as a tool to keep people divided. Time and again, one religious group will feel threatened by the other and choose violence as the ultimate weapon to triumph over the other. This is the vicious cycle since it has started. I think our mistake is that we always look back at history to guide our future. It’s high time that we invent a way to get out of this mess. I feel we have two options. First is to immediately give up our religions and adopt universal oneness, which I know will be hard to digest for most people. The second option is to phase it out slowly. And we can begin by forming a non-government association comprising of all the states of the northeast and introduce concepts which will make us feel and act like we are all part of one single geographical land mass with one single identity instead of being separated by the idea of different states, cultures, languages and tribes.
Q. What is the possible political solution to the insurgency and inter-tribal violence that has been raging in Dima Hasao district since long?
A. We have been made scapegoats. Dima Hasao and its people never had any history of insurgency until the mid 90s. We have always lived in peace inspite of the fact that we have a great diversity in a small area. Insurgents from Nagaland and Manipur made inroads into our district and instead of solving the issues in their respective states, the government made matters worse by sending in more ‘security forces’. Insurgency exists in our district due to the absolute political failure of Indian government to deal with insurgency in our neighbouring states. Our insurgency issues won’t be completely resolved unless the insurgency problem of entire northeast is resolved. It is all connected. As long as we live in a world with borders, there will be people with guns near the borders. And as long as we have people with guns against people who farm and hunt with arrows, distrust will remain. Politically, we have to look outside as well and not just focus on the insurgents. We need to settle things once and for all and be better friends with our neighbouring countries. Our border politics is a failure and hence the need for heavy military presence and the justification by people to take up arms to ‘protect’ themselves.
Q. Do you think the concepts of autonomous councils succeeded in Assam or led to more corruption in these councils?
A. Unfortunately, I have not seen our society up close before we were brought under autonomous councils and oral history is all that I can look back to for understanding what changes have transpired since then. But of course, I can compare our district to other districts of Assam and can safely conclude that corruption is rampant everywhere. So I don’t think the concept of autonomous councils has led to more corruption. We would still have been as corrupt today if we were a non-autonomous district. I would ask myself, why do we even need autonomous councils? or states? or countries to function better as a non-corrupt society? Have the concept of autonomous councils succeeded in Assam? Not yet, I would say firmly. But, on the other hand, when implemented and used wisely, the concept of autonomous councils can actually open up space for good intentioned people to actually tackle corruption with the help of great administrative and political powers available. Non-autonomous districts fail in this because they are too answerable to the State. If greedy, corrupt politicians are replaced with forward thinking youths, the autonomous councils can be utilised to its fullest and bring changes that were originally thought of when the concept was introduced.
Q. You shared that your father was killed by militants who are now ruling the district as BJP. Do you feel threatened after speaking up against them?
A. I don’t. I know they are well aware of me and are watching my every move, waiting for me to falter but I’m blessed to be not bothered about that. I’ve always been independent and I don’t need to please people to earn my living so I wake up every morning with no fear. And like I mentioned earlier, fear of death is not a curse but a boon to me. It keeps reminding me that I have very less time on earth to keep fighting the good fight.
Q. Many of your ‘live’ videos seem that you speak on the spot. Are they impromptu or scripted?
A. All my ‘live’ videos on Facebook are impromptu. I don’t go with a plan. I also don’t like to sing songs which I’ve previously recorded in these live sessions so I will improvise if I play an old tune. But the videos which I upload on Facebook and YouTube which are not ‘live’ are scripted. However, I don’t follow normal song writing methods. It hardly takes me less than 10 minutes to complete writing a song. Once I have written it down, I record the song and usually I am happy with a single recorded take. I don’t like retakes. And of course, what I write about is very simple. I look to social media to get the pulse of the nation and the world and try to put in all the voices that I hear into a couple of lines and rhymes.
Q. Many don’t know that Mr. India is also associated with Barail Mountain Festival held in Dima Hasao district on January 5 every year. Can you throw some light on the festival, your role in it and why is it kept for a single day only given the fact many people coming from Kolkata or Delhi don’t find it feasible if the festival is held for only one day.
A. Barail Mountain Festival is an initiative started by Barail Mountain Festival Committee which comprises of the Gaon Buras (village headmen) of five villages namely Jatinga, Notun Leikul, Kelolo, Longma and Doiheng, all located in the Barail mountain range. These villages are inhabited by five different indigenous tribes who are Jaintia, Kuki, Zeme Naga, Dimasa and Hmar. With the newly constructed National Highway that runs through the mountains, many environmental changes are expected to happen in the coming years. The main objective of the event is to spread awareness among the village folks to preserve the bio-diversity of the Barail mountains and at the same time to open ourselves to eco-tourism. Me and some like-minded friends got in touch with these villages and had discussions with them for months about the feasibility of such an event. But because it was a self sponsored event with contributions from some friends and well wishers, it was not logistically possible to hold a multiple day event. We wanted as many villagers from all the villages to attend the event and transportation was an issue. We somehow convinced the district council to provide vehicles for a day but anything more than that was not possible. Also, unlike most cultural festivals happening these days we are not aggressively targeting outstation tourists. We do plan to turn it into a multiple day event spread across all the five villages from the next edition. Our aim is to encourage people from within the district to look at our own villages as travel destinations in the future. There are beautiful places to explore for adventure-seeking people and the villagers can also start earning money from home-stays, food and drinks, guided treks etc. Like all the ventures I get involved in, this was purely out of passion for making things happen which can bring people together. We were all extremely satisfied with the first Barail Mountain Festival and we will keep improving and improvising with future editions.