Are you Indian and a man? Have you never felt up an unknown woman’s legs or accidentally ‘jostled’ her on the street? Are you a responsible father who loves his children? Are you a husband who has never beaten his wife? Are you a brother or son who doesn’t believe in ma-behen gaalis? In short, are you a man, potent, sexually capable, well-placed in life, having  perfectly normal relationships with women (mother/wife/friend/sister/daughter/colleague)?

If so, please speak up against rape. Because if you don’t, guess what, the world will think you don’t exist. With a little help from our politicians, their allied theoreticians, and a certain section of the friendly press, you will either be declared extinct, like the dodo, or be placed on the list of endangered species along with the Royal Bengal tiger. Poachers will come looking for you, there will be a Wikipedia page on you in past tense.

If you think I am over-reacting, look around you. Learned panelists on television are discussing

Have you been following news on the Assam riots and the North East exodus from the rest of the country to Guwahati? Something seems to be happening, and the disappearance of your Nepali guard was strangely linked with violence in Mumbai. Similarly, the reappearance of the Mizo students next door is linked with refugees returning home from relief camps.

Relief Camp at Kokrajhar, August 7. Photo : ABP, more at http://bengali.yahoo.com/

Here's a snapshot view of events as they happened.

• Widespread riots between Bodos and Bengali speaking Muslims broke out around July 20.
• July 25. At least 36 people have been killed and 500 villages torched.
• By July 30, the death toll had risen and close to 2,00,000 riot victims were living in relief camps.
• Rumor regarding alleged attacks on North Eastern students in Pune and New Delhi spread in early August.
• On August 12, protesters gathered in Mumbai's Azad Maidan (apparently students from one Raza Academy) attacked the police force, torched vehicles and damaged the Amar Jawan memorial. Two people were killed and an estimated 54 wounded,

Story  1

Mr. P has just arrived in Bangalore from Kanpur with a plum job as software developer. He starts house-hunting, and after checking out all kinds of accommodation from truly ugly to palatial, he finalises a one bedroom apartment. It's in a clean, green, quiet neighbourhood. After his small and congested home in Jajmou, it's quite a break. The apartment is in a mess, but Mr. P feels it's quite a deal at 14K per month. It's airy, has sunlight and overlooks a pretty road. The deposit is a bit steep, but he does not argue with the landlord.

With the rental agreement in place, Mr. P starts renovating the flat. He installs cheap but handy window sliders with mosquito nets, replaces a few bathroom fittings. Fresh paint, light furniture and flowery upholstery complete it.

Mr. P is happy with life. He works hard, and enjoys dinners in the apartment with his friends. His new girlfriend thinks it's 'a really cute place'. The landlord had never visited him again after riding away into the

'North East', 'Assam', 'illegal immigrants'. Keywords that have been 'trending' well since early August. Every news report, article, op-ed is peppered with a group of familiar terms whenever the North East issue is being addressed. Of course, 'North East issue' itself is one of these vague, generalized and therefore safe terms.

Like most content producers living off the web, I wanted to write about the situation in Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Chirang. It was a hot topic, after all. Stories, reports and photos of the relief camps looked suitably bleak. There were lots of sad children, weeping women and lost, scarred men.

However, apart from Kokrajhar, capital of Bodoland and Dhubri, I was not familiar with the other names. So I set out to research a bit by looking up legal documents, archival news items and asking my friends in Guwahati about it. It seemed Bodos were forcing illegal Muslim immigrants to vacate their homes and flee to relief camps in a violent land-grabbing bid. In