Bucket with a million minuscule holes | Monalisa Changkija

Foreign and domestic colonialism is an old story probably dating back to biblical times, which over time has taken numerous and varied shapes and sizes impacting every aspect of all life forms across the entire globe. Depending on who colonized who, where and how for obvious reasons, there are different degrees of the impact of colonialism the world will always suffer. There has always been opposition to colonialism, as evidenced in wars throughout history, and this opposition will also continue in various forms. There is an entire cornucopia of academic work and a profusion of literary genre, which has found dedicated departments and research and study centres on colonialism in numerous universities across continents, especially in former colonies. Not surprisingly, former colonial powers have also joined the bandwagon of this academic pursuit, either as apologists or antagonists.

Indubitably the more we know of the insidious ways of colonialism ~ which not only ceaselessly appear unannounced but also keep on taking newer forms and pour out from a bucket with a million minuscule invisible holes ~ we would be better informed on how to deal with it. But the problem is each of us is a perpetrator of colonialism unconsciously or subconsciously ~ an opinion that will be met with much indignation and protest, no doubt. Colonialism that slowly but determinedly pours out through the bucket with a million minuscule holes first invade and then flood our thoughts, emotions, sentiments, beliefs, motions, actions, language, religion, interactions and our present and future, as also our political, economic, social, cultural, educational and numerous other systems making us clones of the newer forms of our colonial masters, whose corporates laugh all the way to the bank. And this laughter rings into newer forms of technology increasingly invasive but we celebrate that we live in a post-neo-colonial, post-modern and highly technology-centric world.

We are yet to realized how much our thought process, our privacy and our ways of living have been compromised, manipulated and dictated by algorithms and it is now difficult to say who is fiddling with these algorithms ~ human or automatons. In the name of comfort and convenience ~ all a part of progress seemingly ~ we have become puppets on a string and have lost a huge part of our human-ness. So, long gone conquerors and fragile egos and sentiments become more relevant than our dying earth, our joblessness, our poverty, our hunger, crimes, violence, injustice, inequality, flouting of human decency and shrinking freedom. Religious and cultural festivals take on greater relevance than our abysmal educational, health and communications infrastructure but life goes on because increasingly we live online. Never has the disparity between the farmer, who sees no option but to consider suicide, and the privileged person been starker. Oh yes, we are only too willing perpetrators of colonialism ~ whatever its form ~ but we swear by our political, economic, social and cultural sovereignty and patriotism.

Against this background, committed and dedicated endeavours to repair the damages caused by colonialism, especially on small agrarian indigenous communities, are rays of sunlight keeping hopes alive for us, who are still rooted to Mother Earth for survival. For those of us, who have not fully abandoned our forefathers’ ways of life ~ for we know that would hasten our early demise literally and otherwise ~ such endeavours validate our existence and our ways of life. We have come a long way and cannot go back because going back is a place that no longer exists therefore reviving and rejuvenating inerasable ancient memories in the form of protecting and preserving our environment, flora and fauna, retelling stories and re-singing songs, re-weaving handloom and re-crafting handicraft and reviving and strengthening community bonds through community participation and reclaiming ownership of our ways of life are ways of repairing the damages caused by colonialism. However, because we still deal with the problems of the bucket with a million minuscule holes, how do we ascertain that these attempts and endeavours to reclaim our ways of life in consonance with Nature are not done through the prism of the lingering debris of the colonial education system imparted to us, as well as so many influences we have imbibed through history, movies, music, books, social norms and market behavior, etc? How do we know that we aren’t reshaping our communities, thought processes, beliefs, actions, etc., through the lenses of all that we have imbibed in a post-neo-colonial, post modern world and highly technology-centric world? How do we know that our emotions and actions are not guided by sentiments and ideologies of the othering we have suffered? What if we too have internalized such sentiments and ideologies and could be striking back at other’s othering with our own othering at a sub-conscious level?

Take, for instance, our lifestyles, clothes, food habits, architecture, etc so much influenced by the non-indigenous and the alien that are trending globally. Globalization, after all, is a more evolved form of capitalism, isn’t it? So, while we join the global village as its citizens, what are our motives for endeavouring to repair colonialism’s damages? Because we live in a constantly integrating linked market economy, would it be incongruous to investigate the agenda beyond the headlines and between the lines? Consider the way we are relentlessly bombarded with media messages of the ‘health benefits’ of non-indigenous fruits, vegetables and other superfoods manipulating our choices and dictating our food habits and shopping lists ~ definitely an ace marketing strategy of non-indigenous items, which is the insidiously clever model of any form of colonialism’s modus operandi. We become not only the victim but also participants and perpetrators of colonialism, perhaps unknowingly, but we prefer to focus on the victim part only and see a ‘constituency’ to champion anti-colonialism.

Surely it isn’t asking for too much to delve into the inspiration of these damage repair attempts and endeavours? We have seen decades and decades of the Northeast being perceived and transformed into different platforms by all sorts of people and groups of people ~ sometimes even our own ~ that have left this region neither here nor there. Colonialism cloaks itself with mystery and meaning ~ both covert and overt, both simple and complex ~ persuasively concealing its underbelly but a reality check would reveal that we are drowning in this underbelly.

Monalisa Changkija
(The Columnist is a journalist and poet. Published in the March 28, 2025 issue of Assam Tribune)