{"id":316,"date":"2016-06-21T17:40:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=316"},"modified":"2016-06-21T17:40:18","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:40:18","slug":"no-im-not-made-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=316","title":{"rendered":"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span>f you\u2019ve never managed to successfully <\/p>offend<\/a> your northeastern friend at a suburban after-party, this comprehensive guide will help you tick it off your to-do list. As a northeasterner (nordeasterner) I have complete authority (self-proclaimed) over everything northeastern. I have covered everything you need to know before you hang out with David from Shillong, who, by the way, is not an outstanding guitarist and did not play as a winger for your college football team.\n\nFor starters, you have to know that the most reviled and over-used derogatory term for a person from the northeast has to be \u201cchinky\u201d. It prompted the Government of India to announce that anyone found using the term on a person from the northeast could end up in jail for five years<\/a>. That is three years more than what you could get if you tried to assault or use criminal force on a woman with the intent of outraging her modesty.\n\nNow I bet this doesn\u2019t seem right to anyone \u2013 there seems to be an issue of proportionality of punishments here. Even causing grievous hurt to someone and endangering their life or personal safety carries a sentence of two years in jail and a thousand rupee fine, or both. This tells us two things about our government\u2019s policy toward the fight against racism. On paper, they want to be on the right side, which is somewhat reassuring. But it\u2019s pretty clear that they aren\u2019t serious about putting in any groundwork to actually go out and make sure that northeastern Indians don\u2019t face discrimination at home. If they were, I\u2019d assume they\u2019d start with Indian immigration officials, who demand spot-quiz proofs of our nationality because, apparently, our passports aren\u2019t enough.\n\nThere are shades and degrees to the racism I have experienced. I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house. I\u2019ve witnessed institutionalised racism, where employers don\u2019t trust northeast Indians for substantial positions as their equally qualified counterparts from other parts of the country. And then there is \u201cconsiderate racism\u201d. Once, a waiter served my Manipuri friend noodles, and rice to everybody else because he just assumed my friend loved noodles. Was that super offensive? Not really, but it surely told you how deep-rooted the problem is.\n\nI personally don\u2019t get offended by the terms \u201cchinky\u201d, \u201ccheeni\u201d, and \u201cNepali\u201d, but that\u2019s probably because I\u2019ve been called far worse things by my girlfriend in the past. (\u201cYou\u2019re like elevator music and I don\u2019t need it right now,\u201d tops my list.) This makes you wonder if the word is more important or the context in which it is being used. You can offend a person by calling him, \u201caloo\u201d. Remember Inzi? Should we ban \u201caloo\u201d now?\n

The fact is that we\u2019ve been waiting really long for our turn at the bat. And we don\u2019t even like cricket.<\/blockquote>\nWhat we need to do is strip these slurs of the power they possess. We could start with societal and educational reforms to establish how integral a part this side of the country is, so that in the future 10-year-olds recognise traditional Mizo attire and don\u2019t end up guessing China when they see a woman in a Puanchei. Just like how kids nowadays would instantly know a Sardar man when they see one. Having said that, you still aren\u2019t allowed to use either of these terms unless you\u2019re a close friend and have been given a free pass to use them with love.\n\nOur history textbooks don\u2019t have much mention of northeastern history and culture, purely because it\u2019s not important in the bigger picture of Indian history. What future generations need is exposure to northeastern life and culture. Mainlanders have a tough time picturing what goes on inside a northeastern household. In the past, I\u2019ve overheard my flatmate\u2019s mum saying, \u201cTum theek se khaana, yeh to pahadi hai, kuch bhi kha lenge.\u201d (You eat properly, these hill people will eat anything.) I thought it was cute of her to care about her son\u2019s diet, and ensuring it doesn\u2019t include snails. Of course she didn\u2019t know that the northeast has its share of pure vegetarians and even Vaishnavs.\n\nWe really need to dig deeper and find out why mainland India finds it hard to accept that people from Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Assam are Indians. I was pretty precise there sneaking in all the names, just as a reminder that we\u2019re talking about a huge region with diverse culture and not just a collection of Mongoloid headhunters.\n\nBefore the British arrived, India was almost like a huge playground, where everyone was doing their own thing. The colonials came with their cricket and played test matches on the ground, but never really let Indians bat for long, coming up with absurd rules like LBW to get them out. (It is believed that the Nawab of Pataudi was the first one to understand that if it pitches outside leg stump you can\u2019t get out, but our source is unknown.)\n\nSoon the Brits were shooed away and the ground was bully-free. \u201cYay!\u201d said the men in power, who wanted to continue playing. But this time around, there weren\u2019t enough players. \u201cWe need fielders,\u201d they thought and someone suggested that maybe they should reach out to those guys in the northeast and convince them to be a part of Modern India.\n\nNow the problem is, that we were promised that we would get to bat at some point but it doesn\u2019t look like the guy who owns the bat will get out anytime in the future. Northeastern states have been put on the boundary lines by the captain, New Delhi, to pick up mistimed shots and throw it back to the bowler. Occasionally, he asks us to warm up a little because he wants to hand us the ball for an over or two, but then ends up giving it to Gujarat.\n\nThe fact is that we\u2019ve been waiting really long for our turn at the bat. And we don\u2019t even like cricket. Ever seen a northeastern cricketer? Thought not.\n\nJust remember that when a 16-year-old leaves his cloud-filled room in Meghalaya and moves to Bengaluru, discrimination, just on the basis of his looks, is the last thing he wants. I promise you that he will give you enough chances to make fun of his \u201caccent\u201d, \u201cfood\u201d, and \u201cculture\u201d, but he just doesn\u2019t want to listen to \u201cGo back to China\u201d chants.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[62,63,64,65,66,67,549,550,551,343,71,72],"class_list":["post-316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-arre","tag-arre-digital-platform","tag-arre-originals","tag-arre-reads","tag-arre-text-articles","tag-arre-website","tag-dont-call-me-chinky","tag-manipuri-girl-discriminated-against","tag-not-made-in-china","tag-racism","tag-web-series","tag-web-shows"],"yoast_head":"\nNo, I\u2019m Not Made in China<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-21T17:40:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1468238018.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abheek Sinha\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abheek Sinha\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abheek Sinha\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9f06bfb2b1ac2783c624ffffc242511b\"},\"headline\":\"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-21T17:40:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316\"},\"wordCount\":1130,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1468238018.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"arre\",\"arre digital platform\",\"arre originals\",\"arre reads\",\"arre text articles\",\"arre website\",\"don't call me chinky\",\"manipuri girl discriminated against\",\"NOT made in china\",\"Racism\",\"web series\",\"web shows\"],\"articleSection\":[\"POV\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316\",\"name\":\"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1468238018.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-21T17:40:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9f06bfb2b1ac2783c624ffffc242511b\"},\"description\":\"I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1468238018.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1468238018.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":750},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=316#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9f06bfb2b1ac2783c624ffffc242511b\",\"name\":\"Abheek Sinha\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2069e5d18c4b96960000635238829a913ceec511e267b1e7bd52ca8029d98e24?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2069e5d18c4b96960000635238829a913ceec511e267b1e7bd52ca8029d98e24?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2069e5d18c4b96960000635238829a913ceec511e267b1e7bd52ca8029d98e24?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Abheek Sinha\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=58\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China","description":"I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China","og_description":"I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-06-21T17:40:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1468238018.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abheek Sinha","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China","twitter_description":"I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abheek Sinha","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316"},"author":{"name":"Abheek Sinha","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/9f06bfb2b1ac2783c624ffffc242511b"},"headline":"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China","datePublished":"2016-06-21T17:40:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316"},"wordCount":1130,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1468238018.jpg","keywords":["arre","arre digital platform","arre originals","arre reads","arre text articles","arre website","don't call me chinky","manipuri girl discriminated against","NOT made in china","Racism","web series","web shows"],"articleSection":["POV"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316","name":"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1468238018.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-21T17:40:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/9f06bfb2b1ac2783c624ffffc242511b"},"description":"I am sick of telling people that they don\u2019t have to lock up their pet dogs in the storeroom when I go over to their house.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1468238018.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1468238018.jpg","width":1520,"height":750},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=316#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"No, I\u2019m Not Made in China"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/9f06bfb2b1ac2783c624ffffc242511b","name":"Abheek Sinha","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2069e5d18c4b96960000635238829a913ceec511e267b1e7bd52ca8029d98e24?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2069e5d18c4b96960000635238829a913ceec511e267b1e7bd52ca8029d98e24?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2069e5d18c4b96960000635238829a913ceec511e267b1e7bd52ca8029d98e24?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Abheek Sinha"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=58"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1468238018.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}