Life for people living in northeast India has always been tough. If you watch the movie Chak De! India, you know for a fact that the northeastern players are treated as ‘guests in their own country’. However, most residents of the northeast, who travel to other parts of India, are subject to racial taunts. With the coronavirus outbreak, things have become even worse. In Mumbai, one man was not allowed into a society in Mulund because the society thought he was Chinese. And a video where students from northeast India living in Punjab appealing to people to not call them ‘coronavirus’, has left a bad taste in the mouth.
The students, who live in a small village called Chunni Kalan in Punjab, have gone viral. In the video, a girl explains how earlier, people would call them names like "Nepali, Chinki, Chinese" and now they have resorted to calling them "coronavirus".
Another boy in the video explains patiently that just because they look a little different than the rest of the country that does not mean they are from China. He further explains that they have nothing to do with the virus or our neighbouring country.
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