KISHORE SERAM: DISCOVER INDIA’S NORTHEAST WITH HIM by Mihir Srivastava

Kishore Seram has been a journalist for forty years and still is not skeptical, instead is open to life almost like a teenager. His ability to make things happen and keep them running is admirable. He writes, and helps people write interesting stories, but to me, the story of his life is very interesting, therefore, I thought would write about him. 

Kishore, wears many hats, not just a writer, is a photographer, filmmaker, like a mirror reflecting our times without fear or favour. An easy-going man with a strong mind and resolute heart, Kishore, practices kindness in this day and age, and to him it happens naturally. For more than a decade, he has devoted all his energies to inform people about a part of our country, the North East India (NE)—the eight states are called the seven sisters and a brother—that’s long ignored, misunderstood, misinformed about, results in biases, racial slur, debilitating discrimination, alienation, seclusion and ghettoisation; also, violence. There was hardly any interaction, just hostility. To end this, he started a national magazine, Discover India’s Northeast, the first of its kind dedicated to ​the NE.

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A sensitive man, Kishore can compartmentalise torrents of emotions in a safe box, and live the present moment. That he bears no grudge against anyone, and can look at own life as a witness, keeps him smiling. He's ageless for he celebrates life, and looks at the larger picture. Defocuses to remain focused.

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Kishore did a part of his schooling form Sainik School, Imphal, then ventured out of his home state, Manipur, in the early 1980s to pursue higher studies in Chandigarh. He had to face racial slur and discrimination of the worst kind in his own country because he looks a little different. He was referred to as junglee or the wild, and some of the fellow students would ask him with a straight face ‘is your sister available’—just to mention a couple.

He would react, justifiably so, vehemently, give it back to them in equal measure, aggressively. He was alone, they'd gang up on him, was assaulted many times, and they'd blame him for this, described as the untampered hooligan, and was forced to change college twice.

Amidst these hostilities that he had to endure on a daily basis in Chandigarh, he met his first wife, a Punjabi girl from Canada who had come to India to pursue medicine—they fell in love. ‘How did that happen to you given what was happening?’  I ask. Kishore, realised, the hard way, that reacting is not a solution, and that locals are not inherently evil, they are just misinformed, nurture biases, false bravado makes them reactive, and a good way to deal with the situation is to inform and not retribute.

It was she who encouraged him to be a journalist. After finishing masters in English Literature, Kishore pursued a degree course in journalism, and, thereafter, came to Delhi in 1986 and joined a journalistic outfit.

Though he was part of the editorial team, was, in his own words, ‘a glorified peon’ who’d chaperone files from one desk to another. It took him way longer than a local to prove his mettle: a good editor, writer and blessed with a poking nose of a reporter

And he made Delhi his second home but this disconcerting sense of alienation in your own country persisted. The NE is a dark spot in the consciousness of the nation as a whole and not much was done to change the situation. The NCERT text books for schools only makes a passing reference to the whole region, explains Kishore. Even the bureaucrats posted to the NE were given special allowances as if they are being sent to a battlefield and need to be adequately compensated.

Kishore wanted to change the situation. For that to happen, firstly, he will have to "stop reacting and start telling the world our story, educate them about the rich culture, art, heritage, nature" he explains. He had prepared the blueprint of a national magazine on the NE, also some dummies, and tried to garner resources. Not much happened for ten years.

In February 2014, Nido Taniam, a 19 years student from Arunachal Pradesh, was beaten with iron rods after an argument with a shopkeeper in Delhi's Lajpat Nagar—this gruesome murder rattled Kishore. There was a widespread outrage. Enough! Kishore decided to start the magazine "now, or die trying to do it."

Within a month of the murder, the Ministry of Home Affairs constituted a committee under MP Bezbaruah, a retired IAS officer, to analyse the concerns of people from the NE living in other parts of India—particularly metropolitan cities—and to recommend legal, social, and policing measures to tackle racial discrimination and violence.

Kishore made many attempts to meet Bezbaruah with the proposal for his book. Finally, he got an appointment for ten minutes, and when Bezbaruah saw the dummy of the magazine, he was mighty impressed. He cancelled all the engagements for the day; they had a long meeting that lasted many hours. A periodical to showcase the rich culture, art, way of life, nature was the need of the hour, became one of the recommendations of the committee,

Discover India’s Northeast came into being in 2015, initially was to be funded by the state governments’ promotional budget. But that source dried up soon, and only Kishore can tell how he kept the top-class magazine going for the last ten years. It was not easy, he had to sell his property and savings have dried since.  But, in the process, he created a periodical that has done its job, most importantly giving a voice to the people of the NE.

The magazine has, over the years, become a mirror unto the seven sisters and a brother. He’s a single man army. He does it all by himself, commissions writers and photographers, edits and does the layout. Kishore made sure that the contents are organic in nature, there’s no editorial template or a style sheet. Discover India’s Northeast is a labour of love.

Kishore is the repository of contemporary history of the region, and an expert in his own right. For this reason, he’s a global voice of a fairly, not so much now, secluded part of the world. Things are changing, and he’s the change agent.

This is a great accomplishment, even more difficult for a person like him, who’s a hardcore journalist, which is an indirect way of saying that he’s not a businessman. He chases stories, and not money. That has kept things in a tight leash, but has never been an impediment for him to live a life of his choice–King size! 

Ninth of ten siblings, Kishore is a team player. His father, Seram Angouba Singh, did well for himself and others; started as a constable in the local police to become a revered politician, the development minister of ​Manipur. He founded Nongpok Musti Cooperative Thrift Society, in Imphal way back in 1953, a financial cooperative to promote savings and provide credit to its members. The zeal to break from the past and working to create a brighter future is a family trait.

Kishore has travelled the world, and work has taken him out of India, he ​worked in Dubai for a couple of years. He is open to life, and life has been very open to him. If I were to find a succinct description for him, I would call him a worldly hippie. 

I find the choices he has made in life fascinating. As mentioned earlier, his first wife was a Punjabi from Canada, and they have a daughter. They parted ways but remained friends, for some things don’t change with time. Then he married again. She was from Assam and they have a son. Sadly, she passed away after a battle with mental illness. After that, he has been in a live-in relationship, and his son is very fond of her.

A sensitive man, Kishore can compartmentalize torrents of emotions in a safe box, and live the present moment. That he bears no grudge against anyone, and can look at own life as a witness, keeps him smiling. He celebrates life, and looks at the larger picture; defocuses to remain focused.

He embodies so much of positivity. And encourages people to meet their higher potential, and has been instrumental in creating a cadre of writers and photographers.  It's a treat to have beer with him​ i​n ​​the sunny balcony of his apartment on a winter afternoon and discuss life in all its manifestations.