Started by three journalists, the publication has spent over a decade spotlighting voices from the Northeast that mainstream Indian media often overlooks
In 2012, novelist and poet Jerry Pinto, in a delightful interview, urged the people of Northeast India to ‘write your stories.’ He underlined that it is the responsibility of the Northeast to share its narratives.
Pinto said it was up to a young Manipuri boy to sit down and start working on a story, even knowing it might take him 20 years to find a publisher, but he must persevere. In the same breath, he added, it was also up to a young Naga woman to sit down with her grandmother and share her story.
He expressed his belief that everyone must tell each other’s stories and highlighted the responsibility of journalists in a diverse country like India. “We are the bridges on which cultures must cross,” he said, “and each story we tell makes that bridge stronger. I also believe we have a duty to the story within us, the one we desire to tell.”
Covering the ‘the Northeast story’
Pinto’s interview was published in The Thumb Print, an online news magazine from the Northeast region, when it was launched in June 2012. Even before Pinto shared his wise words, particularly addressing Northeastern writers, three journalists, Teresa Rehman, Monideepa Choudhuri, and Radhika MB, decided to launch, The Thumb Print, to feature the real life (which is still languid and dreamy, especially in the magnificent hills) beyond the “usual violence and exotica,” which has remained mostly the narrative surrounding the region and its people till recently.
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Award-winning journalist and writer Rehman said that at the heart of starting her website was “anger.” Months after Rehman, who is Assam-based, decided to quit her journalism job and go independent, she found that “mainstream national media” was not interested in publishing her stories. “I knew those were good and important stories. Some were published by international media and won fellowships and grants, but at ‘home’ there were no takers. I did not want to beg in front of anyone to publish my story.”
Rehman decided to take one step further by not just writing but publishing her stories and those of others by starting The Thumb Print. Choudhuri and Rehman are friends from their The Telegraph days, the Kolkata-based newspaper which ran its Northeast edition before folding it up in 2000, where both worked as journalists. Radhika is Rehman’s friend from their Tehelka days, the investigative journalism magazine where they worked together.
While Radhika was based in Bengaluru (Karnataka) and Rehman in Assam’s Guwahati, they developed a strong bond despite the distance. “Radhika, who now resides in the US, has never visited the Northeast region. But she, too, like us, believed in ‘the Northeast story’ and was equally enthusiastic and determined to take the plunge and start our own media enterprise,” Rehman said.
A little help from writing community
Rehman added that ‘technology’ helped them start their venture, as it required minimal finances, unlike starting a newspaper or magazine in the physical format. “We became instantly global as anyone, anywhere can read us. Technology helped us connect. We call ourselves an international magazine with a Northeastern soul. Cyberspace has no geographical or psychological barriers. It is open, instant and intimate.” While the three editors brainstormed on the various aspects of writings to be covered, a few young techies built the website.
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Throughout its journey, The Thumb Print has remained advertisement-free. It was a conscious decision by the founder-editors to be free and fearless. Not that the e-magazine is “political in its tone,” as it hardly covers “hardcore news,” but it does not want to be dictated by anyone. Since it does not have a revenue model and most of the costs, especially maintaining the website, come from Rehman’s pocket, it faced hiccups, too.
“There have been ups and downs. The website was down, and we lost a lot of our content, which we finally managed to retrieve with great difficulty. It is like a cottage industry,” said Rehman. The biggest advantage of The Thumb Print (Choudhuri coined the name) is that it explores one of the most underreported regions of the world. “There are millions of untold stories waiting to be told. The Thumb Print is a tiny effort to tell these stories,” said Rehman.
Rehman added that it was the writing community that kept the magazine alive. “It is a community-run magazine as writers, poets, and scholars from across the globe contribute their work for free. I can’t pay them because there is no revenue-generating mechanism in place for the magazine.”
Distinct socio-cultural fabric
One has to browse the website to understand the myriad, and at the same time, familiar and strange lives we all lead. Currently, The Thumb Print is exploring ‘Childhood Tales.’ As writers, teachers, musicians, celebrities, and others take a stroll down memory lane, the good old streets, hospital corridors, or fish markets in Shillong, Guwahati, and other cities from “the black and white photo albums” have been resuscitated to life for the “Instagram generation.”
Then, there are short story and poetry sections that feature many new voices. Sections like Tribal Terrain and On the Margins depict the rustic and rural life that city dwellers often romanticise amidst the chaos.
Participants at an adda organised by the magazine in Guwahati. Many of the website’s readers and writers are youngsters.
In the Northeast region (a term many oppose as it confines the vastness of the land and people and their culture, society, tradition and), there are around 475 ethnic groups with 400 languages or dialects.
“The Northeast, in terms of socio-cultural factors, is different and distinct. We have many smaller cultures among the Nagas, Mizos, Manipuris, and other indigenous communities. They also have microcultures, traditions and food. There are heavy Western and Southeast Asian influences. The South Asian influences go back in history, like the Tai-Ahoms (their origins go back to China),” said Choudhuri.
She added that over the decades, with the advancement in communication and interactions and intermingling of people across the globe, the ‘mystery’ surrounding the Northeast has been almost obliterated: “It is not a forbidden land anymore.” Choudhuri feels that there should be more writing on unique cultures and traditions of these states, instead of focusing on conflict, violence and politics.
Balancing the region and the world
Over the years, many websites and YouTube channels have been started by locals dedicated to the region. But the three women journalists’ idea was “pioneering as it tried to tell stories beyond the news”, experts from the Northeast told The Federal.
Veteran writer and journalist Indrani Raimedhi from Assam said, “The e-magazine is doing a fantastic job by giving a platform to writers from the region. The Thumb Print represents the present and future of the Northeast. It has adopted technology at a much earlier stage. Now, everything is becoming paperless, even newspapers.”
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A senior journalist from Meghalaya, who did not wish to be named, added that at a time when journalism was facing its toughest phase because of fear and state-sponsored censorship, to run “an apolitical media entity was a smart move.” "Because we have to keep telling our stories. Even in these day-to-day stories, politics, society and economic situations get highlighted.”
On the first anniversary of The Thumb Print, Radhika wrote, “The Thumb Print’s USP is about by-passing convention — its effort is to maintain a precarious balance between the region and the world, it aims to go global with local stories, and strives to learn from the experiences of others.”
“We are too tiny to be able to make a dent. But we can at least leave an imprint,” Rehman added about the magazine, known for organising informal ‘addas’ or conversations in cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, and Shillong, among others.
