Abhineet Mishra is a stand-up comedian with something to say about how the media treats the Northeast. Watch till the end to find out who is listening.
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00:00Why did Rahul Baba hug Modi ji?
00:02How many times did Tim Paine's child pee in Rishabh Pant's lap?
00:05And how can I forget this?
00:06How many times did our Taimur Ali Khan hug and flush?
00:09Hi guys, my name is Avinir Mishra and I am a stand-up comedian from Meghalaya.
00:13Yes, that's right.
00:15You know, every time I tell people I am from Meghalaya,
00:18they start becoming very weird with me.
00:20They start sharing trivia about my own home state with me.
00:24Like this friend of mine, he texts me.
00:27He's like, bro, do you know
00:28there's a big adventure sports scene in Meghalaya.
00:31So I said, how do you know?
00:34So he's like, I read this in the news that a 50-year-old man
00:37is asking the government's permission
00:39to dive 320 feet deep inside a mine and do rappelling.
00:44Is he a professional diver?
00:46I'm like, bro, no.
00:48He's just a helpless father.
00:50And he wants to dive not because he has an adrenaline rush.
00:53No, no, no, poor people don't have an adrenaline rush.
00:55They feel helpless.
00:57They feel helpless.
00:59And he wants to dive because he wants to save his son
01:01who along with 14 other people are trapped in a mine,
01:05a rat hole mine in Meghalaya.
01:07His friend of mine is shocked, okay.
01:09He's absolutely shocked.
01:10He's like, when did this tragedy happen?
01:12We don't know anything.
01:13How many hours has it been?
01:15I'm like, 23.
01:16He's like, oh, 23 hours?
01:18There's still time.
01:19I said, no, 23 days.
01:21And we don't know because our nation and our media
01:25is fascinated with other important facts.
01:27Like, why did Rahul Gandhi wink at Modi ji?
01:30Why did Rahul Baba hug Modi ji?
01:32How many times did Tim Paine's son pee in Rishabh Pant's lap?
01:36And how can I forget this?
01:37How many times did our Taimur Ali Khan hug and flush?
01:40What gets left out in this whole process is the Northeast, rightly so.
01:43Now, I'll tell you. I'll give you perspective, okay.
01:45There's a minister.
01:46Two days ago, he says, I want to put Indians into space
01:49to look for extraterrestrial life.
01:52I'm like, bro, why don't you put Indians into that mine
01:55to look for terrestrial life?
01:5715 of them.
01:58Every time you raise these issues, people have a swagger.
02:01Don't talk about India, okay.
02:02We have bullet train.
02:033,000 kilometers in 20 hours.
02:06I'm like, 20 hours, 3,000 kilometers?
02:0810 water pumps, high power water pumps were needed
02:11to pump water out of those mines.
02:13The pumps needed to go from Delhi to Meghalaya,
02:16a distance of 2,000 kilometers.
02:18Those pumps reached Meghalaya 15 days later.
02:2215 days.
02:23Without air, food, or water inside that mine,
02:27those miners were trapped.
02:30You know, what's the use of this technology?
02:32That allows us to build statues 200 feet above the ground,
02:35but fails us when we want to save lives 300 feet below the ground.
02:39Weird, man.
02:42I mean, the Northeast feels alienated for all of this, rightly so.
02:45We have a problem with that also.
02:46Don't feel like a victim, okay.
02:48You can stop feeling like a victim.
02:49There was a tragedy on December 13.
02:51Modi ji has visited your region twice, my friend tells me.
02:54I'm like, yes, he went there for the first time
02:56to inaugurate the Bogibeel Bridge.
02:58He's like, yes, you went there for the second time.
03:00I'm like, yes, I had to go there for the second time.
03:02I took the credit.
03:04He's like, dude, you're making it a big issue, okay.
03:06Modi ji went to the state where the tragedy took place.
03:09I'm like, yes, Modi ji went to Assam,
03:11but the tragedy took place in Meghalaya.
03:13The fun fact here, 15 hours.
03:1515 hours is the distance or the time that you would take
03:19to go from where Modi ji had his rally
03:21to the site of this tragedy.
03:23But he did not go.
03:24Any guesses why?
03:26Because Meghalaya is not an international location.
03:27That's right.
03:29My friend is shocked, okay.
03:30He doesn't believe me.
03:31He's like, dude, Meghalaya is not an international location.
03:33You know, don't get me wrong.
03:34I don't want you to politicize this.
03:36Rahul Gandhi recently said, Modi ji went to the Northeast.
03:39He took the credit for the bridge.
03:41He didn't say anything for the minors.
03:42Shame, shame.
03:43I'm like, Modi ji, shame, shame.
03:44True.
03:45But Rahul Baba, shame, shame to you too.
03:4720 of your legislators are sitting in the Meghalaya Assembly.
03:50If you wanted to say something, you could have said.
03:52If you wanted to do something, you could have done.
03:54But no, nothing happened.
03:56We need to stop politicizing this.
03:57And I know it is a challenging thing, okay.
03:59Don't get me wrong.
04:00I know it is challenging, but don't tell me it is impossible.
04:02Because 10 years ago, this same country
04:05visited the Prince episode.
04:06You guys remember?
04:07A kid fell into a borewell 60 feet deep.
04:10It took two days.
04:11But in two days, we got him out.
04:13Alive.
04:14You know why?
04:15You know why, ma'am?
04:17You know why, sir?
04:18Because the media wanted him alive.
04:22Because the government wanted him out alive.
04:24In this case, 15 minors have been trapped
04:27in that mine for 23 days and counting.
04:30And barely 15 people in this country,
04:32including you and I, know about this.
04:35It's crazy, man.
04:36And you know, this scene repeats every year.
04:38Every year, this scene repeats.
04:40Like in Assam and a lot of other northeastern places,
04:42every year floods kill thousands of people.
04:45Displays thousands of people.
04:47And we are just not willing to listen to the tragedy.
04:50Because we are like,
04:51Assam is awesome, okay?
04:53Have you seen Priyanka Chopra?
04:54Priyanka Chopra said,
04:55Assam is awesome, she is doing Bihu Bihu.
04:57I'm like, dude, for once, okay,
04:58let's stop listening to Priyanka Chopra, please.
05:00Priyanka Chopra spoke more in the movie Barfi
05:03than what she has done as the brand ambassador
05:05for tourism for the state of Assam.
05:07So, you know, every time I perform stand-up comedy,
05:09I perform in front of an audience.
05:11Because that's how we perform.
05:13We perform, there's an audience that listens to us
05:15and applauds to us.
05:16But this time around,
05:17I wanted to do something different.
05:19So I decided not to have an audience.
05:21And that's because I wanted to feel a little bit
05:23about how the northeast feels on a day-to-day basis.
05:27But like me, they have a lot of stories to share
05:30of grief and of disaster.
05:32But unfortunately, they never find an audience.