The spot opens on the voice of a teenager, belonging to North East India. He starts listing the various cultural biases that he and others like him are subjected to, because of the region they come from.

As his list continues, the music grows in intensity.

He concludes by inviting you to visit the region, to find out who they really are.

The voice-over explains that the only way to turn your biases around (about a culture or its people) is to travel there.

North East India consists of eight states. It is a region that has been socially marginalized by the rest of the country. It is home to the beautiful Himalayas, confluence of a few major rivers, and an extremely diverse cultural heritage. But despite its rich natural and ethnic background, there is very little social exchange between the region and the rest of the country.

Seen as outsiders, or tribal, or even separatists, the people from the area are often at the receiving end of stereotyping and alienation. The issue has also turned violent at different times in recent history.

However, those who have visited these states realise that the culture and people are very different from what they might have assumed.

(MUSIC: builds into Indian music- female voice humming)

(SFX: ambience, crickets, birds)

BOY:

We are not Maoists.

We are not terrorists or separatists.

We don’t hate India, we are part of it.

We don’t all grow or sell marijuana.

We are not backward or illiterate.

We don’t all hunt and eat dogs.

We don’t live in trees.

Come, and find out, who we really are.

(MUSIC: pauses, before starting again.)

FVO: Turn what you know around. Travel to the North East with packages starting at R29,999 only. With Thomascook.in