Title - Desperately seeking peace

Guwahati/Jorhat : After Hyderabad and Bangalore, fear-stricken people from Assam working in Mumbai today rushed back home, leaving their jobs. Haridev Boro, 22, of Kalaigaon in Darrang district, had never faced any problem during his two-year stay in Navi Mumbai and had booked his ticket for home on September 14. But the sudden rumour about possible attacks on Northeasterners forced him to book a tatkal ticket and rush back home. "I had no plan of going home now but the trouble in Assam created a buzz in our company that people from the region could be attacked. I decided to come back as my parents were worried," Haridev told The Telegraph, as he got off the Guwahati-Lokmanya Tilak Express around 11.30am at Guwahati railway station. With him were about 50 other people working in glass factories, dairy farms, private schools and bakeries in Mumbai, who had migrated out of the region in search of jobs. Chitra Narzary of Chirang, who joined her nursing job in a convent school in Mumbai, however, is scared to go back till the situation becomes normal. "We will have to go back there again but if something happens, who will save us?" asked the 27-year-old Bodo girl as she stepped out of the station to board a bus for Chirang. Sources said some people from Kerala too, reached Guwahati today. The fear psychosis in other parts of the country had a silver lining for some though. Lakshyajeet Ojha, a youth from Majuli, who returned to the island today, had eloped with a girl to Hyderabad, against the wishes of his parents about two years back. "I was not in touch with my parents for the last two years. I tried several times to contact them but they refused to speak to me. But now things have changed. The other day my father called up and asked me to come home, as it is no longer safe in Hyderabad. My father said they had accepted my marriage," Lakshyajeet said. "These places (Bangalore, Hyderabad) are no longer safe for people from Assam. We have no option but to return. We were told that Assamese people would come under attack after Id," said Babul Saikia, another youth from Majuli. He along with 50 others reached the river island today.