In telling the story of Nima, a young woman from a middle-class family in Sikkim, the show highlights the everyday struggles faced by the northeastern community. “It’s the first time that a [mainstream channel] is showcasing a show about the northeastern community. That drew me towards the show. Hailing from the north-east, I could connect with the character and the challenges she faced as I have endured the same,” says the actor.

Only a year ago, as Covid-19 cases raged across India, northeastern people were being racially targeted and labelled as ‘Corona’. Recently, Ankita Konwar called out the hypocrisy of people, who racially discriminated against the community and then went on to celebrate Manipur-born Mirabai Chanu’s Olympic win. Das admits that she has often been addressed as “chinki”. “In 2015, when I was in Delhi, my friends called me everything from momo to chinki. I was often teased for my Hindi dialect too. Although I didn’t react to it back then, it bothered me. Luckily, these same friends helped me improve my language. I needed to get my pronunciations right before entering the industry.”