STRANGERS NO MORE

Over twenty years ago, Sanjoy
Hazarika?s first book on the Northeast, Strangers of the Mist, was published
to immediate acclaim. Hailed as an exciting, path-breaking narrative on the
region, it has been cited extensively in studies of Northeast India, used as
a resource for scholars and journalists and adopted as course material in
colleges.Two decades later, in his new book, armed with more stories,
interviews and research and after extensive travels through the region,
Hazarika explains how and where things stand in the Northeast today. He
examines old and new struggles, contemporary trends and the sweeping changes
that have taken place and asks whether the region and its people are still
?different? to the rest of India, to each other and whether they are destined
to remain so. While it may not be possible to overcome lingering hatred,
divisions and differences by brute force, economic might or efforts at
cultural or political assimilation, there are other ways forward. These
include the process of engagement of accepting, if not embracing, the ?Idea
of India? and working on forging connections between disparate cultures to
overcome the mutual suspicions that have existed for decades. Hazarika tells
little-known stories, drawn from personal experience and knowledge, of the
way in which insurgents operate, of the reality of border towns in the
region, the pain of victims and the courage of fighters on either side of the
ideological and physical conflict, in the jungles and in lands awash with
rain and swamped by mist. He travels across borders and mountains, listening
to tales of the people of the region and those who live in neighbouring
countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar. He challenges the stereotype
of the ?North easterner?, critiques the categorization of the ?Bangladeshi?,
deals with issues of ?race and discrimination? and suggests best practices
that could be used to deal with intractable issues and combatants.
Critically, he tries to portray the way in which new generations are
grappling with old and current issues with an eye to the future. Extensively
researched and brilliantly narrated, strangers no more is arguably the most
comprehensive book yet available about India?s Northeast.