A MONSOON OF MUSIC Mitra Phukan Penguin/Zubaan, 2011 `450, 432 pages Paperback/Novel S tory of four musicians immersed in the tradition of Hindustani classical music. Set in the mofussil town of Tamulbari beside the Brahmaputra. A N Indian edition of Land of Jade, Bertil Lintner’s clas- sic, was long overdue. The fact that it took such a long time to arrive testifies to the mainland obsession of the Indian publish- ing industry. It is a mindset where an author can sell a title on Nor- way more easily than one of Myanmar (Burma), because the average in-the-street Indian read- er is often expected to confuse Burma with the great Vermajis of Delhi or Punjab. That only a Guwahati-based publisher, Spec- trum, should take the initiative to publish an Indian edition of Land of Jade proves the point that the appeal of Lintner’s epic jour- ney and the book based on it has been largely restricted to the Northeast. It is through this region that Lintner entered Myanmar in 1985 with a wife who had just de- livered a baby girl. For the next 18 months, the small family of three traversed this difficult re- gion on foot, donkey, elephant, boat and what have you. Hop- ping from one rebel base to an- other, Lintner covered a huge tract where civil war had ravaged the land and dispossessed the people for close to four decades. This was the first real, on-ground insight into one of the world’s longest running civil wars. Scattered accounts of this epic journey by Lintner through one of the world’s most merciless jungle-mountain terrains were carried in the Far Eastern Eco- nomic Review, of which I was a regular reader since my days as a university student of Southeast Asian studies. These accounts in- spired the young journalist in me to do what no Indian journalist had done before — to reach the bases of the Northeast Indian rebel groups in Upper Burma which, until then, had only been accessed by Bertil Lintner. A year later, and after some diffi- cult negotiations with the Na- tional Socialist Council of Na- galand (NSCN), I was on my way to the elusive Oking — the mo- bile headquarters of the Naga underground based at Challam or Kesar Changlam. This same camp was called Challam Basti by the Assamese fighters of the Unit- ed Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). I did not go beyond the NSCN headquarters where I also met ULFA and Manipuri rebel leaders, and my journey led to a cover sto- ry in the Calcutta-based Sunday magazine titled “Brothers in Arms”. Bertil had gone much fur- ther. But his accounts of his jour- ney were my inspiration. They led me to seek out why scores of my countrmen, unhappy with India’s grandiose nation-building project, were suffering in the mosquito- ridden jungles of Myanmar to fight a long protracted war against the State. In recent years, the Indian State seems to have realised that a so- lution to its Northeastern insur- gency problem lies as much in Myanmar or Bangladesh as in the region itself. As Delhi starts pres- surising the Myanmarese govern- ment to act decisively against the ULFA, the NSCN and the Meitei rebel groups, Bertil Lintner’s Land of Jade emerges as a must-read for all those interested in India’s far frontier zone. It is great journal- ism because it takes the readerto a zone without motorable roads, where only a bold and courageous reporter can take his audience through the sheer power of limbs and great determination of mind. Bertil nearly lost one foot to the leeches near the swamps of Taga. He got caught infighting at Chal- lam and Kachin. Yet, he lived to tell the tale. The penning of Land of Jade has given us the legend that is Bertil Lintner. It is by far his greatest book, greater than his other excellent books on Myanmar. ❚ FIRST SUN STORIES: UNUSUAL FOLK TALES FROM THE NORTH- EAST T Bijoykumar Singh, Easterine Iralu, Kyn- pham Sing Nongkynrih, Mamang Dai, San- tanu Phukan (Retellers) Katha, 2011 (Reprint) `350, 88 pages Hardcover/Folktales N ortheast Indian folktales from the many cul- tures of the seven states. Beautifully retold with illustrations O F the many narratives smothered by war, the oral narratives of the Nagas suffered a long period of being silenced. Folktales require certain settings in order to be told. The Naga war with India af- ter military operations began in 1956 destroyed these settings, be- sides disrupting the ritual of folk narratives. The setting of the folk- tale is the hearth and its ances- tral home is the village-world. Oral narratives belong to eras of rela- tive peace in the village commu- nity where the ceremony of the folktale takes place. After the evening meal, children gather aroundthe hearth of a grandpar- ent who narrates stories to them. It requires mutual participation. The children need to listen at- tentively and the grandparent- narrator will tell the stories with the air of an entertainer,frequently using stock phrases or ideo- phones in the course of the dramatised narration. In the 1950s and 1960s, many Naga families were displaced by the freedom struggle. People in the villages were the worst af- fected. They abandoned their homes to hide in rough shelters in the forests. They moved in small groups for fear of detec- tion. Two or three families shel- tered together and the number of children in some groups was higher than the number of adults. Hiding in rough shelters in the forests and frequently moving camp, these families survived on the meagre food rations they car- ried with them. They took from the forest what food it offered. Since the forests were infiltrated by the Indian army, these refugee families held very little conver- sation amongst themselves. The children were discouraged from playing or talking loudly. The grandmother's hearth in the vil- lage-world was destroyed, the vil- lages burnt and their inhabitants tortured and killed or forced into evacuation. The folktale lost its setting.Its narrative was silenced throughout the period of dis- placement during the Indo-Naga war. The peace that is essential to the continuation of oral nar- ratives was lost. The war years also killed many oral narrators, and folk narratives were further silenced in the premature death- sof their carriers. In the 1970s, the Art and Cul- ture department of Nagaland made a collection of Naga folk- tales from the four districts of Kohima, Mokokchung, Tuensang and Wokha. The crudely illus- trated and coarsely told 109 sto- ries in the collection are never- theless an admirable first effort at folktale collection. Stories that would have died along with their narrators have been preserved by this effort. In 2008, Roots: A Collection of Zeliang Folktales, was published by Kangzangding Thou. In 2009, the Art and Cul- ture department authorised the publication of another volume of Naga folktales. Sadly it was rewritten by a non-Naga and lacked the authenticity or cul- tural knowledge that only an in- sider can bring to such an in- grained art form. Barkweaver publications be- gan its first volume of Naga Folk- tales Retold in 2009. The pub- lishing house aims to retrieve Naga folktales in several volumes along with illustrations by young Naga artists. Volume Two will be published in 2012. The project encourages young children to spend time with their grandpar- ents, collecting folktales and peo- plestories. Barkweaver hopes that the children will not only collect stories but imbibe the rich teachings of culture that is passed on in folk narration. One form of oral narrative si- lenced by the war was the many and varied peoplestories. These are not mythical tales but the acounts of ordinary people and their lives. Yet, people need to tell their stories and they deserve the opportunity to share their stories. A second Barkweaver project is a series of peoplesto- ries, the first of which is being published this winter. Among the Nagas, peoplestories popu- larly deal with spirit encounters. But Barkweaver is also inter- ested in stories that people want to tell of themselves, their child- hoods, the memories of their lives and events that had a big impact on them. Barkweaver recognises the nar- ratives of children and women assilenced narratives. These were never voiced and were sup- pressed under the meta-narra- tive of war, which is a narrative of men. In my novel, A Terrible Matriarchy, the little girl-narra- tor begins her account candidly: My grandmother never liked me. I knew this when I was about four and a half. I was sit- ting in her kitchen with my brother Bulie, older to me by two years, when she served us food. Hot rice and chicken broth. “What meat do you want?” she simpered sweetly as she la- dled out gravy and meat. I quickly piped up, “I want the leg, Grandmother, give me the leg.” “I wasn't asking you silly girl,” she said, as she swiftly put the chicken leg into my brother's plate, ”That portion is always for boys. Girls must eat the other portions”. (p.1) In this novel, the silence of the girl child is finally broken. Like- wise, in its forthcoming volume of peoplestories, Forest Song, Barkweaver focuses on stories that have not been voiced before. Folktales and peoplestories are part of collective memory and recording them in print is impor- tant because of their literary rel- evance, especially in terms of a national literature. Folktales pro- vide readers common reference points. At the same time, peo- plestories are significant because they have psychological value. Sharing is healing. For the elder- ly, sharing their stories and dis- covering they are being listened to gives meaning to their lives. Peoplestories make the statement that ordinary people and their lives and destinies have value. This is something the machinery of war completely disregards. Another kind of imposed si- lence that the Naga people have suffered is the stifling of their voices in the academic world. The Nagas have been written about in colonial anthropologi- cal accounts by British political officers like RG Woodthorpe, JH Hutton, JP Mills, Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Ursula Gra- ham Bower and WG Archer. The voices of these colonisers, though informative, were not free of racism and exoticising of cultures they did not fully understand. The result was that some cultural practices which yielded mean- ing in the pre-Christian era were dismissed as barbaric. Only since the 1970s did Naga scholars be- gin to write about Naga customs, culture and village polity, pro- viding insider narratives for the first time. These alone can be considered authentic. Barkweaver wants to continue encouraging such insider narra- tives by focusing on Naga folk- tales. By doing this it will try to address the silences imposed by the voices that claimed authori- ty. Folk narratives, after all, still have their relevance in today's fast-moving world. This fact was brought home to me at a Sep- tember conference in Frankfurt- Oder where I performed stories from Naga Folktales Retold. My storytelling was complemented by a French dancer who danced to the rhythm of the stories and an Italian singer who sponta- neously burst into a Berber song at the end of a telling. The singer also joined in the refrain of the folksong that accompanied the tale ‘The Fig-tree and the Zeliang Man’. Culture lives on if its prac- titioners can reinvent it. Folktales are common proper- ty and they need to be shared in appropriate ways. The setting has changed as there are few hearths around which the lis- teners can gather. But the lis- tening circle has widened and perhaps it is time to take our oral narratives to an international audience.The time feels ready for it. ❚ Insurgency and militarisation had led to death and displacement of people and their stories but efforts are on to give voice to lost narratives, says Easterine Kire ● ● The folktale lost its setting during the war years. Peace that is essential to continuation of oral narratives was also lost. Folk narratives were further silenced in the premature deaths of their carriers ● ● PEER POINT NEW PRINTS ● ● A journey like this is rare even for the most intrepid journalist ● ● SUBIR BHAUMIK LAND OF JADE Bertil Linter Spectrum, 2011 `1100, 440 pages Hardcover/Non-fiction NON- STOP INDIA Mark Tully Allen Lane/Penguin, 2011 `499, 257 pages Hardcover/Non-Fiction E xploring the past and the potential of India, the author travels the country to address some unresolved questions. OLUGUTI TOLUGUTI Radhika Menon & Sandhya Rao (ed) Kshitiz Sharmaa (Illustrator) Tulika Books, 2011 `385, 88 pages Paperback/Children’s Rhymes C hildren’s rhymes from India sing of hattima tim tims and kukre kuks. Ride pom pom cars and chuk chuk trains with Tuaan-Tueen, Rolenga and Suraiyya. War and the Silencing of Naga Narratives EASTERINE KIRE Writer and publisher JOURNEY THROUGH UNCHARTED LANDS BERTIL LINTNER ● ● The book is a must-read for those interested in India’s far frontier zone ● ● FRONTISPIECE POST script NOVEMBER 13, 2011 SEVEN SISTERS 2 L’AFFAIRÉ literary
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A MONSOON OF MUSICMitra Phukan Penguin/Zubaan, 2011`450, 432 pagesPaperback/Novel
Story of four musicians immersed in the traditionof Hindustani classical music. Set in the mofussil
town of Tamulbari beside the Brahmaputra.
AN Indian edition of Land ofJade, Bertil Lintner’s clas-sic, was long overdue. The
fact that it took such a long timeto arrive testifies to the mainlandobsession of the Indian publish-ing industry. It is a mindset wherean author can sell a title on Nor-way more easily than one ofMyanmar (Burma), because theaverage in-the-street Indian read-er is often expected to confuseBurma with the great VermajisofDelhi or Punjab. That only aGuwahati-based publisher, Spec-trum, should take the initiativeto publish an Indian edition ofLand of Jadeproves the point thatthe appeal of Lintner’s epic jour-ney and the book based on it hasbeen largely restricted to theNortheast. It is through this region that
Lintner entered Myanmar in1985 with a wife who had just de-livered a baby girl. For the next18 months, the small family ofthree traversed this difficult re-gion on foot, donkey, elephant,boat and what have you. Hop-ping from one rebel base to an-other, Lintner covered a hugetract where civil war had ravagedthe land and dispossessed thepeople for close to four decades.This was the first real, on-groundinsight into one of the world’slongest running civil wars.Scattered accounts of this epic
journey by Lintner through oneof the world’s most mercilessjungle-mountain terrains were
carried in the Far Eastern Eco-nomic Review, of which I was aregular reader since my days asa university student of SoutheastAsian studies. These accounts in-spired the young journalist in meto do what no Indian journalisthad done before — to reach thebases of the Northeast Indian
rebel groups in Upper Burmawhich, until then, had only beenaccessed by Bertil Lintner. Ayear later, and after some diffi-cult negotiations with the Na-tional Socialist Council of Na-galand (NSCN), I was on my wayto the elusive Oking — the mo-bile headquarters of the Naga
underground based at Challamor Kesar Changlam. This samecamp was called Challam Basti bythe Assamese fighters of the Unit-ed Liberation Front of Asom(ULFA).I did not go beyond the NSCN
headquarters where I also metULFA and Manipuri rebel leaders,
and my journey led to a cover sto-ry in the Calcutta-based Sundaymagazine titled “Brothers inArms”. Bertil had gone much fur-ther. But his accounts of his jour-ney were my inspiration. They ledme to seek out why scores of mycountrmen, unhappy with India’sgrandiose nation-building project,were suffering in the mosquito-ridden jungles of Myanmar to fighta long protracted war against theState.In recent years, the Indian State
seems to have realised that a so-lution to its Northeastern insur-gency problem lies as much inMyanmar or Bangladesh as in theregion itself. As Delhi starts pres-surising the Myanmarese govern-ment to act decisively against theULFA, the NSCN and the Meiteirebel groups, Bertil Lintner’s Landof Jade emerges as a must-read forall those interested in India’s farfrontier zone. It is great journal-ism because it takes the readertoa zone without motorable roads,where only a bold and courageousreporter can take his audiencethrough the sheer power of limbsand great determination of mind. Bertil nearly lost one foot to the
leeches near the swamps of Taga.He got caught infighting at Chal-lam and Kachin. Yet, he lived totell the tale. The penning of Landof Jadehas given us the legend thatis Bertil Lintner. It is by far hisgreatest book, greater than hisother excellent books on Myanmar. �
FIRST SUN STORIES: UNUSUAL FOLKTALES FROM THE NORTH- EASTT Bijoykumar Singh, Easterine Iralu, Kyn-pham Sing Nongkynrih, Mamang Dai, San-tanu Phukan (Retellers)Katha, 2011 (Reprint)`350, 88 pagesHardcover/Folktales
Northeast Indian folktales from the many cul-tures of the seven states. Beautifully retold
with illustrations
O F the many narrativessmothered by war, theoral narratives of the
Nagas suffered a long period ofbeing silenced. Folktales requirecertain settings in order to betold. The Naga war with India af-ter military operations began in1956 destroyed these settings, be-sides disrupting the ritual of folknarratives. The setting of the folk-tale is the hearth and its ances-tral home is the village-world. Oralnarratives belong to eras of rela-tive peace in the village commu-nity where the ceremony of thefolktale takes place. After theevening meal, children gatheraroundthe hearth of a grandpar-ent who narrates stories to them.It requires mutual participation.The children need to listen at-tentively and the grandparent-narrator will tell the stories withthe air of an entertainer,frequentlyusing stock phrases or ideo-phones in the course of thedramatised narration. In the 1950s and 1960s, many
Naga families were displaced bythe freedom struggle. People inthe villages were the worst af-fected. They abandoned theirhomes to hide in rough sheltersin the forests. They moved insmall groups for fear of detec-tion. Two or three families shel-tered together and the numberof children in some groups washigher than the number of adults.Hiding in rough shelters in theforests and frequently movingcamp, these families survived onthe meagre food rations they car-ried with them. They took fromthe forest what food it offered.Since the forests were infiltratedby the Indian army, these refugee
families held very little conver-sation amongst themselves. Thechildren were discouraged fromplaying or talking loudly. Thegrandmother's hearth in the vil-lage-world was destroyed, the vil-lages burnt and their inhabitantstortured and killed or forced intoevacuation. The folktale lost itssetting.Its narrative was silencedthroughout the period of dis-placement during the Indo-Nagawar. The peace that is essentialto the continuation of oral nar-ratives was lost. The war yearsalso killed many oral narrators,and folk narratives were furthersilenced in the premature death-sof their carriers. In the 1970s, the Art and Cul-
ture department of Nagalandmade a collection of Naga folk-tales from the four districts ofKohima, Mokokchung, Tuensangand Wokha. The crudely illus-trated and coarsely told 109 sto-ries in the collection are never-
theless an admirable first effortat folktale collection. Stories thatwould have died along with theirnarrators have been preservedby this effort. In 2008, Roots: ACollection of Zeliang Folktales,was published by KangzangdingThou. In 2009, the Art and Cul-ture department authorised thepublication of another vo lumeof Naga folktales. Sadly it wasrewritten by a non-Naga andlacked the authenticity or cul-tural knowledge that only an in-sider can bring to such an in-grained art form. Barkweaver publications be-
gan its first volume of Naga Folk-tales Retold in 2009. The pub-lishing house aims to retrieveNaga folktales in several volumesalong with illustrations by youngNaga artists. Volume Two will bepublished in 2012. The projectencourages young children tospend time with their grandpar-ents, collecting folktales and peo-
plestories. Barkweaver hopesthat the children will not onlycollect stories but imbibe the richteachings of culture that ispassed on in folk narration.One form of oral narrative si-
lenced by the war was the manyand varied peoplestories. Theseare not mythical tales but theacounts of ordinary people and
their lives. Yet, people need totell their stories and they deservethe opportunity to share theirstories. A second Barkweaverproject is a series of peoplesto-ries, the first of which is beingpublished this winter. Amongthe Nagas, peoplestories popu-larly deal with spirit encounters.But Barkweaver is also inter-ested in stories that people wantto tell of themselves, their child-hoods, the memories of theirlives and events that had a bigimpact on them. Barkweaver recognises the nar-
ratives of children and womenassilenced narratives. These werenever voiced and were sup-pressed under the meta-narra-tive of war, which is a narrativeof men. In my novel, A TerribleMatriarchy, the little girl-narra-tor begins her account candidly:
My grandmother never likedme. I knew this when I wasabout four and a half. I was sit-ting in her kitchen with mybrother Bulie, older to me bytwo years, when she served usfood. Hot rice and chickenbroth.
“What meat do you want?”she simpered sweetly as she la-dled out gravy and meat.
I quickly piped up, “I want theleg, Grandmother, give me the leg.”
“I wasn't asking you silly girl,”she said, as she swiftly put the chicken leg into mybrother's plate, ”That portion isalways for boys. Girls must eatthe other portions”. (p.1)
In this novel, the silence of thegirl child is finally broken. Like-wise, in its forthcoming volumeof peoplestories, Forest Song,Barkweaver focuses on storiesthat have not been voiced before. Folktales and peoplestories are
part of collective memory andrecording them in print is impor-tant because of their literary rel-evance, especially in terms of anational literature. Folktales pro-vide readers common referencepoints. At the same time, peo-plestories are significant becausethey have psychological value.Sharing is healing. For the elder-ly, sharing their stories and dis-covering they are being listenedto gives meaning to their lives.Peoplestories make the statementthat ordinary people and theirlives and destinies have value. Thisis something the machinery of warcompletely disregards. Another kind of imposed si-
lence that the Naga people havesuffered is the stifling of theirvoices in the academic world.The Nagas have been writtenabout in colonial anthropologi-cal accounts by British politicalofficers like RG Woodthorpe, JHHutton, JP Mills, Christoph vonFürer-Haimendorf, Ursula Gra-ham Bower and WG Archer. Thevoices of these colonisers, thoughinformative, were not free ofracism and exoticising of culturesthey did not fully understand.The result was that some culturalpractices which yielded mean-ing in the pre-Christian era weredismissed as barbaric. Only sincethe 1970s did Naga scholars be-gin to write about Naga customs,culture and village polity, pro-viding insider narratives for thefirst time. These alone can beconsidered authentic.Barkweaver wants to continue
encouraging such insider narra-tives by focusing on Naga folk-tales. By doing this it will try toaddress the silences imposed bythe voices that claimed authori-ty. Folk narratives, after all, stillhave their relevance in today'sfast-moving world. This fact wasbrought home to me at a Sep-tember conference in Frankfurt-Oder where I performed stories
from Naga Folktales Retold. Mystorytelling was complementedby a French dancer who dancedto the rhythm of the stories andan Italian singer who sponta-neously burst into a Berber songat the end of a telling. The singeralso joined in the refrain of thefolksong that accompanied thetale ‘The Fig-tree and the ZeliangMan’. Culture lives on if its prac-titioners can reinvent it. Folktales are common proper-
ty and they need to be shared inappropriate ways. The settinghas changed as there are fewhearths around which the lis-teners can gather. But the lis-tening circle has widened andperhaps it is time to take our oralnarratives to an internationalaudience.The time feels readyfor it. �
Insurgency andmilitarisation had
led to death anddisplacement ofpeople and their
stories but effortsare on to give
voice to lostnarratives, says
Easterine Kire
� �
The folktale lostits settingduring the war years. Peace that isessential tocontinuation oforal narrativeswas also lost.Folk narrativeswere furthersilenced in theprematuredeaths of theircarriers � �
PEER POINT NEW PRINTS
� �
A journey likethis is rare
even for the most intrepidjournalist � �
SUBIR BHAUMIK
LAND OF JADEBertil Linter Spectrum, 2011`1100, 440 pagesHardcover/Non-fiction
NON- STOP INDIAMark Tully Allen Lane/Penguin, 2011`499, 257 pagesHardcover/Non-Fiction
Exploring the past and the potential of India,the author travels the country to address
some unresolved questions.
OLUGUTI TOLUGUTIRadhika Menon & Sandhya Rao (ed)Kshitiz Sharmaa (Illustrator) Tulika Books, 2011`385, 88 pagesPaperback/Children’s Rhymes
Children’s rhymes from India sing of hattimatim tims and kukre kuks. Ride pom pom
cars and chuk chuk trains with Tuaan-Tueen,Rolenga and Suraiyya.
War and the SilencingofNaga Narratives
EASTERINE KIREWriter and publisher
JOURNEY THROUGHUNCHARTED LANDS
BERTIL LINTNER
� �
The book is amust-read for those interestedin India’s farfrontier zone � �
FRONTISPIECE
POSTscriptN O V E M B E R 1 3 , 2 0 1 1
SEVEN SISTERS
2
L’AFFAIRÉ literary
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