THIRD EYE EDITION Towards the truth (Book Review) Journalists have always been at a unique vantage point. But, with it comes great responsibility. Journalists, by the demands of their profession, have to be impartial witnesses to wars, uprisings, corruption and disasters. There have been innumerable instances of brave journalists being killed while covering conflict in the world’s troubled hotspots. That is why Swedish-Austrian journalist Bertil Lintner’s remarkable book Land of Jade – A Journey from North East India through Northern Burma to China is truly inspirational – not only for the brotherhood of scribes, but the layman as well. For here, Lintner, and his young Burmese wife, Hseng Noung and baby daughter cross the border between North East India’s Nagaland and Burma (Myanmar), secretly infiltrating that unknown, enigmatic country sealed off from the world. It is October 1985 and the couple are undertaking a terrible risk to discover for themselves what lies beyond. Once across the Indian border, Kachin guerillas escort the family through Northern Burma to the Sino Burmese border. This epic journey, full of unexpected dangers, hardships and survival under the most daunting circumstances, helped Lintner write about the ground realities of Burma, the life of the rebels in the Far Eastern Economic Review in 1987 and his book The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Burma, published in 1990. When he wrote this present book in 1989 in Danish, there were over 25,000 - 30,000 odd insurgents in Burma. Praising the discipline and fighting skills of the Burmese Army, he hoped that they would be able to channelise this force into a more honourable task than fighting against the country’s own ethnic minorities. Land of Jade is an indispensable read for anyone keen to have a deeper insight into the fluid geo-political realities of South East Asia. Through it we understand that the problems of the North East can only be tackled by placing them against a wider context of India’s neighbouring countries. The Lintner couple’s odyssey is also a heartwarming love story of a man and a woman who stand by each other when chasing an impossible dream. There is no arm-chair analysis here. Lintner, in fact, was the first Western journalist to enter Burma. In this 18 month, 2,275 kilometre expedition, he has revealed to us unforgettable vignettes of the ordinary people, caught up in the struggles between the government, the insurgents and the local opium lords. His take on Naga-Manipur insurgency is very relevant. This book is the third South Asian English edition, published for the first time by Spectrum Publications. Krishan Kumar deserves our approbation for making this valuable work available to readers. Land of Jade – A Journey from North East India through Northern Burma to China Highway to trouble (Book Review) THIRD EYE EDITION Sudeep Chakravarti’s country roads do not take him home. In an obscure corner of North East India, the intrepid author traverses a highway through hell. Highway 39, spanning a distance of 436 kilometres from Numaligarh along the southern bank of the Brahmaputra in Assam to Moreh in Manipur, at the border of Myanmar, links states convulsed by numbing turmoil and political misunderstanding that is ruthless and exploitative. With his ear to the ground, this courageous journalist and author, whose previous book, Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country, humanised the government-Naxalite conflict, now combines reportage, anecdote and analysis to document the fluid reality of a fractured land. The eight States of India that comprises the North East are surrounded by boundaries with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. But strategic location is not enough for the mandarins at New Delhi to sit up and take notice. It is as if its 46 million people have been sucked into a black hole, as it were, and figure nowhere in the national radar. The author uses the term outland to signify this. Chakravarti took a road trip along Highway 39 and things just fell into place. The road, as he puts it, “offered itself as a broad sutra for storytelling both about conflict and the coming out of conflict.” He sees at close range a society strafed by insurgency, ill-governance, poverty, loss of hope and identity. Real people drift in an out of the narrative, threaded together by their sense of hopelessness. But even in this dark eclipse, all is not lost and Chakravarti clearly senses a “momentum of progressive thinking and economic aspirations”. The dark epoch of Nagaland’s sanguine history is examined by the author’s interaction with academician-writer Temsula Ao and the Naga Mother’s Hoho. There is a rare transcript of a meeting between Prime Minister Morarji Desai and Angami Zapu Phizo, founder of the Naga National Council. The author’s forte lies in the clarity of his observations, the unconscious narrative style and his ability to effortlessly switch from statement of facts to presenting his wide cast of real life characters to move his story forward. Chakravarti has researched extensively from books, media reports, the inputs of think tanks, research organisations, NGOs, political and armed groups. And yet, there is none of the dry as dust presentation of facts. In conclusion, this knowledgeable and very readable book will certainly open a window for the world to peak through and understand us. Highway 39 Journeys Through a Fractured Land Sudeep Chakravarti Harper Collins Publishers Price: Rs 450 Gateway to adventure (Book Review) Writing a book is an adventure, and no one knows it better than young author/illustra- tor Tara Goswami. Tara’s book The Bogoli Phut Days – Pitki’s Adventures in Assam not only THIRD EYE EDITION journeys to the recent past of the author’s childhood, but dives into the heart of timeless tales penned by the doyen of Assamese literature, Lakshminath Bezbarua. Pitki’s actual childhood of car journeys between Shillong and Sekoni TE, doting grandparents, wide vistas of emerald fields, tea gardens and ponds filled with fish are woven seamlessly into evocative descriptions of Bihu and hilarious tales like that of the purblind son-in-law. The lively artwork and the spare prose gives the narrative a quick pace and immediacy that is refreshing as well as stimulating. A visit to the Orang National Park not only acquaints Pitki and her brother Dondi to the denizens of the jungle, but also the quaint tale of the toon tooni bird. Factual details have been incorporated and give a clear picture of Assam, and the blend of facts and stories has given it a travelogesque character. The book came about in the form of her dissertation project for the Shristi School of Art Design and Technology, Delhi. Tara studied different styles of drawing and executing an idea. Researching on graphic novels and children’s books, she realised she wanted to create rich, layered images. So, creating a huge archive of textures by using a technique like mono- printing. computer skills enabled her to collage textures, pictures, etc. The five stories of Lakshminath Bezbarua’s iconic Burhi Air Sadhu were translated by Tara, her mother Roshmi Goswami and friend Priyasree. She is hopeful that books like this will present folk tales and Assamese culture in a more exciting light to children of the region and beyond. She has been inspired by Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and illustrations of Quentin Blake, Sara Fanelli, etc. As the author herself says: “Being exposed to folklore, colloquial phrases, dialogue and expressions that are so integral to every culture gave me a sense of looking to Assam even though I have never actually lived there. I hope books like these will be able to instil a similar sense, at a time when modernism has set in and families have become increasingly nuclear.” The Bogoli Phut Days – Pitki’s adventures in Assam Tara Goswami Harper Collins, Beauty basics (Book Review) It was Khalil Gibran who said that beauty is “eternity gazing at itself in a mirror”. Through the ages, beauti-ful women, whether it was Rani Padmini or Helen of Troy, Marilyn Monroe or Maharani Gayatri Devi, they have had an aura about them that continue to catch the collective imagination of the people long after their departure from this mortal world. Many years ago, this reviewer had asked Khushwant Singh what was his idea of a beautiful woman. He said, “A woman need not have perfect features or be cast in a classical mould. THIRD EYE EDITION But she must have that spark, that vivacity which animates her and draws others towards her. That is my beautiful woman for you.” Beauty is big business today. The cosmetic industry thrives on women’s insecurities about their looks. The good old herbal remedies of our grandmother’s time are forgotten as women race for chemical, quick-fix solutions for split ends or blemished skin. Glitzy beauty pageants are watched on television in millions of homes. And let us not even venture to the minefield of anorexia and size zero aspirations. These observations, however, cannot take away the fact that in India there have been beauticians like Shahnaz Hussain and Blossom Kochhar, who have revolutionised the beauty business. Their products have helped women to look their best, defy age and meet the world head-on with poise and confidence. Monika Bose has been a respected and well- known name in beauty therapy in the region for more than three decades. She has won the Rastriya Ekta Award 1999 and the Rashtriya Ratna for her work in this field. Besides being a columnist for a national daily, she has also been widely interviewed by the media.