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| To research your book, Now the Hell Will Start, you visited India's remote Northeastern states and went across the border to Burma -- an area off the general tourist track. What did you need to do to get into and around the area? | | A |
| Getting to eastern Assam is no problem. I flew direct from Kolkata to Dibrugarh--it's a popular route amongst tea traders and other businessmen with interests in the North-East. Once there, my intention was to head east towards (and eventually across) the Burma border. To do this, I hired a guide--Oken Tayeng of Abor Country Travels, which is based in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. I'm glad I did, as the transportation situation in eastern Assam is, to be charitable, chaotic. There is a train that runs to around Ledo, as well as some buses, but both are unreliable. Oken had a 4x4 vehicle, which became a necessity during the later stages of our journey.
Oken was also instrumental in securing the necessary permit to cross into Arunachal Pradesh. Government regulations mandate that foreign visitors to the province travel in groups of four or more, but I was also by my lonesome. So Oken enlisted the aid of a cousin and a friend to round out our foursome, and I coughed up the full amount for the permit (US$200). We crossed into Arunachal at the town of Jairampur, then proceeded up the Ledo Road past the town of Nampong. Oken was again key to negotiating our way past the two Assam Rifles posts that are in this hazardous section. (As is so often the case in India, sipping chai and offering baksheesh can work wonders.)
About two miles short of the Burma border, we had to abandon our vehicle and walk. Fortunately, we came upon a maintenance crew, and we paid them to give us a lift to near the border atop their bulldozer. Then we walked downhill into Burma, which was magnificient. It's quite a sight to see the Lake of No Return come into focus as you descend the Patkai Mountains.
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| How did your preconceived notions of the Northeastern states compare to the reality on the ground and how different is the area today versus your book's World War II-era setting? | | A |
| Well, there's obviously a lot less activity nowadays then when tens of thousands of American soldiers worked on and around the Ledo Road! Ledo itself is a pretty sleepy town. Tea, coal, and oil remain the region's big industries--especially tea. The road itself is in good condition until about Jairampur or so, but then steadily degrades. Once you get a mile or so past the Assam Rifles post above Nampong, the road looks exactly the same as it did in photographs from World War II--sludge amidst the jungle. My advice: Bring shoes or boots that you don't mind ruining with mud!
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| While other parts of India make more news for their violence -- notably Jammu and Kashmir -- the Northeastern states have also had issues with terrorism. The US State Department warns, "Incidents of violence by ethnic insurgent groups, including the bombing of buses and trains, occur with a degree of frequency in parts of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland." How safe did you feel traveling in the area? | | A |
| I felt fairly safe, though I'd advise the people follow the standard precautions when traveling off the beaten path--stay aware of your surroundings, don't draw needless attention to yourself, etc. There are obviously few foreign visitors who travel to Nampong and beyond, so I was naturally regarded with some friendly curiosity. (One tribal family we dined with insisted on getting me absolutely blitzed on rice beer--they thought it was hilarious to get the American drunk.)
It's true that the United Liberation Front of Asom and other insurgent groups are active in the area, and the military presence is high as a result. However, these soldiers don't really seem too interested in providing day-to-day security to people. At one point, we were forced to hunker down in Jairampur due to a bandh (road blockade) perpetrated by rock-throwing teenagers. The local security forces did nothing, perhaps because they agreed with the motivation for the bandh (to prevent "tribals" from Arunachal crossing into Assam to seek work). It seems as if the major tea plantations and other commercial operations thus employ their own security personnel.
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| India as a whole has seen a spike in tourism but the states that you visited have been largely left out of this surge and remain fairly undiscovered. If someone were to venture to India's Northeast, what would you recommend that they see or do? | | A |
| I can really only comment on the part of the North-East I visited, which is far to the east. I guess most tourists come to Assam to see the one-horned rhinos at Kaziranga National Park, but I didn't motivate for that--too busy with my Ledo Road adventure. I will say that the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh are absolutely gorgeous, and particularly worth a visit for those interested in flora and fauna. (Oken often guides botanists on plant hunts through the Patkai Mountains, for example.) |
Published: June 2008
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