is like seedling of peepal it can sprout from anywhere but it doesn't end up growing everywhere, This book is a compass drawing a circle for memory of pain, With characters recounting, telling, speaking, sharing, journeying, shedding, remembering, one is compelled to think of what we choose to remember, how we choose to tell, and why we forget.
This collection of stories is crisp with its sentences and straight forward with the emotions and feelings of characters, My favourite story was "The Journey" mainly because of the danger that continues to grip the reader and the danger that is finally revealed to us,Touching Short stories of Nagaland, .
The Jungle Major
An old man remember
Are my favourite This was more of a,star.
I liked the first half of the book centred around the armed conflict for Naga self determination much more than the second centered around the emerging corruption in the state of Nagaland.
The stories were compelling bringing to life the traditional way of life for some of the Naga tribes, and their troubled history with the Indian Union,
There's a Bengali proverb which loosely translates to 'When Kings fight, it is the grass which dies' রজয রজয যদধ হয, উলখগরর পরণ যয this book demonstrates that to perfection, It is the story of people caught in the middle of a conflict, thrown headlong towards their doom, trying to find a way to survive, And miraculously, they do.
I agree with another reviewer who said the dedication/prologue titled 'Lest we forget' was the best part of the book, Reading the book, I was ashamed to realize I know so little of the history of Nagaland and for that matter of the rest of the region except Assam that I can't judge the historical accuracy of this book.
An eyeopener indeed. Time to find a nonfiction historical account I guess, Lest we forget.
Read for the challenge prompts
PopSugar A book set in a country that fascinates you North Eastern India is general fascinates me, with it's unique history and often troubled relationship with the central government
Around the Year inbooks A book about surviving a hardship the major theme of this book is how the commoners survived a rebellion Aroundtribes in Nagaland have been known to be at war for supremacy within, for leading the state.
The Naga insurgency is something we weren't taught and that didn't come to my notice until I met someone from that region, It, as usual, got me thinking how less we know our own history, We tend to think 'it doesn't matter' mostly because it doesn't affect us directly,
Withinshort stories, Temsula tries to capture the traditional Naga lifestyle against the backdrop of then 'development' and the 'war', Certain scenes were visually daunting to me whilst some made me smile, In conflicts such as these, trauma manifests beyond the realms of lacerations, the mind and soul remain scarred forever, The hills called Home: Stories from a war zone by Temsula Ao is a collection of short stories , Most of the stories are based on the struggle of common people who are mostly the victims of civil War ,
Each stories are different , But they are all represented easily, T he language used here is comprehensive, Not all the stories are mind blowing but some of them stay in heart forever, The author successfully creates an atmosphere where a reader can visualize the hills through his story telling,
I suggest you all to read this book Rating:,/
Published by zubaan books amp penguin india , this book is a collection of short stories from Nagaland, about it's people, Each story introduces us to a different facet of their lives, their armed struggle to get an independent land and the different kinds of conflicts which arose from it.
Stories from North Eastern states rarely do come out and when they do, it's already too late hence the least we can do is to educate ourselves about their struggles amp try to understand it.
The author has collected these stories with great care amp presented to us the best way possible, Highly recommended. heart moving stories from a land less known, an insight into sometimes the hopelessness and sometimes the sheer resilience that strives human beings to stop and keep moving, The stories are written raw form and are inspired from true events that followed during the course of Nagalands political and insurgency crisis, For someone who has witnessed this turbulent era that happened when I was a kid seeing and hearing about the violence and cruelty forced upon by power towards the civilians and those involved in activities during the tumultuous times for an independent state of Nagaland.
Ten short stories
Themes common in all these stories: cruelty towards the native people by those in power as well as those who inflicted harm and inhuman acts in the name of self made justification
trigger warnings for descriptive violence and assault, sexual assault, gun violence, gory descriptions of the dead
I would like to recommend this book only to mature readers and for those young readers who want to read this book, please have parental guidance before you read it.
The writing is flawless and the character descriptions unique and evolving,
My most favourite stories from this collection would be The Jungle Major, The Curfew Man, The Night, The Pot Maker, An Old Man Remembers and The Journey.
I feel so proud of having read this book as it writes in perfection what the people had to go through those days of terror, I'm still reading this book, but "The Last Song" will haunt my dreams for years to come, For full review
please visit sitelink wordpress .
This book is a collection of ten short stories all of which takes place in Nagaland, Most of the stories have the background of the heightened tension between the rebel groups in Nagaland popularly known as the underground army and the Indian army, While all the stories are unique and diverse there is a common thread that binds them, All stories portray how its the common people who are often the worst victims of such wars and civil strife,
The jungle major follows the story of a woman who marries a guy whom all feel is inadequate for her but this inadequacy helps her to rescue him.
Soaba follows the story of a young orphan boy who does odd jobs in many households and who suffers from the brunt of the violence in an unexpected way.
The last song shows the brutality of violence in its most violent form and how women suffer the most,
The curfew man shows us how violence leads to one doing the most unexpected jobs at times, The night and the pot maker acquaint us with the customs and traditions of the Naga people and help us to understand them, Shadows are the story of the rebel group, It shows us the inner dynamics of the rebel groups and how they also have certain jealousies and prejudices brewing among them, An old man remembers tells the story of someone who was once the part of the rebel group and investigates and shows the circumstances that pushed them to become one.
The journey acquaints us with the everyday hardships that people in Nagaland face, A new chapter, like the title of the story, shows how people adjust to the volatility and cope with violence, It shows the rigmarole of corruption, violence, manipulation, and politics that Nagaland is captured in, this book is a necessary read to any indian or other out there who thinks life is simple enough to facilitate taking sides with no compromises and studying politics is okay without getting nationalistic sentiments out of your head.
it depicts and makes us understand what truly matters the role and attitude of common people towards the exaggerated agendas of the "country" or the "rebels", More than half a century of bloodshed has marked the history of the Naga people who live in the troubled northeastern region of India, Their struggle for an independent Nagaland and their continuing search for identity provides the backdrop for the stories that make up this unusual collection, Describing how ordinary people cope with violence, how they negotiate power and force, how they seek and find safe spaces and enjoyment in the midst of terror, the author details a way of life under threat from the forces of modernization and war.
No one the young, the old, the ordinary housewife, the willing partner, the militant who takes to the gun, and the young woman who sings even as she is being raped is untouched by the violence.
Theirs are the stories that form the subtext of the struggles that lie at the internal faultlines of the Indian nationstate, These are stories that speak movingly of home, country, nation, nationality, identity, and direct the reader to the urgency of the issues that lie at their heart, Rating.
These hills called home by Temsula Ao is a collection of short stories, The struggle of Nagas for an independent Nagaland and their search for finding peace amidst all fight, frames the background of the stories,
Weaved beautifully, it brings out the tortures and grapples of common people, torn between government and an underground army of rebels, and their strive for survival, A nice stepping stone before peeping more into the Naga history, I read onlyshort stories from the book and both were very very impactful to me, I don't think I can carry on though, But still an amazing book! Quite insightful when it comes to understanding the lives of the Naga people during theNaga Nationalist movement, The stories are thought provoking and unbiased in their approach of describing the political situation, However, it could have provided a deeper understanding of the historical background somewhere in the book, I mostly loved the book for the introduction, "Lest We Forget", It was very beautiful and painted a perfect picture of the myriad emotions of the people she has written about, Interesting collection of short tribal stories from the hills of Nagaland Stories from a wartorn part of India, We often forget that India didnt come into being as an unified whole, That different parts of the country were brought into the Union in different ways, many of which involved violence, For most of us, Nagaland is nothing more than a name we learn in geography we take it for granted that it is one of thestates, without making much of an effort to know very much more.
The state, however, has a bloody past, It was built on the foundation of a violent struggle for a unified homeland, which was suppressed by the Indian Army, There were accounts of atrocities, common people who just wanted to get on with life were caught in the cross fire between the various forces, and almost everybody lost.
The stories in this book are about the people who survived and the people who didnt and the burdens that those who survived continued to carry, The personal and the political they all come alive in the book,
Its a compilation ofshort stories set in thes from Nagaland, These are stories of their struggle for selfdetermination and fervent nationalism, But they were somehow transformed into disappointments as they became the very things they sought to overcome,
Nevertheless, all these stories introduce readers to a faraway culture, the beautiful northeastern landscape and most importantly they convey messages of true humanity, A nice collection of Naga stories, An intriguing starter for people like me who knew nothing about the Naga army and their training camps in China, It's a collection of folk stories, reality, fiction from Nagaland,
Interesting read. :.stars
favourites:
the curfew man
shadows
an old man remembers Temsula Ao's stories about the unreal experiences of ordinary Naga people always strike a chord.
This collection presents stories during the Naga insurgency in thes, highlighting the plight of ordinary villagers caught in the war between the underground movement and the Indian army.
There are no winners in this war of death and destruction, only scarred bodies and minds are left behind,
The stories bring forth unspeakable acts of violence and inhumanity forcible taxes by the insurgents, looting and raiding of entire villages for food and livestock, or in retribution for one villagers treason, forced evictions from ones own land, acts of torture by the army, and for the women, always molestation and rape.
Most of the stories are dark, depicting tales of lost innocence, identity crisis, suffocating patriarchy, changing political landscapes and affiliations, and unwilling victims of a war they did not choose, but there are also stories of love, discovering ones sexuality, ambition, and hopes for a better future, as the wartorn elders pass on the stories of how they loved, lost, and survived to the next generation.
Naga folklore survives through oral tradition, and the insurgency, or even general Naga history isn't something we are ever taught, which is why writers like Temsula Ao deserve to be read and read widely.
.
Secure These Hills Called Home: Stories From A War Zone Chronicled By Temsula Ao Displayed In Mobi
Temsula Ao