ESCAPING THE LAND

<p>Description</p><p>Combining history myth and contemporary politics Escaping the Land is a</p><p>saga of a beautiful but sometimes turbulent land and its people. Acclaimed</p><p>poet-novelist Mamang Dai takes us on an unforgettable journey from the land</p><p>of Kojum-Koja a sacred place beyond time to the formation of the modern</p><p>state of Arunachal Pradesh.</p><p>Maying a woman who has lived away from the state returns in order to write</p><p>a history of the people she has known and who have shaped her land. As she</p><p>speaks to them and leafs through old records a myriad stories and destinies</p><p>unfold-an ancient flood and a lake full of stars; conflict and curiosity that led</p><p>to the establishment of NEFA (North-east Frontier Agency); hardy men and</p><p>women like Lipun who walked the highest mountain passes and thick forests</p><p>establishing connections with remote tribes; the 'rainman' who can read the</p><p>elements because he is so closely tied to them; Umsi who has to go far away</p><p>in order to know herself; and Lutor the shaman's child who can feel the</p><p>pulse of his people even when he is disillusioned with public life.</p><p>But there are also land and forest mafia corrupt politicians in cahoots with</p><p>violent militants and friends who can turn foes to satisfy their ambitions.</p><p>Maying recoils from the murky theatre of the modern state but realizes too</p><p>that 'our hearts are taken given mistaken lost' but 'what is never lost is the</p><p>original obsession that was a dream of love'.</p><p>Lyrical vital and epic in scale Escaping the Land is the story of a people and a</p><p>place that is like the best novels the story of all humanity.</p><p><br></p>