Journalist Rupa Chinai speaking during the launching of her book ‘Understanding India’s Northeast- A reporter’s journal’ on June 4 at Symphony Cafe, Kohima. (Morung Photo)
Samhita Barooah
Researcher
Yet another tale of substance on North East India was unveiled recently in different locations of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland. Rupa Chinai’s substantive take on Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam through her book titled, ‘Understanding India’s North East through A Reporter’s Journal’ is indeed an interesting read. Rupa Chinai has engaged with diverse communities across Northeast India for the last 35 years. This engagement has culminated into this very intriguing capture of words, moments and reflections which ideally end with a few articles in the mainstream media. She shared how she began her journalistic career through Himmat magazine. “In the seventies and early eighties we hardly used to find stories on North East in the mainstream media.” Her inspiration to engage with India’s North East was through peace activist from Nagaland Niketu Iralu when she was still in school. She had come to Assam in the eighties with a senior journalist to cover the events related to the Assam movement. Later she worked with many local and regional journalists as well to understand the region with renewed vision.
She has reflected through a flawless blend of events of the past and the recent years with an intersectionality of personal, professional and public perspectives on the nuances of the region. There is a particular focus on bringing out the subaltern voices within every community across the states in North East covered in this book. In recent years when media persons are accused of sensationalising stories and extracting information from the communities, Rupa Chinai’s engagement with the communities across generations of people and even after the demise of some of her key informants is quite evident. Her journalism has strengthened the communities in Nagaland particularly on addressing issues of health concerns of women. She has enabled women’s voices through her stories of field realities presented as experienced shared with her through her sources. Her outsider perspective emerges through the insider imagery which is presented in the various chapters of this book. Rupa Chinai analyses the current dynamics of the region through a journalistic lens unattached to any of the dominant strategists of the region from within and outside the region. Her post-modern approach towards positioning her own self within the critical layers of assertion and negotiations of the region plays a very crucial role in this account. This book adds value to the treasure trove for diverse multi-disciplinary studies on conflict, peace, movements, social exclusion and political economy in particular. It also engages with the intricacies of gender, public health, agrarian economy and people’s movements across North East.
Rupa Chinai has particularly addressed the underbelly of distinct differentiations based on tribe, class, ethnicity, gender and customary norms which presents a fragmented idea of the North East. Her account on some of the states reflects upon certain peripheral undercover perspectives which remain invisible within the hegemonic assertion of the predominant identities. The cross-sectional analysis through the prominent activists, community leaders, academicians, journalists and women’s rights leaders makes this book an intensively grounded experiential testimony. This book will benefit students across disciplines of journalism, mass media, social research and north east studies which is indeed a welcome step towards knowledge creation and sustenance of long drawn people’s struggles through the media and activism. Any account on the North East is primarily focussed on its natural resources, conflict movements and exotic cultural milieu but Rupa Chinai has been able to reassure the words of wisdom from the people beyond the conflicts, endorsing the distinct diversity and outgrowing hate and vengeance. Somehow the last chapter in this account holds a deep promise for a diverse collective future for India’s North East.
While expressing her gratitude towards the North East Region, she released her book in diverse locations in Kohima, Guwahati, Kokrajhar and Shillong before any of the metropolitan cities of the country. Her approach towards self-publishing the book is another crucial decision to ensure that the soul of the book remains intact. She valued people’s realities on some of the most critical areas of public health, forests, communities, land, development dimensions when she said, “I have tried to let people share their stories.” It is indeed an intensive account which captures the imagination of the readers about the past, present and future of intricacies which define the diversity challenging the idea of India’s North East. It is not a solution finding book which resolves every critical concern in the different North Eastern States. But it is definitely a people’s verdict on the realities faced, socialisations redefined and engaging with the discomforts with an unbiased pen.
