Highway 39: Journeys Through A Fractured Land

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In Highway 39, Sudeep Chakravarti attempts to unravel the brutal history of Nagaland and Manipur, their violent and restive present, and their uncertain and yet desperately hopeful future, as he travels along Dimapur, Kohima, Senapati, Imphal, Thoubal, and their hinterlands – all touch points of brutalized aspiration, identity, conflict and tragedy. These are the lands that nurture deadly acronyms –like AFSPA, an act of Parliament that with impunity hurts and kills citizens. Lands where militants not only battle the Indian governmentbut also each other in a frenzy of ego, politics and survival, and enforce ‘parallel’ administrations. Sudeep Chakravarti’s journey introduces the reader to stories that chill, anger and offer uneasy reflection. Chakravarti also interacts with security and military officials, senior bureaucrats, top rebel leaders, and human rights and social activists to paint a terrifying picture of a society and a people brought repeatedly to breakdown through years of political conceit and deceit, and stress and conflict.

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Sudeep Chakravarti is the author of Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country (2008, 2009), a work of narrative non-fiction about India’s ongoing Maoist rebellion that was short-listed for the Vodafone Crossword non-fiction award in 2008. He is also the author of three novels. Tin Fish, his best-selling debut novel, was published in 2005; it was republished by HarperCollins in 2011. The Avenue of Kings, the sequel, was published to critical acclaim in 2010. His third novel, Once Upon a Time in Aparanta (2008), a dark satire, will soon be republished as an e-book.