| Name of the Book | Strangers No More |
| Author | Sanjoy Hazarika |
| Publisher and Year of Publishing | Aleph Book Company, 2018 |
| Price | ₹588 (Hardcover) Amazon |
CHECKLIST RATING: 4.5/5
REVIEWER: Manngai H Phom, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Tetso College
Violence and conflict are not any alienated subject of identity in NorthEast India since the past. The people from the Northesatern region have always claimed their distnction from the rest of the Indian sub-continent. Its clustering with the rest of India was never appreciated nor will it be accepted by the people even in the days to come. Socially and politically, the Northeast have always obserevd aloofness from the rest of India. While the Tripuris agitates over the impending feudal princely authority, the Nagas and the Manipuris had been fighting for their own share of liberty and freedom respective to their claims. Similiarly are the cases with the rest other state of NE India.
Many conflicts have taken place which positions the Northeastern region as a politically challenged setup, with reports and studies proving the atrocities of the vexed region. Information and documents have been compiled which pictures the gruesome scenario of the state as in the need of a national emergency. In STRANGERS NO MORE by Sanjoy Hazarika, he questions the validity of the information and suggestions made on the aforesaid region of India. The aspiration of the people according to Hazarika were never put in the true light, rather more destructions were made than good in response to the resilience showed by the people in these regions.
What is unacceptable is that they make a difficult situation worse by taking sides and imagining that they know better without even living in or visiting the areas that they write about, broadcast, or discuss…Poor information is the bane of understanding, especially of a complex region, writes Sanjoy Hazarika, who represents the media house in the truest form, sees a more micro narrative of history and aftermath of socio-political contention that resulted in various surgical strikes and insurgent operations. The stituation cannot just be varified solely in what the governmental file and documents could pile in their offices. It had to do largely with the ideological challenges and the preserving of the mental trauma in the minds of the people of the region that even today ripples in various manners. The umpteen photos and archives that are used as a point of referance for historiographical study can be seen with incredulity as it dismays the narrative which the natives call it as a strategic layering of the Truth. To them truth means not just documents and data in eco-political statistics but a recounting of the events inclusive of the psychological trauma and the repercussions of the long impending conflict and chaos which have caused a colossal change in the minds of the people forever. In my personal reading I have found this book as a handy and informative piece.
Stranger No More is a seminal collection of the undermined narration which was cleverly concealed by the strategic cencorship of the Indian government. It is a guide for the scholars and cohorts of Northeast Peace and Conflict studies. With the reading of the first book which the current one falls as a sequel; any new reader will find the deepest insight of NorthEast struggle in its truest light. This book can be availed from both bookstore as well as online source. While at Tetso College, the students can avail the luxury of library which has good number of copies of the book.
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