Nagaland: A Journey to India's Forgotten Frontier

Nagaland - mysterious and unknown, a mountainous land, isolated from tourism, yet a land of bloodshed and political intrigue. A land joined to the post-colonial makeup of India unwillingly, as the Naga people have no ties to India - not ethnically, through culture, religion, or common language. The Naga people have stronger ties with the Burmese across the border, and with the Mongolian Tibetans further north, however they have historic ties with the Iban of Borneo, the Bontoc and Igorot of the Philippines, the Bataks and the seafaring Bugis (Indonesia)- they shared headhunting, the hornbill festival, basket weavings and embroidery, house construction, the use of cowrie and conch shells as currency.

This book just sounds so interesting. How can it only be 3 stars?

It turned out a dry read. Large tracts of this book detail the history the area played in World War 2, where the Japanese attempted to infiltrate India, through the gateway of Nagaland, and were repelled.

The subtitle to the book is A journey to India's Forgotten Frontier and yes, the author has made four (I think) journeys into Nagaland, but the book doesn't really follow these travels. The book is not a so much a physical travel book as a philosophical travel book. It is packed with history - with quotations and statistics, with explanations of who went there, did what, said what and when, and with interviews. The early part of the book explains the relationship the author, his father and his grandfather have with Nagaland - which is a little repetitive, and is the basis for some justifications for the British, and some ‘they had good intentions' apologist writing. At least it does come across that way, perhaps it is completely balanced, as the Indian government certainly carried out the worse atrocities against the Nagas.

There is some good stuff in here, and particularly for a WWII enthusiast there are some colourful goings on. Probably the best part is the excellent photographs reproduced in the centre of the book. There are some great historical and cultural photos - but only 8 pages of small photos.

I am disappointed not to have got more from a book of such promise, which is why I couldn't justify any more stars than three.