Che in Paona Bazar

Book excerpt: North-East India is not an Imagined community,' separated from the politics and policies that govern the rest of the country. It is as real as the violence that has torn the land apart, leaving its people grappling for a semblance of normalcy, if nothing else. The north-east isn't just a hotbed for insurgency and deadly casual encounters, a stopover on every international rock band's schedule, or where used syringes lie waiting in dark alleys. There are other realities as well—of forbidden love, weddings, fascinating cuisines, childhood memories and other `unimportant stories' that never made it to our newspapers and television screens.