Zen in Ziro: Go off-beat in Arunachal Pradesh

By Richa Gupta

Recalling her trip to Ziro, Richa Gupta tells you about what makes the Apatani tribe and their lifestyle special and what you can do in this remote valley in Arunachal Pradesh



You’re going to Ziro? Er...Is it a place? Where exactly is it? These were some common questions I answered before venturing to this remote valley in Eastern Himalayas.

Making my way from Lakhimpur in Assam to Arunachal Pradesh, I noticed several changes–plains give way to a hilly terrain, the temperature drops, the crowd shrinks to a few people, the air is cleaner and an awe-inspiring landscape emerges with a variety of ferns, orchids and rhododendrons growing in the wild amidst dense green forests.

After a six-hour-long, rickety yet picturesque ride we reach Ziro’s main town, Hapoli. It is small, but busy with government offices, schools, shops and the valley’s lone ATM. It’s also the best connecting point to the rest of Ziro and Arunachal. We hop into a cab and head to the interiors to stay with our Apatani hosts in Hong village.

Tradition Beats Technology

Small lush rice fields with fishing plots

An almost deserted village, comprising dense settlements of bamboo houses, greeted us. It was eerily quiet, until I suddenly noticed children playing around a hole-in-the-wall grocery store with an Aircel signboard.Hong was a sharp contrast to Hapoli, which had more modern structures and a busy lifestyle. Our host led us through the village on foot and then to her modest home.

Apatanis, Ziro’s tribe, are among the few in the world to worship the sun and moon, and are famed for their unique, sustainable farming and social forestry.

Their farmlands are built on flat lands, on which they not only cultivate rice, but also breed fish.

How? By creating separate pond-like plots for the fish on the rice fields. Even the elevated partition of these plots are utilised–millet is grown on them. No farm animals or machines are used for ploughing fields. Their farms are small and uniquely marked with efficient channels and canals for irrigation. The forest they have successfully conserved, now serve as water sheds from which streams flow to the fields, aiding irrigation further. Using traditional methods Apatanis have accomplished what modern machines and systems haven’t been able to. This April, the Apatani Cultural Landscape made it to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites for “extremely high productivity” and “unique” way of preserving ecology.

But modern influence and education has led to youngsters losing interest in cultivation. The jobs they want are not available in the valley, pushing them to move to metros. Infrastructure is another big problem facing Ziro. While the villages are clean, filth surrounds urban areas. A good drainage system and local municipal body is urgently required for cleanliness and sanitation. NGOs like Ngunu Ziro are working towards various issues, but a lot more can be done.

Rice Beer, Herbal Salt and Conversations


A typical evening with guests
While the nearby villages of Hari and Siiro are gradually moving towards brick and mortar structures, most of Hong’s houses, like our host’s traditional one, are perched on vertical wooden stilts. The centre of an Apatani house not only serves as a kitchen, where food is cooked over flaming wood, but also as a place to have discussions, which range from environmental conservation and politics to music and their custom of love marriage. It’s also the place to watch TV, play music and simply spend quality time with each other.

By 5 am the adults leave for their farms, after finishing their morning chores, and children head to school. Being in the east means that the sun can set as early as 4.30 pm, depending on the time of the year. By late evening the entire village comes to a halt. Villagers take a stroll, a few women weave traditional outfits and post sunset, people visit friends and neighbours. Guests are served home-made rice beer with special Apatani salt called Tapyo, made from the ashes of certain indigenous plants. When iodised salt wasn’t available, Tapyo saved Apatanis from goitre, a great concern among other tribes living nearby.

Festivities and Fashion

Old meets new
During the month-long Myoko festival celebrated in March, guests are welcome all day and all night. Every year, on a rotation basis, a few villages host this festival. All homes of host villages are open 24 x 7. Just about anybody can walk in, enjoy rice beer and local delicacies.

It’s time to celebrate friendships and make merry.

The Apatani cuisine revolves around rice, accompanied by meat, boiled vegetables and delicacies cooked with bamboo shoot. They don’t use spices, but green chillis finds their way in every meal. During the festival, meat is hung outside the house; visitors can cut a piece, roast it over the fire in the centre of the house and eat it with some seasoning. Celebrations include sporting events, singing competitions and stage shows too.

Foreign tourists outnumbered Indian ones and the village women with nose plugs and tattoos running from their forehead to their chin were the most clicked. Due to modern influence the youngsters neither wear traditional clothes nor sport tattoos and nose plugs.

Ziro has festivals and rituals all year round–during Murung in January people pray for wealth and good health, during Dree in July they sacrifice animals for protection from famine. And in September prominent artists from India and beyond congregate for live gigs during Ziro Festival of Music.
Despite its share of problems, Ziro is the perfect place to experience peace and serenity and witness the successful co-existence of man and nature.

How to Reach
Located 167 km from the state’s capital Itanagar, Ziro can be approached by private car rentals, bus or shared taxis

(Tata Sumos) from Guwahati, Itanagar and North Lakhimpur. Guwahati Airport is the nearest.

Best time to go
While Ziro boasts of a cool climate all-year-round and a chilly December, the postmonsoon period (Sep-Nov) is the best

Where to Stay
Hotels: Blue Pine near Hapoli, Siiro Resort in Siiro village, Ziro Valley Resort
Homestays: Traditional stays with Narang Tam
(+91 9402464841)
Modern stays with Kago
Kampu (03788-225561)

More things to do
Visit Talle Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, hike for amazing views to Dolo Mando, fish at Tarin Fish Farm, go on butterfly, bird watching and agriculture trails with Ngunu Ziro and enjoy nature’s bounties at Pine Grove and Bamboo Grove.

Royal Enfield Sanamahhi Motors Imphal dealership inaugurated

By Nabanita Singha Roy

Royal Enfield inaugurated its newest showroom Sanamahhi Motors in Singjamei Chongtham Leikai, Imphal. Royal Enfield’s authorised dealership in Manipur celebrated the store opening with I Hemochandra Singh, Minister of PHED and Labour and Employment as Chief Guest. He also flagged off a Royal Enfield road show.

Sanamahhi Motors proprietor W Kumar; Sales and Service Eastern Region manager for Royal Enfield, RK Sachdeva; All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union president Wangkhemcha Shyamjai, M Chitaranjan, G Prafullo and otheres were in attendance. Via

Despite no showroom until now, Manipur has about 300 Royal Enfield riders/owners. And while they are spirited riders, getting quality service or spare parts has been difficult. Sanamahhi Motors dealership also houses a fully equipped service centre and trained mechanics.

Past few years has seen the number of Royal Enfield riders in the state grow. Royal Enfield has 307 dealerships pan India and is focusing on North East, especially Manipur and Assam. Royal Riders Manipur has been instrumental in getting riders together and organising activities here. 6th edition of North East Riders’ Meet (NERM) is scheduled for 5-7-Nov-2014 at South Loushing near Chingnungkhok, Lamlai, Imphal.

At the end of January 2014, 4 Australian riders (Peter Jones, Scott Dekker, Brad Fry, and Ray Lindner) began a 63 day, 7500 mile/12,000km charity ride on vintage Royal Enfield motorcycles through Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and then on to Perth for their Australian leg to Melbourne to film a documentary and raise money for Australian charity Interplast.

After a long detour around Bangladesh, the riders reached Nagaland and Manipur having first crossed Patna. The North eastern regions that feel very different to the rest of India entailed a border crossing at Nagaland guarded by heavy military presence, and foreigners have only recently started entering these areas. The 10 armed women guards at the border welcomed the riders.

With breakdowns to be dealt with and no Enfield dealer in Imphal at the time, the Aussies planned to contact Eddie, a member of the Royal Enfield club, Royal Riders, but with no mobile network coverage, that wasn’t to be. This is when Eddie pulled up on his Royal Enfield having been riding around 2 states looking for them so he could ride with them. The group left from Imphal after meeting more ‘Royal Riders’ before heading to the Myanmar border.

Source: rushlane.com

India's 1st Solar Water Project in Nagaland

The system removes up to 99.99 % bacteria from water selectively without hampering other elements and taste.

Kohima, Jun 17 : Nagaland minister for public health engineering department Noke Wangnao inaugurated an innovative water technology project — solar-powered water treatment unit — at Tsiesema village near Kohima on Friday. Nagaland is the first state in the country to set up the unique technology.

Wangnao said three similar projects had been installed in three most villages most hit by water scarcity in Kohima district - Tsiesema, Meriema and Kijumetouma.

At a time when the state badly needed a solution to the water scarcity problem of the villages, a Mumbai-based company developed a suitable technology which could readily solve the water problem and produce good quality water, the minister added.

A brief technical project report by Er Kevisekho Kruse, Nagaland's chief PHED engineer, added that the Additya Solar-operated Advanced Membrane Filtration system was designed to produce pure drinking water.

The system removes up to 99.99 % bacteria from water selectively without hampering other elements and taste.

It is a fully automated, solar-operated water treatment unit with very low power consumption and operating costs. The capacity of the system is 6000l per day.

Naga Identity - Ideals, Parallels, and Reality

By Namrata Goswami

The Naga Hoho, the apex civil society body of the Nagas, while striving for a unified Naga identity, has been fighting a losing battle to bring about reconciliation among the several factions of Naga militias divided along tribal lines or factional loyalties that override ethnicity. The major challenge towards building a cohesive political unit is a fragmented identity engaged in internecine strife with bloodied consequences, which is in opposition to the larger Naga identity, says Namrata Goswami.

For Naga ethnic groups inhabiting the Naga Hills in the Indo-Myanmar trans-borders, the road to peace and prosperity lies in forging a common political Naga identity. There are several models the world over, both old and new, that could serve as examples on a comparable scale for political solidarity amongst geographically neighbouring people with similar but subtly varied cultures. Most of these cultures also are in disadvantageous juxtaposition due to external impositions of State administrations and territorial demarcations, with serious implications for the traditional homeland setup of these ethnic groups. In the past the formation of the Six Nations in North America, more recently the multinational struggle of the Kurds in the Middle East, nearer to home the evolution of the modern nation of Bhutan and currently the campaign for autonomy of Kachin neighbours of the Nagas are good instances of affiliated ethnic groups and tribal clans seeking common ground for collective political goals. The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) of the Kachins has a civilian-run extra-legal bureaucracy providing public services in Kachin State. Bhutan has several ethnic groups with one dominant group-controlled absolute monarchy. The country has recently made a successful transition from monarchy to a constitutional democracy. The Kurds of Kurdistan are currently a nation in the making in a trans-border conflict zone contiguous with Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. In early American history, the Six Nations, also called the Iroquois, was a confederacy of different Native American ethnic groups. Today, this powerful super group has unified independent governance, and lives both in the United States and Canada.

As a historical illustration, in contrast to the success of the Iroquois was the Great Sioux Nation made up of several ethnic groups whose traditional homeland once spanned across thousands of square kilometres in the Great Plains of the U.S. and Canada. The Sioux being formidable warriors, but divided along group loyalties, lost a major chunk of their territories to the invading U.S. military, including the Black Hills, which are sacred grounds since ancient times for the Sioux and remains lost to them even today. The once proud peoples have been reduced to living in scattered reservations in the land of their ancestors. In 2007, a group of Sioux travelled to Washington DC to reassert their independence and sovereignty.

Naga Identity: Ideal versus Reality
The Naga Hoho, while being the apex civil society body of the Nagas striving for a unified Naga identity, has been fighting a losing battle bringing reconciliation to the several factions of Naga militias divided along tribal lines or factional loyalties, which override ethnicity.

Naga tribes in their ancestral homeland face the divisive international boundary between India and Myanmar as well as national administrative boundaries in both countries. However, much more than man-made lines on maps, the major challenge towards building a cohesive political unit is a fragmented identity engaged in internecine strife with bloodied consequences, which is in opposition to the larger Naga identity. As an illustration, the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) is an armed ethnic militia of the Zeliangrong Naga group consisting of the smaller Zeme, Liangmei and the Rongmei ethnic groups. Zeliangrong groups are spread over contiguous territories in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur States of India. The Zeliangrong territory is also the domain of other Naga faction rivals of the ZUF fighting for the Naga cause. There have been several incidents of encounters between these competing Naga militias vying to dominate the same geographical space inhabited by the Zeliangrong people, especially between the ZUF and National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak- Muivah faction [NSCN (I-M)].

Figure 1 - Major Naga Ethnic Groups' Areas

© Namrata Goswami
(Click here for a higher resolution image)

On the other end of the Naga identity spectrum is the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang faction NSCN (K) headed by S. S. Khaplang, who is a Heimi Naga. The Heimi ethnic group belongs to the larger Tangsang Naga group including the Pangmi, Khaklak and Tangan ethnic groups spread over contiguous territories in Sagaing and Kachin States of Myanmar. In India, the Tangsang group consists of the Tangsa, Muklom and Tutsa in Arunachal Pradesh. The NSCN (K), with its headquarters in Myanmar, signed a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government in 2012. This faction holds sway over Nanyun and Lahe Townships in the Naga Self-Administered Zone, with a liaison office at Khampti town in Sagaing Region of Myanmar.

The Indian Government too has a ceasefire agreement with the NSCN (K) since 2001, which has expanded its presence in Naga inhabited areas of India. Traditionally the NSCN (K) has been challenged in Naga inhabited areas of India by the NSCN (I-M). There have been numerous deadly clashes between these two NSCN factions in a fierce feud to dominate maximum Naga inhabited territory. As a few illustrations, a significant development starting in the early 2000s was the advent of NSCN (I-M) cadres into Arunachal Pradesh, originally the NSCN (K)’s backyard, turning the peaceful districts of Changlang, Tirap and the newly formed Longding into a battlefield. Both factions were fighting for dominance in Naga inhabited areas of the State, when in 2009 the NSCN (K) brought in their traditional ally, Myanmar’s heavily armed and battle hardened Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to take on the NSCN (I-M). The NSCN (K) also combined forces against the NSCN (I-M) with non-Naga militants like the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) of Manipur, both of whom have camps in NSCN (K) active areas in Arunachal Pradesh and bordering the Naga Self-Administered Zone, Myanmar. In 2006, the internecine feud between the NSCN factions took an unprecedented turn when the NSCN (K) issued ‘quit notices’ to all Tangkhuls in Nagaland, accusing that ethnic group of ‘masterminding terrorism against the NSCN (meaning the Khaplang faction) and innocent Nagas’.¹

Members of the Tangkhul ethnic group from Manipur are exclusive cadres of NSCN (I-M) and with this move the NSCN (K) was attempting to deny Naga affiliation of the Tangkhuls.

Figure 2 - Areas of the operations of the NSCN factions

© Namrata Goswami
(Click here for a higher resolution image)

The biggest blow to the NSCN (K)’s pan Naga influence in India came with the formation of the NSCN-Khole Kitovi (NSCN-KK) faction on June 7, 2011. The faction was formed by a dissenting group of cadres and their leaders, Khole Konyak and Kitovi Zhimoni, from the NSCN (K). Khole Konyak is from the Konyak ethnic group, the largest amongst the Nagas of Nagaland State. An interesting fact is that the Konyaks are the dominant group in contiguous Lahe Township, headquarters of the Naga Self-Administered Zone in Myanmar and also inhabit Khampti Township of Sagaing Division in Myanmar (See Figure I). Kitovi Zhimoni is a Sumi Naga who are numerous in Nagaland. Since both the NSCN (K) and NSCN (KK) occupy the same ethnic territories, there are bitter and deadly shooting incidents/encounters between the two splinter factions for military dominance. However, presently, the NSCN (KK) are focused on the current boundaries of Nagaland with the goal of pushing out and limiting the NSCN (K) to being a diminished Myanmar based outfit.
Figure 3 - NSCN (I-M)'s claimed Nagalim


© Namrata Goswami
(Click here for a higher resolution image)
NSCN (I-M)’s Nagalim i.e. the lofty goal of an independent ‘Greater Nagaland’ encompasses large swathes of contiguous territory inhabited by both Naga and non-Naga ethnic groups in India and Myanmar. In Myanmar, major chunks of claimed areas have mixed Naga and other ethnic groups populations. Tanai Township in Kachin State have several Naga villages along with the Kachins. Even Khampti Township, which was earlier headquarters of the ‘Burma Naga Hills District,’ have a sizeable minority of Nagas living with Bamar, Shans, Chinese and Indians. Other ‘Naga towns’ like Homalin, inhabited by fewer Nagas, are dominated by Bamar, Shans, Chin, Chinese and Indians. The NSCN (I-M) has not been active in Myanmar to press their claims of Nagalim after a declared ‘unilateral ceasefire’ with the Myanmar government.

The Nagalim territorial claims in India include large strips of territory peripheral to Naga inhabited areas, which have minuscule Naga populations as in Assam’s Cachar, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Dhemaji districts. In Dima Hasao (formerly North Cachar Hills) district, Nagas are a sizeable minority and a small minority in Karbi Anglong district of Assam. Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit, Anjaw, Dibang Valley, Lower Dibang Valley and Upper Siang districts are inhabited by ethnic groups such as the Adi, Mishmi, Zekhring, Khampti, Deori, Monpa, Memba, Tai Ahom, Singpho, Chakma and Tibetans, with distinctive identities bearing no affiliation to Naga ethnicity. The NSCN (I-M) however, has been actively engaged in endeavours to expand its influence to all Naga inhabited areas of India as well as mentoring other non-Naga insurgencies of northeast India in a sort of titular ‘mother of all insurgencies’ role.

The leaders of the NSCN (I-M) are Thuingaleng Muivah who is a Tangkhul Naga and Isak Chishi Swu who is a Sumi Naga, both from two of the larger Naga ethnic groups (see Figure 1). The Tangkhul Nagas form a large ethnic group in Manipur and adjoining areas of Sagaing, Myanmar where they are called Somra Nagas. Tangkhuls are the mainstay of the NSCN (I-M) and have taken the faction’s fight to faraway operational zones like Arunachal Pradesh.

However certain major incidents illustrate the complex nature of the ethnocentric support for the NSCN (I-M). In December 2013, the Sumi Nagas of Nagaland threatened to evict the NSCN (I-M) from their lands. The incident was triggered by the attempted rape and molestation of two Sumi women and the grievous injuring of two Sumi men who were all travelling to Zunheboto town. Their vehicle was allegedly waylaid by four armed cadres of the NSCN (I-M) who perpetrated these actions. The Sumis were further incensed by the failure of the NSCN (I-M) to later hand over the culprits hiding inside the guarded designated camp, instead attempting to compromise with the Sumi Hoho and even ‘pay off’ the victims to silence them.

In 2010 the NSCN (I-M)’s General Secretary Th. Muivah made abortive attempts to visit his native village in Manipur. These visits were stiffly opposed by the Manipur State government as earlier ones had triggered violence in Naga inhabited areas of the State. The NSCN (I-M)’s inclusion of Naga inhabited areas of Manipur into Nagalim evokes a deeply resentful response from the Meiteis for whom the issue is very sensitive.

The complexity of ethnic boundaries, as has been illustrated above, forced divisions of ethnic communities inhabiting the border areas of India and Myanmar by the imposition of an arbitrary international boundary with little regard to local realities, and the framework of policy-making that views ethnic groups as somehow pre-modern and in need of development are the major existential and ideational challenges. Inherent in this framework is a notion that somehow, the so called mainstream culture and institutions are themselves not ethnically slanted but universal.² In this scenario, policy making is propelled by the ‘command culture of legitimacy’ that the public administrators espouse, especially in dealing with minority communities, which can backfire. Consequently, what is required, and which has not been developed yet, is a deep seated understanding of the culture of identity recognition and preservation. Most importantly, since negotiations with armed groups in the Northeast are conducted in a scenario of threat, it is important to understand this framework so that there are no false expectations.³

The challenge for armed groups like the NSCN (I-M), NSCN (K), and NSCN (KK) is to meet the claim of representation of a common Naga identity and community, already run asunder by the territorial divisions brought about by a modern state mechanism as well as by the internecine clan/tribe-based fights that threaten the notion of common ethnic identity. Only time will tell whether, like the Great Iroquois, the Nagas can form a common supra-national/transnational structure that provides a common platform to their way of life and traditions.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

References:
¹For more, see “NSCN-K Quit Notice”, The Telegraph, January 30, 2007, at http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070130/asp/frontpage/story_7324330.asp (Last accessed on June 14, 2014).
²For more on this, please see Wsevolod W. Isajiw, “Approaches to Ethnic Conflict Resolution: Paradigms and Principles”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24 (2000), pp. 105-124.
³Ibid

(Dr. Namrata Goswami is Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. She was Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Washington, D.C., and a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Fellowship recipient in 2012-2013. The views expressed in this article are solely that of the author.)

Is The 'Super' Banana The Answer To All Our Troubles?

A super-enriched banana genetically engineered to improve the lives of millions of people in Africa will soon have its first human trial, shown here is a young girl in the Democratic Republic …

A super-enriched banana genetically engineered to improve the lives of millions of people in Africa will soon have its first human trial, which will test its effect on vitamin A levels, Australian researchers said Monday.

The project plans to have the special banana varieties -- enriched with alpha and beta carotene which the body converts to vitamin A -- growing in Uganda by 2020.

The bananas are now being sent to the United States, and it is expected that the six-week trial measuring how well they lift vitamin A levels in humans will begin soon.

"Good science can make a massive difference here by enriching staple crops such as Ugandan bananas with pro-vitamin A and providing poor and subsistence-farming populations with nutritionally rewarding food," said project leader Professor James Dale.

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) project, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, hopes to see conclusive results by year end.

"We know our science will work," Professor Dale said.

"We made all the constructs, the genes that went into bananas, and put them into bananas here at QUT."

Dale said the Highland or East African cooking banana was a staple food in East Africa, but had low levels of micro-nutrients, particularly pro-vitamin A and iron.

"The consequences of vitamin A deficiency are dire with 650,000-700,000 children world-wide dying ... each year and at least another 300,000 going blind," he said.

Researchers decided that enriching the staple food was the best way to help ease the problem.

While the modified banana looks the same on the outside, inside the flesh is more orange than a cream colour, but Dale said he did not expect this to be a problem.

He said once the genetically modified bananas were approved for commercial cultivation in Uganda, the same technology could potentially be expanded to crops in other countries -- including Rwanda, parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Tanzania.

"In West Africa farmers grow plantain bananas and the same technology could easily be transferred to that variety as well," he said.

Romancing the Yamaha RD350 in Meghalaya

By Preetam Bora

A ride through state roads of Meghalaya on two Yamaha RD350s - exploring the 'abode of the clouds' on a two stroke legend

The terms antique, vintage and classic are used nearly interchangeably for motorcycles. For ease of definition, let’s say a classic motorcycle is one which is over 25 years of age, and one which stands out and draws your attention immediately, be it because of the technological superiority of the motorcycle during its time or just because of its character. 

In India, there are few classics like the iconic Yamaha RD 350 which attained cult status in the 1980s and continues to remain a favorite of die-hard motorcycle aficionados. These days, RDs are seldom seen on the road, but motorcycle enthusiasts still lust for the 350cc two-stroke twin cylinder.  

I recently acquired a well-maintained, RD from a friend in Guwahati. It was of 1986 vintage, belting out 30.9PS at 6750rpm with a very healthy maximum torque of 32.3Nm at 6500rpm. After running around town on the motorcycle and numerous tune-ups at the mechanic’s, it was decided to do a loop around Meghalaya to get to know the motorcycle better.

A friend also decided to join in on his 1989 low-torque 26.4PS Yamaha RD350, three years younger than my bike. The short gear ratios and high-powered performance of the RD makes it a fun motorcycle to ride, be it in city traffic or on a long highway.

We were headed the long way round to Shillong, the capital of neighbouring Meghalaya, west out of Guwahati, then a steep climb south and back eastwards to Mairang and then on to Shillong. We made the 140-odd kilometers to Mairang in a little over three hours and the heavens opened up as soon as we entered town. 

Evenings in Mairang are magical – clouds roll in from everywhere and envelop everything in mist. And just as suddenly as they cloud everything, they disappear after a couple of hours. No wonder the state is called Meghalaya – loosely translated, means “abode of the clouds”.

The 45-odd kilometers from Mairang to Shillong offer one of the best roads in the region to ride a motorcycle. Meandering through the countryside, the road is filled with twisties, steep climbs, pine forests and little hamlets. It is just the perfect road for an afternoon ride on the RD, clicking through the six shortly paced gears, downshifting in the corners, accelerating out again.

Climbing up a mountain road on a RD is pure fun. Its taught double cradle frame makes it a great handler and corner carver, though the oodles of torque high up in the powerband sometimes make for a scary experience.

The two-stroke RD 350 was made in India by Escorts under the Rajdoot 350 name from 1983 to 1990. However, the motorcycle died a quiet commercial death in the late 1980s. The first “high torque” bike’s high fuel consumption was considered the main reason and the manufacturers released a later de-tuned version that was supposed to give better fuel consumption figures. That’s how the “low torque” version with 26.4PS on tap was launched.

However, this strategy also misfired and by the end of the decade, the Yamaha RD350 was phased out in India.

By the turn of the century, there were very few RDs to be seen on the streets anywhere in the country. Die-hard fans however, still swear by this legendary machine and Shillong seems to be no exception. We came across a few extremely well-maintained RDs and the local RD mechanics also seem to know their job. After a tune up and hunt for some “old but unused” OEM spares, we decided to hit the road to Dawki the next day.

Dawki is about 90 kilometres south of Shillong and lies on the international boundary with Bangladesh.

The road to Dawki is another gem of a motorcycling road – one long climb over the East Khasi Hills and then over a plateau covered by green meadows before the final sharp descent to the border town.

We were having fun, the two RDs in perfect sync with each other, cruising past the sparse traffic on the highway. The six gears click with smooth precision and the wild acceleration of the RD makes overtaking a breeze. 

Dawki lies on the India-Bangladesh border at the end of NH40, Guwahati-Shillong-Dawki road. Across the customs checkpoint is Tamabil on the Bangladeshi side and that road goes on through Sylhet and on to Dhaka. After a quick dip in the Dawki river and a delicious meal at a dhaba, it was time to head back to Shillong, not the same way, but north-east through the Jaintia Hills and the town of Jowai.

The ride back to Guwahati the next afternoon was uneventful, except for the pelting rain throughout the 100 kilometres. It was the end of that first long ride on the Yamaha, but it was the beginning as well, of a very demanding relationship with the iconic RD350.

AASU Demands White Paper on Bhutan Hydel Project

Guwahati, Jun 17 : The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today demanded a White Paper from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union Government on the Bhutanese hydel project for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone.

In a statement here, the student body said that though it is for good neighbourly relations with Bhutan, it has to raise the demand for a White Paper on the Bhutanese hydel project, in view of the devastations caused by its Kurichu Hydel Project in 2004 and 2007 in five districts of the State namely – Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon.

Though power availability is an unavoidable condition for development, Assam’s crops, land, habitats, culture and civilisation should not be allowed to be affected.

Reminding that the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime at the Centre and the present Congress-led Government in the State did not take any measure to protect the interests of the State when the floodwaters released from the Kurichu power project killed its people, devastated its crops, cultivable lands and dwelling houses, the student body said a White Paper on the above project has become imperative.

The White Paper should make it clear as to what is the generating capacity of the said Bhutanese project, whether there was any study done on the cumulative downstream impacts of the project on Assam areas, whether measures to protect the interests of Assam from the adverse impacts of the project have been taken or not, said the student body.

KMSS protest: The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) has also opposed the move of the Union Government to help the Bhutanese Government to construct a 600-MW hydel project. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have made a somersault on the issue of big dam projects with Prime Minister Modi laying the foundation stone of the above project and the Indian Government assuring Bhutan of funds to construct the project.

YMA Day Celebrated in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jun 16 : Hundreds of Mizo youths today donated blood and helped the needy people as Young Mizo Association (YMA) Day was celebrated all over the state and neighbouring states.

YMA Day has been celebrated on June 15, but it was observed today as the day fell on Sunday.

YMA members in every locality and village undertook their priorities as in some places planting of tree saplings, cleaning their villages, constructing poor people's houses and distribution of money to poor people and patients in the hospitals were taken up.

YMA was formed on June 15, 1935 by English Christian Missionaries and local leaders as Young Lushai Association (YLA) and the name was changed to YMA in 1947.

It remained the largest social-based organisation of the Mizos.