Flattrack Bullies

More than half a century of bloodshed has marked the history of the Naga people who live in the troubled northeastern region of India. Their struggle for an independent Nagaland and their continuing search for identity provide the backdrop for the stories that make up this unusual collection. Describing how ordinary people cope with violence, how they negotiate power and force, how they seek and find safe spaces and enjoyment in the midst of terror, the author details a way of life under threat from the forces of modernization and war. No one-the young, the old, the militant with his gun, the ordinary housewife, the willing partner, the young woman who sings even as she is being raped-is left untouched by the violence. Economical and unadorned, these stories bring alive the poignant and bewildering experiences of a people caught in a spiral of violence. In doing so, they speak movingly of home, country, nation, nationality, identity, and direct the reader to the urgency of the issues that lie at their heart.