Nagaland: A Journey to Indias Forgotten Frontier by Jonathan Glancey

Nagaland: A Journey to Indias Forgotten Frontier Reviews

• 
  Daren

  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.
• 
  Raghu

  I am an Indian. I live in mainland India (almost). And yet, it took a Britisher to make me appreciate (fully) Nagaland, its people and its soul.
  
  Ever since I started reading this book, news about Nagaland suddenly make more sense to me. They have taken a center stage position, and going back, I realize how many impressions about them where shaped and moulded by mainstream Hindi/Hindu/Hindustan India. No wonder most other regions too have had their grouse every now and then.
  
  I also realized why even Pakistanis and Israelis and the like believe their military can never do wrong, it is always the other. I think, well, since I cannot be so barbaric, obviously my military can never be so too, as they are people like me. But tools of death and destruction give one certain devilish powers, even if one's soul rebels. This has happened even with those who dropped those bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
  
  Again, the cause of the Nagas has not been helped by NSCN(K) or NSCN(UI) too...internecine warfare, ego and oneupmanship are the surest way to destroy the entire community. "United we survive, divided we all fall" cannot be better validated than by the Naga internal strife.
  
  India, much as it has been chided by the author (who, overall, seems to be pretty neutral), still has a case for self-defence. China is a rogue on the prowl, and their support for the Nagas hides sinister plans. China can have no interest in an independent Nagaland, and their desire for a "glorious return to the Han dynasty" will only be strengthened by annexing this region, the way they did with Tibet. So sadly, Nagaland has become a puppet in a bigger battle...
  
  Right or wrong, who knows, who decides?
• 
  Rajat

  The opening chapters of Nagaland are written as travelogue, but about halfway through it begins to read like a history of the region and its people, albeit one with a journalist’s rather than a historian’s perspective. The result is a book which is somewhat unclear in its objectives, although one which remains—due to Glancey's skills at observation—an immensely readable introduction to a subject that has hardly made into print outside of specialist texts.
  
  In spite of the serious subject matter, Glancey’s book never drags. Glancey organises his material into well-named chapters that flow easily into one another without halts or hiccups. Another strength is his objectivity and non-patronising, almost neutral voice (difficult indeed in the context of Nagaland), one which is however never short of anecdotes or humour. (Excerpt from my review in Asian Review of Books. Read the full review here:
  http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/new...#! )
• 
  Patty

  A really interesting book which unfortunately had the potential to be much more interesting than it actually was. A nonfiction book about Nagaland (a tiny state in the very northeast of India), which has been fighting an off-and-on war for independence from India since before India itself was an independent country. On the one hand, Nagaland is a topic I know basically nothing about, so I was very glad to read this book. On the other hand, I felt I could have learned so much more, since a significant portion of text was about the author's personal fascination since childhood with the Naga Hills. Like, it's fine that your grandfather worked there in the 1800s, but it's not really that important. Anyway. A good book if you want to know more about Nagaland, since there's not many other sources of information published in the West, but otherwise not particularly recommended.
• 
  Rob Leitner

  I quite wanted to like this, but, at the end, I found myself feeling I understood Nagaland little better than I did before. It wasn't a travelogue, it wasn't a history...a bit all over the place. The prose itself is well-written, and I don't regret having read the book. That said, I'm still left...well, disappointed by what could have been.
• 
  Les Dangerfield

  I’ve had this book for nearly ten years and have just read it. Four stars perhaps a little generous, more 3.5. I was a bit disappointed because I expected to read a lot more about life and society in Nagaland as opposed to its history and politics.
• 
  Beth Koorey

  A very sad and beautiful book
• 
  Tariq Mahmood

  The book is a very detailed introduction to Nagaland, ideal for people with little or no background knowledge of the troubled region.
  
  There are two problems with India, its aggressive insistence on patriotism from each minority which intertwines dangerously with the lack of desire to deal with communal-ism. India refuses to deal with any community differences, preferring to hide behind nationalistic wall. And this nationalism is pretty much tinged in a Hindu culture. Just to quote from the book, 'If India were to open the borders of Nagaland to foreigners, it would very probably be for the better rather for the worse. There will never be a flood of tourists to this difficult if bewitching terrain, and yet an exchange of ideas, dreams, values, medical aid and joint-venture projects between Nagas and people from different corners of the world could well enable it to feel less persecuted, less suspicious of outside influences, and even allow it to flourish.'
  
  For me the Indian policy of pumping people and money into Nagaland is working along-with the severe infighting between various Naga militias.
  
• 
  Jim Rimmer

  An affectionate and erudite portrait of a little known yet deeply troubled land. Glancey's reflections on the impact of first British then Indian colonialism challenged this readers historical perspectives and - not afraid to admit it - preconceptions.
  
  Though this book yet again demonstrates the futility of borders and the misguided understandings of both their origins and utility my lasting concern was the general lack of Naga voice. This isn't to say it wasn't a cracking and revelatory read.
  
  
• 
  J

  Have abandoned at page 27 because of the author's embarrassingly reverential and irrelevant asides about the Raj. Tiresome obsevations about his father: "a fine horseman"; "dashing young man"; "my father, an impeccably dressed and beautifully spoken young man" but on practically every page. I thought it might be early pages but other reviews have confirmed my hunch that it just doesn't stop. A poor choice of book concept for an intersting part of the world.
• 
  Anandraj R

  A Brit's perspective on Nagaland. Loads of errors & misinterpretations, nevertheless a good starter to know about the landscape, demography and the politics of Nagaland.