1st Edition

Breaking Barriers in Post-independence India A Journey out of the Northeast

By Falguni Rajkumar Copyright 2023
274 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge India

274 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge India

274 Pages 24 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge India

This book looks at India of the 1950s and 1960s while it was still emerging from two centuries of colonial rule and striving to come together as a nation. It critically explores the history of nationalism and identity in Northeastern India, a region with diverse ethnolinguistic communities and people, through the personal history of the first Manipuri (Meitei) direct recruit in the Indian... Read more

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I

1 Backdrop and Setting

2 Rites of Passage

3 Brahmaputra Calling: Assam

4 The Cuckoo Syndrome

5 ‘The Unreal City’: Gauhati, aka Guwahati

6 Cultural Instincts and Survival Instincts

7 Khasi Highlanders

8 Rhapsody on a Ka-duitara and Hobbies

9 Mathematics and Friendship

10 Return of the Prodigal

Part II

11 The Westward Gamble

12 Hindu College: Dreams Take Wings

13 Hostel Life: Stolovaya

14 Beyond the Sunrise is Northeast India

15 The Semantics of War and Other Stories

16 The Graduate in the Making

17 Stray Impressions: Lasting Influence

18 Post Graduation: Changing Contours

19 Agha Shahid Ali, Begum Akhtar, and Me

Part III

20 Crossing the Rubicon

21 The Civil Services Examination

22 Yes! It Is Possible

23 Gathering of the Eagles

24 The IAS and Northeast India

Index

 

Biography

Falguni Rajkumar is a retired officer in the Indian Administrative Service and former Secretary to the Government of India looking after the Northeast Eastern Council. He worked for the Ministry for Development of the Northeastern Region, India. Post retirement from the IAS, he worked as Special Advisor in UNIDO looking after the Northeast region of India and also as Member and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong from 2009 to 2017.