Nagaland, before elections

                                        Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved


We travelled to Nagaland for a report before the Assembly elections in the state's 50th year.
This photograph of cadres belonging to the NSCN-IM, a Naga rebel group in a ceasefire with the Government of India for the last 15 years, was taken during an earlier visit to their headquarter near Dimapur.
This is the link to the Nagaland news documentary

A Manipur morning

                                                        Photograph@Arijit Sen and Tomba--All Rights Reserved

Early morning at a village in the Tamenglong district of Manipur. December 2012. And then this in one corner (below)

                                                          Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

And this in another (below)

                                                          Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

Survival moves

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After Jorhat we travelled to Imphal, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. The state has 42, 116 people who are HIV+. Manipur is quite close to Burma. The porous border with Burma and proximity to the infamous Golden Triangle drug route ensures drugs are easily available in Manipur. Add to that a life stifled under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Many intravenous drug users in Manipur struggle to survive in this state. Leading the battle for survival is the Manipur Network of Positive People. Formed in 1997, currently it has 2000 members who are countering fear, ignorance, social stigma and helping build a community based organisation. It is not an easy job to say the least. We had visited MNP+ in 2007. When we were there in December 2012, it was our second visit after five years.

A mad green soul

                                                                         Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

In December 2012 we also travelled to Jorhat in Assam to meet Jadab Mulai Payeng, a green hero. For the last thirty three years of his life he has been crossing this river and planting trees near an isolated sandbar of the Bramhaputra river and has single-handedly given rise to a forest.

                                                                         Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

A Burning Lake

                                             Photograph@Arijit Sen and Tomba--All Rights Reserved

From 1984 development promises have engulfed Loktak lake in Manipur--one of the largest freshwater lakes in India. First came a hydel project and now the government wants to evict fisherfolk to save the lake. Photograph taken by Tomba on location during the filming in November 2012. A short Loktake Video Report 

Madness and a road project

                                                               Photograph@Arijit Sen and Tomba--All Rights Reserved


I was travelling in the Tousem subdivision of Tamenglong district of Manipur. A young and probably mad IAS officer has decided to involve his community and build a road that connects people of the Zeliangrong community and gets them closer. That was our story. This photograph was clicked in the remote Phoklong village in Tousem. The village elders from the Zemi Naga tribe were eagerly waiting for us, the visitors.

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Fifty Years After A War

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This year we travelled extensively in Arunachal Pradesh for a news documentary on 50 years of the 1962 Sino-Indian war. This photograph was taken at the Sela Pass. A link to the report. 1962: Lest We Forget

Bus to Burma

                                                                               Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

Just returned from an official Burma trip. Nay Pi Taw, the capital, looks like a ghost city. Almost no people in the capital. Just huge hotels and malls stare at you from all corners. And huge roads. Yangon, the original capital city, could probably pass off as Calcutta in the 40s. And Aung San Suu Kyi, whom I met in a Yangon press conference, is magnetic. Hope to revisit soon and with a proper TV crew. As for this visit, it was just my camera and I.
Link to the CNN-IBN blogpost: http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/flyingtrapeze/148/63591/how-india-missed-the-burma-bus.html

Waiting for Jesus

Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

Noticed this is in Ukhrul. In fact in a lot of other places as well.

From Ukhrul we travelled to Somdal, then travelled back to Imphal. From there to Senapati district of Manipur and then to Kohima. This is the news documentary we did on the 68 day Manipur blockade.

Manipur: June 18

Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

Back from Calcutta to Assam and then headed straight to Imphal. Reached on June 18 in Manipur--a day observed as Martyr's Day. When we reached Imphal, it was still battling the effects of the 68-day blockade by Naga outfits. And at the time of the economic blockade the gathering of people in Imphal for June 18, was a reminder how clash of communities and identities can go out of hand, destroy lives and divide people, like it did in 2001. On June 18, 2001, 18 people died in the clash between central forces and a mob protesting the extension of ceasefire with the NSCN-IM to Naga areas in Manipur.

Photograph@Arijit Sen/CNN-IBN shoot/Tomba--All Rights Reserved

"The day is being observed when Manipur is again in turmoil on account of the fear of losing the territorial boundaries of Manipur to NSCN-IM in their hope of greater Nagalim to the utter neglect of the people of Manipur," Professor Sadanand, of the Senior Citizens Forum told us.

Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

Indifferent Industry

Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

I was in Calcutta in June. Went to report on the civic elections. Then stayed back for a week as help was needed in the CNN-IBN Calcutta bureau. From elections to the beginning of the football World Cup, to the updates of a train derailment it was interesting to report from the city. But one report that will stay with me is the one on sick industries in Bengal. During my stay in the city, Railway Wagon maker Burn Standard got Rs 1,000 crore loan writen off from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Burn Standard had turned sick 16 years ago. Both the Left and Trinamool claimed credit. We travelled inside Burn Standard in Howrah. The spectacle that is a combination of politics, trade union, neglect that has killed industry in Bengal was evident. Even with the loans written off, the future seems trapped in all these.

Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

That is Swapan Roy, one of the oldest employees at Burn Standard. For him the celebrations had little or no meaning--at least that's what I felt. "Today, I am remembering my co-workers many of whom had no other option but to jump from the sinking ship in despair. Just 500 of us stayed back". With elections round the corner, there is a newfound love of industry in Bengal. But for West Bengal to come out of an industrial coma will require more than promises and votebank politics.

Resistance

(Manjula Rabha)

Photo@Arijit Sen-All Rights Reserved

(Birobala Rabha)

Photo@Arijit Sen-All Rights Reserved

These are some of the faces from Thakurbilla village. Post office: Borjhora in East Garo Hills. When iPods, LCD screens, Macbooks and Big Bazaars are ruling India, almost unknown to the rest of the country, some women in this village are slowely but surely fighting superstition, age old beliefs and witch-hunting and the brazen murders that take place in the name of witch-hunting. Leading the fight is Birobala Rabha. She is around 75. Birobala was one of the one thousand women nominated in a group for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. We visited her village for filming a report. There was warm food, adda, music and stories. In 2010, when urban educated India are immersed in the "art of living" , Birobala and her village appeared to be refreshingly, utterly, wonderfully resistant to regressive beliefs. Also with Birobala is Manjula Rabha. Manjula lost her mother to witch-hunting and she has given her life to this cause. She is also a poet.

Manipur: Schools reopened after 6 months. Government employees are now on strike in the state.

Arunachal

Just back from Arunachal Pradesh. The state goes to elections on October 13

Borders III

Borders II

Borders I

Petrapole on the Jessore Road in Barasat in North 24 Parganans. It is one the 3 integrated check points in West Bengal. There are 3 ICPs in Bengal. One each in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. It’s also one of the busiest with 400 trucks crossing this point both ways every day. Overall India and Bangladesh do legal business worth $ 3.6 billion. The illegal trade is 3/4th that amount. On an average 1,200 people criss-cross the border daily. Petrapole remains the flagship ICP for people to people contact between India and Bangladesh and the largest land port between the 2 nations. (photograph taken around January 09)

Borders

The Indo-Bangladesh border has been severely neglected and has been called by many a ticking time bomb. Beginning of this year, I travelled with Our Senior Editor V K Shashikumar and cameraman Debasish Nandi along the entire stretch of the border. Many of the illegal migrants who walk from Bangladesh to India come in search of a livelihood, but there are many among them who are backed by terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the HuJI. The BSF with its limited manpower and not the best of equipment has a tough task at hand patrolling a very porous border. This photograph has been taken by Debasish in the Nadia stretch of the border.

Hotel, hotel

Been raining from Day one. Am in a sense carrying the rain with me from the runway. There was no room booked for me. The dawaat has been interesting but not exactly the way I wanted it to be. More, much more later. I am back again in the North East reporting for CNN-IBN. It's raining, it's lush green. More, more later. I need to organise things.