Remains of Spring- A Naga Village in the No Man's Land

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Jibon Krishna Goswami is a novelist and poet. He writes in Assamese. Published in 2007, Aoleangar Jui (Remains of Spring) was his first novel. It was based on his experiences of life and people in the area described by the novel and was critically well received in Assam. Besides the novel, his collections of poetry include Bon Puroir Gundha (Smell of Bonpur, 2008), Aghori Meghor Madol (Drums of Homeless Cloud, 2009), and Guerillar Sithi (Letters of a Guerrilla, 2001). His recent novel is Kongliangor Maat (The Voice of the Kongliang Bird, 2015). Goswami devotes his life to peace and the culture of books.

Villages and Maps: Space, Text, and People.

The No Man's Land is a political geography, created due to the formation of two nations, India and Burma (now Myanmar). However, people had been living in this region since ages. It had been their land, socially and historically, and not the No Man's Land. They carried that history in their hearts and minds. Unfortunately, that history was maintained orally. It could not withstand the sword of colonialism which bifurcated them on the day the two nations were born. In reality, three nations were born that day, one without a land of its own. It was the No Man's Land. This land became a world of its own. Its people lived on either side of the border where they went in search of basic human needs, traversing the incomparably difficult hilly terrain. A painful journey of life that started five decades ago continues even today. Yet they live. Once born, there is no alternative but to live on. They love and have the urge to create new meanings of life, to have moments of happiness, to give dynamism to their existence. And then they arrive at a tragic point where none of these desires can be realized. Finally, they die. Thus a biological cycle of life gets completed, only to be endlessly repeated. ('Author's Note' to Remains of Spring)

First published in 2007, Aoleangar Jui is based on the life of the people who inhabit the No Man's Land between India and Burma. It primarily tells the story of how despite the abject and hopeless living conditions in the No Man's Land, there is an effort to build a school so that the children can have a better future. The initiative is taken by Anyam, a young man of the village of Hoyat. He is supported by the villagers. Anyam brings Atanu, an Assamese man from the Brahmaputra Valley, to the village as the teacher. The story begins with Anyam and Atanu on their way to the village. Much of the story is Atanu's experience in the No Man's Land. The story ends when the hopes for the school are dashed as the Burmese army sets the village on fire. This was part of the regular retribution the villagers lived with for helping the Naga nationalists, or on the suspicion of it. The nature of space is central to the novel. What one finds here is both the description of space as well as the interrogation of space. The description of space includes the topography and the social and political life of the Naga villages such as Hoyat, Wamsa, Hotai, and others in the No Man's Land. The villages are mainly inhabited by Konyak Nagas.