Oral tradition is a part and parcel of the lives of Naga tribes, passing down knowledge, history, custom and culture, origin stories, and a...
Oral tradition is a part and parcel of the lives of Naga tribes, passing down knowledge, history, custom and culture, origin stories, and a belief system. In a society with no script, oral narration serves as a tool to keep alive collective memory and its sustenance. The opening up of this society, mostly without its consent and not by its choice, disrupted the flow and passage of oral narration, as unknown experiences, horrors and changes crept in. Amidst the search for peace and justice, memory plays a powerful tool in situating and reclaiming the past in the hierarchical world shaped by power dynamics.
Veio Pou’s novel Waiting for the Dust to Settle is a noble attempt at drawing on the experience of Operation Bluebird, militarisation, ethnic tension and racism to inform the readers of the brutal past and the consistent treatment of Naga tribes as unequal beings. A theme drawing heavily on real life experiences of indigenous tribal communities is not seeking validation and acceptance – it is speaking to conscience and humanity to draw attention to unfulfilled justice, accounts of horror and trauma, and recurring treatment as unequal beings. This is at the heart of this book, which works as catharsis.
Of Operation Bluebird
The reconstruction of...
