Escaping the Land by Mamang Dai

         Escaping the Land~ Mamang Dai


“Past makes us who we are”(p107) but “whatever you do, don’t deceive yourself”(p50).Living on the opposite sides of the drawn land boundary makes us different in our tongue and traits, but leaving aside these there is such a common sharing of the life lived in the past. Escaping the Land made me so at home as I was reading the upheavals that took place in Arunachal Pradesh, my neighboring state. My heart related to the terms like NEFA, Tuensang, the political journey towards statehood, the humanitarian crisis, and many more. We share such a profound tale of truth and tragedy owing to the external aggression and the internal conflicts. Dai presents a panoramic display of the turn of events with the flow kept so well connected it feels as if a movie is in motion. 


One key themes is the trail of misfortunes politics/occupation brings along to a place causing endless hostilities with “no roads, no electricity,…nothing; yet men came forward lured by a sense of adventure and willingness to serve”(p31). NEFA then was a cruel land but it was home to which the inhabitants garnered allegiances. To top these lacks of living, Elections served as a cherry on the cake with inhumanity and malice bringing the dark clouds of distrust. I linger on with this thought questioning, why when election is around the corner people forget their wisdom? “The taste of money has changed everything. Rivalry, ego, and blood feuds…easy money has ruined us. We have lost our value system”(p154). And the same “festival of money and liquor”(p258) continues lifting the collared rich at the cost of the have not others. It’s high time for brothers to fight each other. What is the point of being tagged a ‘power’,,, power, growth, administration is of no meaning “without love for the people”(p164). Her politico-historical fiction deftly defuses the stand every of the well aware individuals have to take for only when the mad race for power descends harmonious living will reach the summit. 


The beliefs and the practices of the Hills people have so many resemblances. Names may vary, modes of paying reverence may be different but the beliefs stay the same. Maybe because our ancestral cultures are all so nature rooted and we know that our sustenance is guided by our dedication to all the entities of nature by not disturbing, ‘the spirit of stones’(p29) or be never “arrogant about water”(p76) or ignite the Banji spirit, the dark spirit of water or immediately giving name to a child not to let the elements claim it. Dai presents the clue to real ecstasy and this comes from loving the land, “living in contentment with the river and trees…and realizing, one day, how closely all life and land is tied together”(p208)


It is really essential to have a heart that is good and seeks no harm to be done to anyone at any cost because “when you make someone unhappy it stays with you forever. No matter how late, how remote the memory or with what gestures you try to erase it, with what gauze you bind it, suddenly, after many years and even up to the end of life it will come before you again”(p167). With realistic characters and the events of the historical past Dai’s Escaping the Land is the epical tale of people, place and humanity. 





Dai, Mamang. Escaping the Land. Speaking Tiger, 2021.

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