Wanderings in the Northeast, and Elsewhere

‘Travel in some sense is complete only after the experience is recounted,’ writes Pradipta Borgohain in his introduction to Wanderings in the Northeast, and Elsewhere. Edited and largely translated by Borgohain, the anthology spans more than a century of travels, across the hills and rivers of the Northeast, through the Indian subcontinent, and into distant parts of the world. The journeys begin close to home…on the Brahmaputra, in the high passes of Arunachal Pradesh, in the Naga Hills, and the valleys of Meghalaya, before widening outward into Kashmir, Japan, Kenya, Paris, Birmingham and beyond. Yet, even when the writers travel far from the Northeast, the sensibility they carry remains deeply rooted in the region’s landscapes and histories. The anthology features pilgrimages and solitary wanderings, journeys shaped by curiosity, scholarship, love, work and chance. Some essays are meditative, others humorous and sharply observant. Taken together, they capture how writers from the region have encountered the world, and how in travelling outward they have repeatedly returned to questions of home. A boat ride along the Brahmaputra. A perilous journey to Kohima. Moonlit forests in Arunachal. Pilgrimages across India and drives through the Himalayas. Then onward…to Kenya, Japan, Greece, Paris, Uganda, Sri Lanka, and beyond. Wanderings in the Northeast, and Elsewhere is a remarkable anthology of travel writing that brings together twenty-six essays by some of Assam and the Northeast's most distinguished literary voices. Edited by Pradipta Borgohain, the collection spans more than a century of journeys, from the river voyages of Lakshminath Bezbaroa and the travels of Bhupen Hazarika to contemporary accounts by Sanjoy Hazarika, Ankush Saikia, Mitra Phukan, and others. The essays traverse mist-covered mountains, dense forests, bustling cities, sacred landscapes, and distant continents. Along the way, they illuminate histories, cultures, encounters, memories, and the changing nature of travel itself. Featuring both newly translated classics and original English works, this is the first major anthology to present the rich tradition of Assamese travel writing to a wider readership. Evocative and deeply rooted in place, Wanderings in the Northeast, and Elsewhere is an invitation to discover the world from a Northeast perspective.