IN SEARCH OF SOLACE !

Finished reading a bulky and heavy coffee table book “In Search of Solace” written for promoting tourism of Arunachal Pradesh.

It’s an interesting reading. Readers and tourists will come to know about state’s many unknown and less travelled beautiful places besides helping them to improve their general knowledge and information about Arunachal Pradesh.

Every chapter will transport you to different distant land with nothing around you but beautiful pristine natural beauty abundantly found in the state.

The authors have described and mentioned state’s beauty in such a way that every travel lovers and even the readers will be fascinated to make a trip to Arunachal Pradesh after reading this book. Detail information about important visiting places has been beautifully described.

Even after finished reading this book, the beauty of Arunachal Pradesh will virtually linger in your mind.

Images and experiences of those diversities including those chill water, lush green, misty mountain, thrilling hanging bridges, innocent people, gushing of mighty rivers, splashing of streams, colourful and enchanting festivals, enthralling chanting of the priests during different rituals, diversity of rare fauna and flora remain fresh and refreshing. One can virtually experience the diversity of Arunachal Pradesh while going through In Search of Solace.

However, all said and read; the book is not  sans mistakes. Many spelling mistakes in names and places are there.

For example, the author has mentioned Narmi Matmur Jamoh as Narmi Manmur Jamoh (page 84). Chongkham in Namsai district has been incorrectly mentioned as Chowkham though it was formerly known as Chowkham.

While mentioning about a brave warrior of the Indian Army’s 2 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles Shere Thapa who fought against the Chinese in 1962; within a paragraph Shere Thapa becomes Siri Thapa (page 227)creating confusion among the readers.

One of the places in Anjaw districts, Kibithoo has been mentioned as Kibithoo and at the same time it been mentioned as Kibitoo.

Two inappropriate images have also been inserted while describing about the beauty of Anini in Dibang Valley; the Place of Idu tribes. Photographs clearly show that they either belong from Lohit or Anjaw district (Page 137)

Equal distribution of space is not given while mentioning many places and districts. Some districts and places are described at lengths while few are given only couple of paragraphs. Not much has been covered about Palin, Sangram, Koloriang, Lohit and Anjaw.

Describing about the importance of Thukpa, the author mentions about the Nyishis of Doimukh in Papum Pare district, seems inappropriate. The writers could have mentioned some other food items commonly consumed by the Nyishis in place of Thukpa.

Even I am confused if outsiders are allotted land in this state or not when writes mentions about Daporijo in Upper Subansiri  district, “The woman who migrated 20 years ago. Now the local tribal have taken her North Indian breakfast stable so well that not only her business roaring but she has got some land for herself”.

The blunder that I find in this book is mentioned below when editorial says:

“You would be delighted by the pastoral Khampti community in Dibang Valley and the hospitality of a people who even today plough their fields with help of Elephants”. The Khampti are found not in Dibang Valley but are the inhabitants of newly created district Namsai bifurcated from Lohit district.

While trekking through Namdapha, the writer finds, “Except squirrels we have hardly seen any other mammals and given the nature of the terrain, I am not very much optimistic (page116).The state government must put her attentions towards this issue to address the concern.

However, if these mistakes are overlooked, this coffee table book is an interesting reading that says many positive aspects of the state from tourism point of view.

One of the authors was so mesmerized by the beauty of snow clad mountain pass Mayodiya around 60 kilometres away from Roing in Dibang valley when the writer says, “Why film makers rush to Europe for shoot when they can get the best sight here in India.”

This bulky coffee table book is the compilation of these authors Aruraag Mallick, Sankar Sridhar, Anup Sharma, Anand Banerjee, Vaibhav Todi, Hamari Jamatia, Priyanka Joshi,Anup Kutty and Prena Singh Bindra.

Besides the writers themselves, Priya Ganapathy, Arif Siddiqui, Doli Ete, Vikram Gogoi, Jitendra Singh, Parvin Singh, Dhritiman Deori, Eric Kilby, Mike Jhonsing, Pankaj Kumar and Raju Singh have contributed their photographs.

However, how I wish some local writers and travelers were also involved and engaged in editorial board in making this coffee table book.

The forward notes are given by Pema Khandu (A Diverse experience), PD Sona (Jewel of the North East), Sonam Chombay (Go on an Adventure) and Taru Talo (Festival of Life) which are not only interesting but portrays true positive picture of Arunachal tourism.

Released in 2014, this coffee table book In Search of Solace is published and produced by CMYK Printech Ltd with the Government of Arunachal Pradesh.

Finally minor yet important drawback that I observed is the price of this coffee table is missing if any case anyone desires to buy this book.