"The Himalayas, the tallest and the youngest mountains in the world, spread from Afghanistan and Pakistan through India, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar with their northern extrusions - the Ximalaya Shanmai - across the Tibetan plateau in China," says the jacket of The Himalayan Arc, introducing it as "a travel book with a difference" edited by the author, Namita Gokhale. The subtitle, Journeys East of South-east, is indicative of the focal area: Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, North Bengal, northeastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya and then eastwards to Myanmar. The turbulent geopolitics of the region sometimes undermines the charm of a travelogue, with contours of identity overriding mountainscapes with peripatetic introspection.
The volume opens with Sujeev Shakya's story, "A Himalayan Citizen", in Kalimpong, transcending borders and cultural connectivity effortlessly. Sushma Joshi's "The Quake" is a poignant account of a rescue from the rubble after the Nepal earthquake, its dénouement memorable: "Now that the monks at Tengboche are reading by hydropower, will the electric light of modernity replace the inner light promised by the practice of religion?" John Elliott's "A Young Monarch's Dream for His Country's National Happiness" and David Malone's "Bhutan, Nepal and Nagaland - A Dream Come True" are too similar to have been included in the same anthology.
Although the political commentaries justify the "travel book with a difference" tag, the morbid reality often robs the more effervescent tales of luminosity. Catherine Anderson's "Little Lhasa"; Meghna Pant's "Boonthing", a "spirited" revelation on a honeymoon trip to Nathu La; Prajwal Parajuly's twin essays on his stay in decrepit Darjeeling ("we were prepared for the worst. We were prepared to return sadder") and bounteous Sikkim ("There's too much beauty in the world. Our resolve to fight weakens"); and Jacqueline Zote's delineation of Mizo folklore in "The Other Side of the Looking Glass" are sparkling vignettes.
Pushpesh Pant's "Meals in the Mountains", excerpted from the introduction to his Buddhist Peace Recipes, explains why "festive feasts and ritual foods have died unlamented deaths". Andrew Duff's "My Journey into Sikkim", a captivating account of the transformation of a monarchy into annexation and statehood, has typographical errors. First published in his Sikkim: Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom, this engrossing story, along with 17 others in this collection that were previously published, induces a sense of déjà vu, especially in those familiar with literature of this genre. Surely a compilation of this stature could have included other writers/new articles by existing ones.
One also wonders where the Himalayas disappear in several stories. In the Myanmar section or the tales based in Meghalaya and Manipur or Indira Goswami's gripping "The Journey" (in translation), the mountain magic isn't the essence. However, Sanjoy Hazarika's "Looking to the Future, Spanning 1,000 Years in a Lifetime" is true to the theme of this book; it cohesively links the mountain to its people from an insider's perspective.
Ideally, Myanmar's Ma Thida ("A 'Fierce' Fear") should have brought up the rear to this eclectic volume, instead of breaking the easy eastward ho drift.
