SHILLONG: A book – Understanding India’s North East – A reporter’s journal by Rupa Chinai was officially released by Barkos Warjri, Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) on Monday at Don Bosco Youth Center, Laitumkhrah.
Speaking at a coterie of academicians, civil societies, Chinai said the book has taken a long time to come out and it is a labour of love and a gift to the people of North East India with a lot of love and respect.
“For me it is the most important thing I have done in my life,” she said about the book.
She got the opportunity to come to the North East in 1980 when she worked with Himmat Magazine, which she observed was trying to give a voice to the people of the region.
“What made a huge impact was that for the first time I began to see India through the eyes of North East and stand in their shoes and try to understand what was happening,” Chinai said.
She said the main purpose in putting the book together is to explain the people of India and to the people of the North East about the people living here and write their everyday stories.
“There are a lot of books on insurgency and politics, but only a few that explains on who are the people and their everyday stories and what is their history,” she said.
An independent journalist based in Mumbai, Chinai takes special interest in North East India and public health issues which she said are the two most neglected areas of Indian journalism.
She has written extensively on both subjects for over three decades.
She started her career in journalism at Himmat Magazine, worked at leading English dailies such as Times of India, Indian Express and The Sunday Observer.
She co-authored a book -“Putting women first” on rural Indian women’s health issues.
