Prose Writings From North East India

It part of India simply as 'the Northeast. But, there is nothing called a "north-easterner" and the concept is purely geographical. But this has the adverse effect of giving the impression that the region is one unit in terms of culture and language, which is far from fact. However, we will continue to use the term here, both for the sake of convenience and out of habit. It's an amazing vital literary culture. At the same time, we need to keep in mind that the term only indicates a geographical location and not homogeneity of the people. The Northeast consists of eight states-Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. If one looks at the map, the region is attached to the rest of India by a narrow strip aptly called 'chicken neck' to West Bengal, seven states to the east and one state, namely Sikkim, to the west. This 'chicken neck' is rather symbolic of the cultural connect. West Bengal's culture and language has some link with Assam, which gradually disappears as one goes further into the region.