Students will play a large role in all future protests in Assam: Jahnavi Barua

Assam is troubled by insurgency and I don't put that in the forefront of my stories. What I am really interested in is on the people and I observe people. When I wrote at that time, my land was going through turmoil  and insurgency came into my stories as it comes into my daily life.

Literary scene in Assam

It is a very vibrant scene. There is a strong tradition of being educated in English in the North East because of the Christian missions. Many people write in english and talk to each other with people from Manipur or Meghalaya in the same language. So English is the link language. There is a touching space for all writers in English in the NE and is strongly knit. There is also no threat of writers who write in English to the regional writers as they are the support base for us. The different kinds of English in different NE states enriches us.

About Books

First book was on short stories named Next Door and my second book Rebirth did not talk about my professional medical life. My upcoming book Undertow will be released shortly and deals with life in which we don't see anything outside. I began writing with short fictions  and from there I began writing novels.

On Kerala 

Deeply fond of Kerala. Lived in Kochi for 2 years and Assam too resembles Kerala in its terrain, cuisine, dressing and other things. We have very similar routines. And Tea, namely Assam Tea is simply indispensable and no one can live without that.