THE BRAIDED RIVER: A JOURNEY ALONG THE BRAHMAPUTRA by Samrat Choudhury

HarperCollins

 

is proud to announce the forthcoming release of

 

THE BRAIDED RIVER

A JOURNEY ALONG THE BRAHMAPUTRA

Samrat Choudhury

 

Releasing on 28^th April 2021

 

‘Samrat Choudhury’s tale of a journey on the Brahmaputra is a wonderful travelogue and history of a magnificent, often unjustly neglected, part of the country. Filled with rich imagery and speckled with deft touches of humour, Choudhury brings to life both the powerful river and those who made their lives along its banks.’

 

—Dr Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament and author

 

The Brahmaputra is by some margin the largest river in India. After its confluence with the Ganga in Bangladesh, it becomes the largest in Asia.

In The Braided River, journalist Samrat Choudhury sets out to follow its braided course from the edge of Tibet where it enters India down to where it meets the Ganga at a spot marked by the biggest red-light district in Bangladesh. Along the way, he meets suspicious Indian spies, gets packed off on the back of a cement truck by soldiers, visit a shelter home for baby rhino and elephant orphans in Kaziranga, and hops from river island to riverside town meeting the locals. The tales of these encounters spice up a story that weaves in the history of the emergence of the border between India and China in Arunachal Pradesh, the formation of the Assamese identity – a matter of great contemporary relevance owing to the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act – and the ecological challenges posed by proposed dams.

This is a genre-bending book that touches upon several hot-button issues – environmental, military, and political – as it blends travel, memoir, and history with the present.

According to the author Samrat Choudhury, ‘This book is primarily a travelogue following the Brahmaputra, from the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh at the edge of Tibet on the disputed India-China border down to its confluence with the Ganga near the fabled ghat of Goalando in Bangladesh. It is a journey through places, times, and issues along the way…sometimes serious, sometimes hilarious, occasionally adventurous, and often illuminating.’

‘A freewheeling journey down a magnificent, free-flowing river that will leave the reader awed and transformed.’ Says Krishan Chopra, Publisher, HarperCollins India.

 

About the Author:

 Samrat Choudhury is a journalist and author. He has edited daily broadsheet newspapers in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chandigarh. He is co-editor of Insider/Outsider: Belonging and Unbelonging in North-East India. The Urban Jungle, a modern interpretation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic, was his first novel. He grew up in Shillong during the troubled 1980s and has remained engaged with the Northeast’s issues throughout his professional life.

 

‘A scholarly and delightfully diverting journey of cultural and geographical exploration down one of the world’s most important yet least-known rivers.’ —Victor Mallet, author of River of Life, River of Death

 

‘Meticulously researched yet very readable, this superb travelogue braids diverse experiences and observations together with vivid descriptions, reflections and humour, as the writer journeys through the waterways, valleys and mountains around one of the world’s greatest river systems. A must-read.’ —Mitra Phukan, novelist, translator and columnist

 

‘Samrat Choudhury recounts the Brahmaputra’s epic tale in a many-layered travel memoir that includes personal observations and encounters, history, geography, folklore and mythology. Each strand is deftly plaited into a compelling narrative that reveals the great river’s vast breadth and length, as well as its hidden depths.’ —Stephen Alter, author of Wild Himalaya

 

Genre: Non-fiction (Travel)

Format/Binding: Demy/PB

Page Extent: 428

Price: Rs 499

 

For more information, please write to Aman Arora at aman.arora@harpercollins.co.in