The dominant tribal language, Kokborok is slowly making a comeback although it uses the Bengali script for its written form. (Kokborok was to have been recognized in the Roman script as far back as the 1960s—but this did not come to pass).

Rabindra Sangeet, the sonorous lyrics and music composed by Rabindranath Tagore, is heard across the state, adding to the sleepy atmosphere. Few tribal chants are heard and tribal dances are presented as show-pieces before visitors, instead of being part of a vibrant tradition. These styles would have injected vigour into Tripura’s culture. But it was not to be.

In 1980, I was recovering from an attack of hepatitis in, an aunt’s home in Guwahati when a phone call came from New Delhi, from Gene Kramer, then Bureau Chief of the Associated Press (AP). He urged me, health-permitting, to fly to Agartala and to report about the situation. At the time, I was working for the AP out of their New Delhi office.

My brother, Suzoy, was a medical specialist. He suggested that he would accompany me, as photographer, and also to keep an eye on my health. We arrived in Agartala and found that we had to share digs at the decrepit MLAs Hostel with other scribes, among them J.D. Singh of the Times of India, who was then quite a big name in Indian journalism. I had met him when he was the Times correspondent in London and he had lived abroad for many years, acquiring a larger than life image among young writers like me.

Every morning, we used to line up at the MLAs wash room, brushing our teeth, hawking and spitting before going in for a quick shower and then getting into our trusty Ambassador taxis and heading for the scene of conflict. Singh hawked and spat with us and shared the food that was dished out at the hostel. (I can remember toast prepared on a tava over a gas stove because there was no toaster, and then at a small restaurant, eating the best Mughlai paratha [a Bengali speciality comprising of a paratha with egg and meat] I had ever eaten, dripping in oil, as my brother watched. He checked me from having a second one saying that my system weakened by jaundice, starved of any food except boiled vegetables for nearly a month, would be unable to take any more.)

One supposes that the MLAs of Tripura at the time would have been well justified in going on hartal demanding better facilities. One can only presume that their conditions have since improved because now Agartala has numerous, reasonably good hotels (even with air-conditioning) and restaurants. Perhaps, it would be safe to presume that the lot of the MLAs has kept pace with other colleagues and contemporaries in the region.