Anindita Dasgupta of Guwahati, between a full-time job teaching history at Cotton College, Guwahati, and finishing her Ph.D., showed initiative, courage, patience and persistence in conducting extensive fieldwork, interviews and documentation in Assam and Meghalaya under difficult conditions. I still have a lot of material which I hope to publish gradually—but all of which couldn’t be put in here. Although we may not agree on some issues, I think we respect each other’s perspectives.

In Bangladesh: Anwar-ul Raquib of Dhaka University made several trips to Kurigram and other research sites, collected data and helped with my travel. His associate, Firdouz, was a cheerful companion in the last field trip. I wish them well in their plans for the future, in management and in government respectively.

Others in Bangladesh who were supportive and kind: my dear friends and frequent hosts, Shaheen and Mahfuz Anam and their daughter, Priti, who so willingly parted with her room in their old home in Dhanmondi, particularly on one occasion when the Ambala Inn cancelled my booking and I found myself without a place to stay! There were many wonderful meals and conversations.

Others I wish to thank include former Foreign Secretary, Farooq Sobhan, and Rehman Sobhan, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue; Imtiaz Ahmed, C.R. Abrar and Ameena Mohsin of Dhaka University for their openness and frankness; Dr Iftekar Ahmed (Ifty), formerly of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies in Colombo, the Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies for their library facilities and discussions with faculty members Debopriya Bhatta-charyya and Dr Sharifa Begum; the Bangladesh Institute for International Strategic Studies, especially Dr Abdur Rob Khan.

Thanks are also in order to Shyamal Roy and others in Terres des Hommes in Kurigram and the staff at the Rongpur Rural Development Society, and particularly Keramat Bhai and his friends in Chilmari and around, whose stories are the core of this book.

In India:

In Assam: Sunil Baruah of the State Census Department; Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta; police officers in Guwahati, Dhubri and elsewhere; former Deputy Commissioner of Dhubri, L.M. Singhvi ; Dilip Chakravarty; members of the Asom Sahitya Sabha and the Bar Association, Dhubri; Jahnu Barua, film-maker; Gautam Bora, film director and cinematographer; Dilip Chandan, editor, the Asom Bani; former Home Commissioner Tapan Lai Baruah; Justice S. N. Bhargava of the IMDT; Prof Monirul Hussain of Guwahati University; Dhiren Bezbaruah, editor, the Sentinel, Opu Dutta-Chowdhury of Bellevue Hotel, Guwahati, and his incredibly helpful staff; Manoj and Vineeta Jalan in Dibrugarh whose hospitality and support appear unending.

In Meghalaya: Niketu Iralu, my mother Maya Hazarika, my brother Suzoy and Sandi S. Syiem

In Calcutta: Ranabir Samaddar and Paula Banerjee, Subir Bhowmick and Prof Barun De; the family of Shri Mahadeo Jalan for their generous hospitality