Microkhan by Brendan I. Koerner

Entries Tagged as 'Assam'

Leopard, Leopard, Burning Bright

March 6th, 2012 · Comments Off on Leopard, Leopard, Burning Bright

The recent kidnapping of two Assamese forestry officials may have been peacefully resolved, but the caper hints at a deepening problem in India’s long troubled North-East. No, not the continued prevalence of insurgent groups that double as organized-crime outfits, but rather the bulldozing of woodlands that are the region’s foremost natural resource. The forestry officials […]

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Witch Hunting in Assam

June 29th, 2011 · Comments Off on Witch Hunting in Assam

So far this year, Microkhan’s coverage of sorcery-related violence has focused primarily on Papua New Guinea, where efforts at legal reform have done little to reduce the bloodshed. Now comes word that my beloved Assam, one of the primary settings for my first book, is dealing with a similarly tragic wave of killings. The latest […]

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What Young Men Still Do

December 30th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Headhunting of the literal sort figures quite prominently in Now the Hell Will Start, our 386-page labor o’ love. We dedicated an entire chapter to the practice, and thus field frequent questions from readers regarding whether or not the tribal inhabitants of North-East India and northwest Burma still take skulls. Our stock answer is that […]

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The Black Widow Gets Stung

June 9th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Big news out of North-East India, where the leader of the infamous Black Widow insurgency is finally in police custody. According to Indian officials, Mihir Barman (whose nom de guerre is Jewel Gorlosa) was picked up in Bangalore while awaiting delivery of a false passport—a document he needed to reach Nepal for romantic reasons: Gorlosa […]

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The Cannabis Debate, Circa 1894

April 29th, 2009 · Comments Off on The Cannabis Debate, Circa 1894

For today’s edition of NtHWS Extras, we’ll be covering a topic that’s been much in the news as of late: Cannabis laws. Ganja use plays a significant role in Now the Hell Will Start, as it did in the lives of thousands of American GIs during World War II. The book’s main character became a […]

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The Fighting Bulbuls of Assam

February 24th, 2009 · Comments Off on The Fighting Bulbuls of Assam

Every year ’round this time, the denizens of Assam throw a harvest shindig called Bhogali Bihu. Folks eat too much, dance around bonfires, and bang on dhols all night. Less predictably, they also watch drunken songbirds beat the tar out of one another. Fighting bulbuls attract thousands of onlookers during Bhogali Bihu, and countless rupees […]

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