On a Truck Alone, To McMahon

Truckbahone McMahone, originally published in Bengali in 1984, is a humorous travelogue of the author's journey across north-east India on a truck, all the way to the border between India and China called the McMahon Line. This first-person narrative organized around over fifty chapters, captures the details of her encounters with countless ordinary individuals, their reactions to a middle-aged woman's solo road trip and extraordinary incidents that happen along the way. It begins with the author's visit to a literary event in Jorhat in Assam, one of the states of the north-east and goes on to trace her journey from there to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, which is just south of the McMahon Line. Funny at times, reflective at others, this work underlines the way travel features as an avenue to liberation in the writings of many women.