Arunachal Pradesh is one of India’s most culturally rich and diverse states. It is often called the “Land of the dawn-lit mountains” and is home to over 26 major tribes and numerous sub-tribes, each with its own unique identity.
What this session covered
This session took the form of a conversation between the NISSMAT host and a single guest speaker, a retired Army officer who described two tenures in the region, with the host also drawing on his own earlier service there. The session combined an outline of Arunachal Pradesh's geography and boundary question with a series of recollections about tribal custom, terrain and administration. The state was described as extending from Bhutan in the west to Myanmar in the east, with Assam to the south, and as comprising five divisions: Subansiri, Siang, the Dibang valley, the Lohit valley and Kameng.
On the boundary, the guest speaker traced the dispute to the 1913-14 convention at Shimla, at which a line was drawn along the watershed from east of Bhutan to the border with Myanmar, described as about 890 kilometres long, and to the subsequent refusal of the Chinese government to accept it. He noted that Chinese claims are directed at part of the state rather than the whole, principally the Tawang area, and referred to an attempt some time earlier to occupy a ridge line that was reversed, observing that surveillance arrangements had given early warning. He also mentioned a 2023 recognition of the line by the United States, described the position along the border as comparatively quiet in view of communication between the two sides, and suggested India should not involve itself in the separate Bhutan-China question. Turning to administration, the discussion recalled the territory's earlier designation as the North East Frontier Agency and the Indian Frontier Administrative Service, whose officers were drawn largely from those with prior service in the area, before the regular civil and police cadres were introduced.
The larger part of the session was given over to custom and terrain. The host described head-hunting as a historical ritual practice linked to bravery and social standing rather than to criminality, abandoned by the 1960s but still recalled in folklore and in skulls kept in village houses; the facial tattooing and nose plugs of Apatani women, explained as a protective response to inter-tribal raiding and later read as a mark of identity; apong, the traditional rice beer, as an instrument of hospitality and of settling and marking disputes, which a guest was expected not to refuse; a customary obligation on travellers to remain in a village until mourning rituals were complete; minimal clothing suited to a humid forest environment; and the communal youth dormitories, or morungs, in which behaviour was regulated by customary norms and elders. The Donyi-Polo temple at Along was cited as an instance of established nature worship being given an organised form. Both speakers dwelt on the hazards of shallow but fast-flowing streams, on the belief that rivers carry spirits demanding respect, and on the difficulty of reaching outposts on foot, with leeches, log and suspension bridges and marches of many days. The guest speaker contrasted this with present conditions, citing roads, better transport and wider access to education following a recent visit to Itanagar, while the host closed by urging that infrastructure should not displace the folklore and simplicity he regarded as the soul of the region.
Key points raised
- The session was a two-person conversation, with the host and a single retired Army guest speaker both drawing on personal service in the region.
- The boundary question was traced to the 1913-14 Shimla convention and the line drawn along the watershed, described as about 890 kilometres long, which the Chinese government subsequently declined to accept.
- Chinese claims were described as directed at part of the state, principally the Tawang area, rather than at the whole; the border was characterised as comparatively quiet at present.
- The territory's earlier administration under the North East Frontier Agency and the Indian Frontier Administrative Service was recalled, with officers drawn largely from those already familiar with the area.
- Custom formed the bulk of the discussion: head-hunting as a historical ritual now surviving only in folklore, Apatani facial tattooing explained as protection against raiding, apong as an instrument of hospitality and settlement, and the communal morung dormitories.
- Terrain was presented as the dominant historical constraint on administration, with outposts reached by marches of many days; the guest speaker contrasted this with present road, transport and education provision.
Session transcript
This transcript is auto-generated from the session recording and lightly edited for punctuation and readability; it may contain transcription errors. The video remains the authoritative record.
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Hello viewers, good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are. I am S. Paul Singh speaking from the NISSMAT platform. Today we are going to present to you the territory and tales of Arunachal Pradesh. I have with me Major General DK Meta, the other speaker, who is a third generation officer of the army. He's a post-graduate in defense studies from Madras University and has seen active operations both in J&K as well as in the M, as a mountain div general. He commanded an infantry brigade during Operation Parakram and a mountain division, as I mentioned to you. Subsequently he raised the first information cell of the army. After that he has been associated and has been in the training establishment of the media of Indian army academy as well as war training college.
Before we go into the subject in detail, let me give a little introduction about the subject. Arunachal Pradesh is also called the land of the rising sun, or we can call it as a land of dawn-lit mountains. This particular state, now union territory, has lot of tales, lot of traditions. Gradually with the passage of time it has now become a union territory, and those tales and history of the cultural history of Pradesh has become something like a myth. That means that it has a transition from myth to reality, I would call it. Now there we are in the real world and they are also law-abiding citizens of a democracy, while earlier they were basically depending on myths, and their traditions were in terms of superstition and spiritual endeavors with them. Now tales of transition however should not let us forget about the soul of this beautiful state. With these words I now request General Deepa to take over and proceed with his deliberation. General Deepa, please.
Thank you sir. So before I proceed I first want to introduce Mr. S. Paul Singh, who is the president of NISSMAT. Mr. S. Paul Singh joined the central police service in 1962. He underwent the initial training at the central police training college at Mount Abu. He is also an alumni of the prestigious National Police Academy at Hyderabad, from where he completed his advanced police course, and has served as senior police appointment in various states in India under the government of India. Under the government, with the government of India, he was made responsible to raise a new force, that's the Rapid Action Force, to deal with the communal riots, and he was appointed the first chief of the elite force, that's the Rapid Action Force. In recognition of his outstanding performance during his service he was decorated with President's Police Medal for distinguished services, Indian Police Medal for meritorious services, Police Special Duty Medal and bar, that he got it twice, Sena Medal, the army award, and a number of other commendations and rewards in his service. After retirement he was conferred with the prestigious award of the security personality of the year by the President of India in the global security conference. Presently he is the advisor, Asian Professional Security Association India chapter, honorary director general of Central Association of Private Security Industry, that's CAPSI, and he's also associated with the APDI, that's Association of Private Detectives and Investigators India.
Now as far as Arunachal Pradesh is concerned, it extends from Bhutan in the west to Myanmar in the east, and towards the south the state of Assam. It has five basic divisions in Arunachal Pradesh. They are the Subansiri division, which is the upper and the lower Subansiri, the Siang division, which is the east and west Siang, the Dibang valley, Lohit valley, and Kameng district.
Now coming down to the problems in Arunachal Pradesh. We have a very acute problem with China, as that is a long border which is not demarcated. As the history goes, 1913-1914 there was a convention held in Shimla wherein Mr. Henry McMahon called the reps of both Tibet and China to demarcate between Tibet and the area to the south of it. In that he drew a line along the watershed or the ridge line extending from east of Bhutan right up to the border with Myanmar, which is about 890 kilometers long. It was taken as the outer Tibet and the inner Tibet. The outer Tibet is what is presently the autonomous region of Tibet. He drew a line which is known as the McMahon line.
Now the Chinese, at that point in time this line was shown on a map with a very small scale, and as a result it was not very clear. The Chinese representative who was there, he initialed on the map, but when he went back the Chinese government did not agree to this McMahon line. They started claiming that lower Tibet, inner Tibet, also was a part of it, which was not accepted by India, or the British India at that point in time. They said that as far as the outer Tibet is concerned, it'll be controlled by the Dalai Lama under the control of China. So that is the problem which has been going on since the time since independence. Chinese are claiming Arunachal, which is part of India. In 2023 the McMahon line has been accepted as the boundary between Tibet, China and India by the United States of America. So internationally it is a recognized line and there is no doubt Arunachal Pradesh is part of India.
But there have been efforts on the part of China to claim a part of the Arunachal, not entire Arunachal. That means close to the Tawang area they are claiming, am I correct? You're right sir, they actually wanted to claim Tawang. Tawang at one point in time was a taxpayer to Lhasa, but Tawang is to the south of the McMahon line. So it is well within India. It is not in outer Tibet. So they can claim anything. Now as a matter of fact they started changing names of places in Tibet, but in a Tibet that is Arunachal Pradesh, which does not stand scrutiny internationally, sir. I see.
And this dispute, what is happening in between China and India, you know both the sides have deployed large number of troops. There have been instances in the past where there have been clashes, but now with the communication between the two sides there is a lot of tranquility on the border. But sir, as far as Bhutan is concerned, Chinese do have a little problem in Bhutan. Northern Bhutan, there is a pass known as Tremula. To the east of Tremula the Chinese are claiming certain areas, but we should not get involved with that. It is between Bhutan and China. Bhutan is very clear that this portion is their part of the border and not with China. So I think there is also status quo as far as Bhutan is concerned. Chinese, if you see, in the past have sorted out the problems with Myanmar. The only problem which is remaining is with India along the LAC or the McMahon line. Now I think efforts are being made to delimit the area and carry out certain amount of survey to sort out this problem.
Anything else you want to elaborate on the territorial claims etc.? The territorial claim, the basic claim is Tawang, which we are not accepting. About two years back or a year and a half back they tried coming onto the Yangtse ridge line, which they were pushed back. Had they come onto the Yangtse ridge line they would have had a very deep observation right up to the Sela pass. So our surveillance systems are pretty good. We got intimation that these fellows have come and they were pushed back from Yangtse also. Otherwise there have been no major clash as of now along the McMahon line, sir.
Sir, would you like to talk about the administration? Yeah, and I just mention, I mean this is all about the territorial claim and the borders etc. I'd like to come in and inform the viewers that Arunachal Pradesh was called the NEFA, Northeast Frontier Agency. Northeast Frontier Agency it was earlier called, and the Indian Frontier Administrative Service. Indian Frontier Administrative Service was at that time introduced in Arunachal Pradesh to administer and primarily manage the internal affairs and administration in Arunachal Pradesh. Most of the officers from the Indian Frontier Administrative Service were either army officers or some other civil officers who had served in Pradesh. The idea was that this service, that is IFAS, may be constituted or should be constituted of the people who have earlier served in this area and know something about the area. That is how the Indian Frontier Administrative Service was formed. When I was in Arunachal Pradesh in 60s, that is a little later, then this service was abolished. The IAS cadre was introduced later when the Indian administrative service was abolished. The central control continued but the service was changed, that is the regular order of IFS and the police officer was introduced.
Now, Pradesh sir has come a long way. That is, it was a state of myths, spirits, and it was a state which believed more in spiritual things, more in natural things, rather than the direct administration, direct concepts which are available in other parts of the country. From myths to modern India, there are lot of stories which can be recalled. Yes. Yes. And very interesting stories. Till NEFA came to a statehood is a long journey, and this journey I will call a journey from legend to law. It was a legendary sort of things and now it has become a legal entity with lot of laws, regulation, as it is in most of the union territory state. I like to relate or retell to the viewers some of these interesting tales which I learned also during my turnover in Arunachal Pradesh. It was quite a surprise to me.
Now there is a head hunting in Arunachal Pradesh, used to be head hunting. The practice of head hunting existed historically among some tribal communities, mainly as a ritual. It was not actually meant for sort of criminality. Head hunting was not associated with criminality, that kill somebody as a criminal. It was associated with the tribal community as a ritual linked to their bravery, to their warfare expertise and to their social status, not criminality. Key tribes historically associated with head hunting were the Nocte tribe from Tirap district, the Wancho tribe from Longding district and the Nishi tribe from central Arunachal Pradesh near Subansiri. The Nishis were earlier called Dafflas.
Head hunting was believed to bring the spiritual powers to that village. The more the head hunting you have, the more the skulls, head skulls, you have with you as trophies, the more you feel it has more spiritual powers. It was considered head hunting as a method of bringing fertility and protection to that village where the skulls were brought. The practice declined gradually till the British period and was completely abandoned somewhere in 60s. But when I went in 60s these tales were still there and people were talking about head hunting. You'll be surprised to know that today these tribes are peaceful tribes. These head hunters are peaceful tribes. Absolutely. They are culturally rich communities, and head hunting only survives in the folklore, in the symbols, in the festivals of these communities. Head hunters turned out to be the guardians of that tribe. Once they were feared for head hunting. Now they are remembered, only those stories, but they are no longer having any sort of intimidation on their villages.
The display of human skulls. I had to visit one village and one of the headmen of that village took me to his place. He has number of human skulls, trophies, in his drawing room or his sitting room. Some other tribes of Arunachal Pradesh also display human skulls in their houses. In fact, it is considered also as a historical ritual with lot of significance. These skulls as trophies from the head and nails are considered a matter of pride for those people who are possessing these skulls with them. Now old houses still display these skulls as symbols of strength, and now they are only sort of, you know, warned that hunting does not mean only that you indulge in violence. The head hunting is only a sort of bravery, a social custom, and now it symbolizes that you have that strength, you had that strength. So this is a very interesting feature that when you go to somebody's house some of the skulls are still there, as we used to depict some heads of the lions or tigers etc. and certain living maharajas and all. Similarly the human skulls are there. I myself saw these skulls. Initially I was surprised, you know, normally we see these skulls are there somewhere in graveyards and other places in India, but these skulls are exhibited in the sitting room as their trophies.
The second interesting tale is about the tattoos. You know nowadays tattoos on your hand and all is being done by us. Most of the modern generation people are having tattoos here and there. Now these tattoos were very popular among the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. Now what happened was that most of these tattoos were on the facial, on the cheeks, on the forehead etc., and mostly this tattooing were done on the women. Now why the tattoos were inscribed on them? The Apatani women are traditionally regarded as exceptionally beautiful and graceful women, which made them vulnerable to raids by certain tribes, particularly the Daffla tribe, now it is known as Nishis. Now they were known, you know, to carry away Arunachal women by force during intertribe conflicts. Once the one had a dominance over that tribe they take away the Apatani women with them, and Apatani society then evolved gradually the practice of disfiguring the faces of their women folk, of their girls.
This tattooing was actually started as to disfigure the beauty, but now it has become a symbol of beauty. Then there are also tales which speak of Apatani woman altering their appearance not only with tattoos but with huge nose blocks to save themselves from the raids. Beauty, strength and ultimate survival. Apatani woman mark their faces with these tattoos not for ornamentation, not as a sort of putting powder or some cream on them, but for their safety. Each line of the tattoo, I tell you sir, tells a story of resistance on the part of these Apatanis. It tells a story of their dignity and it tells a story of their survival in the harsh world of the intertribal rivalries at that time. Correct. Absolutely.
Another tale which is very interesting to know, which I came across when I visited some of the tribes, that is apong. Apong is a rice beer, a sort of rice beer. It is a traditional rice beer of Arunachal Pradesh and is offered in almost all social and religious festivities. The rice beer, or the apong as they call it, symbolizes the hospitality actually of the community and it also symbolizes the respect of the guest who is coming here. It also conveys a sort of community bonding. Guests invited to any ceremony are customarily expected to accept and partake of it. Refusing to drink is traditionally seen as discourteous or inauspicious. When I visited some of the posts and if there were some ceremonies, I had to, irrespective of whether I was taking a drink or not, I had to take a few drops of that and share this rice beer with them, so as to see that sort of friendship with them as an officer who was there only to administer the police administration in certain outposts. Now the alliances actually and even the feuds between the tribes ended sometime only with a drink together. This is considered also as a drink of trust, I will call it. To share apong was to share peace. Refusing it meant refusing friendship. And many feuds actually also commenced and ended with sharing a peg of apong. This is the interesting thing about this rice beer.
Then there is a story, that is when you travel in a village you have to stop in the village. Sometime, you know, our outposts were at a distance of say 8 or 10 days from your headquarter. So you have to pass through some other villages. In those villages we had IB posts, some post created by IB, for your temporary stay for a few hours and then proceed further. Now in many traditional villages of Arunachal there is a customary law which requires travelers to remain in the village till all the rituals of the deceased are over. Departure is prohibited from that village till rituals, mournings, ceremonies are completed in the presence of the guest who is there. This belief is rooted in respect for the deceased actually and the world of spirits, I will call it. They believed in that nature, that it goes to, it becomes a spirit. So in the world of spirit, leaving prematurely is thought to bring misfortune and spiritual imbalance to that village. Therefore travelers are expected to share the collective period of mourning with these villages. At times we have to stay for five or six days in a village where death had occurred till their ceremonies were over.
Another very interesting tale, and actual what happened was that, covering the body. Many tribes of Pradesh traditionally used to have bamboo strips, you know, that the strip, if you cut the bamboo it becomes into two from the center. So that strip or the leaves or the bark was used to cover their sexual nakedness. The men normally go about otherwise without any clothes, because clothing is required minimum for them so that they are able to adapt to the humid climate and forest environment. Most of the body otherwise remained uncovered, allowing ease of their movements. But the sexual nakedness was covered by the men by this sort of bamboo strips and leaves. As far as the women were concerned, most of the women in addition to beads used ornaments and body decorations, like certain woven cloth or certain significant garment which are used in their tradition. By and large they never bothered about their sexuality as such because they are absolutely open, and there's nothing wrong in going about in that, except that with the passage of time they have now starting having the weaving of cloth etc. there. But it was interesting feature when you went to the interior that most of the men and the women were almost going about without any clothes, and only their bare nakedness was covered by these barks, by these leaves, by ornaments or by beads and such other things. So it is a very significant fact, a significant tale in the history of Arunachal Pradesh.
Another very interesting tale which actually happened there, which was told to us, and in certain places I had to go and see those, they are called use of dormitories. We use dormitories, as it is in our army, in police, and even in the hostel, dormitories are meant for staying together. Now in several traditional tribes of Arunachal Pradesh men and women stayed together in a communal dormitory. Now you say men separately, women, again something is coming back probably, but there right from the beginning these dormitories allowed men and women to stay together in such sort of harmony as a part of their social life. These dormitories were often known as morungs, or youth houses particularly. I mean they were used by older ladies and men also, but particularly the youth houses, they were called the, they function as centers also for association, learning and also sort of liking each other, proposing, then getting married also. They also served many a time as places for dramas, songs, dance etc. Living together was regulated to a great extent by customary norm. Living together, men and women, boys and girls, was however regulated in these dormitories by customary norms. Not, I will say, not a promiscuous sort of behavior. Elders indirectly supervised their behavior and enforce certain social rules. Yet the morungs were very popular and are remembered as places where courage, restraint, traditions, values of social life, values of tribal life are learned and taught. So this was the concept of dormitory which is now gradually vanishing.
Then I'd like to say a few words about the tale of the streams there in Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal Pradesh, as you know sir, have many streams and rivers. They appear very shallow apparently. See, you can probably see the ground itself of the stream, it's so shallow, but they are very fast flowing. They are extremely dangerous, you see, to cross. They are having steep gradients, you know, from the Himalayas, which cause water to move with a great force. Even ankle deep water at time, if you want to cross, can knock down a person from his balance. You will only be ankle deep in the water stream you cross, the force of the water is such that it can shake you. The beds are very rocky, very uneven, and increasingly risky of slipping down. Now sudden upstream rainfall somewhere can cause flash floods without your knowing, without your warning. We have to be very careful when crossing the stream. I'll tell you, in one case one group of some armed forces was getting through it, a group of six seven people. They lost their balance and their weapons, the rifles, were just left there, and they had to go a little upstream and then collect the weapons downstream. But it was a very very difficult process. A very difficult process.
There are hanging and all, and the strong undercurrents of water which can pull away your feet unexpectedly. Now traditional routes relied on log bridges, as you know, and they actually call it natural crossings. The modern bridges were introduced only in the later half, lately, to reduce loss of life. Local knowledge remains critical and crucial for crossing these rivers. We have to have a local. And another very important factor, an interesting factor, the many feel that these flowing rivers have some spirits that demand respect before you cross over them. Absolutely. Some tales go that rivers have some spirits in them. These fast flowing rivers are housings of spirits, and these spirits demand respect before you cross them. Now rivers in Arunachal Pradesh are not crossed, as you know, casually. They are believed to test. I mean the belief was there that these rivers test the arrogance and sort of high-headedness of the people who cross them, because they are crossing over a spirit. Many travelers learned this lesson. Many travelers learned the lesson of humility at the banks of these rivers. So this is very interesting. Many of us, we learn the lesson of humility at the banks of these rivers. These are the stories of these rivers which are there.
And I'll touch one feature before you take over. You see, earlier most of the tribes had a nature worship, but the administration gradually started feeling that to bring better control and sort of unity, without disturbing the traditional practice of prayer to the nature, should be brought about. It was decided that we should have some temples inside. And I saw myself, sir, one disc in Along, district headquarter of Subansiri. The disc, on one side it had sun, other side it had moon. Specially this is, they got Donyi-Polo temples. Now this disc was installed in Along district and a huge big temple has been brought up there. It is linked to spiritual revival of the old, that is, you pray, no doubt, you pray to sun, you pray to moon, but there's some concrete thing before you and you go to the temple and pray, which means sort of intertribal unity and better administration.
It is very interesting to narrate one tale, that how it inspired to have this disc. Some of the administrative officers, when they decided to have temples, along with the village barahs or gaon burahs or tribal chiefs, they went to visit Sai Baba ashram in south India. Sai was explained by the administration the requirement of something, we should reflect their belief of having puja both to the sun and moon. Lo and behold, a disc was brought about by a divine method or whatever it is. And this disc was given to the villages, village burahs and administrative officers. And this was kept in the house of deputy commissioner of Along for quite a long time to gradually win over the people, that this is not necessary that you just go to the sun and moon only. You do there, but we are going to have a huge big temple here, and the Donyi-Polo temple has been created, has been constructed in Along. This led to a very organized worship space for the sun and moon, which is, belief also, going by the belief system and also having a symbol of temple. So there are lot of traditional methods of spirituality which have been merged with the modern religious expression. Say, I am of the view that this has been the soul of Arunachal Pradesh. We may have brought about lot of changes, but I am of the view that the soul of Arunachal Pradesh should not be forgotten totally. Then you may please discuss further about the difficulties and approach and visits to outposts due to difficult terrain, leeches etc.
Before I do that, I just want to bring out certain more aspects of certain tribes which I have encountered. I've had two tenures in that area. This Adi tribe has been considered as the most democratic tribe in terms of the village community. The Mishmi tribe consider tigers as the brothers and they don't hunt them. The Monpas, which are in the area of Kameng district, I was very closely associated with Monpas in my tenure there. They are very good making thankas and, sir, pen, very colorful people. I remember one gentleman, a sadhukan, used to come on his horse wearing a hat and all sort of trinkets and with bells on him, and all the children used to line up when he went past, and he was very happy you would meet him.
So as far as superstition is concerned, I want to bring out one more factor. I see. You see, at the junction of Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan and Tibet, there are two villages known as Bhuri and Bleeting. Since I was a sub sector commander in that area, I thought I'd go and make a visit to them. I see. As per the customs, I was carrying a bottle of rum. I said I hand it over to them. En route, I met an old ex-serviceman. He asked me, "Where are you going?" I said I'm going to Bhuri. He says, "You carrying any, one bottle of rum?" I said yes. He said, "Carry two. Give one bottle to them and keep one bottle for yourself, and do not accept a drink which has been given by them to you. You have your drink out of your own bottle." I said why? He says the customs and traditions of Bhuri and Bleeting is, they look after the guests very well, but they add something in the drink and the guest is supposed to die, and they believe that the spirit of the dead person becomes a protector for the family. So thanks for the advice. So these sort of traditions are there, sir.
Now coming down to the temples, the Tawang Gompa is the second largest temple after the one in Lhasa. It has a Rinpoche, and when we were there we were just camping below the Gompa. There were about 500 children in that monastery. So I asked the Rinpoche there, I said, how are you managing them? He said the tradition in this area is that one child of the family becomes a monk. So these are the budding monks in times to come, and a full-fledged school used to be running for this. And I said, what about the girls? He said girls also, they are known as Anis. They had another monastery about a kilometer away from Tawang, and they were Ani Gompa, and there were young girls there. But they all used to get around together during Losar, that's the new year of the Tibetans. So these areas have very specific interesting tales to tell. But times have changed, sir.
You're right. I like to add one thing. You see, when you come to change, time and change terrain also to some extent. You see, when we had to go to a post from one place to other, we had to cross through the jungles or forests or whatever you may call it, because mostly it was on foot. Hardly at times we could get a sortie, which sortie was going to take ration to a post, and that sortie will just drop the ration, stay there for a few minutes, twenty minutes, and come back to the base headquarter. Most of the sorties were going from the base. Now some of the senior officers used to manage that when a sortie is going, they request them that we want to visit a post which is otherwise 21 days from that particular headquarter, 21 days march. So sometime if you are a fast traveler you may be able to cover it in 10 days, 12 days, but never less than 12 days. 21 days was also one of the posts.
But you had to pass through the jungle, and in the jungle you are covering your legs with proper puttees over them, as armies bind the puttees and all. And then when you go there and come back after visit, back to your headquarter, when those puttees were removed by your batman, a lot of blood used to ooze out from your lower legs. The leeches will still sneak into it and suck the blood, and in many cases many of the officers had these marks, blue and black marks, even after coming back from Arunachal, for days or months together till the veins rejuvenated and it became all right. So there were so difficult a terrain, sir, that it was very difficult even to go and visit your post. Either you go by sorties, ration sorties, or you get of course sucked your blood by the leeches and the other blood sucking things.
Today they say the terrain has lot of roads. Can you give a little idea? The headquarter, the governor's house and all is little laid down with beautiful roads, and territories are having roads everywhere, most of the places, I mean not everywhere. What do you say about it? Sir, you know, I mean traveling that time was not that easy. It would take anything up to two weeks to reach the forward localities, and as you mentioned, very fast flowing streams one could not cross. There were suspension bridges made of wood. Actually when you moved on the suspension bridge it was like a swing, going into a swing all the way, so at best only two to three chaps could cross at a time. There were leeches, there were difficult terrain. There were only foot tracks and maybe some animal tracks, animal transport tracks. But now the time, things have changed. The roads have come up, billets have come up, the transportation is much much better, I think very good as compared to the earlier times.
I had gone down to Itanagar about a year back and I saw the development which has taken place there, and I asked the head of the government there, I said, what about the other areas? He said the other areas are as good as what is it. Oh I see. So tremendous development has taken place in Arunachal, and you see even the students now, the education right up to the population centers, and a very large number of children have moved out of Arunachal to study either in Assam or Meghalaya. So you see the minister in our parliament, Kiren Rijiju, he's also from Arunachal, very well spoken, very articulate. So times have changed in terms of infrastructural development and also education, and I'm very sure it'll be as developed as any other state of the country, sir.
I will conclude with a few words. I agree with you that lot of development, as we say in the language of today, that is infrastructure, has come up. Roads have come up, airports have also come up, at one or two, as an airport also I understand. So all this has come up, we appreciate, but we must remember even today, as far as the environments are concerned, as far as the sunrise is concerned, the sunlight in Arunachal, bright sunlight is there before the rest of India gets. Well, by about say, we call 3:00 or so in the early morning, there's a bright sunlight in Arunachal Pradesh, and the folklore says, the folklore of Arunachal says, the sun comes and blesses the land. It also protects this land from invaders. It is, you know, the waking up of the tribals. Obviously when 3:00 in the morning is a bright sunlight, they start their work. According to our after midnight hour, midnight mean about 2:00, and there the light is at dawn, the sunshine is about 3:00. My submission is that before the rest of the country wakes up, the sun comes and blesses the land of the rising sun itself. That's what they call it. It blesses the land whose mountains are lit by dawn in the morning. It blesses the villages and the tribals, simple tribals.
Laying down the roads and other infrastructure, we should not forget about the soul of the Arunachal, the simplicity of the people and the folklore which are there. It should be forming a sort of historical manual, their clothes they're wearing, their folklore, and I am of the view that the sun blesses them, and obviously the land is protected from evil eyes. With these words I'd like to thank you, General, for having come here with us and share your experiences, and I thank the viewers to be with us all this time. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you sir. Thank you very much sir.
