"Assam used to be a remarkably isolated region"- Shyam Benegal

Parthajit Baruah: Your experience in Assam in the 1960s.

Shyam Benegal: I travelled all the way from Bombay to Guwahati, Jorhat, and Sivsagar, beyond Dibrugarh, to the border. I also visited Lakhimpur, along with the Brahmaputra.

PB: How did you travel?

SB: I travelled mostly by bus and stayed at different people’s residence. 

PB: Were you working at the advertising company then ?

SB: I was working for an advertising company. I was also making advertising films. I had gone because of my first job in advertising, where I made some advertising films, but I had to take these films because it was very difficult to take them to Assam because there was no way and lots of insurgency there. So, I had to go there and travel from one cinema hall to another in order to show them these advertising films. That is why I carried a whole trunk full of advertising films.

PB: Did you travel alone?

SB: I travelled alone. Not only did I travel alone, but there were no hotels for many nights.

PB: How did you spend the night?

SB: Sometimes I would sleep in my trunk at the bus stop. I can remember that I spent the night at the veranda of the Bokakhat bus stand

PB: Did this only happen in Assam or somewhere else?

SB: Mostly in Assam. As you can see, Assam used to be a remarkably isolated region. You don’t have too many hotels. Frequently, when I visit a rest house or dak bungalow, I find that there are no rooms available. They said, there is no room; you can't stay. So, what could I do then? Then, I would step out into the veranda and said to them, "Please, I am going to keep my trunk here and will sleep on my trunk only." Probably, it was around 1960–61, just before the Chinese invasion.

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