"The Sleepwalker's Dream: A Novel" is about June, Ron and several other rebels fleeing their hideout in Bhutan after an army attack along with their injured unconscious leader, who is unlikely to survive the ordeal of their journey towards the Assam border.
With winter approaching, they desperately need to find a temporary shelter and miraculously their leader emerges from his coma and is able to guide them to a cave which has supplies of food and other essentials.
But her memories keep taking her back to her long-lost family, her village, her innocent childhood and the tragic circumstances under which she had become an insurgent.
Borah, in his book published by Delhi-based Speaking Tiger, gives life to Ron when he, too, is flooded by his own memories of his boyhood and the early days of passionate commitment and high adventure.
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On his first novel in English and the challenges and pleasures of this transition, the Guwahati-based Assamese writer and novelist told PTI, "It's not really a transition. I am an Assamese Indian writer first. But I had thought that if a good publisher accepts my book then I would at least know that I can write in English."
and misunderstood subject revolving around a group of insurgents, the president of the apex literary body of the state said, "The insurgents are from among us. They may be friends, friends of friends or their relatives. Some people may have first hand experience of them, others may have suffered grievously at their hands. But they are not a people apart. They belong to us.
"Their lives are also beset with the same fears, sorrows and uncertainties as us. Only, they thought and acted differently. Middleclass prudence and instincts of self-preservation hold many of us back, but they take the plunge in pursuit of their dreams, however ill-advised or wrong they may seem. Understanding them is like understanding one's own self. It is not easy and it needs patience and compassion."
"A character plays a definite role in the narrative of a novel, in that fictional environment, just like people of flesh and blood play a definite role in the real world. The female insurgent plays a pivotal role in this novel and I have tried to see things from her perspective, believing (I hope I am right) that in this way I can recreate an insightful and meaningful story."
Asked if any of the characters in the novel were influenced by real-life people, he said, "Nothing can be created from nothing. As I have said, many ingredients go into creating the world of the novel. It has to have its own sun, moonlight, wind, rain and snow."
"And its own situations populated by its own people, birds, animals and plants. It is filtered and crystallised through the author's imaginative mind and does not necessarily reflect anybody in particular or even the real world", said Borah, who has a literary career spanning over three decades publishing many critically acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction, including novels, monographs on history, travelogues and collections of articles.