Review: Waiting for the Dust to Settle by Veio Pou

They called it ‘Operation Bluebird’. On the fateful day of 9th July, 1987, the Underground Naga army attacked and raided the Assam Rifles outpost at Oinam Hill Village, a Poumai Naga Village in Senapati District, Manipur. Nine Assam Rifles soldiers were killed and the Naga Underground escaped with their looted arms and ammunitions. In an attempt to recover the stolen arms, the Assam Rifles launched the infamous “Operation Bluebird” in Oinam Hill village and it’s surrounding thirty villages for three months — where intense search and combing action was operated.

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During Operation Bluebird the villagers were subjected to extreme torture. Innocent villagers were killed, women were raped, properties were damaged, two women were subjected to give birth in public in full view of the armies. In this span, the armed forces violated human rights like murder, arson, looting, desecration of church, sexual harassment, illegal evictions, arrests and forced labour. The peaceful village of Oinam Hill turned into a nightmare in a single day.

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12 years old Rokovei had come to the village from Senapati district for Laonüh. But little did he know that he’d witness “Operation Bluebird”. Rokovei, the protagonist of the story loves the olive green camouflage suits and wish to join the army someday. But his dream of joining the army begins to shatter one by one as he begin to witness the way the armed forces exercise their power.

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Through the voice of Rokovei, Veio Pou speaks for the underrepresented Naga community. The novels narrates the conflict between the armed forces and the Naga Underground; forming of Naga Underground factions; the intricacy of insurgency; the racism that people from the Northeast faces; Naga-Kuki conflict and living with insurgency as a whole.

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Waiting for the Dust to Settle is a political novel or more so an autobiographical account. Pou’s narration, although fiction , lies more so on the non-fiction narrative. Written in simple language , Pou’s debut novel, loaded with history of the tribal community, is a must read.