The Northeast Notebook

Kohima war memorial gets British visitors
The World War II memorial at Kohima last week had 45 special guests. They were former soldiers of the Royal British Legion led by Gen Sir Roderick Cordy Simpson. The group was in the Nagaland capital to pay tributes to their comrades 60 years after the famous Battle of Kohima.

Miss Pakistan in Assam
INDIA8217;S relationship with Pakistan now makes for an Assamese film. Pradyut Deka makes his debut with Miss Pakistan, based on a popular play called Pakistanor Preyoshi staged by a popular mobile theatre group in the state. Shot entirely in Guwahati, Miss Pakistan is a a post-Partition saga of love, patriotism, terrorism and espionage.

Hopes of a billion dollar trade with Myanmar
THE Indo-Myanmar Joint task Force has projected a 1 billion trade between the two countries by 2006. The major chunk of this trade is expected to take place through land routes, benefiting the Northeast while projections are also being made for joint ventures between the two nations in investments and technology transfer. At present, only two border trade points work between Northeast India and Myanmar and the volume of trade is increasing every week.

Assam temples in ASI heritage list
FOUR ancient temples at Hajo, 30 kms from Guwahati, have been declared national monuments by the Archaeological Survey of India. Funds for their maintenance will come from the central government.

These monuments include the famous Hayagriva-Madhava temple, which is a common place of worship for both Hindus and Buddhists. Hajo also has Poa-Mecca, a Muslim shrine.