For five years after he graduated, Kishor Barua, who comes from the rural Darrang district in lower Assam, scoured the job markets with no luck. Desperate, he even considered joining a militant outfit. Then in November 1999, he returned to his roots. Literally.
Some 200 km from Darrang, in central Assam’s Nagaon district, Niranjan Kalita, BSc, is going through the same novel experience. So is Jatindra Nath, also from Darrang, who had been a member of the ULFA. Today, all of them have turned to land for their livelihood-vast, dry patches that would be left barren from November to April, just because it wouldn’t rain then.