Tens of thousands of people have
died in the conflict between Maoist guerrillas and the Indian state.
Alpa Shah lived among the tribal villagers in their guerrilla
strongholds for a year and a half to understand why they shunned
democracy to take up arms.
Eyelids heavy, I struggled to keep my
eyes open as we marched in single file, weaving our way across the open
rice fields towards the safety of the forest, without even the light of a
torch to guide us. I was walking with a platoon of India's Maoist guerrillas - armed rebels who say they are fighting for the rights of tribal people and the rural poor. It was my seventh night of walking with these fighters and we had covered more than 30km (18 miles) each night. They moved after dusk because Indian security forces undertook counter-insurgency patrols in daylight hours.
Every muscle in my body was exhausted. My shoulders felt like a dead weight imposing itself on the rest of my body. My legs were numb. My neck jerked as my head collapsed onto my chest. I had dozed off while walking and awoke with a jolt. My brain seemed to empty of all consciousness and awareness moved to my feet, which intuitively put themselves one in front of the other. My neck jerked again, and then again.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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