Many of us claim to love our nation, but how many know much about it? Those who know most about the country have travelled from some village or mofussil town across the country to a metropolis such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Bengaluru. But even such folk tend to know at best that stretch of the country through which they are forced to travel between home and work. Naturally, there is increasing internal tourism in our country and that is a welcome development, but it is a rare Indian who has seen something of the north of the country as well as of the south, of the west as well as of the east – and those who have been as far west as Gujarat are unlikely to have experienced much of the life around Narayan Sarovar or the Rann of Kutch, while those who have travelled as far east as Kolkata or even Guwahati are unlikely to have seen more than one of the hill states of north-east India (let alone all of the hill states there!)
It is a man from that eastern extreme of our country who is the subject of this biography.
His story is outstanding evidence, if any is needed, that India has a talent for ignoring its best sons and daughters.
How can it be that such incredible achievements as those of Shri Toy remain unknown, unrecognised and unsung? Many who have received the Bharat Ratna have deserved it far less than Shri Lanu Toy.
For a reasonably substantial discussion of his life, see this review of the book by the prize-winning novelist, Easterine Kire
Briefly, however, TShri Lanu Toy is certainly among the greatest builders of our nation: he first hydro electric project in Northeast India, the Umtru Hydro Electric Project, was commissioned in 1958 under his leadership, and it was also he who began the Doyang Hydro Electric Project in Nagaland in 1990. Without these dams there would be no electricity in many regions of Northeast India, where it opened the doors for development.
Writing a biography is a labour of love. The biographer, Repalemzüng Longkümer, doubled that love by translating the book into English himself. He deserves a prize for the book, and he deserves an additional prize for the translation of the book. Who is willing to take up the effort for winning due recognition to Longkümer, and overdue recognition to Shri I. Lanu Toy?
The biography is available, as far as I can discover, only via amazon.in (please Search there for “REPALEMZÜNG”)
