Dr. Bobby Sarma Baruah

Togbe Mahajan, a leading member of the Sherdukpen community of Arunachal Pradesh, meets a Manipuri driver Radha Binode Singh after buying a used vehicle in Assam. When the two men return to Togbe’s village, Singh reveals that he is an Army deserter. Togbe arranges fresh identity papers for his driver. The outsider stays on in his adopted home and becomes a part of the family.

The driver also develops a relationship with Maya, a Sherdukpen widow. He has a brush with Mishing, a local belief that the spirits of dying people can appear before those they love and communicate with them. One day, Singh sees himself dead at the wheels of his own car. Alarmed and baffled, he flees.

Many years later, Abu, Togbe’s son, receives a middle-aged visitor. He reveals that he is Radha Binode Singh. Reminiscing about bygone days, he asks Abu to visit him in Guwahati and collect a precious object that Togbe left in his custody. He then disappears without a trace.

Abu heads to Guwahati. There, he meets Singh’s son. The latter hands over Togbe’s possession to the visitor. Abu learns that Singh has been in a hospital in Vellore, southern India, for several months. Who, then, was the man who visited Abu?