Alpa Shah's Nightmarch: Among India's Revolutionary Guerrillas (Hurst & Co; 256 pages; Rs 1,900) is a memoir of a seven-night trek with Maoists in Bihar and Jharkhand. Shah, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, has done fieldwork in Jharkhand. In an earlier work based on that experience—In the Shadows of the State: Indigenous Politics, Environmentalism, and Insurgency in Jharkhand (2010)—she cast a harsh light on Maoist activities and came close to viewing them as extortionists. That perspective has undergone a silent but strong change in Nightmarch. In her new book, she is much more sympathetic to the Maoist ideal, largely because of their alleged empathy for Adivasis who, it is apparent, are dear to Shah. The seven nights of the march can be seen from the perspective of three dramatis personae—Gyanji, Kohli and Vikas—and a fourth character, Birsa, who was once a Maoist. Gyanji is a Veda-reading Maoist and a middle-ranking leader who commands the march. He exemplifies a typical Maoist leader to be found in East Central India today: upper caste, well- educated and idealistic to the point of no-return. In contrast, Vikas is a young Adivasi who has risen through the ranks but is now corrupt. Vikas has money, women and property, all forbidden under Maoist norms. Perhaps the most interesting character of the three is Kohli, again an Adivasi youth but one who remains idealistic and uncorrupted in the manner that Vikas is not. Evolutionarily, he represents a cusp between turning into another Vikas or, with much lower probability, a Gyanji. A further variant is Birsa who has completed the journey from a rebel Adivasi to a Maoist to a contractor and now a potential police informer. Left unsaid is the strong possibility that Vikas will soon turn into another Birsa. Keeping the rebellion alive requires money, and that money comes from 'black' dealings with contractors, mining companies and other similar sources. But in the bargain is the very real danger of Maoist cadres discarding ideals and going rogue. Viewed from the perspective of the government, the combination of money, corruption and coercion within Maoist ranks leads to receding horizons. Revolution is now just a dream for a handful of die-hards like Gyanji.

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