Mainao and alfred are forced to leave their village for delhi in search of employment. Ill - adjusted to city life they return to their village only to find their house burnt down and family destroyed by bodo militants. A half - burnt bus passes through a city charring everything beautiful and alive in its wake. Arunima the new bride, looks forward to joining the large, loving family of her husband but is unaware of the trouble her insurgent brother - in - law's absence from home is going to bring. Ayengla lives happily with her husband, working in her fields and secretly supplying food to the insurgents until one day a horrible act of violence changes her life irrevocably. Arupa patangia: kalita's writings chronicle the disturbing history of aggression and hate that has plagued assam, her homeland, for many decades.