ABSTRACT
Two important factors which have led to almost natural movement of people from Nepal to India, especially Assam and the north-east of India: the 1,900-km-long international open border and the British induction of the Gurkhas into the army, post 1815 - 16 Treaty of Segowli. An interesting aspect of Nepali migration to these regions is that it is largely the rural, unskilled and mostly unlettered Nepali who migrated to these parts of India. The areas of challenges, especially for the first-generation migrants, have revolved around their self-image, as they attempted to root themselves in the host land while negotiating with their separateness in terms of ethnicity and customs, religion and rituals. It is against such a backdrop of history of migration and diasporic social reality that Lil Bahadur Chhetri's celebrated novel, Brahmaputraka Cheuchau, may be read. The diverse strands in the community, namely, the various individuals within the Nepali community, are slowly examined by Chhetri.
