India, Feb. 26 -- Shillong, having recovered from a rather frantic musical weekend of grooving to Akon and Bonnie M, is just about waking up. It's a Monday morning and street hawkers are setting up shop for the day as I trudge up the city's famous Ward's Lake road.

This year, the cherry blossoms are sparse, but refreshingly beautiful nevertheless. On one side is a row of shops prepping to showcase and sell Meghalaya's finest food, handicrafts, and beer. On the other, is an impressive set up of the fourth edition of the Shillong Literary Festival, all decked up to showcase the best of northeastern literature and arts for the next three days.

It is day one of the festival and the winter sun is gloriously shining upon us. Novelist Vikram S...