Two individuals, who have taken much interest in the revival and development of the legendary Stillwell Road are prominent politicians of Assam and the Northeast Arun Sarma, AGP member of the Rajya Sabha, and Prodip Hazarika, Assam's Minister for Transport. Both of them held extensive discussion with the Myanmar delegates at the conference on Regional Cooperation at Kunming, in China's Yunnan Province, and some talks also with some of the Chinese officials and academic.

Indeed, while Dr Sarma presented a brief paper on the prospects for trade and regional cooperation while showing while a short video of the Indian side of the Stillwell Road, Prodip Hazarika made a computerised presentation on the Road itself and why it was so important for the Northeast and how it could help the area to take rapid economic strides.

Not everyone, of course, shared their optimism: the task of redeveloping the Stillwell Road is a gigantic one. It involves three countries - China, Myanmar and India, and it runs 1,725 kilometers through these nations, a snaking, narrow route that helped the allies beat off a Japanese offensive in the Second World War. But what is the Stillwell Road which all of us keep writing about, talking about looking for, as we were last months, armed with maps and guide books and filled with enthusiasm and some hope ?

But first, I do not mind sharing with readers that by the end of the visit I was thoroughly fed up of hearing about the Stillwell Road. Burma Road loi ahilu, "cried one Assamese voice in excitement when the Chinese hosts mentioned that the road we had bumped along was this very route. Then the Chinese added that we were not going to proceed further on it but on a parallel super highway. This made some members of the group most depressed. But a little while later there was more confusion after we passed Dali and then reached Baoshan, for some old maps and new ones also indicated that the Stillwell Road branched off from here and moved to Bhamo in Myanmar before traversing northward to Mytinky.

This point was never quite resolved although I think that on the basis of research and available materials, that is indeed the correct alignment of the Stillwell Road. But what is this road of mythical proportions that we are all rushing to discover ? Is this the equivalent of Kailash, that mighty mountains so sacred to Hindus and Buddhists alike that leads not just to enlightenment but also to salvation, especially as one undertakes a Parikrama of the shores of Mansarovar lake below the peak and plunges into its icy waters, hoping for spiritual cleansing ? What is the El Dorado, the golden country, the swarna bhoomi, that this Road will lead us to ? What is the divine role of this largely dirt road, that is barely wide enough in many parts allow two vehicles to pass, in the future of our land ?

Let's take a brief look at some facts:

It was General Joseph Stillwell, a tough American soldier, who suggested the construction of a two-lane road from India to China via northern Burma in 1942 in a bid to outflank the Japanese who were then sweeping through South East Asia in a conquering tide, and heading toward the eastern flank of India. The Western Powers were desperately looking for ways to recapture Burma and push the Japanese back. In addition, they had to think about how they were going to supply their allies, the Chinese army under the redoubtable nationalist leader Chiang Kai Shek. So general Stillwell hit upon the idea of a highway to China that would snake past north and eastern Burma into Yunnan.

Battling their way through treacherous terrain and malarial jungles, a force of some 35,000 British American, Indian and Chinese engineers, troops and labourers and dug and levelled for 30 months before the road reached Mong-Yu, where it connected with the Burma Road. This road was an older one, having been used a jungle trail, it said by great explorer Marco Polo in the 12th and 13th centuries, and then redeveloped from Lashio to Kunming by the Chinese between 1937 and 1940.

What also creates considerable confusion is that different countries have given different names and pronunciations for different towns and road bubs: there is a Menghsu in Yannan, near the China-Myanmar border, but not Mong-Yu. There is a Wangding with a Wangding river, which we have visited where the Burma Road is opposed to have connected with the Stillwell (Ledo Road). One of the papers presented by the Assam group defines it as Wanglings, which does not appear on any map.

But these are small points that can be resolved later.

Let us look at what needs to be done there are 61 kilometers of the original road in India, almost equally divided between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The last 12 kilometers are over a dirt track of slush and jungle. The condition of the road in several parts of Myanmar is extremely poor. A bridge at Mytinkya across the Irrawady which connected the road has been dismantled. The route is quite bumpy for many kilometers in Yunan before it connects to a magnificent highway.

Hundreds of kilometers no one knows quite how many have to be rebuilt, almost from scratch. This kind of job costs millions of dollars per kilometer. Clearly it will have to be undertaken by giant international construction firms with support from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. No complete survey of the route has yet been done.

Dr Sarma has remarked in his paper that the proposed new revival route could connect with Indian markets through Ledo in Assam via National Highways 38 and 37. He says that the Brahmaputra, having been declared as a National Waterway, by the central government can be developed as a major inland water trade and transport route, carrying people and goods as far south as Bangladesh. There are linkages to air routes through Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Guwahati.

But there are major question marks here: one, what kind of infrastructure do we have in Assam that will enable such movement to take place ? What will we need to build to enable a huge volume of goods to pass through ? What happens to our small markets, small artisans, small industries in the process. How will they be protected from the Stillwellisation of the region ? The Singphos of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, of Myanmar and Yunnan, the Lisus and Tai-Ahoms, the Khamtis and Mishmis: how will tiny communities survive this onslaught? How are they to be prepared ? Has any thought been given to this or not ? I doubt if many planners have even considered this although some of the small groups want the road reopened so they can connect with their relatives across the border. But the route will not stop there at bringing their cousins: so will goods, technology, huge monies, new migrants, traders which are capable of changing the landscape completely.

What goods will we send ? Or will we just be a transitland route, receiving and on passing goods from either side ?

We have pathetic roads, no river transport worth the name, our river ports are total writeoffs without a clean dhaba or where you can get safe drinking water or where you can go to decent toilet. There are none but the open spaces as far as toilets are concerned ! How can we think of offering our routes if we do not improve them ? And how is the Assam or Central Governments going to improve them ? This is serious business and needs serious consideration and answer. Just thinking that foreign investors are going to rush in where Indian investors do not is being either stupid or blind. Or both.

As far as the Brahmaputra is concerned, all of us know how silting has damaged it. Large draft vessels are unable to move between Orianghat and Dibrugarh in winter and the problems of transportation to Bangladesh are extensive. I know because I have travelled in all these areas by road and boat: the rivers in Bangladesh cannot carry large vessels and these can be seen from Serajgunj down, about 300 kilometers from the Assam-Bangladesh border ! Here too they move in high water.

Political will must manifest itself in Bangladesh too where the thought forget the act of transit to Indian ships and vehicles raises nightmares of economic invasion and worse ! Until this political hoodoo is broken, there is little in terms of actual progress that we are likely to see. And what noises and objections will our own friends in the Ministries of Defence, Home and Commerce make and raise? They are not going to welcome the Chinese with open arms, surely! And the militant groups, will they welcome such a development, even though it will make travel easier all around, even for them?

So before rushing into making too many hasty statements about the El Dorado that will come from the Stillwell Road, let us look with realism and honesty at its costs, benefits and debit side. Do we have the roads, river ports, railway lines and airports that will make this alternative from the Chinese and Myanmarese point of view? Someone from Assam even announced with bravado at Kunming that the international airport at Guwahati would be ready in a few months!!! The difference between Kunming Airport and Guwahati is like between night and day. Of course, we can move to their levels. But we haven't shown much capacity of actually doing so in these past years. We lag far, far behind.

Why would they not use the Mandalay-Kalewa-Champhai-Aizawl route instead? Or Kunming-Mandalay-Yangoon or Kunming-Mandalay-Shitwe (Arakan river port) - Chittagong-Haldia. Landlocked nations seek outlets to profitable sea lanes. We must be honest enough to see from their viewpoint: they will look at what will benefit them, not necessarily what will help us! That is how, even in the age of regional cooperation, all nations and sensible businessmen think.

We must do a lot of homework and improve our infrastructure visibly an with determination, if we are to march on the Stillwell Road towards prosperity. Otherwise, the Stillwell Road could turn out to be an elusive chimera or even a 'Still Born' idea.