Sanjoy Hazarika was born in Shillong, then capital of the undivided state of Assam, in 1954. He studied at Shillong, London and Cambridge, Massachusetts, at Harvard University, and was a correspondent for the New York Times out of South Asia between 1981-1996. Formerly a member of the first National Security Advisory Board, he is now part of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution. He has also set up a Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research. A Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, Sanjoy Hazarika is a columnist for several newspapers. He also makes documentaries, especially on the North East, and is completing a film on the Brahmaputra. Sanjoy Hazarika divides his time between the North East and New Delhi where he lives with his wife and daughter.