16. A TERRIBLE MATRIARCHY

“I am Dielieno and I am five years old. I wish I didn't have to stay at my Grandmother’s home when I was growing up. I missed Mom and Dad every single day and I miss my brothers. If I had been at home, I would have been playing with them and they would have pampered me to no end since I am the youngest. I wish I didn't stay with her! However, now I no longer hate Grandma after Mother explained to me about the kind of life she had when she was younger!”

The simple, fluid, seamless narrative Esterine Kire gives her readers in A Terrible Matriarchy is worth a second read. There's not a second of solitude as the story set in a real backdrop, takes the onus of giving the reader the vitalities of a Naga life and its culture.

But one thing is for sure that I wouldn't like to have a Grandmother that Lieno had to grow up with! I had a wonderful Grandmom as a little girl and she was the best when it came to telling me and my cousins some wonderful stories; mostly detective stories! And when we asked her to say some horror stories, she would say, “There are no ghosts! Fear is the only ghost in our lives!” Oh, how I loved her!

15. ENCOUNTERS


I had bought ‘Encounters’ in Thimpu in 2009 after meeting Omair Ahmed while attending a two-day conference at Thimpu called Mountain Echoes. It wasn't only him that I met but a whole lot of other writers and Bollywood celebrities, who were not so snooty after all, except for Chetan Bhagat, who looked down at me as though I was some ‘pesky alien particle’, when I introduced myself and said I was from the Northeast of India! Well, this is not about Chetan anyway, whose books I have stopped reading a long time ago!

I completed reading Encounters a couple of months back. I took time to read it, not because it had the backdrop of atrocities on Muslims in India but more so because every page needed careful reading. The thoughts of the protagonist was so blatantly tangible for me. I was almost there with him when he was saddened and distressed by the innumerable incidents around him. I could feel the body-blows when vandals jumped on him while returning home from a game of chess with the very strict father of the only woman he loved; unfortunately for him,a Hindu. Every time he had broken ribs, his torn lips, the pages told me that there is more to come; more misfortune on a man whose only dream was to be a person to be reckoned with in the society and live in happiness! Omair tells me that more of his books are in the offing! A writer with a flair for the unpleasant truth!

14. Parallel Reads II

Reading at a time when I am besieged with burdens galore can be the most exciting part of my life. Sneaking in between to read a page or two and then resneaking. Ah! What bliss!

Though I had bought Next Door by Jahnavi Barua a couple of years back, yet the right moment was only a month back when I opened the first page and started reading. Today as I completed the book, I could only sigh and regret, wishing I could have continued reading more stories of my land, woven so intricately by the words of Jahnavi, who is nothing less than a master story-teller. Her stories left  that lingering desire to know more about the characters just like Jayanta Hazarika kept his songs half-finished, leaving me in a dire state of mind to ask him to sing further. But alas! My Jayanta da is not here to listen to me. 

Next Door is so full of visual nuances, laced with a peculiar romance that is so intrinsic to Assam. Eleven stories, endless characters and that musky aroma of my beloved land. Jahnavi has done more than justice in bringing alive original stories from this bounteous land, now home to many from across the country. A fantastic read!

The phenomenal #1 Bestselling Author is what they call him and not for nothing. Robin Sharma knows he is good and actually does a great job at writing some fantastic stories. 

I am pretty much impressed by his 'teachings' if I might say in his book, "The secret letters of the Monk who sold his Ferrari."

The monk, Julian, finding his cousin Jonathan, in trouble with his life, sends him on a tour around the world. The tour entails collecting some precious talismans and the messages which come with them. Robin Sharma does an enormously great job at getting his words across to the reader. In short, he surely rubs that cooling balm where the readers need it the most. 

Loved reading this book, which can be life-changing for some if they so desire! 

13. Parallel Reads

Reading has been a habit I have not bee able to undo in spite of all the odds. Mom used to reprimand my habit of reading even before I brushed in the morning. 

Now, I have books swarming every nook and cranny of the house. Sorry Mom!

Reading two, three, four books at the same time has been a habit of yore and Mom, don't you think it's so much similar to your habit of surfing the television network and watching three or is it four soaps at the same time?

Anyway, this time around, I took a wee bit more time to complete my books. And it so happened that today morning, I finished reading two apparently different genre of books but having similar leanings. One is Bouncing Forward, by Sam Cawthorn and the other is Youth Vision by Thomas Vattathara and Biju Michael. 

Seeing Sam Cawthorn speaking live and then reading his book was like I was actually hearing him speak. I had a lot of fun attending Sam's talk and he gave us two hours of non-stop frolic. I had more reasons than one to be happy 'cause it's not everyday that we hear people talk of bouncing forward. I have almost always heard of bouncing back to where I was before. But bouncing forward! Now, that was something new and I really liked what I read. Sam went through an excruciatingly painful period trying to recuperate and relearn things which he had always been doing all his life before the debilitating accident. He fell asleep while driving and the misery that it caused to his life has been well chronicled in his book "Bounce Forward." He took a couple of years before he was bouncing forward and playing the guitar with his left hand, when all his life he had done it with his right. And I always thought and still think I have so much to complain about!

The other book Youth Vision was ofcourse a compilation of different papers presented by numerous research scholars, activists on the subject and accomplished young people from the Northeast when they attended a 5-day Consultation on Youth Ministry at the Pastoral Centre, Shillong from 18-22 April, 1995. A good read which enhanced my vision for the youth of the future. 

12. ......Premor Obixone Ekhon Xomaj Jiyae Thakibo Nuware!
rr ....... (A society cannot breathe without love!)          

May, 2004, Canada: Dr. Nilakshi Mahanta and I were a part of the Group Study Exchange Tour (GSE) to represent India to District 5550 in Canada along with three other members. We had several interactions during the day at various Rotary Clubs from morning to evening during our one month stay there. We had to speak about India, about the different states we came from, our family, friends, work and we also had to sing and dance, as part of the cultural display. Interesting, as we enjoyed every second to the hilt. Nilakshi and I loved the singing bit, especially when we had to sing Bhupen da's "Manuhe manuhor baabe". I remember once when we were singing this song at a club, there was pin-drop silence while the Rotarians followed its English translation on the LCD screen. Soon after we completed singing this song, the club members gave us a standing ovation and the President of that Rotary Club announced that their club was now going to adopt this song. Nilakshi and I were over the moon in jubilation!

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24th May, 2014, Guwahati: When Deven Dutta, social thinker and writer, was asked by a lady, while we all sipped some hot tea after the e-book release,"Are you doing anything creative recently?", his answer was, "I am doing everything destructive." And then he went to say how his days and nights have been revolving around politics and "the dirty game". 

However, a half hour before this conversation, when he was at the lectern, he spoke of love with a passion unbeknownst to me earlier. Deven Dutta, the no-nonsense person, who practiced as he preached and spoke impassionately about the 'misdoings' of the government et al, who spoke his Assamese to perfection without a word of English in between, who said he never took a call while driving (and if he had to, he would park his car first), who slept little and thought more, said that even though he appreciated the beauty in another woman, he condidered no woman more beautiful than his wife, Arundhati. And all the while, Deven Dutta spoke of only love at the launch of the EPUB (2nd Edition) of "Let my songs be the door to a new dawn"; translation of forty one songs sung by Dr. Bhupen Hazarika into English poetry by Pronami Bhattacharyya.

Why I think it is a commendable effort is because Bhupen Da has no biography. A bohemian in the heart and his songs prove it, he had never really thought of an autobiography while he was alive. These forty one poems, which are available on Amazon and Flipkart for people wishing to grab an e-copy, will be a celebration of this most romantic man. The world will see how he cried when the poor cried, how he thought for the people through his poetic verses; his strains will warm the cockles of every aching heart,  like they always did, dominating love over hate. 

"Bhupen Hazarika was a people's person and lived his life to the last breath. Bhupen Hazarika had only love inside him." Deven Dutta, nostalgically said about his romance with music when he is unable to sleep and feels that it is music which can amplify emotions in a world robbed off all feelings. "No composition is possible without the element of love in it. All 37 of Shakespeare's plays revolved around love." 

Professor Amarjyoti Choudhury lauded the work of some young people who have put valuable information of some stalwarts of Assam in Wikipedia, saying that an e-publication is one of the answers to saving our trees and leaving behind some resources for the next generation. "We will probably not get another Bhupen Hazarika in the next 50-100 years. We find ourselves in each and every song that he sang. He took the lives of ordinary people and created his songs".

How apt and appropriate that Pronami Bhattacharyya has published her English translations of Bhupen Da's songs at a time when we needed them the most. She has made an effort in her own special way to fill in the vacuum in a world devoid of love; where there is hatred abound for the human brethren. 

This makes me quote in English from Bhupen Da's song 'Manuhe Manuhor Baabe...."If man does not think for Man, then who will, Tell me O Man!"

Glimpses of the e-book

Social activist and writer, Dr. Deven Dutta

Professor Amarjyoti Choudury

The translator, Pronami Bhattacharyya

11. Silent Lips and Murmuring Hearts 
      "Mouna Ounth Mukhar Hriday".......Yeshe Dorji Thongse






A story set in Arunachal Pradesh. A riveting love story told by the award-winning write Yeshe Dorji Thongse. 
As a young girl, I always thought love stories were supposed to have 'happily ever after' endings where the handsome man rides away in slow motion into the sunset with his lover on a white horse. Well, not all the time! I learnt early on from mother that love and marriage were poles apart. I couldn't quite understand then but now when I look back, I am sure what mother meant was it is best not to marry the person one loved. To let go can be the biggest love story one can tell later to one's grandchildren. Or so we try to pacify?

Yeshe Dorji Thongse weaves a story just a little before the Chinese Aggression. It involves two young persons from two different tribes, the Wangi and the Serdukpen, who come together to build the road from Bomdila to Dirang. They fall in love inspite of the fact that they are already engaged to be married to someone else. Theirs is a love story that surpasses all boundaries. Though language had never been a barrier between them, yet it was for all to see how passionately they were in love from the time they met in the jungle to when they were ruthlessly separated because of strict tribal norms. 

The end of the story moved me to tears when the girl Yama ran through the crowd of people towards Rinsin, trying to flee from the people who had previously paid her brother mithuns in lieu of her marriage to a boy from her tribe. As Rinsin looked on, helplessly, at his beloved Yama, being dragged away by her groom's family, screaming his name, "Rinsin, Rinsin," his eyes brimmed over with tears, knowing too well that he can never live his life with her anymore!

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Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi is a prominent name inAssamese literature and he has received national recognition with his novel Mouna Ounth Mukhar Hriday which won the Sahitya Academi award in 2005. As an insider, Thongchi has been able to present a new perspective of Arunachalee society-its rich social and cultural diversity. Thongchi announced his arrival in the literary scene of Assam with his first novel Sonam (1981). The story of the novel is set against the Brokpa tribe (a section of Monpa), a community owning yak herds. Polygamy and polyandry are widely accepted in the Brokpa community. The family system of the Brokpas, where a woman is socially allowed to marry more than one man is the custom around which the story of the novel revolves. 

10. The Northeast Day

Event: 15th Northeast Book Fair, 2013
Theme: The Northeast Day
Date: 2nd January, 2014
Venue: The Assam Engineering Institute Field, Chandmari, Guwahati
Organised in association with Northeast Writers' Forum

The Northeast of India is magical. It's one of the most exotic regions of the world and with some of the most beautiful minded people. So what reason should there be that one wouldn't wish to return to this region time and again, even though their work takes them places?

So, the Northeast Day had quite a presence with the glitterati and the who's who from most of the states of Northeast India, some of them who had flown in especially for the event. The passion with which each one of them spoke, recited poems, sang songs, related incidents of how and why they love the Northeast so much was quite an exhilarating feeling and an all time high. 

Rahul Jain did an excellent job of holding the audience and the panelists together in rapt attention with his question and answer round and literally getting people to talk about their one passion: Living in the Northeast of India.

Kamal Nath, the choreographer from Assam speaking about his love for dance and how he made it in Mumbai

Rajeev Bhattacharya, writer and senior journalist who interviewed Paresh Barua

Right: Manish Deka and Tarun Saikia, the two Assamese to scale the Mt. Everest

Extreme left: Anjali Joshi, award winning writer from London on a tour of the Northeast

The designer of the rupee symbol, D. Udaya Kumar

Swapnil Bharali, travel writer from Guwahati

Jayanta Pathak, the King of Remix, who is a big name in Mumbai

Dr. Srutimala Duwarah, writer

Left: Tapan Bhattacharya, renowned music director in Mumbai from Assam 

Extreme right: Desmond Kharmouphlang, renowned poet from Meghalaya

So Mom, now you know why I never really wanted to go out of this region, for whatever exciting reason you gave me and thought I would be enamoured by it. I am so proud of my friends, each one of them who have dared to put NE in the world map. Proud to be a Northeast Indian! Way to go people!