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Book Reviews
Asomiya: Handpicked Fictions
Selected by The North East Writers’ Forum (Katha 2003)
by Jennifer M. Bayer
 This
is an Anthology of stories created by writers from Assam. The land where
the confluence of cultures seep deep, in a worldview, like, the powerful
river Brahmaputra, which winds its way through thick forests and where
humanity throngs its river bed. A neat mix of nature with traditions!
The ‘Introduction’ to the volume, says in simple terms, what is so
apparent of the northeast. The seven sisters are held together and
geographically tied to the rest of India as if it were through a loop
knot, a sphere of life and space, where perceptions are of the
‘unknown’, because history and topography, of the region, physicality of
people - their dress and cuisine are ‘different’, incomprehensible to
the ‘other’ people who traverse their sphere of life and find their
worldview ‘diverse’ and ‘dissimilar’.
Stories in this collection weave a web, so fine tuned, the reader flows
through a stream of consciousness, which allures to appreciate its
uniqueness, multi-ethnicity and aloofness. The maze is so woven that
each unique little region is enmeshed showcasing its cultural wealth, in
spite of, being located in the midst of high mountains, impenetrable
forests and raging wealth.
In “The Invitation” Arupa Patangia Kalita, tells the saga of a woman in
turmoil with changing times. (Translated by Arunabha Bhuyan)
In “Munni’s Legs” Atulananda Goswami, paints a picture of how a happy
train journey turns bitter and tortuous as a result of a bomb blast. In
the mayhem new acquaintances, made on the train, remember the affable
and lovable Munni, even though in deep pain. (Translated by Atulananda
Goswami and D. N. Bezboruah)
Translated by D. N. Bezboruah, Bhabendranath Saikia’s reflections
through “The Cavern” voices the white man’s assumption very
realistically
“Many people with black skin had been born in that country and died one
day merely because they had happened to be born. They hadn’t done
anything beyond being born and dying, and they hadn’t done anything now
either. Therefore, no one had a better right to the country than the
highly civilized immigrant race that had taken the land up from the deep
caverns of darkness to hold it aloft in the brilliant light of
civilization and prosperity through untiring industry and sacrifice. God
had not made a mistake in creating a class of people with glistening
white skin. His verdict lay hidden in the different in skin color. The
dark skinned idiots, incapable of realizing this verdict, sinned in the
name of rebellion, but it remained the sacred duty of people like Mr.
Piener to show unstinted respect to this pronouncement.” (p. 39)
Unstinted respect indeed!
Mr. Piener had a heart transplant, a heart from the colored man! The
wife of the man whose heart was living in the white man’s, requests him
to allow her to listen the heartbeat of her husband. This turns out to
be a torment for Piener. Would the color of his face, his body,
gradually turn black? Because of the organ that circulates his blood?
These thoughts torture the protagonist in this story. The end is
touching.
“Sirala and Sinduin” by Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya, translated by
Srutimala Duara, is a tale of conflict and pain of true love between
individuals from two conflicting cultures. One was from the hills and a
tribal, the other, a social reformer from the plains. Love in the midst
of conflict hardly blossoms!
“Guilt” by Harikrishna Deka, translated by Mitra Phukan. is about
Durgeswari, the chief protagonist in the story who in her old age is
called to stand witness to a death on the rail track. By coincidence she
is witness to a murder that is similar to the way she murdered her
husband. The torment in her heart is such that she amazes the police
when she blurts out. “Yes, yes, I killed him! I killed him!”
“Looking for Ismael Sheikh” by Homrn Borgohain, translated by Pradipta
Borgohain, is the narrative of two women, in the centre of history, in
Purbo Bangla one of them in search the man and the other running away
from the man in their lives, the latter from her father, now a
rikshawala, previously a Brahmin and a Sanskrit scholar. The former, an
administrator, in search of the man whose life she devastated. In the
context of similarities in predicaments experienced by the two women,
the story ends with a changed form of their perseverance. Is it
worthwhile fighting against the tides of behavior?
“Bride” by Indira Goswami, translated by Liza Das, is about a would-be
bride, which is a reflection of distressing moments traditional Indian
brides face, before they are selected by the bridegroom’s family. And
finally the tumultuous end of a dream that comes true.
“Defeat” by Joytidev Goswami, translated by Mitra Phukan is about
platonic love between two married individuals. Society, however,
dismisses it as unrealistic and impossible. Two families, completely
shattered, break their bonds of marriage.
“Missing” is Krishna Bunyan’s way of telling a story of an orphan boy,
who runs away from the clutches of an exploitative and cruel rich man,
into the arms of a poor clerk who is kind and loving. But fate has it
that the boy discovers the plight of the clerk. He temporarily helps the
clerk out of a momentary situation, to be once again confronted with
torture and pain from the same rich man that he decides to take an
extreme step which torments and persecutes the clerk’s state of mind.
This is translated by Meenaxi Barkotoki.
A romance in college, turned sour, the pangs of separation, and in the
twilight of their lives, they realize, the reason, for one abruptly
leaving, at a time when they both decided to dedicate their lives for a
village. Kulla Saikia’s “The Twilight Hour” is told by the male
protagonist. This is translated by Rupanjali Baruah.
In the twilight of their lives, she tells him: “How could I tell you
that I would slowly turn a cripple, ….. I would have been a nightmare in
the foundation of your dreams.” …… “Now that I have found you again,
this waiting for death does not bother me.”
This is a stirring romance that moves one to tears!
‘The Protectors’ by Lakshmi Nandan Bora, is translated by Samudra Gupta
Kashyap.
Sompaguri is a well knit village. People are honest. There are no
thieves amongst the residents. The Government decides to open a ‘thana’
to protect the village. The villagers are amused. Do they need one? They
think, they do not, but the establishment thinks, they do. Several
incidents prove the mighty power of the police, even when they are
caught. A tale so common!
“Audition” by Mahim Bora is translated by Bibhash Choudhury. The voice
of Prafulla was such that it could drive his mother crazy. He however
harbored the secret desire to go on air so that his voice would create
sound waves in the air across the universe. Through the power that his
friend wielded in the radio station he is almost successful.
“On the death of an elephant” by Nirad Choudhury is translated by
Madhobi Medhi.
An elephant and two men die in a train accident. The hue and cry is
about the death and stench of the elephant lying on the road. While all
passers by block their noses again the foul smell emanating from the
elephant, the writer notices that one woman, not quite conscious of the
stench, gazes at the site through the racing bus, .
In her daze at losing her husband, the writer, volunteers to help mother
and son catch the right bus back to their village. Her son divulges to
the writer that even his father, the mahout, died with the elephant,.
The writer is perturbed at the inhumanness of people. While all pros and
cons were discussed about the elephant, the writer wonders, why there
isn’t thoughts about the two men who also died. Have we lost heart!
‘The Crucifixion’ by Nirupama Borgohain is translated by Pradipta
Borgohain.
Fear among the labor class, should they divulge their religious affinity
to lose their source of income, is a theme of the story. This and much
more is there for the reader to realize that trepidation runs through
their veins, considering the fact that there are opposing forces that
the administration craves to torture and terrorize, and vice-versa.
‘Moina’ by Sarat Chandra Goswami is translated by Gayatri Bhattacharya.
Narrated by the protagonist, she has revenge on god. He took away her
baby son. To drown her loneliness, while he is away at work, one day, he
brings her a myna in a cage. She teaches ‘Moina’ to talk, and one day
her happiness is short lived as god takes away her ‘lord’. Back with her
parents, her only company is her beloved ‘Moina’. But then god seems to
be unkind to her, as her ‘Moina’ succumbs to a poisonous sting. Her
revenge against god lives with her.
“Lost” by Saurabh Kumar Chlikha is translated by Meenaxi Barkotoki. A
missing link within the self, a realisation that one’s creative
potential often de-links one from reality, is portrayed as the author is
perplexed at the tune that repeatedly recurs softly from the bottom of
his heart.
“Disease” by Sheelbhadra is translated by Surajit Barooah.
A mere incident is just news to the unaffected, but to the affected it
is a life long experience of torment, especially when the breadwinner
dies, and his family is in the quagmire of poverty and sickness.
This is all the more poignant in a conflict borne area. The reasons for
disappearance of individuals are often never questioned. The petrified
nerve of society is silently stomached – insensitive to normal
happenings.
The pain endured by Pradeep Mahant’s mother at his disappearance,
evolves across time. So much so, when consoled about her sons’
vanishing, by that time she has lost memory of his very being. When the
writer visits her and asks her
“Won’t Pradip be upset if he sees you lying around like this?” Her
answer is, “Pradip? Who’s he? Who are you talking about?”
This is in short is how “Disease” by Sheelabhadra and translated by
Surajit Barooah reads.
“The Decision” By Syed Abdul Malik is translated by D. N. Bezboruah.
Conscious awareness of her responsibility to educate her two brothers
and nurse her sick mother leads Aimoni to decide not to take the vow of
matrimony.
Having fulfilled her tasks, her life enters the next phase. Caught
between the proposal for marriage from an affluent bachelor and the
sobriety of a widower with two children, she opts for the widower,
because of her affection for his children.
The Anthology is an imaginative mix of themes any reader could relate
to. It is universal in nature, considering the fact that many of these
stories could happen in any geographical locale, setting apart its
socio-cultural nuances.
This could be an excellent ‘text’ for a course in Language and
Literature.
The Writers could have added explanations or meaning of some more
cultural key concepts that occur in the stories.
August 13, 2006
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Book Reviews
The Week of August 13, 2006
Can Corrupt Politicians Preserve Freedom? by
Rajinder Puri
Dreams on Independence Day by Ramesh Menon
India's Vision of Peace with Pakistan is a
Mirage by Dr. Subhash Kapila
Sri Lanka : Back to the Future by Col. Rahul
K. Bhonsle
India Divided by J. Ajithkumar
Political Promotion of Global Islamic Terrorism
by V. Sundaram
Friendship and Culture for World Unity by
TA Ramesh
Communicating with Kids by Garima Gupta
How Long does it take to Rebuild Trust? by
Gary Direnfeld
Geo Hazards: Are we Prepared? by VK Joshi
Lore of the Bean by Dr. V. Sankaran Nair
Cricket Crises by Dr. Prasenjit Maiti
My Multicultural Neighbors by Dhiraj Raniga
A Veritable Cornucopia by Pradip
Bhattacharya
The Story's the Thing by Pradip
Bhattacharya
Bheel Mahabharata: The Rape of Draupadi by
Satya Chaitanya
Oneness in Hinduism by Dr. Madan Lal Goel
What is an Avatar? by C.R. Gopalakrishna
Asomiya: Handpicked Fictions a
Review by Jennifer M. Bayer
India: The Narrow Minded by Kusum Choppra
The Real Bihar by Naghma Masroor
Cleopatra A Story by Dibyendu Ghosal
Introduction to HTTP Cookies by Ruchi Gupta
London: The Most Expensive City in Europe by
Rajesh Talwar
Freedom at Dawn by Prakash Pathre
Heritage Cuisine - Misal by Vikram Karve
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