Contours

Writer: Krishna Dulal Barua

Publisher: Kailash Kumar Rajkhowa, Krantikal Prakashan, Nagaon Pages: 107 Price: Rs 100

A collection of 18 write-ups, Contours highlights some “topics and personalities, concentrating on the less-emphasised yet significant aspects that have missed adequate exposure”. In the chapter Jyoti Sangeet: The Western Influence the writer says that Jyoti Prasad Agarwala visualised that with the access to western music and its structural elements, a base could be prepared for infusing in freshness and vigour to the existent music. He writes about Ratan Thiyam’s celebrated plays in the chapter The Manipur Trilogy. An effort of making each write-up informative as well as analytical is apparent in his articles.

Published on October 28, 2011

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111028/jsp/northeast/story_14676538.jsp

Xanmiholi Barnamala

Life on a poetic canvas

Name of the book: Xanmiholi Barnamala

Writer: Harekrishna Deka

Publisher: Anwesha

Pages: 98

Price: Rs 88

Xanmiholi Barnamala is a collection of 46 poems of noted Assamese litterateur Harekrishna Deka.

As the name, which means “a potpourri of alphabets”, suggests, the book is a collection of poems depicting a variety of moods and emotions. The collection is divided into four categories, emphasising the range of the poems’ varied moods. While some poems are dark and biting, some are replete with hopeful undertones. But more often than not, the poet’s words hit home.

The inherent imagery in the poems is also simple and easy to visualise and serves the purpose it is meant for.

The imagery is striking in the poem Amar Bhoga Gadikhon (Our broken car), which highlights the intellectual divide between generations. Here, the poet beautifully depicts the car as a symbol for time and age.

He laudably paints a clear picture of development-induced displacement through the poem Hothat (Suddenly) and portrays the pitfalls of a materialistic society in Noxa (Sketch).

Shikhar Angulibur (Fingers of a flame) is a poem in which the flame of the funeral pyre of a youngster is visualised as fingers that point at us for being responsible for the prevalent brutality of which he was a victim.

In Aamak Kihobai Upangai Rakhisil (Something kept us floating) Deka laments that the ecstasy of love has become something of the past, while Pratnaj (Archeological) or Shishur Aaviskar (Child’s discovery) delves into the lack of creativity in present day society.

But all throughout, Deka neither preaches nor imposes his views. He is not concerned with any specific ideology; he writes from his own observations and experience, which have lent authenticity to his poems.

He, of course, is not without hope. In Tumalukoloi (To all of you), Deka hopes that the fire of the meji burnt in Magh Bihu will destroy all the divisive and destructive forces of our society to usher in peace, progress and prosperity and our traditional fairs and festivals will lead us along the right way. The importance of man and his innate creativity will return.

Fantasy and reality have been interwoven and treated which mastery; and here lies the poetic craftsmanship of Deka.

Pick up a copy when you’re in the mood for poetry. You will not regret it.

SYED MAHHAMAD MAHSHIN

Published on October 28, 2011

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111028/jsp/northeast/story_14676431.jsp

Rabindranath ebong Shailabas Shillong

Tagore in Shillong

Name of the book: Rabindranath ebong Shailabas Shillong

Author: Malabika Bisharad

Publisher: Vicky Publishers

Number of pages: 114

Price: Rs 200

This is another volume to have graced the shelves in resonance with the 150th birth centenary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore. It explores the poet’s intrinsic bond with abode of clouds during his visits there in 1919, 1923 and 1927 and the influence of the landscape on his creative sensibilities.

The most iconic literary creations emerging from these three visits were Raktakarobi and Shesher Kobita, besides some lesser-known poems. Although Tagore wrote the latter on a trip to South India in 1928, 13 of the novel’s 17 chapters have Shillong as the backdrop.

Malabika Bisharad, the author of this volume, was born and brought up in Calcutta but went to Shillong after her marriage. She did intensive research on Tagore, especially the symbiosis resulting from his stay in the Scotland of the East. In this volume, she has successfully traced the origin and development of these significant literary masterpieces in an inimitable style.

Tagore’s writing in and on Shillong is replete with rich descriptions of its abundance of natural beauty: the fragrance of pine and eucalyptus seeped into the very soul of the poet, then 68, the feelings sublimating into the legendary outpourings. Shillong rejuvenated Tagore to such an extent that he travelled back in time to his youth and not only wrote the utterly romantic Shesher Kobita here, but created masterpieces one after another.

This volume also imparts important information on the particular locations and houses (Sidli, Jeet Bhumi and Brookside) that Tagore stayed in at Shillong and with whom. The data appears dependable enough to act as a reference point for future researchers in their attempt to de-mystify Tagore’s bond with the verdant hills, rolling grasslands, singing brooks and azure skies that he captured so lyrically in his works.

The writer has painstakingly researched the love of the Khasis for Tagore, evident in their celebrating his birth centenary and the 125th birth anniversary, as well as translating his works into the local language. As an activist, Bisharad campaigned for the restoration of the houses Tagore lived in at Shillong. She wrote to the heads of government in Meghalaya, and when that evinced no response, to those at the Centre and in West Bengal. Finally, in 2010, renovations began at Brookside.

To compile these facts from historical research and yet elicit a sense of reverence is not an easy task. Bisharad’s lucid and unpretentious style makes this an interesting read, especially for Tagore aficionados and those who know or have been to Shillong. The lure of the hill town is indeed difficult to resist, and what held true for Tagore echoes in the hearts of this generation too.

SUDIPTA BHATTACHARJEE

Published on October 28, 2011

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111028/jsp/northeast/story_14676437.jsp

Beyond Milestones

Shades of women’s lives

Name of the book: Beyond Milestones

Writer: Manju Borah

Publisher: Purbanchal Prakash

Number of pages: 312

Price: Rs 350

Beyond Milestones is a collection of short stories by Manju Borah, translated into English from the Assamese original.

Manju Borah has been a force to reckon with in the world of meaningful cinema in the Northeast. She is particularly revered for her realistic take on social-cultural issues, bringing them alive on celluloid. Having created gems like Baibhab, Anya Ek Yatra, Akashitora, Laaz and Joymati, which have enthralled audiences beyond linguistic boundaries, her book is an endeavour to bring the storyteller and her stories accessible to both her Assamese and non-Assamese readers.

In the foreword, the author says Beyond Milestones is a chronicle of trivial yet un-ignorable experiences of life. Women, and their struggle to redefine themselves, as well as their roles in the changing societal dynamics, form the crux of these stories.

The title story chronicles the life of Anurag Kashyap, an IIT student who becomes abandons the prospects of a promising corporate career and becomes an IAS aspirant after a friend of his commits suicide. At the IAS coaching centre, he meets a girl trapped in a loveless marriage and with a daughter. The end is a let down, as Anurag decides to free the girl from her bondage and the essence of the story also gets drowned in digressions like dwelling too long on the physical attributes of the girl.

There is also a tendency to stereotype in many of the stories

Whether it is the divorcee Anu, a single mother on a constant quest for love in Cupid Void or the ambitious Maya and Anamika, who assert their independence by indulging in extra-marital affairs in Belle Fantasies, or the scorned woman in Smothered Trust and Transformation; there is a faint hint of a predisposition to typecast and that is a disappointment from a fine woman writer, as one expects a much deeper sensibility and sensitivity to the grey areas.

In the post-feminist era, a woman as the sole carrier of tradition and culture is a bit passé.

It is Pori’s endearing and heartbreaking story which stays with the reader long after one is done reading the book. Told with delicate poignancy, the story of a schoolgirl whose house is razed to give way to a road gives a child’s perspective on development-induced displacement. Pori’s happy world crumbles when she comes back from school to find no one fussing over her meal or asking her how her day was, as the elders in the family are busy grappling with their loss.

The translation is edgy and strained in parts in an attempt to retain the essence of the local. Inevitably, some elements are “lost in translation” but it works just fine.

Pick up a copy. You’ll not be disappointed.

SUMEELA ADHIKARIMAYUM

Published on October 21, 2011

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Aesthetics of the time: A view of Fatehpur Sikri Motifs

Writer: Meghali Goswami

Publisher: Sharada Publishing House

Pages: 176

Price: Rs 2,900

In Aesthetics of the time: A view of Fatehpur Sikri Motifs, the writer presents a comprehensive and critical study of different motifs, their design principles, significances of using certain motifs like floral, faunal and those having geometrical and religious significance. It also discusses the role played by these motifs in the socio-cultural transition. The elements of art, design, technique and method employed are well analysed, reviewed and re-evaluated.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Sunset Club

A tale about twilight

Name of Book: Sunset Club

Author: Khushwant Singh

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 216

Price: Rs 399

Sunset Club is the story of three elderly gentlemen — three strangers who get acquainted while taking walks in Delhi’s Lodi Gardens and develop a close relationship near the sunset of their lives.

The first of the three gentlemen is Pandit Preetam Sharma, a Brahmin and a bachelor, who had held important government posts at home and abroad before retirement.

The second is Sardar Boota Singh, a well-educated widower, who, too, had held important government posts, and is now retired.

The third gentleman is Nawab Barkatullah Baig Dehlavi, who comes from a Pathan family settled in Nizamuddin. He is a wealthy person and has a chain of Yunani medicine shops.

All three are in their mid-eighties.

Khuswant Singh, in his own characteristic style, portrays three distinct individuals in their mid-eighties who talk, laugh and argue while sitting on what came to be known as the boorha bench, owing to the age of its regular occupants.

Sharma, the serious type, takes his caste and religion very seriously, while Singh is fun loving and ebullient, despite suffering from many infirmities. He does not mind having fun at his own or at others’ expense.

Dehlavi, on the other hand, is more circumspect and often plays the role of peacemaker between the other two, though he, too, is not averse to a good laugh at their expense, as is apparent when someone plays a practical joke on them on All Fool’s Day.

Sometimes, in the absence of Sharma, Singh and Dehlavi exchange more personal and salacious stories of their youthful exploits.

Dehlavi grows fond of Singh, and this is evidenced by his observation to his wife that conversations are dull in the latter’s absence.

The account of their meetings begins on the January 26, 2009, and the details — their views on politics and other topics, celebration of the various festivals and their periodical indispositions, the passing of the seasons — stretch on till the end of the year.

With the New Year begins the end of the story, as Dehlavi and Sarma pass away in quick succession, leaving Singh alone with the realisation that his own end was also near.

It would be natural to expect the book to be dull, considering the subject. But Khushwant Singh has woven the whole story in such a way that the reader will find it hard to keep the book down. In fact, one is left with a desire for more even after the story ends.

Like most of his books, Sunset Club is another example of the writer’s storytelling prowess.

A very entertaining read indeed.

H. W. T. SYIEM

Published on October 21, 2011

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html

Nasaribaloga Patkhila

The poetry of solitude

Name of the book: Nasaribaloga Patkhila

Writer: Debaprasad Talukdar

Publisher: Chandra Prakash

Pages: 39

Price: Rs 50

A poet is a philosopher. His is the voice of silence, the world and the man. He sees the essentials of life and living. So when he describes the world, nature, man and society, he tries to pass that intimacy on to the individual within the reader.

All poets of the world share affinities and they seem to breathe in the same air with the same intensity and fervour.

I read Deba Prasad Talukdar’s anthology of poems first in a hurry and then at leisure. But with each reading, he seemed to speak of the candid, simple and honest human heart — its songs, pathos and delights.

What is unnerving and striking about Talukdar’s poetry is that the poet has ungrudgingly learned to accept and accommodate the opposites and the irreconcilable paradoxes of life. The diffident soul of the poet, hesitatingly, as it were, unearthed the marvellous states of nature, including the magnanimity of the seeking and questing in life.

The profundity of time and realisation of life as perceived in the mundane becomes striking metaphors in Talukdar’s poetry.

The cycle of time is simply manifested in the change of seasons, the sensuous poet’s sense of taste and other perceptions as condensed metaphors in the poem Andharot Tomar Mukh.

Another significant poem is Dupariya, which evokes the solitude of the noon, both literally and metaphorically. A unique suggestion of the lonesome heart is symbolised by a trembling rod on which a crow is perched.

The theme of identity and formation of ego is subtly dealt with in Shadow. The advancing years became elongated in time, framed on a surrealistic level — Lahe lahe belito dupar hai mor sitanor pora dholi parise (gradually, very gently, the night has turned into noon and has melted into the feet of my bed). Symbolic suggestions in simple language describe religious and mystical connotations in poems like Eeswar, Ghat and Path. Spontaneity gives way to technical formality when the poet refers to the oft-used metaphor of the play and the stage as analogous to life and living. In the poem Natak Ekhan Chali Thakote (while the play is on), the candour of life gets entangled in art and art replenishes life or living. The voice of the poet works in the solitude, in clear correspondence with the sea and horizon.

The extended suggestion of the metaphor of the mother touches and enriches Debaprasad’s poetry at the spiritual level. The mother is presented as the epitome of boundless patience and tender protection.

The sensitive poet’s heart is overflowing with exuberant mirth at the changes perceptible in the exterior, the natural landscapes. The cycle of nature in an analogous manner suggests trends and episodes of life. Autumn and winter for age and time tend to signify stereotyped versions of similes used, but in this poet’s delineation, a fresh sensuousness is immediately felt. This admission of the poet’s obsession with nature does not, of course, negate in any way his affiliation towards man and community. The poet admits the sacred role of the poet for mankind in the poems like Sei Rode Bichara Manuhjan and Pratibesir Saat.

The book is a must read for those who wants to get a feel of the different hues and sensations associated with life.

GARIMA KALITA

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111014/jsp/northeast/story_14574242.jsp

Seemar Sipare

An exceptional drama

Name of the book: Seemar Sipare

Writer: Baharul Islam

Publisher: Seagull Theatre

Pages: 64

Price: Rs 70

The play Seemar Sipare is all about the jeremiad of a matriach. It is about Bhawana, a mother of four, who loses her husband in a road accident and has to struggle through life against all odds.

The writer honestly admits that the play’s storyline was inspired by a news report published in a national daily.

The protagonist, Bhawana, who had married leaving behind everything she had inherited, had a happy married life till the day her husband met with a major road accident. Despite battling for life for 17 days in an ICU, he died.

Bhawana, unable to bear looking at her husband struggling with death, requested doctors to remove his life support and also signed documents permitting donation of his healthy organs.

But her children could not take their father’s death and donation of his organs lightly. They were convinced that their mother had not actually donated his organs, but sold them for financial gain.

Bhawana then overheard her three daughters discussing among themselves that their father had not died a natural death; he had been murdered for his organs. Shocked and pained, Bhawana decided to spend her life clinging to the love for her husband.

The people who received the donated organs sent letters of gratitude to Bhawana. But she kept this a secret.

As the drama unfolds, Bhawana spends years clinging on to her love and her behaviour and discreetness regarding the contents of the letters baffles her children.

Seemar Sipare is a play loaded with suspense and tension. Baharul Islam explores some of the myriad shades of the human mind, breathing individuality into each of the characters. The dialogues are precise, polished and pointed and reveal the inner conflicts in the six characters.

An outstanding script, crowned by the beautiful cover artwork by Noni Borpuzari, is a must read for drama buffs.

SYED MAHHAMAD MAHSHIN

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111014/jsp/northeast/story_14574376.jsp

Mrityunjay

Name of the book: Mrityunjay

Publishers name: Orchid Publication

Writer: Birendra Kumar Bhattacharyya

Translated by: D.N. Bezboruah

Number of pages: 411

Price: Rs 250

In the name of the country

Conflict is the predominant theme of Mrityunjay, the Assamese novel that won Birendra Kumar Bhattacharyya the Jnanpith Award in 1979. In the turbulent eddies of the Quit India Movement, the dichotomy between the Gandhian path to independence and the more revolutionary vision of some others has been intricately woven into this volume.

In 1942, Bhattacharyya had witnessed the Barapathar derailment. Twentyeight years later, he created Mrityunjay, a graphic tale of the Panikhaiti derailment, which killed hundreds of soldiers of the British Raj. The plot brings together the rustic and the religious, the urbane and the patriotic, in a collective spirit that conquers death as it were, hence mrityunjay. The narrative is so visually resplendent that it could well work as a film script. With the sturdy delineation of the primary protagonists — the irreverent Dhanpur, the saintly Mahat Goswami, Aahina Konwar, Bhibhiram, Lairam, Prince Baneswar, Rupnarayan, among others, the characterisation is almost faultless, not merely symbolic or ideological.

The sum total of the conflict that rages in these characters is evident as an undercurrent throughout. The backdrop is the struggle raging in Nowgong of that era, where martyrs Bhogeswari Phukanani and Tilak Deka shine as an inspiration for this bunch of patriots who are unafraid to die.

The ambit of characterisation includes Nature in large measure. There are passages where Nature charmingly suffuses the emotion of the moment; at others, the vivid description of the landscape or fauna lends a dramatic dimension to the sequence of developments. Examples abound — the green hills of Assam, the rivers and banyan trees that act as a foil or add poignancy to the situational interplay of events.

The translation into English by D.N. Bezboruah is commendable, especially in the case of verse; he has painstakingly ensured the rhyme sequences. There are a few stilted passages (as in "Do you think they are going to give up so easily what goes with them even up to their deaths?") Local nuances, such as the "By Krishna" prefix used by Vaishnavites, does jar when read in English. But these are pitfalls common to all translations.

Comparisons with other novels of the period, such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadyay’s Anandamath, would be irrelevant because Bhattacharyya’s canvas is restricted to a small portion of the freedom struggle. But what makes it a panoramic interplay of events and characterisation is his vision and capacity to give a single incident the universality and permanence one associates with true art.

SUDIPTA BHATTACHARJEE

Published on July 1, 2011