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Journalism of Courage
IN Assam, books belong to the women. The publishers agree. 8220;Yes, it is a women-on-top situation,8221; says Ananta Hazarika, whose publishing house Banalata has just gone for the eleventh edition of Anuradha Sarma Pujari8217;s novel Kanchan, first published in 1996. Sarma Pujari, whose every novel has remained a bestseller, has now taken over as editor of Saatsori 8212; a leading literary magazine that was till last month headed by veteran author and novelist Homen Bargohain.
Sarma Pujari however is not lonely at the top. She shares shelf space with women writers, including Monikuntala Bhattacharyya, Rita Choudhury, Arupa Patangia Kalita, Leena Sharma, Maini Mahanta, Anupama Basumatary, Mousumi Kandali.
Take Monikuntala Bhattacharyya8217;s Arundhati for instance. It8217;s about a young divorcee finding a new partner and the traditional Assamese family accepting her. Her other novel Sandhya is woven around the theme of HIV AIDS 8212; the state is still in denial over it. Rita Choudhury8217;s novels on the other hand have historical value.
Deolangkhui, for instance, is a novel on a little-known historical character of Assam, while in Ei Samay Sei Samay 8212; a novel running into 488 pages 8212; she uses the Assam movement against Bangladeshi infiltration as her backdrop to reflect upon the young angry Assamese mind.
Author Nirupama Bargohain says the women writers have always been more sincere and serious about telling a story. 8220;Women anyway have this inherent quality of looking at things more deeply then men. And thus, when a woman decides to tell a story, she analyses the issues from various angles,8221; adds Bargohain, a Sahitya Akademi award winner, whose best-known novel Abhijatri is based on the life-story of Chandraprabha Saikiani, founder of the women8217;s movement in Assam.
8220;It is also worth noting that more and more women are taking to writing fiction in Assamese today. And more interesting is that most of them are working women,8221; Bargohain says, wondering how working women find the time to write. While Rita Choudhury and Arupa Patangia Kalita are college teachers, Leena Sharma a is a senior railway officer. Anupama Basumatary is a bank employee and Maini Mahanta is editor of a women8217;s magazine.
8220;It is not that you have to be free of household hassles to write well,8221; says Monikuntala Bhattacharyya, who is a housewife unlike most of the others. 8220;Novels are very often built around the sentiments of the common people. And it is the sensitive woman who as an author can reflect such sentiments much better than a male author who often tries to hold tight a mask on his face to conceal his feelings, emotions,8221; she claims.
Harekrishna Deka, another Sahitya Akademi award winner, who, after retiring as the director-general of Assam Police is currently editor of Gariyasi 8212; the most prestigious literary magazine of the state 8212; however, is not sure about the literary quality of the work of the younger generation of Assamese women writers.
8220;Several of these young women writers are no doubt popular. But popularity alone cannot be considered the index or yardstick of quality. I think we will have to wait and watch this new breed of women writers for some years and see how well they sustain,8221; says Deka.
