Ha kane ka Baibl Sunday ki kyntien jingkyrmen ki long aiu ka Baibl Ka Kren. Ka Baibl ka dei ka kotbah bad ka kot bakhuid kaba wat ki bym ngeit khristan ruh ki sngewtynnad ban pule ia ka. Lehse don kiba pyrkhat ba ka Baibl kam don khubor shuh bad kam don ei ei shuh ban hikai. Kajuh shi kajuh ki briew ki la pule ia ka mynta la palat hajar snem bad lehse ka la rngat ki pasoh bad jor jinghikai. Hynrei ka Baibl ka don ki kyntien kiba im bad kiba ai jingkyrmen, bad ki briew na ka pateng sha ka pateng ki Ïai pynlong ia ka Baibl ba kan kren.
Category: Culture
Throughout his school and college days Meghnad Saha had often to suffer untouchability and this continued even after he became a teacher and researcher. He had a particularly tough time in Allahabad because of the greater casteism that prevailed there as compared to Bengal. So unlike other Indian scientists he did not remain content to do scientific research only but drawing from his own difficult experience of school and college, began working to popularise teaching and research in science. He said that given the very low level of education right from schools to colleges, India had a very poor scientific base and human power and this could be rectified only by universalising state sponsored free quality education. He believed that the problems of social and economic oppression and the medieval mindset from which they emanated could be eradicated by the spread of science education at all levels even more than by social and political mobilisation. He also believed that modern industrial development would be necessary for removing poverty but cautioned against a total discard of the traditional methods of agriculture and rural cottage industry. To this end he founded The National Institute of Science in 1935 and began publishing the journal “Science and Culture” to propagate his views.
Deliriously successful when first released way back in 1996, Lucky Ali’s O Sanam, once again sparked interest when a video-blogger by the name of Saad Khan recently released a video of Lucky Ali singing the song. Within a couple of days Saad Khan’s video went viral and raked in a huge amount of nostalgia for the India of the nineties. Lost in this surge of emotion was the fact that the Lucky Ali we saw in the video was far from the Lucky Ali we first saw in the mid-nineties. The man in Saad Khan’s blog video was older, with a face marked by the passage of time and more importantly marked by a beard and a skull cap, which seemed to suggest that he was a pious Muslim. The fact that this markedly Muslim accoutrement went unremarked upon in a time of general hostility to Muslims in India is surprising. But this silence could also imply apathy, which is a shame since this image does have a message for contemporary India even as the country bathes in the nostalgia for the nineties.
Saw phew sngi ha ri khlaw u Jisu u shem ba ka jingim ba kynja doh kam dei tang ma ka bynta jong ka longbriew manbriew bad ka longiing longsem. Ha ka juh ka por ka spah kam dei tang ma ka, ka nongrim ban pynieng ia ka imlang sahlang bad ia ka iit ka hima. Hato ngin pynshong nongrim ia ka jingim, ia ka iit ka hima bad ia ka imlang sahlang tang ha ka spah? ne tang ha u kpu? ne ngin pynshong nongrim ruh ia ka jingim, ia ka iit hima bad ka imlang sahlang ha “ka ktien baroh kaba mih noh na ka shyntur u Blei” . Ka jingshngain jong ka Ri kam shong tang ha ki tup ki man, ki tiar thma bad ki bor shipai. Ka roi ka par jong ka Ri kam mut tang ki “shopping mall” ne ki kali “Audi” ne “Rubicon” ne ki kamra ophis kiba siang da ki maw marbel bad ki dieng sal kiba phyrnai bad ba remdor. Hynrei ka roi ka par ka dei ka jingim kaba suk, ba tngen bad ka dei ka jingkoit jingkhiah jong baroh ki nongshong shnong. Ka dei ka jingim kaba ki khun ki kti ki ioh ban shong skul, ban nang ban stad bad ki samla ki ioh ka kamai kajih ba biang. Ka roi ka par ka dei ka jingsei soh ka rep ka riang bad ka dei ruh ka synshar hok bad ka bishar hok.
Earlier this year, I was going through the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) from the 1960s. HUAC was responsible for investigating suspected Communist activities in the US, and elsewhere. One particular testimonial from New York caught my eye…
Bhashani, treated contemptuously by foes and even friends as ‘illiterate’ and a ‘rustic fool’, was on the editorial board of one the leading Afro-Asian magazines of the 1960s!…
Throughout his political career, Maulana Bhashani had been the founder and publisher of several papers and magazines, notably Ittefaq in 1949 and Haq Katha in 1972. However, this was the first time I was seeing his name on an international editorial board, and what an illustrious one it was as well.
Kane ka dei ka jingduwai u Nehemaiah. Ka jingduwai kaba lyngkot ki kyntien, tangba ka long ka jingduwai kaba jylliew bad kit jingmut shibun. Kane ka jingduwai kam dei kaba loi loi ne kaba jia shabar na ka jylli ka imlang sahlang. Kane ka jingduwai ka iasnoh bad kawei jingjia histori, kumta ka donkam ban pule bad puson ia ka hapoh ka jylli jong kane ka jingjia histori.
Ha ki spah bad hajar snem ba la leit noh ka histori ka iathuh khana shaphang ki thma niam bad ki jingiaumsnam. Ha kane ka juk ruh ki thma niam bad jingiakynad jaidbynriew ki jur, ki jyllei bad barabor ki ritpaid, ki thab ki dap bad ki phetwir ki dei ki sohpdung bad ki langknia ha kano kano ka jingiakynad bad jingiaunsnam. Kaba kham sniew ha kane ka juk bad spah snem ba arphew wei ka long ba ki briew ki shah peit bein kum ki nonglehkam sniew ne shah niew kum ki nongpop tang namar ba ki duk bad kine ruh ki long ki langknia ha ki jingiaumsnam. Mynta kumne ka pyrthei ka sakhi ia ka jingiapait kaba khraw ha ka Ri America ha kane ka elekshon 2020. Ha kiwei pat ki Ri ki lehnoh Muslim kum ki ISIS, Taliban bad Boko Haram ki pyndonkam da ka wait, u sum bad ki ktang suloi ban tei ia ki “Islamic State”. Niuma, ym dei ba pyniasyriem ia ka Ri India bad kine, hynrei ym lah ban len ba ka seng sain hima BJP ka ioh ka jingkyrshan na ki kynhun heh paid ka niam Hindu bad kine ki kynhun heh paid Hindu, khamtam eh ki kynhun shitniam ki pynpaw ia ka dur bad jinglong tynrai jong ki ba kim sngewbha ba kiwei pat ki kynhun niam bad jaidbynriew ki bym dei na kajuh ka tyllong ban shong ban sah ne ban long ki nongshong shnong ha India. Kumjuh ruh ha America ki kynhun “KKK” bad “White Evangelical Christians” ki dei ki nongkyrshan ba radbah jong ka seng sain hima Republican bad ki ju kheinpoh ia kiwei pat ki jaidbynriew.
“…Balei ba phi sheptieng…?”- ki kyntien ba u Jisu u kren ha ki synran kiba shong ha ka lieng kynda kaba la jan ngam jyllop ha ka duriaw na ka daw jong ka eriong bad jingat phyllung kaba jur. Kane ka jingjia kam don jingiadei ei ei ruh em bad ngi, hynrei ka pynkynmaw ia ngi ba ngi dei ban jop ia ka jingsheptieng. Ym lah ban len ba ka jingsheptieng ka tyllep bad pynjem khnap ia ka jingim bad kumta ka khubor ka long ban jop ia ka jingsheptieng.
Lehse ki nongsngap bad nongpule ki lah ban lyngngoh ia u dak jingkylli uba don ha ba kut ki kyntien “Ka Jingim bymjukut”. Hato u nongkren u artatien mo ia ka jingim bymjukut? Em kam dei kumta, pynban u dak jingkylli u pynpaw ia ka jingiaksaid kaba jur ban sngewthuh ia ka jingjylliew jong kane ka sobjek bad kumno ban pynmynta ia ka jingim bymjukut.
Ka Babel ka dei ka khanatang kaba la rim tam kaba ngi lah ban shem bad pule ha ka kitab Jenesis 11. Ka dei ka khana lyngkot kaba don khyndai tylli ki dkhot bad ka dei kawei na ki khanatang kaba bud ryngkhi ia kiwei pat kiba shem ha ka kitab Jenesis kiba kynthup naduh ka jingthaw -jingpynlong ia ka pyrthei ter ter haduh ka khana shaphang ka jingshlei um ha ka por u Noah
Not many young people may know now but the Hindi comic book industry was very vibrant during the 1990’s. There were so many titles coming out every month. You had Raj Comics (my favourite), Manoj Comics, Tulsi Comics, Fort Comics, Radha Comics, Diamond Comics and then you had characters like Super Commando Dhruva (my favourite), Najrag, Ram-Rahim, Chacha Choudhary, Abedh, Judo queen Radha, Inspector Crookbond, Hawaldar Bahadur, Bankelal, and many more. And then there were other publications like Rajhans, Chandamama and of course Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle. I can say with pride that I had one of the early issues of Tinkle and a particular story of loan repayment which has always stuck with me. In short, my childhood was filled with comic books.
Ka Balang bad ki bangeit kim lah ban kiar met na kiei kiei kiba jia sawdong bad ki don ka kamram ban pyrkhat bad puson katkum ka nongrim bad jinghikai shongtynrai ba ka Balang ka hikai ia ki. Ha kane ka sngi ngin puson halor ki katto katne ki jinghikai shongtynrai ka Balang Presbyterian bad aiu ki don ban hikai ha kane ka juk.
Ngi im ha ka juk kaba ngi tip kum ka “Neo Liberal Era”, ka juk kaba pynkha ia ka jingduk jingkyrduh (mynta ha kylleng ka Pyrthei ngin shem ba don 1% kiba riewspah bad 99% kiba duk bad kyrduh tasam), ka juk kaba wanrah ia ka rukom khaii mraw bathymmai ia ki para briew, ka juk kaba ngeit ha ka kolshor ba uba riewspah u nang riewspah bad uba duk u nang kyrduh tasam bad la nang pynthaw shuh ia ka lhuh ba shyrkhei kaba pyniakhlad hapdeng ki para briew. Ki Sorbah ki sakhi ia kane bad ki dak ki shin ki paw tyngkrein ba sawdong ka rud ka kiar ki iing paki dulan ki don da ki spah tylli ki iing kyndap-tap shilliang da ki tin umphniangbam rong iong bad kine ki iing ki shah rong ha ka umsaw bad ka lat lat ha ka por u ‘lapbah ‘lapsan .
#Sermon #Khlam #KyrsoiborPyrtuh
“Kawei kaba phalang lyngba ka jingim u Jisu Khrist ka dei kane; “ka bor jong ka jingtlot bad ka jingtlot jong ka bor”. Ha ka pyrthei, ka Bor ka dei ka pdeng jong ka jingim, la ka long ka synshar-ka bishar, ka khaii-pateng, ka niam, ka imlang sahlang bad kiwei de. Naduh hyndai, kawei ka Ri ka ialeh ban synshar halor kawei pat, ki Ri bakhraw bor ki pyntian jubor ia ka rukom pyrkhat bad rukom im jong ki ha kiwei pat. Ha kano kano ka Ri ka kynhun Jaidbynriew ba hehpaid ka leh meng, ka leh khraw bad kyrniom ia kiwei ki Jaidbynriew ba ritpaid. Kumjuh ruh ka kynhun niam ba heh paid ka leh donbor bad pynbor ia kiwei ban pdiang ia ka jingngeit bad ia ka niam ka rukom jong ka. Kawei ka dustur ne kolshor ka pynpaw ba ka dei kaba kham bha ne janai ban ia kawei pat. Ki hehpaid ki thep jubor ha ki ritpaid ia ka niam, ka rukom, ka riti dustur bad ki niad rong ym tang ia ka shynrong hynrei wat ia ka jabieng ruh kaba don hapoh ka shynrong. Nalor kine, mynta ha kane ka juk “Neo-Liberal” ka don sa ka sainpyrkhat ne kolshor kaba ban bein, ba pynduk bad leh beijot ia ki rangli juki, ia ki sem shilliang bad kup shilliang. Ka kolshor kaba pynkha ia ka kharai ha ka ioh ka kot bad ka kolshor kaba pynkhie im biang ia ka juk khaii mraw ia ki para briew.”
Mynta ka sngi ngin pule ia ka jingrwai Salm ba Sawphew (40) bad ka Khasi- CL Version ka pyndonkam da kine ki kyntien ha ka Salm 40:3, “U hikai ia nga ban rwai ia ka jingrwai bathymmai”, katba ha ka Khasi OV (Reference) pat la pyndonkam da ki kyntien, “Bad U la buh ia ka jingrwai bathymmai ha ka shyntur jong nga”. Niuma, ngin ym iatai hangne ia ka rukom pynkylla ktien, hynrei ngin pule ia kane ka jingrwai Salm bad pyndei ia ka bad ka por ba ngi im.
Kabiranjan Saikia, popularly known as Swadhinata Phukan who was the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Although Swadhinata Phukan was a member of the civil wing of the banned outfit, he was gunned down in a fake encounter by the state police on the night of 26 May 2000 at Garumara in the Jorhat district of Assam. He was 26 at that time. These two poems by Kabiranjan Saikia – “Aartonador Enixa” [“A Night of Screams”], written on 29 February 1992 and “Xamprotik” [“Nowadays”], written on 18 February 1993 – are sourced from an anthology of his poems, Moi Kabiranjan Uttopto Hobo Khuja Eta Kobitar Naam [I Am Kabiranjan, the Name of a Poem Wanting to Erupt], published by Aank-Baank in 2011.
It is the season for bambooshoot in Northeast India. Hundreds of women venture into the forests during these months to forage for the tender shoots. Some are consumed fresh, and a large quantity are fermented and preserved. As condiments, fermented bambooshoot (dried or wet) are generously added to meat, fish, and vegetables.
Ka kitab u Hosia ka long kaba sngewtynnad bad ba bang ban pule bad ka jingpyrkhat jong u Hosia shaphang u Blei ka iasnoh bad ka jingim shimet jong u bad ka kyrsoi na kaei kaba ma u hi u mad bad iashem ha ka jingim, kata ka jingiadei jong U bad ka Gomer. Katkum ka Bible u Hosia u dei u tnga jong ka Gomer bad ki don lai ngut ki khun. U Bishop Spong u ong,don ar tylli ki jingbatai shaphang ka jingiapoikha hapdeng u Hosia bad ka Gomer. Kawei ka long, ba u Hosia u shongkurim ia ka nuti bad kawei pat ka long ba kham hadien ka Gomer ka kylla nuti bad ka shah die mraw. Hynrei kine kim dei ki khana ha ka kitab u Hosia bad ka kitab U Hosia ka kren shaphang ka Jingieid. Kane harum ka dei ka khana kaba nga la ring bad pynwan dur na ka jingthoh u John Shelby Spong shaphang ka jingiadei u Hosia bad ka Gomer.
Ka khlam ka la pynjulor bad ki samla kynthei, shynrang bad kiwei pat, ki shaiong bad sheptieng ban pyrkhat ia ka jingpynjot jong ka. Ha kajuh ka por kane kam pat dei kaba kut jong ka jingim bad barabor ka jingshai ka ap ha ba kut ka lynti iaid ba dum tliw tliw. Ha ka almanac jong ka Balang Presbyterian kane ka dei ka taiew jong ki samla bad kane ka sermon ka mih na ka jingiakren-iatai bad ki katto katne ngut ki samla kiba phohsniew bad saindur ia ka lawei.
KA ÏING KHOM IEW HA BARIK
Da lah kyntiew
yn sa ieng kum u mot bah
ka ing tep ba ramhah kynsha
ba mih tyrpeng ba pyiar
ban kajoh ban dem sdien da jingsngewrain
ha ki biar, ki dak thoh kin khih kyrbeit
sha ki kyrteng jong ki paidbah…
A SHOPPING MALL IN BARIK
When it rises
it will stand like a large tomb
A monstrous mausoleum
with shoulders stretched
long enough to hang in shame
on its walls, alphabets will assemble
into the names of the people…
The Whole Family’ is a photo project that portrays the emotional longing of the family members of the missing. It is an artistic intervention in support of them as they continually ask the authorities about the whereabouts of the enforced disappeared people during the 10 years long People’s War in Nepal.
It is a reenactment to create a complete family photo that portrays the vacuum created by the loss of the family member. This photo project focuses on the emotional loss and shows the current socio-economic situation of the remaining family members.
Kaei ka Eksodos? Ki riewstad Bible ki ong, ka wei ka dei ka jinglaitim ne jinglaitluid jong ki mraw Hebru na Ijipt bad ka jingiaid lyngba ka Duriaw Basaw. Ka ba ar pat, ka dei ka jingmih ne jingphet noh ki mraw Hebru na Ijipt hadien ka jingiap jong ki khun nyngkong shynrang. Ki don ruh ki riewstad kiba ong ba kane ka kynhun ki mraw kam dei tang ki Hebru hynrei ka kynthup ruh ia kiwei de ki Jaidbynriew kiba long mraw ha Ijipt.
The construction of popular narratives about a place is sometimes driven by an overuse of popular tropes, which delegitimises and silences the local community’s own interpretations of their history and culture. A Google search on ‘Mayong’ opens results such as ‘India’s Black Magic Capital’, ‘Land of Black Magic’, and so on, where the words ‘black’, ‘occult’, and ‘spooky’ take a connotative precedence. The image search provides a confusing plethora of images ranging from portraits of Naga sadhus smeared in bibhuti (holy ash), neo-Vaishnavite Assamese monks, Amazonian tribes and shamans passed off as practitioners of ‘black magic’ in Mayong. There is a particularly odd image of a collection of globes, a skeleton, and an assortment of objects, ostensibly hosted by the ‘Mayong Central Museum and Emporium of Black Magic and Witchcraft’. The image is definitely not from any museum in Mayong and the words “Black Magic” and “Witchcraft” were never a part of any museum title in Assam. The frontier Kamrupa-Pragjyotishpur has always been associated with magic and myths around magical practices since ancient times, because of the Śākta cult of the Kamakhya temple, and alleged instances of blood sacrifices and associated Tantric practices. This exoticization of Mayong in popular imagery, therefore, has deep historical roots.
On 5th August 2020 the Bhartiya Janta Party lived up to its promise of ‘Mandir Vahin Banega’ as India’s Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of a temple at the place of a historical mosque demolished by the same party in 1992 in Ayodhya. While preparations of a grand temple in Ayodhya are on, it must be remembered that just a couple of years back in 2017, the Sardar Sarovar dam was inaugurated by the same Prime Minister with great fanfare in which large number of religious places of the Adivasis, Hindus, Jains and Muslims were drowned in the dam waters permanently.
When the world was young and when all the animals spoke the language of mankind, the peacock, U Klew, was but an ordinary grey-feathered bird without any pretensions to beauty. But, even in those days, he was much given to pride and vanity, and strutted about with all the majesty of royalty, just because his tuft was more erect than the tuft of other birds and because his tail was longer and was carried with more grace than the tails of any of his companions.
Ka jingwan arsien u Jisu Khrist watla ka dei ka mat kaba iakren tang hapoh ka jylli Khristan pynban ki don ki khep ba ka ktah ia ka imlang-sahlang, ia ka jingiadei shi iing shi sem ne para marjan ne para shnong bad ka wanrah ia ka jingpait iing bad pait Balang. Katkum ka Bible, ha ki sngi kiba nyngkong jong ka Balang Khristan ki bangeit ha u Jisu ki ap khmih lynti ba kata ka iia bad ka jingwan arsien kan jia noh ha ka pateng jong ki hi.
On August 9, 2020 my colleague, friend and mentor Prof. Ilina Sen passed away in Kolkata, in the presence of her partner Dr. Binayak Sen and their two daughters, Pranhita and Aparajita. She was 69 years old and in the space of the number of years that she was with us, Ilina taught us the value of compassion, courage and determination as weapons of resistance in the face of adversity. I had first heard of her when I first got involved in the human rights movement in the 1990s. She and Binayak had settled in Chattisgarh, where the trade union movement led by Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha had brought together a radical, grassroots platform that included indigenous rights activists, mine workers, women’s rights advocates and others marginalised groups.
Ka Ri India ka la kynjoh 73 (hynniewphew lai) snem ka rta naduh ba la ioh ia ka jinglaitluid na ka Sorkar Bilat. Ngi niewkor shikatdei ia kane ka jinglaitluid bad ha kajuh ka por pat ngi syier bad artatien iohba ha kane ka juk ka jinglaitluid ka dei tang ka pushara ia ka shynrong maw jingtep? Kan sah kynmaw ruh ba ngi rakhe ia ka Sngi Laitluid hapdeng ka khlam bad ka dei ka jingkit kaba khia tam ban khyllie pat ia ka Ri na ka jingpynjot jong ka khlam.
If instead of being hanged by the neck
you’re thrown inside
for not giving up hope
in the world, your country, your people,
if you do ten or fifteen years
apart from the time you have left,
you won’t say,
“Better I had swung from the end of a rope
like a flag” —
You’ll put your foot down and live.
It may not be a pleasure exactly,
but it’s your solemn duty
to live one more day
to spite the enemy.
Ka snem 2020 ruh ka dei ka ‘nemsniew namar ka khlam corona bad sa katno tylli ki snem kin nangsniew nangne shakhmat? Tang mar ia sdang ban pur ka khlam ha ka Jylla, ngi la pyrkhat beit tang ia ka jingduh bad jingiap. Mano ban iap? La sngew ngiew shisha, la kum kato ka por ba jia ka khlam ha Nongkyrdan hyndai kaba i bah S.J Duncan i pynpaw kumne, “Jar jar! Wow! la kynjah ka shnong ka thaw. Ka shnong nongiap ki ong.La tieng ki briew. Balei ka jia kumne?..ki dwar, thliew iing ki ang, ki sah rynghang Mano pat ban khyrdep? Mano ban khang…?
In sad times one does not write poems
but does whole lot of other things
from cracking jokes to gulping poison
but one does not write poems
Faizabad District Judge KM Pandey made the decision to open the gates of the Babri, back in February of 1986, assuring everybody that heavens will not fall if the locks are removed. In his autobiography, he mentions that his decision was validated by a black monkey, who sat holding the flag post on the roof of the court all day long, and despite offerings of groundnuts and fruits from thousands of people of Faizabad and Ayodhya, refused to accept any. The judge spots the black monkey later in the verandah of his bungalow, and salutes him, taking him to be some divine power.
Earth’s been around the Sun. Kashmir, where it was, in darkness
While tyrants spin untruths, enact laws in darkness
With or without the political intention of its makers, history itself has placed a mountain of representational and creative responsibility on Axone. Immediately after its…
I forgot to sanitise my hand because love taught me to reach out without thinking twice. My mask came off because reflex taught me to…
Sa kawei ka kambah kaba ma ngi ki nongshong shnong ngi dei ban pynjia long hadien ba la shem ia ki dawai, ki lad jingsumar bad ki lad jingiada. Kata ka kambah ka long kane, ba baroh ki nongshong shnong salonsar ki dei ban ioh ia kita ki dawai, ki lad jingsumar bad ki lad jingiada khlem da pyniapher kyrdan ne jaitbynriew bad dei ban pynioh ia ki ha ka dor kaba jem bad ba biang briew, kaba ki rangli ki juki bad ki nongbylla sngi ki kotbor. Nalor nangta ngi dei ruh ban pynthymmai bad pynim pat ia ka koit ka khiah bad ka sumar pang (Health Care) ha baroh ki shnong ha ka Jylla.
The opposition to the government’s intention to make Hindi mandatory in schools would have been an ideal moment for India to introspect on what it means to be such a language-rich country. It would have been an opportunity to take stock of the languages we have and those that are threatened, of those that require support in terms of documentation before they disappear, and how to honestly – and not just on paper – promote education in mother tongues. But none of this happened. The moment the “Hindi” issue cropped up, it became a political stand-off, instead of leading to a fruitful debate about what languages and linguistic diversity indicate about our sub-continent, and how such richness can be conserved. And so, once again the issue has been brushed under the carpet, and our ever-present notion of the vote-bank and other populist ideals have taken precedence. The present calm has lulled us to believe that nothing is the matter. The storm of linguistic decline is yet to unfold.
#Poetry #Axomiya #RashmirekhaBorah
“Without any of us beholding
A forest is walking alongside the multitude heading home in throngs
Without any of us knowing
The blood oozing from their torn toe nails keeps marking the path”
I’ve often been invited to strange places
To keep in company with strange people.
Or, it may be truer to say I am the strange one in all that
I am the unknown usually among the known faces
As we all sit there talking poetry
First always is the introduction
And some, though already known,
For fear we may miss out on any detail
Start shooting off long lists of books and awards
And important journals-domestic and foreign
I always dreaded my turn…
Mynta kumne ngi don hapdeng ka khlam bad ka khlam ka la pynjot bad pynjulor ia ka jingim. Kumta ka jingkhot ia ngi ka long ym tang ba ngin ia duwai lang, hynrei ban iakhun, ban iaksaid bad iatreilang para shnong para thaw, para kher para mer bad ruh u Blei un iatreilang bad ngi ba na kane ka khlam kan mih ka pyrthei-mariang kaba thymmai- ka pyrthei kaba shngain bad kaba khiah krat ; ka pyrthei kaba dap kyrhai, ka pyrthei kaba ia ieid, ia niewkor bad ia burom kylliang iwei ia iwei pat bad kan mih ruh ka imlang sahlang ka bym lah shilliang bad ka bym leh shilliang khmat bad kaba ialong mar ryngkat ha khmat u Blei ha khmat u briew.
U Blei un kyrkhu ia phi baroh
July 17 2020
To
Professor G.N. Saibaba
Anda Cell
Nagpur Central jail
Nagpur
Maharashtra
Dear Sai,
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this is me, Arundhati writing to you and not Anjum. You wrote to her three years ago and she most certainly owes you a reply. But what can I say—her sense of time is entirely different from yours and mine, leave alone the speedy world of Whatsapp and Twitter. She thinks nothing of taking three years to reply to a letter (or not)…
I can’t remember the first time I felt excluded. I can’t remember ever feeling excluded. Maybe because for certain people, being excluded is a normative state of mind. In any case, I never looked at it as an undesirable way of being. I loved the fact that the seas and the mountains merged within me, that I could feel at home in totally diverse geographical and cultural spaces, or that I could once speak 6 different languages before I even turned ten. Years later, lovers would describe me in the exact same way: as this exotic, improbable creature, who could be so many different things at once. I had a yearning for extremely divergent things that could never exist in the same place: for instance, I wanted to walk directly from the surging, mildly chaotic seas of Chennai to the Chinar trees of my childhood, yawning in the horizons while I gasped as a baby. I craved for vadais and chutney while dawdling at a weekly bazaar in Bombay, but hunted a million markets in Chennai for just one pair of jootis.
In these series of photographs, Akash Basumatari, a film-maker, and photographer based out of Assam captures this lived reality of the people in Matia and Simlitola areas of the Goalpara district.
In the last few days, the news and debate concerning the dog meat ban in Nagaland has been spreading like an oil-spill, contaminating conversations and diluting dispassionate and rational debate – stirring both those in favour and against it. While a good deal has now been said, much more remains to be elucidated… In this piece, Roderick Wijunamai & Menokhono highlight two points. First, how dogs feature in Naga cosmology, lifeworld, and livelihoods. Second, they foreground how the dog meat ban understate the existing constitutional provision in place for tribes in India, and the Nagas in particularly. They show how the recent dog meat ban has been an outright disregard to both.
The pandemic has opened up a whole new, yet familiar backdrop of self speculation through my lens. The images chronicle the mundane setting around my own domestic space, featuring my family of six members and the choices I make to freeze moments for eternity. They have been created alongside many thoughts running through my restless mind during the lockdown appending my state of mind, my political stance, my privileges, my body image, my space, my relationships, my priorities, my future and how we would turn out after all this is over.
Translation and Commentary by Nabina Das Nabina Das is a poet and writer based in Hyderabad. Assamese poet Nilim Kumar recently published a poem Ekhon Asustha…
Tiktok has been the social media of choice for working-class self-expression in recent times.
Watch a selection and read about the politics of it all
Axone was a much awaited film- simply because it promised ‘to speak for the Northeast ‘-the mainstream after all has taken so long to look east and whenever it has chosen to ‘speak’ for us – it has always been distorted and misrepresented, steeped in stereotypes. Axone’s promise to speak of ‘lived realities’ of the people of the Northeast-in choosing Axone as the title and the theme of the movie- to engage with questions of racism through food politics- there really could not have been any better time than now to bring forth the harsh truth of racism experienced by people of the Eastern region. But all it did- and very problematically- was to cater to these crucial questions from a very privileged and elite position, almost similar to the stance of the mainland- lacking depth, ignorant and oblivious of the ‘lived realities’ that it seeks to represent. Interesting debates have already been forth from the Northeastern community it seeks to represent; my purpose therefore is to introspect on the representation of the Nepali character of Upasna Rai as ‘part of’ and yet different from the Northeast.
“Adults are not reading books.”
“Children are not reading books.”
These 2 lines one comes across frequently. These are, on most occasions, followed with gyan encouraging one to read. To read more. Most of this gyan also lays the blame – for fall in reading – entirely or almost entirely on technology. In other words, televisions and mobile phones are the reason for people going away from books and reading. Roald Dahl too famously written, “So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall”.
Ka Hima U Blei
Ha ka jingmut tynrai ka kyntien Hima ka iasnoh bad thew ia ka synshar-ka bishar, ka sainpyrthei, ka khaii-ka pateng, ka kamai-kajih bad ka ioh ka kot. Katkum ka histori, u khun bynriew u la tyllun bad san na ka synshar syiem sha ka synshar paidbah. Ki don ruh ki thymmei pyrkhat kiba pynksan ba ki Syiem ki dei ki nongmihkhmat jong u Blei nongbuh nongthaw bad ki dang don ki iing longsyiem kiba dang sah khyrdong haduh mynta, wat la kim don shuh ka bor synshar kumba ki don ha ki por hyndai.Niuma, ki paidbah nongshong shnong ha kine ki Ri ki dang ai hi khyndiat khynsoit ka bor ka sor ia ki, kumba ka long ha Ri Bilat bad ha ka Bri u Hynniewtrep ha kaba ki iing longsyiem ki dang ia don bynta hi ha kaba korbar ia ka iit- ka hima. Ka histori ka iathuh ruh ba na kawei ka spah snem sha kawei pat la mih ki nongsynshar kiba runar, ki nongsynshar kiba klun lut ka bor synshar ha lade bad kiba khnoit bein ia ki briew bad kiba nud ruh ban pyniap ia kito kiba ieng pyrshah ia ki.
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