NE plight aired at Writers' Meet
Source: The Sangai Express / Manipur Info Centre

New Delhi, March 15 2014 : "Lite-rature is something very sacred, almost a gift of the Almighty to human beings to communicate their ideas, their ideals and their dreams to others who have somehow gathered to live in an organic community called hu-man society".

This was ex- pressed by the eminent litt�ra-teur from Manipur Prof H Behari Singh in his inaugural address at the North East and Northern Writers Meet held at Meghdoot Theatre Complex, Rabindra Bhavan here today.

The meet was a part of the Annual Festival of Letters 2014 organised by the Sahitya Aka-demi from March 10 to 15 .

He said that the poets and fiction writers who gathered there to read poems and short stories from North east and Northern India were suppo-sed to have the unity of thin- king and feeling as writers belonging to 'our great country' .

He stated that a big junk of North East beyond Assam was not properly discovered.

Indian belonging to the so-called mainstream could not or did not bother to look beyond Assam and the Brahma- putra.

"When the world has in many ways shrunk into a global village we are supposed to be intensely aware of the bond of oneness that has been binding us like an umbilical cord through these years", he said.

Describing the literary scene in NE India, Prof Be-hari stated, "Two dominating features are seen in the literatures of the North East : One is poetry and the other is short story.

North East Indian poetry is marked by the kind of tension which generates all great poetry, it may be at one level the poetry of violence and fear but it is also the poetry of searching for peace.

Some of the best writings from this region have been produced in English.

Among the poets who write in English, there is remarkable ex- pression of mythology, legends and folktales in the poetry of Robin Ngangom, Desmond, Temsula Ao, Anil Kumar Boro, Mamang Dai or Chandrakanta Murasing" .

He further stated: "The North East Indian poets have a common concern for patrio-tism, love for the land and ethnicity.

Again, the commun-ities of the North-East pos- sess a vibrant story telling tradition.

Writers try to fulfil their inherent inner urge to co-mmunicate with readers what they see, think, perceive and feel about the happenings around them.

Two distinct trends have emerged in the present day fiction from the region, namely, writings with the dominant theme of violen-ce and writings on the tradi- tion and culture of the people" .

Referring to the national integration and the role of literature, he said, "The Indian polity is federal in character, where unity is described as 'Unity in diversity'.

But occasionally, this unity has been threatened by factors like communalism, regionalism and linguistic differences.

These forces have not only threatened to disturb the unity of the country but also posed a threat to its integrity.

National integration, as Dr..SRadhakrishnan has said, is not a house which could be built by mortar and bricks.

It is here the role of literature is very important" .

He mentioned that three languages in the North East namely, Assamese, Manipuri and Bodo had included in the 8th Scheduled of Indian Constitution.

Besides, there were many languages of North East namely, Khasi, Mizo, Paite, Tangkhul, Kokborok, etc.

having a rich tradition, which were not included in the 8th Scheduled.

He proposed to walk hand in hand towards achieving excellence in the art of writings in the near future.

Eminent Hindi poet Mangalesh Dabral was the guest of honour of the inaugural session.

In the morning session; Arupa Barua (Assamese), Bijay Baglary (Boro), Varyam Singh (Hindi), Suman Bantawa (Nepali), Chandramani Jha (Maithili), Sarabjee Kaur Sohal (Punjabi), Shyam Maharshi (Rajasthani), Ramakant Shukla (Santali) and Chandra Bhan Khayal (Urdu) read their poems.

In the evening session; Sibananda Kakoty (Assamese), Rahul Saini (English), Dayanand Pandey (Hindi) and Rajkumari Hembati Devi (Manipuri) read short stories and Anupama Basumatary (Assamese), Ano Brahma (Bodo), Lalit Magotra (Dogri), Sudeep Sen (English), Sanjay Kudan (Hindi), Majrooh Rashi (Kashmiri), Bhansilal Lamichhane (Nepali), Surjit Judge(Punjabi), Fatikchand Hembram (Santali) and Abdul Ahad Saaz (Urdu) read poems.

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