Poetry for life

In one of his immortal songs, that is dedicated to the beauty of our motherland, the Bard of Brahmaputra, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika sings -

“Axomi aai rupohi gunoru nai xex,

bharotore purbo dixor suryo utha dex…

Pahar bhoiam eke kora ramdhenure dore,

Tomar bhaxar morom bure milon xetu gorhe”

This can be literally translated into-

“O’ Divinely Beautiful motherland of mine,

you are incomparable in divine character…

The rainbow connecting your hills and valleys

are but the sweet dialects and languages

that merge to form bridges of love”

With such lofty ideas many of his predecessors and contemporaries from Jyotiprasad to Ambikagiri, from Nalinibala and Nabakanta Barua to Hiruda everybody lived ,worked and died leaving the onus on the present generation to take the baton ahead. But times have changed drastically leaving very little in common among us all across the red river and blue hills. After all who and how much can we trust after all those back stabbings and Machiavellian designs that we fell a prey to. Utmost caution is necessary yet there is hope unlimited in what Swami Vivekananda said, “If I can get some young men of heart and energy, I shall revolutionize the whole country.”

With this belief we came together to bring the thinking people , the sensitive peace loving people of the entire North East India to a single platform called Guwahati Grand Poetry Festival where language will not be allowed to be a barrier in connecting one heart to another, one soul to the other. Our forthcoming endeavor - publication of the quarterly e-collection of poetry quite aptly named 'Soul Connection' has a similar vision. Besides Assamese (the local language of Assam) and English (being the bridge language for the entire region), the e-collection would incorporate poems from other major tribal languages spoken across the eight states but of course with apt translations of the same.

Expressing oneself in the form of a poem in our own mother tongue is perhaps the most natural and soothing action for those who are marginalized and those nursing battered souls. In recent times our youngsters are opening up to being comfortable with languages other than their mother tongue. Many have learnt to think in English and expressing personal as well as major issues. This should be considered a positive trend worth our encouragement as it is of utmost importance to make the world understand our sufferings, misfortunes, worth and even resources. It is time to rise above our insecurities and puny sentiments to welcome a new era of openness, mutual trust and understanding. It is our strong belief that poetry is that powerful medium, especially poetry written and composed in English, which can help us break all barriers.

by Suman Sarma

(Picture Art by Kasturi Borkotoky, Mumbai)