Mamoni's health deteriorates

Friends, fans and family members started to pour in at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital with their fingers crossed on Saturday as Jnanpith award-winning writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami's health deteriorated further since Friday night.

The litterateur was shifted to the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) from her cabin on Wrdnesday due to a lung infection. Though her health remained stable for next 24 hours, a convulsion on Friday night caused the deterioration. Currently, she is said to be in a critical stage.

State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma rushed to the hospital on getting the news. Meanwhile, Ulfa pro-talks faction members also wished for her recovery.

"She has been in coma since February and her brains cells are not responding accurately. Convulsions on Friday night worsened her situation further. She is now on ventilator and her condition is very critical. Lets hope for the best," said A K Adhikari, surgeon at GMCH.

Full report here Times of India 

Quiz contest on Assamese language, literature

Under the aegis of the Baihata Chariali Sahitya Sabha, a quiz contest on Assamese language, literature and culture will be held on September 25 among the students of classes VIII to X under Kamrup district. This was informed by the competition management committee of the Sabha.

The competition management committee of the Sabha informed that the contest will be held at Baihata Chariali rural library at 1 pm. An admission fee of Rs 30 will be charged from the contestant group. Each group will have two members and a maximum of three contestant groups will be allowed in the contest from an institution. The last date of joining in the contest is September 24.

The first three position holders in the contest will be awarded cash prizes of Rs 1000, Rs 700 and Rs 500 respectively. The prizes of the contest will be distributed in the open meeting of the next session of the Sahitya Sabha.

Full report here Assam Tribune

Revenge tale set in the North-East during World War II

During one of his shoots for Aparajito, filmmaker Satyajit Ray wasn’t pleased with the way night-bugs were captured by his black & white movie camera. After several trial shots—which meant expensive reels going waste—he finally made a few men in dark clothes hold small bulbs and prance around to give the twilight shot some reality. This scene barely lasts a few seconds in the film but such was the passion of the master director that he was ready to go any lengths even for a non-descript shot.

Siddhartha Sarma reminds you of a similar intensity—couched under a mellow outlook—that reflects the passion poured into his debut novel, The Grasshopper’s Run, an unsettling tale of an Assamese boy who has sworn revenge for his Naga friend’s death at the hand of Japanese Army during World War II. During the writing of the book, Sarma visited Burma to be familiar with the weapons of the times, and persuaded the Myanmar museum authorities to allow him to fire the rifle used during the early 1940s. Although the recoil and ricochets of the firearm barely crosses a few pages, it comes with an authoritative, unchallenged view of the writer.

Full report here Economic Times

Sahitya Sabha plea to Unesco

The Asam Sahitya Sabha is planning to apply to Unesco for recognition as the world’s largest literary organisation.

The sabha on Sep 9 also announced the progress of projects that it had undertaken.

Various district units that were defunct are now being revived by the sabha.

“We are trying to bridge the gap between the Brahmaputra Valley and the Barak Valley through literary and cultural exchange programmes. Strong action against some fake literary organisations in the state are being taken, as they are bringing a bad name to the sabha. Our emphasis is to have internal discipline and accountability in the organisation,” said the general secretary of the sabha, Paramanada Rajbangshi.

The organisation has also completed the groundwork to set up a branch office in New Delhi.

Full report here Telegraph

Bid to popularise Assamese

To make Assamese language and literature more popular, a group of Assamese professionals based in various parts of the world is working on methods that can make content written in Assamese easily searchable for the Internet users.

The group of professionals is also in touch with the Google authority to facilitate translation of the language over the Internet for those not acquainted with it.

Informing this at a press conference on Thursday, Amitabh Chakrabarty, an America-based Assamese software professional , said: “ Today, the problem with searching Assamese content on the Internet including newspaper or magazine reports remain its inaccessibility and we are trying to help the authority concerned to get over it by suggesting a few steps.”

He urged individuals and firms not to load the content as images and insisted on using the Unicode, which is the open standard of text writing on the Internet.

Full report here Assam Tribune

Tributes paid to martyrs of Bhasa Andolan

Tributes were paid to the martyrs of the Bhasa Andolan, which included remembrance of Ranjit Barpujari of Cotton College, who was killed in police firing on July 4, 1960 at a sombre function held on the bank of Dighali Pukhuri on July 4.

Organised by All Kamrup District Students’ Union along with All Guwahati Students’ Union and others, several eminent personalities including litterateur Bisheswar Hazarika attended the programme.

He described the details of the mass movement that had taken place to promote the use of local language in Assam. In his speech, AASU adviser Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya said that leaders of all political parties in Assam should apologise for their failure to implement the State Language Act and mentioned that more cooperation was required for the growth and development of indigenous languages of the region.

Full report here Assam Tribune

Why so few children's magazines in India?

Why are there so few children's magazines in India? This question was posed by editor Navin Menon of Children's World.

'Presently there are very few magazines published for children in India though, as future citizens, they will play the most important role in building the nation,' Menon told IANS.

Menon spoke on the sidelines of a discussion on promotion of children's literature, organised by the National Book Trust. Children's literary magazines could play a role in improving creativity and communication skills of children, publishers and writers said at the discussion.

'The role of magazines in promoting literature among children has widened its scope not only in urban areas but in rural areas as well,' said Shantanu Tamuli, editor of Assamese children magazine Mouchaq.

Full report here Sify

Sabha to put Assamese classics on Internet

In a bid to attract a larger audience, including Assamese living away from the state, the Asam Sahitya Sabha is all set to make a significant presence on the Internet.

Well-placed Sabha officials confirmed that a project is underway that would put a selection of Assamese classics on the World Wide Web, allowing readers in any part of the globe to access those. The collaborative effort involves the Sabha and the Computer Science Department of Guwahati University.

Side by side, the apex literary body of Assam is also creating modules which would be useful for new learners to pick up the language within a short term. The web-based programme is likely to be launched in the next few months, and will give the Assamese language a much needed boost especially in areas where there is absence of teachers or textbooks.

Full report here Assam Tribune 

Sahitya Sabha research centre at Kolkata

Breaking new grounds in promoting Assamese language and literature, the Asam Sahitya Sabha is all set to establish a new research centre at Kolkata. The facility named Jonaki Language-Literature-Culture Centre, would bring into focus the literary and cultural rejuvenation that was brought about by the journal Jonaki way back in the 19th century.

At a press meet held at the Bhagawati Prasad Baruah Bhawan, in Guwahati, Sabha president Rongbong Terang revealed that a scheme detailing the centre has been handed over to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya, who has appreciated the initiative and assured the Sabha of his support.

The centre would serve the interest of researchers who would like to study various aspects of the Jonaki period, including the works of noted litterateurs who were intrinsic to the movement that gave Assamese literature a new dimension.

Full report here Assam Tribune

Give Rabha his due: Bodo Sahitya Sabha

Cultural doyen Kalaguru Bishnu Rabha did not get his due, the president of Bodo Sahitya Sabha, Kameswar Brahma, said on June 25.

Inaugurating a programme on the occasion of Bishnu Rabha Divas at the Basic Training Centre Auditorium at Kokrajhar, Brahma rued that the state government had not done enough to preserve Rabha’s works and said it was regrettable.The programme was organised by the Kokrajhar district unit of the Asam Sahitya Sabha.

The contribution of the legendary poet-painter-actor to Assamese literature and society is commendable, according to Brahma. “Some of his literary creations are not being properly preserved and are lying scattered here and there. The government should take steps to preserve the works done by him,” Brahma said.

Full report here Telegraph

Clues to the Mising link

It’s not everyday that the emotions and drama that unfold along the banks of the Brahmaputra can be felt and simulated on the lapping waters of the Hooghly. But thanks to the efforts of the students of Jadavpur University and experts from the Sahitya Akademi, the song of a Mising ollung dunê (boatman) can now be enjoyed and distinguished from that of a bhatiali (boatman’s song in Bengal) in Calcutta.

The Centre for Translation of Indian Literatures, Jadavpur University, and Sahitya Akademi, Calcutta jointly organised a Mising-Bengali translation workshop in Calcutta recently to bring the two cultures in contact with each other.

The students had previously translated Jiban Narah compilation Listen My Flowerbud: Mishing (sic) Tribal Oral Poetry of Assam from English to Bengali. Listen My Flowerbud is actually the English version of Narah’s Assamese compilation Shuna Mor Phul Koli.

Aveek Majumder, co-ordinator of the course, pointed out that translation from one language to another always leaves a “cultural gap”. “What we did was a translation of a translation. We figured that there had to be a double gap,” he said. To overcome this, we invited experts from Sahitya Akademi to sit with us for a three-day Mising-Bengali Translation Workshop, he added.

Full report here Telegraph 

Let the blind lead the blind

Literature and education for visually challenged persons in Assam is heading for a revolutionary change with the development of computerized transcription of Assamese language into Braille, using Duxbury systems - the world’s leading software for Braille that would automatically convert Assamese language written in Unicode - computer language into Braille.

The software has been developed at the initiative of the North-eastern Regional office of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), in collaboration with New Delhi based Saksham Trust and Daisy Forum of India, the non-profit organisation working in the field of production of books and reading material in accessible formats for persons who can not read normal print.

“I am so excited! The software has already been developed successfully, tested, and I have received 20-pages of reading material for a test-reading, which shows 99 per cent accuracy in the software,” says Mohd. Imran Ali, Vice- President of NFB, who heads the North East regional office located at Guwahati. There is a minor problem with one or two letters, which is likely to be overcome soon, he says.

Full report here Eastern Panorama

Mobile library launched in Majuli Island

In a bid to eradicate backwardness and spread awareness and knowledge, a mobile library service has been launched in Majuli Island in Assam.

Mitu Khataniyar started this library service in the island to inculcate the habit of reading among the people to keep them more informed about the world. The library has four volunteers who use a push cart to take books to its readers.

"With this concept we are trying to spread education in this area. Hope our mission will succeed with the support of the people, with the support of the students, with the support of readers. Hope it will one day become a big library," said Mitu Khataniyar.

Many of the books in the library are supplied by Danielle Bastide and Nadine Beltech of France. The project is also supported by a self- help group Preserver Majuli.

Full report here Sify

NBT to publish 25 Assamese children’s books

With an aim to satisfy the curiosity of the children the National Book Trust of India (NBT), is preparing to publish 25 Assamese storybooks with spectacular illustrations and which will be released simultaneously in English and Hindi. This was disclosed by Dr Santanu Tamuli, the resource person of the workshop organised by NBT in August 2008 to prepare the manuscripts for these books. “Five books have been completed till now and these are expected to come out in the market soon”, Tamuli told this correspondent.

Children’s writer and editor of Mouchak, a children’s magazine in Assamese, Tamuli further added that these are expected to be released at the book fair at North Lakhimpur to be held in the second week of this month. The books are meant for children between six to eight years of age, he informed.

Dr Tamuli further informed that a total number of 50 manuscripts had been prepared by 20 children’s writers including two from Arunachal Pradesh at a workshop held at New Park Hotel here from August 8 to 10,2008 out of which 25 had been selected. Among the 25, five volumes, Hoha aru Kasa and Mekuri aru Nigani by Kiran Tamuli, Pualitue Uuribole Hikile by Dilip Kumar Boruah, Minar Dhol by Shaktirupa Parashar and Jen Kukur Ten Tangun by Kenglang Kengcham have already got printed and would soon hit the stalls. Santanu Tamuli and Gagan Chandra Adhikari, the noted writer of children literature were the resource persons in that workshop.

Full report here Assam Tribune

Dr Birendra Nath Datta conferred literary award

The 12th Jagaddhatri-Harmohan Das Literary Award was given to renowned litterateur Dr. Birendra Nath Datta in a function organized at Tirthanath Sarma conference hall on Feb 20 in Guwahati.

Dr Datta, a scholar of repute and also a Padmashree award recipient, received the award for his book Sankar Madhavar Manisha Aru Asomar Sanaskritic Uttaradhikar, a collection of write-ups on Vaishnavism in Assam, Srimanta Sankardev and Madhavdev.

The biennial award, instituted in the name of educationist Harmohan Das and his wife Jagaddhatri Das, carries a citation, a memento and also a cash amount. Receiving the award from the chief guest of the function HN Das, Dr Datta expressed his gratitude to the people who accepted his work and chose him for the award.

“Srimanta Sankardev and Madhavdev enriched the culture and literature of Assam with their timeless creations. The people of Assam are fortunate that both the incomparable scholars were born on this land. My articles are merely an attempt to showcase what their literary treasure trove holds for the Assamese society,” said Datta.

Full report here Assam Tribune

Now, you can type regional languages on mobiles

To help millions of mobile users who do not know English, an Indian company has conceptualised and brought out a multilingual keypad known as Panini Keypa. Buzz up!India, which boasts of 50 crore mobile users, also is a land of many languages. The Panini keypad is aimed at those millions of users who do not know English.

The new technology, which is available for free download, supports typing in many regional languages of India including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya and Assamese.

The new system does not require printed characters of any language on the phone as the characters are displayed on the screen and the user can type using the numeric keypad.The technology, which has been formulated through statistical mining of the nature of each Indian language, can also be applied for PCs, web, ATM, Touch screen kiosks, STB, IPTV etc.

Full report here OneIndia

Sahitya Akademi translation award to J K Bargohain

Veteran journalist and author Jatindra Kumar Bargohain has been chosen for the Sahitya Akademi award for translation for the year 2009 – for his Lokayata Darshan – a translation from the original work in Bengali by Devi Prasad Chattopaddhay. The book was published by Publication Board, Assam.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, Bargohain termed the honour as a recognition of his efforts. “I have been engaged in literary pursuits, including translation, for a long time…I am happy with the recognition by Sahitya Akademi,” he said.

On the book Lokayata Darshan, he said that it was a difficult work on the Lokayata philosophy – a study in ancient Indian materialism — and a lot of effort had gone into the translation. “I worked on it for about a year. I have also compared my translation with the available English translation,” he said.

Full report here  Assam Tribune

OBIT: Golam Osmani dead

Abul Fazal Golam Osmani, a former Assam minister and sitting Congress MP from lower Assam’s Barpeta seat died on April 1 in Delhi.

He entered politics in the 1970s. Intially with the Janata Party, he later drifted into the United Minorities Front (UMF) and then the Congress. He won the Lok Sabha seat from Barpeta twice.

Osmani was a prolific writer on literature, political developments, social changes and the rights of the linguistic and religious minorities, but chose to write only in little-known magazines. For many years, he edited a journal named Barak, which was then replete with many path-breaking articles and analysis of political themes and literary movements during the sixties and seventies.

A voracious reader, Osmani’s breadth of knowledge, particularly in the sphere of the Bengal renaissance, had earned him kudos in Assam and outside the state.

Assamese literature to go online

Literature from Assam is set to be available in cyberspace. The Asam Sahitya Sabha plans to make select literary works available through its portal.

The newly elected executive members of the Sabha have favoured the idea of getting Assamese literature a wider audience spread over the globe by making use of the internet, disclosed by Sabha president Padma Shree Rong Bong Terang.