Anuradha Sharma Pujari: From the Land of Nahor to the City of Joy

The social messages spread through her novels make Anuradha Sharma Pujari the ever-popular writer of this generation in Assamese literature.Besides she is the most eminent female editor in Assamese language in the North East, whose golden pen has not stopped for the past three decades

She is prolific,she is terrific – be it in the Land of Nahor or be it the City of Joy or be it in the land of the Statue of Liberty. Anuradha Sharma Pujari is a household name in Assam and all over Bengal and India -- popular both with the old and the young, long before she was given the Sahitya Akademi award belatedly.

"We are losing our locale not only because of the natural calamities,political and economic crisis but also because of the frequent communalconflicts that have forced men to leave theirhomes andmigrate every now and then" wrote Anuradha Sharma Pujari in the foreword to her translated book EyaatEkhonAranya Asil (English translationThe Forest Wails byBhaswatiParasar 2021).

However, being "one of the most popular writers of this generation", and her work described as traversing "the varied textures of human conflict" and covering the tension between the society and the individual including explorations of femininity and "the gaps that exist between people in a relationship" Anuradha does not care for fame. Rather she is more comfortable in watering her flowers every morning before enjoying a cup of Assam tea prepared by her Bengali daughter-in-law humming a Tagore song.

Belated though, finally her significant contribution to Assamese literature was considered for the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2021, and our focus was on what Ms Anuradha Sharma Pujari described as "an unprecedented crisis of the habitat and the sustenance..foreshadowing an evil, macabre prospect on the human civilization." In this book which won her the Award, the writer rightly concluded,"Even now if we cannot provide thesecurity to the forests, to the rivers, to the streams and the hills with an unparalleled urgency, then it is the last chapter thathumans can write on this earth. Humans will turn into fossil records, into another example in the history ofextinct animals and there would be no human left even to write that history."

Another of her great novelsMereng bagged the Bishnu Rabha Award earlier, where we got a wonderful picture of ancient Assam through the portrayal of the brave Dalit woman Indira Miri focusing on the period from 1910 to 2010. Indira took upon herself the challenging task of spreading education among the indigenous people of North East Frontier Agency or NEFA (as Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Assam were known during the time of the British) and the people did not take to her kindly. Fondly called Mereng, Indira became successful in reaching her goal by becoming a source of constant support, love and succour to the people around her. The social messages spread through her novels made Anuradha Sharma Pujari the ever-popular writer of this generation in Assamese literature.Besides, she was the most eminent female editor in Assamese language in the North East, whose golden pen has not stopped for the past three decades. More important is that her popularity is never on the wane. The exhaustion of the 28th edition of her book Kanchana and eighth edition of her SahebpurarBoroxun very well justify this claim about the increasing popularity of this female writer-cum-editor of Assam.

For her neutral outlook as a writer and editor, she inspired writers of all hues to contribute to Sadin over the decades to preserve the dignity of the Third Estate without compromising with injustice. Journalism was her passion and she had taken a diploma at the Birla Institute of Liberal Arts and Management Sciences; Kolkata and her long decades of journalism brought her the Asom Renaissance Award. Her versatility and dynamic nature led her to take an interest in drama and films, besides music. At that time, she came in contact with great personalities of drama, theatre and films like Bibhas Chakraborty, Mrinal Sen and others. She gained popularity with her column, 'Letters from Kolkata' in Asom Bani weekly and she won fame in the North East with her novel in English,The Heart's a Showbiz published in 1998.Quite unexpectedly, under the inspiration of HomenBorgohain, which was more of a pressure, she had her fictional debut with her book,Hriday Ek Bigyapan, veritably a trend-setter in the world of fiction dealing with the contemporary corporate world which very few in the North East or in Bengal, with the exception of only Bengali writer Sankar in Bengali literature at that time, could write so well. HomenBorgohain inspired her calling this novel 'a contemporary classic' as it raised some basic questions about modern Assamese life and the complexities of the glamorous corporate world that no other writer had raised before her in a fiction.First published in 1997 in Assamese, Hriday Ek Bigyapan, was an instant bestseller, selling thirty-two editions in the next ten years. It posed some questions about modern urban life, which few Indian novels have been able to. The novel at once established her position in the world of fiction as a writer and the book went on to print 14 editions, granting her an unparalleled critical and commercial success-- and this has remained her best seller till today in both Bengali and English translations. "I need a share of someone's heart / Lend me at least one/ I will pay you back with mine in return"she wrote in Hriday Ek Bigyapan.

One remarkable experience that shaped her world vision as a writer was the invitation from the USA government as a writer cum journalist to visit the continent and get exposure to remarkable people of the media world including the Editors of New York Times and Washington Times in New York, California, Florida and other places and in the workshops of Columbia and Iowa University. She was one of the two writers from India and there was another one from Pakistan andone more from Nepal to have received same invitation. She recorded the priceless experience of her growing up as a writer with a world vision in her travelogue AmericanCharaikhanat in 2008.

As a girl from a middle-class family, she did her Masters in Dibrugarh University. Born in Jorhat, she studied Sociology at Dibrugarh University, and though it was not a campus novel proper, in NahororNiribili Cha (Shadows of Nahor) in 2005, she got the BasantiBordoloi Award.Her experiencesarefictionalised and nine out of ten students of the university are familiar with the novel because of the fascinating storyline. Nil Prajapati (Blue Butterflies) in 2013 deals with the complexities of love among married couples. Her book Son HarinorChekur(Race of the golden deer),2012 is dedicated to the youths who are very serious and tense about their career and often commit suicide when they fail. Life is a very interesting journey. It is too precious to be idled away. Like Emily Dickinson, reading was her pastime in thelonely hours of childhood as her father's accident caused a long separation with her parents. He was taken abroad for a prolonged treatment, and he left behind for her a huge library of books.

AjonEshwororSondhanot (In Search of a God) was also published in 1998. SahebpurarBorosun (Rains of Sahebpura), 2003 is another novel that exposed the adventurous journey of social workers especially in a village named Sahebpura. BorageeNodir Ghat (The Banks of Boragee River), published in 2004, Raag-Anurag, 2007 is full of many small problems and the love between couples.Jalachabi published in 2014 was translated into English twice – the first --AshesStill Whisper by ProfessorBhaswatiParasar and thesecond by Dr Santana Saikia,In The Shadow of Light-- depicting how the problem of Alzheimers creates a gap between old parents and their children. The narrative of Jalachabi is heart-touching and reveals the social commitment of the writer.

In Kanchana,the story revolves around the tragic tale of a young lady who is a victim of a patriarchal society. She is not shown as an ideal woman but a simple one who is forced to let loose her body to men who are regarded as belonging to the high class. Anuradha in Kanchana's story is skilled in psychological focusing as is found in the fiction of Alice Munro,Kanchanabecomes a victim of psychiatric disorder, and becomes oblivious to the dreams with which she had come to the city, like Sister Carrie in Theodore Dreiser's novel. She goes back to her idyllic childhood and relives that serene life to go forward in life. The open secret of harassment of women in the work place is a topical issue these days and very few take note of such harassment of females, their sexual abuse or other types of mental tortures. The trauma that occurs after the sexual harassment is horrible. Anuradha is well known for her adroit handling of narrative in a passionate way which touches the depths of her reader's hearts.

Her popularity rests on this passionate depiction of life. In fact. it is this factor which is behind the wide acceptance of her novels. They do not need formal publicity such as a book launch eventor reviews in the media. Another important thing is the trauma that faces the family. The victim suffers more due to the trauma of her family. Only a compassionate novelist can focus on everyone surrounding the main character's life.The novel ends with the heart touching description, "Kanchana has forgotten everything about her past. This is a blessing for her. God has given some diseases just to keep human beings alive.Kanchana would have committed suicide if she had not suffered from psychogenic amnesia. This remedy for the tragedy of the workingclass females is really a pointer towards the neglect of the administration to such problems prevailing in society.

Her short story collections BoxontorGaan (Spring-song), 1999, EjonOxamajikKobir Biography (An Unsocial Poet's Biography), 2001,CatherinorSoiteEtiNirjonDuporia (An Afternoon with Catherine), 2005,No Man's Land (short story collection) have won the hearts of readers of all ages and have never needed any formal launch to gain acceptance.

An Editor-cum-novelist Anuradha Sharma Pujari proved her acceptability asshe participates in the fest of life all around her. She has the impartial view of Addison's 'Spectator' and never became a denizen of the ivory tower like Lady of Shallot, to weave her fictional tapestry.

Many debatewhether she is a terrific or prolific writer of our times. The simple answer is that she is both – terrific because she is a vehement protestor against all forms of injustice at all levels in society and prolific because she can fictionalise and focus on all subjects from flower to the guns, from the Land of Nahor to the City of Joy from the blues of tribal life to the chiaroscuro shades of urban life.When she waters the flowersaplings every day in her garden, she does not forget the communal riots or social conflicts of the untouchable dalits and tribals .

Anuradha Sharma Pujari is above all a great human who greets everyone with an ever smiling face and her love for songs crosses the barrier of the Assamese Bengali division as she is fond of both Bhupen Hazarika and Tagore and inspires her Bengali daughter-in-law Sreelekha to sing Tagore songs. Her love for books and travelling was chiefly because of her lonely childhood in a tea estate of Assam. Till today she cherishes the love for flowers and children which brings to her mind the days of DibrugarhUniversity as a land of fragrant Nahor flowers. But we cannot forget at the same time that Anuradha is the fighter, the crusader against injustice and unethical activities that happened around her. Her commitment and devotion to her editorial work inSadin is unparalleled. She has proved to be the novelist of the novelists, inspiring hundreds of creative talents to bloom profusely in the literary bower of Assam. A creative life as a journalist that started in Kolkata and flourished in Assam will enrich Assamese literature more in the years to come.

Claude Mckaysaid:"Idealism is like a castle in the air if it is not based on a solid foundation of social and political realism." In the novels of Anuradha Sharma Pujari all sides of life,the prismatic hues and the multidimensional perspectives are available.

Dr Ratan Bhattacharjee

(DrRatan Bhattacharjee, Head,Post Graduate Dept of English, Dum Dum Motijheel College, Kolkata & senior columnist. He may be reached at profratanbhattacharjee@gmail.com (Mobile 8961688870)

Also Read: Aami Axomiya Nohou Dukhiya…

Also Watch: