Mind-Blowing Literary Fusion: Reading Jiban Narah’s Soulful Assamese Poems While Devouring Haruki Murakami’s Memoir 

Mind-Blowing Literary Fusion: Reading Jiban Narah‘s Soulful Assamese Poems While Devouring Haruki Murakami‘s Memoir

Discover the surprising emotional resonance and creative parallels when the raw voices of Assam meet Murakami’s introspective world of running, writing, and life

Divyanshu Bora

Since I have started to live in Charaideo Men’s Hostel of Tezpur University life has become a lot busier than I could have ever imagined. Books that I love to read (whether it is in English or Assamese) have always proved to be constant companions of mine with whom I need to spend at least an hour or so in a day in order to live a life based on sanity.

Due to the hectic schedule here at Tezpur University I have become a big fan of captivating short books and books of poetry as they are a great source of entertainment for me after finishing all the necessary activities that I need to perform as a Master’s student. My daily routine of reading is pretty simple- either I use to read 2-3 long poems or 5-6 short poems from a book dedicated to poetry or I would rather read 5-10 pages of a short book which can either be a novella, a memoir, a collection of prose, etc.

Sometimes it feels as if the darkness of the night and the depth of the writing of the respective writer whose literary work I am immersed in has formed a parallel with one another- the more the darkness of the night, the more the depth of the writer’s writing. 

  It was in the month of February that I came to know that a collection of selected poems titled “The Yellow Metaphor” by Jiban Narah (a renowned poet of contemporary Assamese literature and also a professor of Assamese at alma mater, Anandaram Dhekial Phookan College, Nagaon) translated into English by Anindita Kar (a translator and a professor of English at Jagiroad College) was published by Penguin Eight, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House.

To be very honest, getting a book published under the banner of a reputed publication like Penguin is none other than a big deal to promote our tradition and culture to the rest of the English speaking world through the medium of writing. Although I had been familiar with the publication titled “Penguin Books” for over a decade, it was through this book I came to know about “Penguin Eight”, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House focusing on the literature from Northeast India for the very first time.

As a reader of poetry and admirer of Professor Narah’s poetry for a few years now the natural instinct to buy the book had suddenly triggered in my mind with the hope to get a new taste of Assamese poetry in the form of English translation. 19 February was the day when it was delivered at Charaideo Men’s Hostel, Tezpur University after waiting for almost ten days. After receiving the book I started reading it on the very day itself and also decided to read only a few poems everyday before falling asleep resulting in spanning of the reading period of the book over months.

The poems in the book are so well structured that it is natural for a reader to keep on reading poem after poem relentlessly on a daily basis. Although the poems are written in a language, which is easy to understand, it has layers of meaning underneath, which will keep the readers captivated for days and to reminiscence the poems they have finished reading moments ago.

That’s the magic Professor Narah’s poetry. It is also important to note that Professor Kar’s translations of the poems have successfully kept the beauty and eccense without losing the originality of Professor Narah’s poems, which are originally written in Assamese. Although most of the poems from both the sections, “Short Poems” and “Long Poems” are my favourite, a poem from “Short Poems” section has touched my heart titled “Missing mother and son.”

Despite being a poem written in an easy to understand language, it beautifully portrays the natural beauty of Assam, a mother’s love for her son, the destruction of house over time where no one lives and some references to some historical events of Assam. This particular poem has made me to ponder about the abilities the poet possesses, who has left me to think about the poem’s lyrical beauty and its relability, when it comes to the love that a mother has for her son.

Moreover, on the fifth page of the book itself seeing an Assamese poem, “তোমাৰ মুখখন” along with its English translation, “Your Face” literally gave me goosebumps with the feeling of joy and happiness as seeing my mother tongue written in a book published by an internationally acclaimed publisher made me emotional. I am sure that most of the readers will feel the same. The “Translator’s Note” by Professor Kar at the starting of the book and the introduction to the book titled “Speaking from the Eastern Edge of the World” by Professor Narah (where he gives us a brief description of his origins and how he has become a poet) proved to be icing on the cake. 

    I also started reading a memoir by Haruki Murakami titled “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” and the credit for making me read this book primarily goes to my illness for a couple of days. The illness for a couple of days had made me to take rest and gave me enough time and interest to pick up the book that I have been planning to read for a long time.

Although Murakami introduces himself as an introvert in the book, it feels like he is not at all an introvert when it comes to communicating with his readers through the medium of written words. Reading this book feels as if I am in a conversation with Murakami himself. “How can a writer like Murakami, who is primarily known for his novels and short stories write a book which is dedicated to ‘running’?”- was one of the first thoughts before I began reading the book.

But the therapautic nature of the book with all its life lessons, references to different books and the influence of music in the writer’s life along with his primary focus on running have cleared all the doubts that I had in my mind befor reading the book. Murakami’s reference to music bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gorillaz (to whom he use to listen while running) makes the book more relatable. Murakami’s mastery in writing as he can give an indepth analysis of something through an easy to understand language can also be seen in this book. 

 Despite the fact of dwelling from different parts of the world and dealing with different literary genres and languages, both JIban Narah and Haruki Murakami seem to have some similarities between them. On one hand, although Professor Narah writes primarily in Assamese and deals with poetry, tries to convey his feelings and messages (in-depth in nature) to his readers by writing his poems in an easy to understand language.

On the other hand, the same can be observed in the case of Mr. Murakami as well. Both of them try to convey the message that one can express his/her feelings wholeheartedly through a simple and an easy to understand language and ultimately, supporting the saying- “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Keep reading! Keep learning!

Divyanshu Bora, M.A 2nd Semester, Department of English , Tezpur University, Contact no.— 9101813697

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