An Interview with Anjum Hasan

When she speaks of “Shillong-flavoured timelessness” and of “Fat raindrops flecked her glasses and things turned blurry; car lights melted into streaks of gold…” (Lunatic in My Head)

….we are enthralled. Somewhere a forgotten memory is reawakened. We are reminded of times flown by, we hear echoes of lives unheard or of lives about which we hear so much that we are left almost in a  daze. A “loose tangle waiting to be tightened” as Estelle Tang writes in the Melbourne Writer’s Festival Blog,  Anjum Hasan’s narrative unfurls like the gurgling streams that criss-cross enchanting North East. Deceptively simple, and poetically beautiful her poetry and fiction present an India which is so familiar, one which is gradually changing with increasing pace.

Poet, novelist, travel-writer, editor Anjum Hasan’s quill yields myriad hues. Her debut poetry collection Street on the Hill was published by Sahitya Akademi in 2006. Her debut novel Lunatic in My Head published  by Zubaan-Penguin in 2007 was short listed for the 2007 Crossword Book Prize, and Neti,Neti published  by Roli Books in 2009 was long listed for the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize  and short listed for 2010 The Hindu Best Fiction Award. Besides she is the winner of the Indian Review of Books Award (1994), and the Outlook Picador Non-fiction Contest (2002) for her essay “Shillong, Bob Dylan and Cowboy Boots”; she was also short listed for The Little Magazine New Writing Award, 2006. Her poems have been included in anthologies Reasons for Belonging: Fourteen Contemporary Indian Poets (ed. Ranjit Hoskote, Viking Penguin,2002), Anthology of Contemporary Poetry from the Northeast (ed. KynphamSing Nonkynrih and Robin S. Ngangom, NEHU Publications, 2003), Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond (ed. Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal and Ravi Shankar, W.W.Norton  Co., 2008),  60 Indian Poets (ed. Jeet Thayil, Penguin India, 2008)  Besides, her poems, articles, travelogues and book reviews have been variously published in The Brown Critique, The Journal, Indian Literature, Chandrabhaga, Kavya Bharati, The Post-Post Modern Review, Heat Magazine, Komma, Critical Quarterly, Himal, Fulcrum, Man’s World, The Literary Review,  Biblio, The Caravan, Deccan Herald, Hindu Literary Review, Outlook Traveller, Tehelka, Mint Lounge among others. She has edited the biannual journal of Indian Foundation of Arts ArtsConnect.

Anjum’s parents hail from Uttar Pradesh. Her father Noorul Hasan was a lecturer of English in North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in Shillong. Her mother Santosh Hasan a Hindi teacher in Loreto Convent, Shillong. Anjum did her schooling in Loreto Convent and graduated from St.Mary’s College, Shillong with honours in Philosophy. She pursued her Post Graduation in Philosophy from North Eastern Hill University (NEHU). After her Post Graduation, she shifted base to Bangalore (Bengaluru) where she joined the NGO Indian Foundation for Arts. Today, she is the Book Editor of The Caravan, India’s first narrative journalism magazine. Her sister Daisy Hasan too is a writer. Based in the University of Leeds, Daisy’s debut novel The To-Let House (Tara Books, 2010) too had been longlisted for the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize, and short listed for The Hindu Fiction Award, 2010. Anjum’s husband Zac O’ Yeah is a Swedish writer, columnist, songwriter and the author of eleven books, including a biography on Gandhi, which was short-listed for August Prize 2008 for the best work of non fiction.

Following is an excerpt from an email interview with Anjum Hasan--

Stuti Goswami: You have alluded to marginality of Indian English poets/poetry in your essay ‘Watering the Desert: Modern Indian-English Poetry’. Now, for someone belonging to the North-East, doesn’t the term ‘marginality’ have added layers of meaning?

Anjum Hasan: I think as far as literature is concerned, marginality is interesting only if it infuses the writing in productive ways – like the anger of Dalit poets giving their poetry a particular charge or a poet like Robin Ngangom writing about the tragic ironies of his home state, Manipur, while living in Shillong. I’m not interested in marginality worn as a badge of honour.

 SG: Do you think poets/writers of the North-East tend to limit themselves over a period of time because of their almost-overt concern with certain issues—insurgency, the region’s long history of oppression and violence, of what people of the region perceive as being ‘internally colonized’, their subjugation, political neglect and exploitation at the hands of the ‘Indian state’? Do you think this limits the ambit of readership/response?

AH: Again, what matters is the creative spirit as much as the themes. Literature is not news reportage. The way the story is told matters as much as what the story is about. You could write about oppression and violence in a sterile way and you could write about it in a way that makes it completely new and shocking for the reader. So I wouldn’t judge writing coming out of the NE only on the basis of the themes being addressed.

SG: As a poet, how far do you think appreciation/acceptance of the readership matters?

AH: It matters to any writer that what she writes is read and appreciated. If you make a sound and there is no echo, then it is like that sound was never produced.

SG: Who would you consider among the finest new voices to have emerged from North-East in recent times—both in poetry and fiction?

AH: I like the work of Siddhartha Deb and Jahnavi Barua.

SG: Readers are interested in knowing what happens to Aman and Firdaus after Lunatic in My Head . Do we see these characters returning in your works in the future, as Sophie does?

AH: It’s not impossible that future novels will feature these characters.

SG: You are often called ‘voice of the North-East’. What is ‘voice of the North-East’ according to you—somebody who writes about the North-East or somebody from this region who may or may not write about the North-East?

AH: I think there are certain experiences of living in contemporary Shillong which I’ve tried to capture in both my novels and perhaps those experiences haven’t been reflected in fiction before. I don’t know if this warrants the ‘voice of the North-east’ tag but if it does then I’m very flattered!

SG: You have been involved with translations, I suppose with Swedish translations of Indian poems. It is often heard that translation cannot convey sensibilities of the original works in their entirety. What would you say in this regard?

AH: A translation must be judged from many different angles, of which fidelity to the original is only one. I believe in what AK Ramanujan said: “A translation has to be true to the translator no less than to the original. He cannot jump off his own shadow.”

SG: In both Lunatic in My Head  and in Neti,Neti there is a coming-to-an-end of the immediate story, but your narrative seems to  defy/deny the idea of end as a  closure, which is what we may term postmodernist. Was this a conscious effort on your part?

AH: I was conscious of not having a categorical ending, of leaving things a bit open-ended in both novels. But this does not mean absolute lack of closure, I think. It only means that I present a range of possible futures which the characters could go towards without saying this is the specific one they will choose.

SG: Who would you term your favourite authors—who you believe have shaped your art?

AH: I love the work of RK Narayan, Amitav Ghosh, Marguerite Duras, Vladimir Nabokov, WG Sebald, Scott Fitzgerald…

SG: In Lunatic, the narrative too seems gentle-paced. I also felt echoes of Street on the Hill in it. In contrast the poesy in Neti,Neti seems different. Neti, Neti is also faster-paced. Is it, the difference in setting and story-line or evolution of the writer and her art?

AH: Perhaps it’s both. Some writers are able to keep to a consistent style from book to book but in my own case, I found my style changing. It’s not just setting and story-line but also the overall sensibility of the two books that made for different styles. Lunatic in my Head is in the romantic mode, while Neti, Neti is in the loss of romance mode.

 SG: In an earlier interview with yours truly (published in mélange,The Sentinel in 2008) you had said, regarding your move to Bangalore--“I somehow felt I had outgrown Shillong. I had exhausted possibilities that it could offer. Home though it was, I needed exposure that was unavailable here”.  Does Sophie, somewhere, go through similar emotions?

AH: Sophie’s relationship to Shillong and Bangalore is ultimately for the reader to decode. I don’t think I set out to write a character who exactly mirrored my own experience of the two cities though I do admit that there are echoes.

SG: Which do you think is tougher—etching poetry or creating fiction?

AH: Fiction is more demanding but poetry comes more rarely. Also, poems are more  personal. In a novel, you have to go beyond you and portray characters, their distinct style and their dialogues which will have to take the story forward and at the same time, give away to the readers, bits of what is in their life and mind. And then, unlike a poem, the canvas of a novel is bigger.

SG: Neti,Neti is  a Vedic Chant. I have read somewhere that it implies ‘an analytical process of conceptualizing something by clearly defining what it is not’. You had in your earlier interview remarked that there was a slightly nihilistic feel involved (with the novel). You had even called it a search for meaning. Do we take Neti,Neti as an individual’s search for meaning through negation?

AH: Yes, that’s what it is. Sophie is searching for meaning – not through religious means – but simply through a process of questioning and exploring and rejecting.

SG: In Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, Yajnavalkya is questioned by his students to describe God. He states "The Divine is not this and it is not that" (neti, neti). What of Sophie’s spiritual experiences?

AH: I point out in the novel that as a child, Sophie was a Vivekananda fan and she still cherishes her book of Vivekananda’s collected writings. But in the present of the novel she finds that spirituality – in the sense that it is commonly understood – has no meaning for her. Those around her who are the most religious are also those who are the greediest, or those who turn to religion as an escape route. So for Sophie all that remains is a nostalgia for the spiritual as typified by Vivekananda’s rousing exhortations to the young in his speeches and writings.

SG: I quote a review in DNA—“One has heard of the Delhi novel and the Bombay novel, and finally, here's a Bangalore novel”. Is ‘Neti, Neti’ a Bangalore novel the way ‘Lunatic’ is perceived to be a ‘Shillong’ one?

AH: Labels are for the critics. I did want to write about the experience of living in both these cities. If the novels strike a chord with those who live in Shillong and Bangalore then I’d consider myself successful.

SG: Sophie is neither at home in Bangalore, nor at Shillong where she returns. Unless the ‘Das’ is suffixed, the name Sophie itself stands out from its surroundings. Will she always remain isolated?

AH: I think so. The question in Neti,Neti is whether she can make something worthwhile out of her isolation, whether it can lead her to insights that will help her to live, to make peace with her isolation.

SG: Neti,Neti has been published by Brass Monkey Books, Melbourne as Big Girl Now. The latter title seems to focus more on Sophie’s becoming a big girl .

AH: The title was changed because we felt Neti,Neti would mystify an Australian audience. (It possible mystifies an Indian audience too, but that’s another matter!) I thought Big Girl Now was apt because Sophie has to grow up and face the world in this novel and the test she has to face is whether she can fit into 21^st century middle class India with its crass materialism and its impatience with the kind of attitude Sophie represents – the attitude of the day-dreamer.

SG: In an interview with Prithvi Varatharajan for Readings you have said that you like the idea “from 19th century fiction, of a novel taking on a wide expanse and being peopled with a large array of characters”. Firdaus in Lunatic researches on Jane Austen. Again, in an interaction with Vivek Narayanan you had said that the 19^th century novelist and poet Thomas Hardy was like a patron at home in your childhood. Do we take these as a natural development of your conditioning during childhood?

AH: I do admire 19^th century fiction – the ability of novelists like Flaubert to imagine that it is possible to recast the whole world into fiction, into what he called “the total novel”. That kind of imagination is harder to encounter today though one does see it in the works of writers like Orhan Pamuk.

SG: You are often deemed a serious writer, though there is a great deal of irony entwined in the language. I would like to cite the ‘nose-biting’ incident from Lunatic and the ‘landlord-Sophie banter’ in Neti,Neti. Where do you feel this stems from?

AH: Irony is central to the work of some of the most serious writers from Shakespeare onwards. Consider the work of Vladimir Nabokov, RK Narayan, Jane Austen and Salman Rushdie to take the example of four writers I admire. I am inspired by writing that is funny while it is serious and vice versa.

SG: Any message for the aspiring writers who are reading this interview?

AH: Firstly one should read widely. It is only when you read well that you can actually write. At the same time, one should be adventurous while reading. One should also endeavour to expand the consciousness of ones self. However it is very important not to think of yourself as belonging to the marginal regions. Just because you write from a region lesser-traveled does not imply that you are at a disadvantage. People tend to stereotype you, yes--but you got to fight that. At the same time, it is also important that you write for the world at large.

[published in Quills 2010 the annual literary folio of the Dept. of English,B.Borooah College, Guwahati, Assam.]

A Glorious Legacy

"One cannot begin until one knows what to write; nor does one know what to write until one begins."
Unable to articulate the gamut of feelings that welled within, I was faced with a similar dilemma as I sat down at my computer to write. The experience was so overwhelmingly inspiring that I was unsure as to which strand to pick up, so as to begin weaving the fabric I had in mind, determined that I was to bring out the most beautiful patterns that I could.

Today, Repose Industries has become almost a synonym for quality. Its products, manufactured with the utmost care using the most sophisticated of implements easily ranks among the best, not merely in Asom or the North East but in the entire country as well. The only company in Asom to be soon accredited with an ISO certification of 22,000, the story of the rise of Late Sunanda Ram Deka (famously Sunandi Mahajan) the founder of the Repose brand and father of the SRD Group seems straight out of fiction. Entirely on his own, this man virtually raised an empire from scratch. And today, eleven years after his demise, his worthy sons Mukul Chandra Deka, Rajeev Kumar Deka(Mintu) and Anupam Deka(Junti) and grandson Samrat Deka (the only son of S.R.Deka's second son Late Kulendra Chandra Deka and Late Anjana Deka) are carrying forward the legacy; raising this business to newer and greater heights, breaking records and leaving all the others beyond competition… On a drizzling Monday evening, we caught up with Mr. Anupam Deka, the youngest son of Late S.R.Deka, and currently the director of Sunandaram Foods Pvt. Ltd. at the Repose Guest House at Panjabari as we settled down for a tete-a-tete…

Speaking about his father, Mr. Anupam Deka got nostalgic as he recounted with pride their father's journey to success… Having left home (at Barnardi in Nalbari) in 1926 at the tender age of eleven with a single rupee in hand, to faraway Mangaldoi in order to support his poor family (which comprised his blind father, mother and two younger brothers), young Sunanda's early years were spent in gritty struggle. In Mangaldoi, he first worked as a domestic help at the house of a contractor Late Jagabandhu Das. It was through him that young Sunanda or rather Sunandi as he was affectionately called, got to work at the house of Deven Bhattacharjee, the SDO of PWD Dept. at Mangaldoi; who in turn got him into a government job with a monthly salary of eleven rupees. When after a few months Bhattacharjee was transferred to Silchar, he expressed his desire to take Sunanda with him; but the young man had other plans, and greater dreams. This time Sunanda started working at a tea-shop owned by Mahendra Das (with a monthly salary of three rupees) who also had as his employee a Bengali cook, expert in making sweets. After office hours, Sunandi worked at Das' shop, learning the art of making (various) sweets besides biscuits and bread. After about four years, Sunandi left the government job and the job at the teashop as well and in 1931, he opened his own tea stall. That very tea stall is today known as REPOSE. A few years on Sunandi started a small grocery shop too, which when it began yielding profits ,he directed his attention to rice-trading business as well.. 1944-45 saw the beginning of SRD Bakers, (which fifty years later, his heirs would modernize it at an expense of about thirty lakh rupees). Aspiring higher, Sunandi soon started taking Government contracts. In this, he was especially helped by an acquaintance named Kunja Majumdar. Majundar, who was an Engineer by profession encouraged him greatly and guided Sunandi in taking his first few steps as a contractor. Years rolled by, and soon enough, the man who had set out from home at Nalbari with a single rupee in hand had established himself in Mangaldoi as an honest First class contractor of repute. However, this was not all… In due course of time especially when his sons joined him in business, he started expanding his base and in 1989, set up the first flour mill at Mangaldoi under the banner of S.R. Deka & Pvt. Ltd. with a loan of fifty lakh from A.I.D.C. thereby becoming the first Asomiya to set up a flour mill. Reminiscenting, Mr. Anupam Deka said thus--"…it was in 1985, I had just joined the family business after completing my graduation in Shillong Commerce College I voiced the thought of expanding our business by venturing into newer grounds and my father and allmy brothers supported this--laying on me the onus of bringing this about(though of course they were always there by my side): and for that we prepared a project proposal for setting up a roller flour mill at Mangaldoi. Accordingly, we applied for a loan at the A.I.D.C. We were rejected thrice. We couldn't understand initially. However, the third time that we were rejected we got the wind (through reliable sources) that we were being rejected solely because we were Asomiyas,(while the entire business was then under the monopoly of Marwari and Punjabi businessmen we were the first Asomiyas to venture out in that direction): our authorities had not the faith in our abilities. When the reason became clear I met Subhash Das, the then Commisioner of the Industry Department and a member of the A.I.D.C. board, and exhorted him to re-consider our proposal(for by now it became clearer that the concerned authorities had hardly opened our file; for the pros-and-cons of the matter had been already looked after in the file).The fourth time our loan was sanctioned…we not only proved ourselves we also returned the loan well ahead of time which was a record in itself." That was however just the beginning ... In 1995, the Mangaldoi Bakery started by their father underwent a makeover; the erstwhile manual bakery was mechanized. Later on, this bakery was shifted to the flourmill compound and in its place, the Sumitra Deka Market Complex was set up: which is a massive complex at the heart of the town, with about 63 shops in one floor and replete with underground car parking facilities (in fact probably the first market complex in Asom to be so). In 1999, a modern bakery was set up at Panjabari in Guwahati (in view of the increasing popularity of their products). In 2000, the Repose Foods Pvt. Ltd. was established with a loan of about 45 lakhs taken from the Pragjyotish Gaolia Bank. The next major achievement of the SRD Group has been setting up of the Horlicks Pouch Packaging Unit at Mangaldoi in collaboration with Glaxo SmithKline Consumer Health Care Ltd.; thereby firmly placing this small town in the industrial map of the world. In fact, the Horlicks refill pouches packaged here are supplied to the entire Eastern Indian region. This has resulted in the formation of SRD Nutrients Pvt. Ltd. in 2002. Recounting this experience, Mr.Anupam Deka has this to say--"we landed up in the Horlicks Project almost by chance. One day, my nephew Prabir Kumar Bhuyan(son of my elder sister Pranati Bhuyan and brother-in-law Late Padmalosan Bhuyan) accidentally met an official working in GSK. When he learnt from that official that GSK was looking for collaborators here in Asom to set up a packaging unit, he suggested the name of our company. There were already quite a few others in the fray, and our name was entered at the last moment. The officials from the GSK headquarters came down to inspect and we were among the few short listed. Eventually after about six months we managed to bag the project in 2001. Though they wanted the plant to be in Guwahati, we managed to convince the GSK authorities of the feasibility of opening the plant in Mangaldoi. The hard taskmasters that we were, we completed the project within eight months, although the time allotted was twelve months. The head honchos of the company were virtually astounded. Simon J. Scraff, the CEO of Glaxo SmithKline, came down from the United Kingdom to see the marvel done; in fact so pleased were they that GSK formally announced that nobody had been able to perform this sort of a feat ever before in the history of GSK". 2006 saw a new feather added to the increasing achievements of the SRD Group when the Repose Snacks & Sweets was started with the daughters-in-law of the family at the helm of affairs. The next venture the SRD Group bagged was an even bigger one: this time it was Britannia Industries with whom this group collaborated in setting up a modern plant for manufacturing and packaging cakes for Britannia Industries Limited. This time, Mr. Anupam Deka and his team managed to complete setting up the plant within six months. In a situation when 70-80% of the machines had to be imported from Italy, they not only set up the plant, they also started producing the cakes within the six months time frame Mr. Deka had set before his team. The next major project on the anvil is setting up of a Horlicks manufacturing plant--and this project is well under implementation. That apart, today REPOSE is also catering to food giants as Cafe Coffee Day and Barista besides Fun Cinemas (HUB) and Cinemax (DONA PLANET) among others.
Apart from all these achievements, there is another aspect for the SRD Group which is highly commendable. Mr. Sunandaram Deka was a great philantrophist: despite all his busy schedules, he could always make out time for contributing to the social cause. He was intimately involved in many a socio-cultural organizations of Mangaldoi, a tradition which his sons are carrying forward today. The various places that the SRD family has either set up or has made significant contributions to, include the Mangaldoi Chambers of Commerce, Town Girls H.S.School, Mangaldoi College, Mangaldoi Bar Association,Vishnu Mandir, the Ram Mandir, Mangaldoi Natya Mandir, theDurga Mandir, the Mangaldoi Youth Club(Late Kulen Deka was one of the founders of this club), the Sunandaram Deka Yatri Nivas, and a multipurpose stage, Sumitra Sisu Udyan(the first children's park in Mangaldoi) and so on. Besides S.R.Deka had contributed generously to the various developmental and religious activities in his native village Barnardi--chief of which was the dispensary he had set up entirely at his own expense in the memory of his late father Late Binanda Ram Deka)which was later on upgraded into a government Primary Health Centre.
Thus the legacy lives on…the journey begun by Sunanda Ram Deka half a century ago continues to live through the second and third generations of the family.
Late S.R.Deka and Late Sumitra Deka were the proud parents of their children--Renu Talukdar, Pramode Deka, Pratibha Bhuyan, Late Kulendra Chandra Deka, Pranati Barman, Mina Sarmah, Mukul Chandra Deka, Purabi Chowdhury, Sanjeev Deka, Rajeev Kumar Deka and Anupam Deka. The daughters-in-law are--(not necessarily in respective order)Anupama Deka, Late Anjana Deka, Upasana Deka, Amarjyoti Deka, Bhanu Deka, Anusuya Deka. The sons-in-law are--Late Ananta Talukdar, Late Padmalosan Bhuyan, Srinath Barman, Bijoy Krishna Dev Sarmah and Kumudi Roy Choudhury. The strong bond of harmony that exists within the family is nothing short of a rarity these days--what with joint-families breaking up, this family still living together under the same roof--is an ideal of sorts for everyone. In fact this lesson of harmony and cooperation within the family they learnt from their parents Late S.R.Deka and Late Sumitra Deka. "Our mother was one big support to my father at every step. In fact, our mother's marriage to our father was like a big turning point in our father's life--in fact to say that it was through mother's undying and rock-solid support and cooperation that our father rose to dizzier heights would be no exaggeration".

Mr. Deka was to return to Mangaldoi the same evening, since they are expecting guests from Holland the very next day. Therefore, without delaying him further, I hurried off to the last few queries I had in mind… (being so successful) I asked him what message he would like to give to the youths of today. "This is the right time", he began, with his (characteristic) enthusiasm," there is so much happening on all fronts--and so much is on offer to the youth today that not grabbing the opportunity at the right time would be foolhardy indeed. For time is like a precious diamond, once time goes away, we become too old to understand its worth. When we had just started off, the problem of insurgency was beginning to raise its menacing head. The skeptics (who were not few in number) called us fools (for taking such a huge loan etc.). But we proved all our skeptics wrong. We managed to be successful even at the height of the insurgency problem in Asom. So all the talk of development stalled owing to insurgency et al does not have much ground. Of course it's true that such problems put us at a considerable disadvantage, yet even then we can managed to achieve our goals. For success requires hard work, a focused approach , determination, humility(that is very important--for our ego often becomes the biggest hurdle towards our success) and also good communication with society. Since you are to live in this society and deal with it, to succeed you need to have good communication with the other members of society as well… Running a business is like a game of football--you need the support of your entire team, right from the labourer and the worker to the big official--in other words, everyone related directly or indirectly plays his part in making a venture successful. You never know when your fortunes will take a downward slide(just like football--when the opposition player pushes the out of your reach just as you were posed to shoot it past the goal post). So you should always be alert and ready to begin from the very beginning……all this is pretty simple you know--what I am telling now we have learnt it all from our father--and our convictions have been strengthened through experience. After all we all learn from experience.."
The SRD Group has given employment to hundreds of men and women --who are all dependent on us for their livelihood. But this empire began from the humble tea--stall, whose owner had to leave school at the third standard itself owing to appaling poverty.. Then how did the name REPOSE came about? "This is an interesting story too" replied Anupam Deka," Kanak Chakravarty (Chakravarty Headmaster) was one of the regular customers in my father's tea-stall. One day, while returning from school) Chakravarty master brought with him a piece cardboard with a white sheet pasted onto it atop which was written REPOSE. He placed it before father and told him"Sunandi, this is the name of your shop". The rudimentary knowledge of letters that he had, father couldn't figure out what in the world did repose mean. Kanak Chakravarty ten explained that 'repose' meant -'khyontekya jironi--rest for a while'. The name stuck, and today, see REPOSE is a brand to be reckoned….".
This is not the full story--much remained to be learnt and to know about this dynamic family from Mangaldoi. But then, the constraints of time have to be honoured. What this writer has attempted here is just a humble tribute to a glorious legacy that will definitely serve an inspiration for today's youth as we look forward to a truly golden Asom--purged of the excesses of unrest and strife. Till then, its adieus from me and Rajeev Da--and hopefully we will come up with a fuller account the next time…
stuti goswami [published in 2007 in ‘melange’ –the sentinel as a cover story]

Karuna Sankar Thakuria

How would you encompass within the word count that constrains a cover story the life of an artist enriched by a lifetime of experiences? He has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Shankar-Jaikishen, Sachin Dev Barman and Lata Mangeshkar. A favourite disciple of the legendary Pandit Vinayak Rao Patwardhan and Prof. B.R.Deodhar, he could touch heights where few from these parts could fathom to reach especially in the fifties and sixties. And yet who—fulfilling a pledge left all allures of Bombay-the city of dreams to take up cudgels for the popularization and dissemination of Hindustani classical music in these remote regions. How much do we know of the first Sangeet Alankar (M.Mus) from Assam? The first Assamese instrumentalist to be approved in All India Radio through an all-India interview. An artist to his core, and an individual whose expanse of knowledge of music overwhelmes; yet whose humility leaves one humbled. A silent worker at the foothills of Kharghuli hill—he is Pandit Karuna Shankar Thakuria

                         … How do we begin?

Karuna Shankar Thakuria was born on September 21, 1936 at Kharghuli in Guwahati to Hareswar Thakuria and Champa Thakuria. His father was music director in jatrapartis in the days of yore. Since his childhood, he was initiated to the world of music. As Pandit Thakuria recounts nostalgically, Guwahati in those days was just a big developing village. Kharghuli itself was sparsely populated. There was a road only upto the point that led to the Governor’s residence. Beyond this, it was just a dusty narrow lane—where occasionally a bullock cart, horse cart or at the most a bicycle would trudge by. People mostly preferred to walk. It was a life in proximity to Nature and probably this helped nourish the seeds of artistry in him.

In 1952, the first session of the All Assam Music Conference was held in Guwahati. It was presided over by Pandit Vinayak Rao Patwardhan. Other stalwarts who attended this conference were Narayan Rao Vyas, D.V.Paluskar(vocal), Damayanti Joshi(Kathak), Gopal Mitra(Sarangi) among others. In that Conference, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika’s wife Priyam Hazarika too was to put up a Bharat Natyam performance. But a minor glitch arose when there was a piece of Malkosh raga needed to be played on flute during the performance and there was no flutist at hand.. Someone told Dr.Hazarika of Karuna Shankar Thakuria and the latter was called for. Flute in hand,when young Karuna arrived, Dr. Hazarika asked him to play the Malkosh raga. To which Karuna replied that he didn’t know how to play the said raga. (For though he had had a guru even then, his training in classical music was anything but formalized. Whatever he knew, he had picked up literally on his own) At which Dr.Hazarika took out the harmonium and gave him an idea of the raga by singing it himself. Karuna listened intently and soon picked up the notes and finally played the piece to perfection. Dr. Hazarika was highly impressed by this young man’s talent. He advised Karuna to take music seriously and introduced him to Pandit Patwardhan. Praising him highly before the doyen, Dr. Hazarika urged Pandit Patwardhan to take Karuna Shankar under his wings and guide him in the world of music. Accordingly Karuna was summoned to the house of Tilak Das where Pandit Patwardhan had put up and put to test by the great doyen himself. When Pandit Patwardhan was satisfied with this young man’s potential, he offered to take Karuna as his disciple and told him—“I will keep you at my place like my own son and impart you all knowledge that I have garnered all life. since I am a vocalist I will train you in singing. But only on the condition that afterwards you have to come back to Assam and work for dissemination of the light of classical music in these parts.”This way young Karuna Shankar Thakuria stepped out of home and took the first steps in that road that was to lead him far in life.

“But”, your’s truly interposed, “ didn’t your family object?”

“O yes—they did. At that time, I had just completed by Matriculation and was doing a course in typing. My Parents were worried at the prospect of their only son going away to far off lands—of which they had only heard but never seen—and of which there were such misconceptions. Still—I managed to convince them somehow to let me go—and in fifty-six rupees (which was a princely sum in those days) and after changing trains at Calcutta, I finally arrived in Pune. That one journey changed my life altogether.”

Once there, Pandit Vinayak Rao Patwardhan left no stone unturned to train Karuna in the subtleties and nuances of classical music. For six years Karuna Shankar stayed at Panditji’s place. Besides vocal, Karuna Shankar also trained in tabla under Pandit Samant in Pune. During this stay, in 1958 Karuna also completed his graduation from the prestigious Fergusson College, Pune..

Speaking of those days, Pandit Thakuria stresses the strict disciplinarian and spiritually enriched lifestyle at his guru’s place. He adds how for the first time, he became conscious of the flaws in his pronunciation/diction. To rectify which His guru sent him to the famous Deccan College in Pune for proper training in Phonetics. Pandit Thakuria says in this regard says-- “pronunciation is of utmost importance while vocal classical training . Since the compositions of the ragas are in languages like hindi and urdu, mistake in pronunciation /diction alters the meaning of the bandish(composition).

During his six-year stint at Pune, Pandit Thakuria was also trained in proper tuning of musical instruments under the great scholar and researcher Prof. Balasaheb Achrakar at Musical Mart—which was run by his son.. In this context, Pandit Thakuria says—

“I was very interested in knowing about the origins of the saptak or the seven notes that collectively make up the Indian musical scale. As you should know, the seven notes or swars are derived from different birds and beasts of nature—say the ‘sa’ or the first note is derived from the peacock,the third note‘ga’ from goat, the ‘pa’ or the fifth note from cuckoo bird and so on.

Of course the entire process is not so simple and these derivations are made after prolonged research. ..Anyway, I went to Prof. Achrakar every Sunday and he gave me a lot of insights into the scientific aspects of classical music. Let me add that Prof. Achrakar himself was a reputed professor of Physics.”

Time flew—six years later, in1959, Karuna Shankar packed his bags and journeyed to Bombay—where he trained for another four years under Prof. Balakrishna Raghunath Deodhar. “under Patwardhanji I had learnt only about the Gwalior gharana of Hindustani classical Music. But to have a proper understanding of Indian classical Music, one needs to be initiated into the different gharanas and learn the variations as well as the highlights in the musical forms of the different gharanas . At Prof. Deodharji’s advise I went to the gurus of different gharanas—like Vilayat Hussain of Agra gharana, Kesarbai Kerkar of Aladiya gharana, and Heerabai Barodekar of Kirana gharanas . I was also sent to stalwarts like Bade Ghulam Ali and Bhimsen Joshi to listen to their renditions and pick up knowledge regarding this vast domain of classical music. Besides I was also fortunate to be one of the first four disciples of Deodharji to get scientific training in Voice culture –something that Deodharji had traveled to USA to learn himself.”

Apart from this, during his stay in Bombay, Pandit Thakuria also trained in violin under Pandit Vighreneswar Buwang Shastri and Bharat Natyam under Ratikant Arya.

It is worth mentioning that Pandit Thakuria had also performed in music conferences and prograames alongside his gurus at different places like Kanpur, delhi,Goa besides different parts of Maharashtra.

But—his interests lay elsewhere too. Within reach was the Bombay film industry (the term Bollywood was not born till then). He thought—“since I am in Bombay let me take a chance at the film industry. After all it will be a great experience and I can also earn some extra money.”

With such thoughts, he approached Lata Mangeshkar.In hand, he had a letter from Prof.Achrakar with whom the Mangeshkars were particularly close. Accordingly, one morning he got an appointment with Lata Mangeshkar. “I spoke Marathi—which was so correct that At the first instant Lata bai mistook me for a Marathi . She was really surprised when I told her that I was from Assam.” When she was convinced of his talent and potential, Lata bai put him in touch with M.R.Achrakar, the art director of the R.K.Films. This in turn led to his association with S.D.Barman and Shankar Jaikishan. “I was even invited to both sing and put up a flute recital at the Diwali celebrations of the Mangeshkars.All the time that I was in Bombay, I enjoyed very cordial relation with the Mangeshkar sisters—especially Lata bai and Usha bai.”

Continuing he says--

“I can still remember that day—21st August I was told to go to the Ranjit Studio to meet S.D.Barman. But the chowkidar at the gate didn’t even let me enter. So I had to wait outside the gate for the music directors’ arrival—my box of flutes in hand. After some time, Sachin da arrived. When I told him of the objective of my visit—I was asked to play a piece on my flute. So I opened the box—took out a flute and at the gates itself, played a small piece. Sachin da was satisfied. And I was led in. After this of course I was a regular in their studios. I worked in the music department. And it was amazing how they could create such beautiful modern compositions out of classical pieces.”

This was in 1960-61-62. Technology then was a far cry from these days’. The recording instruments were much simpler. the recording process too was a prolonged one compared to today—where a singer records several songs in a single day. Pandit Thakuria agrees. “At that time, there was this recorder called pherograph. It was a simple instrument. And interestingly, it had to be run every day for if otherwise it became bad. So eavery day we used to record our different classical compositions on which the music directors worked and created beautiful songs .” On being asked about some of the films he’d worked in, he says, with some effort—“It Is hard to recollect—there were so many films. And it is so long off.”Crorepati”, “Love Marriage” I worked in ‘Kaagaz ke Phool’..then ‘Shararat’..I give up” he sums up with a shrug and a smile that make you realize the simplicity of this person.

But –when he first went with Pandit Vinayak Rao Patwardhan to Pune it was with the promise that he will one day return to Assam and work for popularisation of classical music. Fulfilling that pledge Karuna Shankar Thakuria returned to Assam after a decade old stint in far off Mumbai. “But”, he says, “everybody told me to stay back. They said-‘Karuna you are doing so well here. Stay here—you will soon make it big’. But I had given my word to my word. Even Patwardhanji’s sister told me to return and fulfill my promise. Besides there were family reasons too. I had to marry off my sisters. Once I came back, I couldn’t return.”

This was towards the fag end of1963. Upon returning, he opened the Guwahati chapter of the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Since then the fountain of knowledge from Pandit Thakuria has been flowing incessantly replenishing thirst for knowledge of scores of students—that include established singers like Mahananda Majinder Barua , Nalini Choudhury, Sangeeta Borthakur, Sangita Kakati, Mousumi Chaharia among others.He took the prerogative in setting up music schools and exam centres in Guwahati, Tihu, Chaygaon, Barpeta, Sarthebari, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Jorhat, Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Duliajan, Tinsukia among other places. In 1967 he was also appointed as an examiner of Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Since then he has toured different parts of Assam, Bengal among other places as an examiner. He set up the first Master of Music examination centre in Assam in Guwahati. He is also a active member of Governing Council of Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya besides member of audition committee of All India Radio.

Pandit Thakuria was also the first musician to have been approved by All India Radio. Interestingly in that audition his guru(this was while he was still in Guwahai--before he came under Pandit Patwardhan’s tutelage)had failed in the audition. But he declines to inform us further in that direction.

The awards and recognitions that he has received include-Gemini Academy award, the Shatabdi ratna Award (in 2000), the Sangeet Jyoti award (in 2003) besides Sangeet Ratnam from Madhya Pradesh , Shilpi pension from Govt of Assam.

Asked about his favourite raga—he says that all ragas are beautiful –each has its own beauty. Of course he adds that choice of raga is often a reflection of ones vyaktitwa(personality). he is however specific regarding His favourite hour of the day. In his own words—it is “brahma muhurta”—that moment when night is already leaving and day is yet to dawn.
“Its beautiful” emphasizes Pandit Thakuria.. “its surreal”.

Regarding the state of affairs in classical music scenario in the present times, his opinion to put it simply is-- dismal. He admits today there are innumerable music teachers in Assam. But sadly most of them are lacking in sound knowledge of classical music. Most of them by opening music schools at all nook and corners are simply indulging in business. He adds, “classical music is not to be learnt from textbooks. It has to be properly demonstrated by the teacher. For example, the ‘ga’ (the third note) is komal in the ragas Miya Malhar, Darbari Kanada and Bhimpalasi. Yet in no two ragas do the ‘ga’ swar sound the same. This cannot be learnt from any book. There is a definite singing process for each swar in each raga. And that knowledge can be disseminated only when the teacher demonstrates it. In most cases, teachers themselves are unaware of these nuances. They will simply teach the bandish and a few tanas and some aalap and the raga is done with. Because of this, the students too are ignorant—and sadly, often conceited. The teachers themselves are neither keen to discuss all this nor do they show any desire for earning. Once they attain their certificates, they think that they know everything.”

Words of wisdom-undoubtedly—yet it remains to see how much of the desired effect they have on those for whom they are meant. As for the rest of us there were many more pearls of wisdom pertaining this silent worker that yours truly would have loved to string—yet could not do so owing to the constraints alluded to right at the beginning of this write up. This is all for the moment. Hopefully yours truly will come up with a fuller account of this true artist in times to come. Till then-- its adieus…

[published in melange,the sunday supplement of The Sentinel in 2008]