Written in Tears captures a violent period in India's Northeast

 

Arupa P.Kalita is a prolific writer. Her work encompasses many areas but it always focuses on the common people who  often face tragedies in an inequitable and unjust society. Strong women protagonists figure in many of her fiction.”As a writer and individual, I have certain political beliefs and they are reflected in my work,” says the writer.

 

To keep with the theme of this particular compilation, conflict situation and  a society  caught in the crossfire, the translator has selected three enovellas, long stories and short stories from the author’s collections. 

 

“Arunima’s Motherland” talks about a new bride in a welcoming home witnessing its slow destruction because one member joins an insurgent group; “The Cursed Field of Golden Rice” portrays a simple tribal woman losing her home-twice, due to internecine rivalry between groups; Mainao (“The girl with Long Hair) is compelled to shed her beautiful hair to cruel scissors because she defies a so-called social diktat; a half-burnt bus trudges to a serene and beautiful landscape to a repairing garage but destroys everything on its way with its shadow of killings hanging over its frame in the surrealistic story, “The Half-burnt Bus at Midnight.”  

 

The book also introduces the reader to the rich flora and fauna of the region, local traditions, and folk elements. That a beautiful land and its people be destroyed by hatred, political upmanship and distrust can be a template for similar experiences in the world around today.