The Nineteenth of May, Selections
Translations: Arjun Chaudhuri —————————————- Feeling the Nineteeth–of Poetry and Resistance Tushar Kanti Nath The Language Movement of 1961 has provided immense enthusiasm to the poets and writers of Barak Valley; it has fostered to a markedly significant degree the progress of the literatures of this region as well. In the eighties decade of the last century, the tone and tenor of Bengali poetry from Barak Valley did take a turn towards a different idiom. The author holds this very turn up to light and attempts to read how the Bengali poets of Barak Valley, after the Language Movement, have strung the consciousness of the Nineteenth of May like a bead into the garland of letters that their poetry is. The very sound of the phrase “Unishe May” (the Nineteenth of May) evokes the image of a red, bloodied day from 1961 in the imagination of the people of Barak Valley. The Nineteenth of May is in itself one long, difficult history, a firm pillar in our cultural consciousness, the cultural consciousness of this region. A history of great strength, fortitude and sacrifice remains embedded within it. The surging political impetus that was seen throughout the entire region of Barak Valley during the Language Movement, and which steered the valley and its people towards an inclusive civil movement for the protection of the dignity of the mother tongue remains till date a very rare example. Through a long and strong resistance, effective protest and unending struggle, the people of this valley have succeeded in protecting their linguistic and cultural identities. As it is, any significant incident in the history of any community, or race, or ethnie will invariably lead towards a surge of inspiration in the hearts of creative people. This impact is felt most in case of the literary and artistic production of the age. Across Barak Valley and in West Bengal, the self sacrifice of the eleven martyrs of the Language Movement of 1961 similarly exerted a major influence in the minds of poets, writers, artists and journalists, and even in all other spheres of the society. Manish Ghatak, Balaichnad Mukhopadhyay (Banaphul), Dakshinaranjan Basu, Ramendra Deshamukhya, Kumudranjan Mallik and other poets of that era had spoken out in their poetry, protesting against the shooting at Silchar Railway Station. The story of the great movement of 1961, the rise of the masses against the state of Assam, and the story of the great martyrdom of the eleven people on 19th May, 1961 did not really garner much attention in the little magazines, or the literature in this region during the sixties decade. In the seventies, there was yet another phase of resistance against the linguistic aggression exerted on ethnic groups in this part of the state. The language movements in the sixties and the seventies did exert a tremendous influence over the poets of Barak Valley, but there was no significant outpouring from them in the pages of the literature produced after that time here. However, the cultural significance of this entire history was great, and ran deep. In reality, what did not happen in the sixties-seventies decades came into existence in the eighties when a group of young writers, through the little magazines they edited and published, and even their individual work, manifested how much the bloodied Language Movement had held sway over their minds, their hearts, their consciousness. And it was in this eighties decade of the last century when another distinct turn in the trajectory of literary thought was noticed in Barak Valley’s literary spaces. This distinct turn was a veering of contemporary poetic expression towards the village, the rural spaces of this region. In this context Dr. Amalendu Bhattacharjee writes: I do believe, and I can also produce evidence to substantiate my belief, that from the second half of the eighties decade, the literature of Barak Valley has turned mostly toward the rural spaces of the region. Those who confer otherwise, and publicise that sort of thought in the mass media do not, it would seem, know the truth, or if they do, they do not wish to acknowledge it. (“Khelaghor”, Sharad anthology 1317 Bengali era: “Samipeshu”, Pg. 2) The reason why the literature of that age became inclined towards a rural space, towards a ‘rural’ idiom was because the people writing at that time were mostly young men and women who originally belonged to those rural spaces. They tirelessly worked for the pursuit of literary production through their little magazines, which they started publishing from those very marginal, rural spaces. What was added to the general character of these little magazines was this – a desire to spread the consciousness of Nineteenth May through the written word, a wish to see the glorious story of Nineteenth May brought to the world outside. The revolutionary zeal of these young writers expressed in their writing advanced the stature of the historical and cultural consciousness of the Language Movement to a new height. The vast lacuna in the poetic idiom of the sixties-seventies decade was brought home to the eagle eyed poets of the eighties decade. In an editorial from the literary magazine Ityadi (Ninth year: Fifteenth edition: 1988) it was said: It can now be concluded without doubt that the poets of Barak Valley writing in this decade have focused in their writing on contemporary society and times, especially on the discontent simmering in the hearts of the people of this region, on outright rebellion, and the fragrance of the earth. This, however, was not noticed at all in the poetry of the previous decade…the poets of the preceding two decades had turned their faces away from the pain and agony of a deprived human existence, from the time they lived in and the society they were a part of, and had continued writing their distanced poetry. In their poetry, we do not see any traces of the tread of the time they lived in; only a smoggy emptiness greets us there. The