This seems to be the season for all kinds of literary, musical and commercial fanfare. Guwahati itself has been and will be playing host to a number of trade fairs, literary festivals and book fairs, as well as an international music festival. It is sad that the attendance at the trade fairs is more numerous than at the other events, but that is the changing nature of Guwahati which we explore in this issue.
Why is it that even if the trade fairs take place on the outskirts of the city, people rush there while the international music festival, for instance, sees tepid attendance? The Asam Sahitya Sabha conventions held at different places in Assam have traditionally donned a carnivalesque atmosphere and seen massive participation, even by the non-literati. Why then have the footfalls at the book fairs in Guwahati been seeing a decline?
Perhaps a change in the approach to literature and culture, a compromise, is called for, where the commercial interests and the inherent cultural inclinations of the city dwellers can be brought together. In fact, we suggest that as the gateway to the entire region – as well as its fastest growing urban centre – Guwahati has to cater to these divergent needs of the entire Northeast.
For long now, the city has been used as the setting by many creative and literary voices. This issue brings you some of the poems by Pranab Kumar Barman in translation. They bring out the ethos of the city, its dual character very vividly, and express the poet’s love for it, his angst in it.
Some of the young writers writing in English are also using the city’s various locales to colour their narratives. Siddhartha Sarma travels through the pages of Kenny Deori Basumatary’s book,Chocolate_Guitar_Momos, to discover the city through the novelist’s tale.
Guwahati, made gulzaar in Bhupen Hazarika’s famous lyrics, remains the muse for many.
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