Book review: Written in Tears - a woman at war
Assamese writer Arupa Patangia Kalita deftly examines how women are scarred by militancy
Author Arupa Patangia Kalita
Assamese writer Arupa Patangia Kalita returns with a collection of heart-breaking short stories in her latest literary offering, Written in Tears. Released after Kalita won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for literary works in 2014, the collection explores the undercurrent of terrorism in India’s northeastern state of Assam.
Civil unrest has plagued the fertile region of Assam for several decades. Kalita’s writing gets right to the heart of these security issues as viewed by marginalised members of society, namely Assamese women and young people, including domestic helpers, newlyweds, weavers and saleswomen.
The subject at hand is how the lives of women are affected by militants and one of the more gripping stories in Kalita’s collection is the tale of a family whose son becomes radicalised and joins a band of local insurgents. A young woman arrives at her in-laws’ house as a newlywed bride only to discover that her brother-in-law is acting strange by distancing himself from the rest of the family. With time, the brother-in-law’s connection to militants comes to light and the family is violently ostracised by the community they live in.
Another short story, perhaps the odd one out in the series, describes a half-burnt bus travelling through a village and charring everything as it passes through the town. With its use of magical realism, this story seems to be more of a folktale and thus, a departure from the rest of the stories which remain fiercely true to life.
Some of the stories are disturbing and call to mind the injustice women suffer at the hands of a conservative society. One of Kalita’s novellas recounts the tale of a young woman who was seen touching a man in public. As a result, her coveted long hair was chopped off by locals as punishment. The reason for cutting her hair dated back to an old folktale which the villagers still followed.
As the title of the book suggests, this collection recounts the harrowing experiences of women who live in a region scarred by conflict. Kalita examines the history of Assamese aggression and hatred that has existed for decades. In one interview, she stated that she does not wish to be referred to as a “woman writer”, even though much of her writing focuses on women’s issues. She previously even refused an award given to her based on gender, showcasing her vehement dislike for the label. Thus, while it may be easy for some readers to pass off Written in Tears as ‘chick lit’ due to its preoccupation with female characters, the book does not lend itself so neatly to such a stereotypical genre due to its weighty context.
Carol Khan is a Peshawar-based subeditor at The Express Tribune. She tweets @carolkhn
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 14th, 2015.
Civil unrest has plagued the fertile region of Assam for several decades. Kalita’s writing gets right to the heart of these security issues as viewed by marginalised members of society, namely Assamese women and young people, including domestic helpers, newlyweds, weavers and saleswomen.
The subject at hand is how the lives of women are affected by militants and one of the more gripping stories in Kalita’s collection is the tale of a family whose son becomes radicalised and joins a band of local insurgents. A young woman arrives at her in-laws’ house as a newlywed bride only to discover that her brother-in-law is acting strange by distancing himself from the rest of the family. With time, the brother-in-law’s connection to militants comes to light and the family is violently ostracised by the community they live in.
Another short story, perhaps the odd one out in the series, describes a half-burnt bus travelling through a village and charring everything as it passes through the town. With its use of magical realism, this story seems to be more of a folktale and thus, a departure from the rest of the stories which remain fiercely true to life.
Some of the stories are disturbing and call to mind the injustice women suffer at the hands of a conservative society. One of Kalita’s novellas recounts the tale of a young woman who was seen touching a man in public. As a result, her coveted long hair was chopped off by locals as punishment. The reason for cutting her hair dated back to an old folktale which the villagers still followed.
As the title of the book suggests, this collection recounts the harrowing experiences of women who live in a region scarred by conflict. Kalita examines the history of Assamese aggression and hatred that has existed for decades. In one interview, she stated that she does not wish to be referred to as a “woman writer”, even though much of her writing focuses on women’s issues. She previously even refused an award given to her based on gender, showcasing her vehement dislike for the label. Thus, while it may be easy for some readers to pass off Written in Tears as ‘chick lit’ due to its preoccupation with female characters, the book does not lend itself so neatly to such a stereotypical genre due to its weighty context.
Carol Khan is a Peshawar-based subeditor at The Express Tribune. She tweets @carolkhn
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 14th, 2015.