Dimapur, May 15 (EMN): A book titled ‘Homecoming: and other stories,’ authored by Jim Wungramyao Kasom was released on May 12 in Delhi. The book was published by Bibliophile South Asia and Promila & co.
A press release received here on Tuesday informed that the book is a collection of nineteen short stories that breathes new life into the inner make-up of the people of Northeast India, the Tangkhul Naga in particular. The stories are bound together with a strong sense of attachment to mountains. The stories cover a span of one hundred years and more.
The arrival of the Japanese in a small village during the Second World War: a woman battling amnesia: a truck driver coping with loneliness: a man crossing over into Burma: children visiting their mother for the last time, lying on her death bed. These are stories of ordinary people and their lives: stories often left untold: stories swept away in the cross currents of political upheavals, the press release stated. The stories have been written over a span of a decade from 2007 to 2017.
The author in conversation with Shelmi stressed on the importance oral traditions and the impact it had on him while penning down these stories.
Kasom was born and raised in a small village in Ukhrul, Manipur with little or no other form of entertainment other than outdoor plays. One of the most sophisticated forms of entertainment for him while growing up was listening to stories of elderly folks. Oral tradition has always been an integral part of the Tangkhul society.
Shelmi Sankhil, an assistant professor in School of Letters, Ambedkar University Delhi said it has to be a proud moment for the Tangkhuls: the book being the first fiction book in English by a Tangkhul writer.
