Literary Craftsman

Gitali Baruah is a poet, writer, novelist, and a playwright of Assam. She made her literary debut with the collection of poems, EkuriAnubhuti in 2002.

She later published several collections of poetry, short stories, novels and essays. She made her acting debut in the third grade with the play Abhiman. She later acted in several plays and films. She has been conferred many awards for her creations. Excerpts from an interview:

How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers. May we know something about your family

I am Gitali Baruah. I am from Bilasipara, Assam. I have been residing here with my family for many generations. My father was a doctor. My grandfather was a doctor as well, who practiced as a medical professional in the government hospital. My husband is a doctor as well. He is an MD, MBBS. We have a clinic here in Bilasipara. I have a son.

Can You tell us about your educational background.

I have completed my graduation in Arts.

Why did you decide to become a writer. Who was your Muse?

My writing dates back to my school days. Whenever there is a birthday, marriage or anniversary party, people used to ask me to write messages in the gift cards. My classmates used to point a finger at me and would say, ` Tell Gitali to write. She writes very well'. With my limited knowledge, I wrote whatever I could, 'Have a colourful married life', 'Have a blessed marriage', 'Have a happy life'. Since I was often called on to write all these messages, I somehow fell in love with writing. From thenon I started writing small sentences in pieces of paper. I did not know whether they were poems or not. I also wrote poems, but even then I was not sure that these jottings were poetry. Before marriage I did not consider writing seriously. But after marriage, my husband used to tell me that I write very well. Although I wrote small sentences in one or two lines, he loved my writing. He gave me a diary, and I started writing in earnest. My husband said that these should be published. With his encouragement, I published EkuriAnubhuti in 2002 and in 2003, the collection of poems was released. The book was released by Nabakanta Baruah Deb Sir, in Guwahati Press Club. I still remember the day when my book was released. Nabakanta Baruah was such a great personality. In front of him I was nothing. He always encouraged young writers, and may be that is why I was privileged that the book was released by none other than him. On the day of the inauguration, Sir said that my book was entitled EkuriAnubhoti, but that we cannot count our experiences. He added, "But Gitali Baruah has sat down and calculated her experiences." When I remember this even today I burst out laughing. I wanted to share the photos of that day with him. Unlike now a days, where we can send everything via our mobile phones, we did not have mobile phones in those days, so I did not get the chance of sharing the pictures with him. After two months and fourteen days he left for his heavenly abode. I could not give him the photo, and this regret I feel till today.

My second book, was released by Hiren Bhatta Sir. From then on, my journey started. From poetry, I started writing essays, from essays I wenton to write stories and novels, and then plays. I have touched every genre of writing. Now I also do translations.

Did your family approve of your choice?

My family encouraged me to write. My husband was very supportive of my choice.

Your first book EkuriAnubhoti, is a composition of poems. Can you tell us more about it.

As I have already said, my husband has been my biggest supporter. Had it not been for his encouragement, I would not have taken this step to publish my poetry collection. He gave me the wings.

You have written poems, stories, novels and essays. What is your favourite genre and why?

I love to write short stories. In a small theme you can tell a lot of things and it is not too long. You can say a few things, you can choose not to say a few things. But while writing a novel you have to go in depth. So, I love writing short stories. If you want to say a story in detail, you have to go for writing a novel. For example in 2020 my novel Dahalthungripublished by Banalatawas released. I had to do a lot of field work. I went to Kokrajhar and Bhutan. Bhutan is just about 100 kilometres distance from us. I went to Bhutan for extensive field work and research. I initially thought I would write it in the form of a story. But later I had to convert it to a novel, as the stories could not be told within a limited number of words. Dahalthungriis a war-based dance of the Bodos. They dance with their swords and shields. A unique feature of this dance form is that the dance is based only on the music. Normally in any folk dance there is music accompanied by songs, but this dance is based solely on the musical instruments. The sound that emanates when dancing with the swords, is what the rhythm of the dance is based on. When you are writing about all these things, you have to write a novel. I initially wanted to write a story, but the story could not be told in the form of a book.

You have also acted in plays and movies. Can you elaborate on this?

I have acted in numerous plays since my childhood. The environment in our home was culturally very rich. My father Dr Amarendra Kumar Das was very interested in plays and the culture of Assam. My uncle, my aunts we loved to take part in plays. In Prafulla Baruah's Upapath and Obhimaan plays I rendered the parts of two characters. One character was Loni and in the other play I portrayed the character of Sangeeta.I was very young at that time. I was in class 3 when I acted in Upapath, and when I acted in ObhimanI was in Class 8. In my school and in college days I took part in numerous plays. After 7 years of my marriage I also acted in a movie called Songhat. It was directed by Dinesh Gogoi, who was from Golaghat and he was a former lecturer of DR College in Golaghat. I also acted in another movie Hitlist. I also acted in VCD films, they were mainly from Champawati Productions and Zenith Films of Abhayapuri. And We also have our own production house calledThapona. Under this production I acted in the project XopunXopunUnmona Mon. This was an album. Now I love writing. I am also looking after the business owned by our family. Now my son has also opened a resort and a restaurant, and a gym so I also advise him on how to go about the running of these enterprises from time to time.

Among all your works, what is your most memorable work.

To be honest, I love all my works. My trepidation lies in whether my readers will love what I write. While most of the time they like what I have written, a section does not seem to approve of all my writings. For exampleIhoped that peoplewould lovereading my poems in Dahaltholi, but there is a section of readers who did not appreciate my work. My book,Moujal, is based on honey trapping which is a rising crime in our society. There is a section of readers who loved Moujalmore than Dahaltholi. I still feel that the best is yet to come.

Do you love acting?

I love acting.I have acted with Biju Phukanin VCD Films. We have filmed together an Adivasi film where he played a Bengali character in the role of the Manager of aTea garden. I have acted in this film with him. I have also played a Goalporiya character in a Goalporiya production.

Can you tell us about your awards and achievements?

In 2012 Asam Sahitya Sabha awarded me with 'KolaguruBishnu Prasad RavaSuworoni Bota' for the story collection Somadrito. In 2009 I was presented theMichael Madhusudan Award for my contribution towards Assamese literature.I was also presented theAnajori award in 2014 for my book AjugmoSankhya. I have also received the Exceptional Lifetime Award in 2019. Although I should not say this, we take the achievements and the awards in a positive way and these are an encouragement. It breaks my heart when I read that my readers do not like it, you get to hear that the readers are not liking it, it breaks my heart. So I do not like to mention about some awards. For us, when we get recognised for our works, we feel a sense of positivity and a means to encourage us to do better works again.

Are you working on any new book. Can you tell us about your upcoming works.

I have completed writing two books now. One book is Maidangshreeand the other one is AndharorAtmarekha. These two books are ready to be published. I am also writing another book, which I am yet to name.

Any word of advice for those who want to choose writing as a career.

I am no one to give advise. The young writers these days are doing very good. And they have numerous readers as well. Their writing trend has changed a lot. It is not the same as ours. They write according to the demand of the digital age. This is a phase. I will just say that they do not lose the fervour of writing. The language and vocabulary has changed a lot, and when you are writing, some words in our daily lives also get reflected in the writings. I just wish that they do not lose their originality in their writing. I will just say that. They are doing very good and I wish them all the best.

Lastly, any words for your readers

To all my dear readers, I am always blessed to have you as my readers. I will always be grateful to you.My readers are the breath of my pen. Lastly, I want to recite a poem, which I had written a long time ago:

Ki dim tumak

Apunimukjimandise

Moi ekudiboe para nai

Ki dim tumak

Gute din maarithokabothha sabesabeuthe

Jibonmoronorxisap

Lua jodidiboparu, luajodidiboparu

Mur alashyoabaxadedukharthoterakhibotoposhkalija

Ki dim tumak.