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 Kamal Kumar Tanti is a promising
young voice in the contemporary Assamese
Poetry and belongs to the Adivashi & Tea-garden Labourer
Community of Assam.
His first collection of poetry, "Marangburu Amar Pita" (Our
Father
Marangburu) was published in July 2007, which has been
well-acclaimed and
well-criticized. This has been considered as one of the best
books, among
the recently published Assamese books of verse. Another
collection of prose,
"Nimnaborgo Somaaj Oitijya" (Subaltern Society Legacy), a
compilation of all
his articles on post-colonial theory and subaltern
historiography, with
specific reference to colonial history and culture of Assam was
published in
September 2007. Recently, this book has been selected as one of
the "Ten
Best Books" among all the Assamese books that has been published
during the<
year 2007-08, by Grantha-Bandhab (Friends of Books), a
well-known organization in Assam.He is also a regular writer in Assamese dailies and weeklies
and is the
author of a regular column "Mumbai Parikrama" in Asomiya Khabar,
an Assamese
daily. His short stories have also been well received
Silent Freedom
Silence was impatient
and freedom is absconding
I was a lonely *karbi* down the hill
and standing by the rivers
listening to the peeping sound of sky
to get free the birds on the tree
to get freedom for the people
I heard the story
Of the Old man behind the green hill
Our lovely *mikir pahar*
Our beloved
*Karbi Burha* told the birds
Of the tree
Go, fly off the sky
as the sky was silent
And get yourself free
He had seen the young boys
in a olive-colored uniforms
went along the river
through the dark green jungles
Young boys told him
going to the jungles to get ourself free
"From whom?" asked the old man.
"From them" They told & gone with
their black-skinned rifles
Next day, early morning
old man was lying down by the river bed
in a pool of blood & dead
Silence was impatient
and freedom absconding
reminds me of the wise Old man
reminds me of the lives and struggles
reminds me of the old dark jungles
I came through all along with my
Olive-colored uniforms
Truth lies in your eyes
Gazing at your timidness and eyes
in the midst of fog and clouds
I can hear the sounds of tranquil ocean
that lives in your clandestine heart
If I were a bird, I could have seen your eyes
I can smell emotions, of two blooming leaves
I pray, the green grass could keep promise
as blooming love in the monsoon rains
I fly away to the mountains, with freedom
and ask the trees to free the leaves
Leaves fall down and meet the grass
as blooming love, grass and two leaves
Truth lies in your eyes
in the midst of fog and clouds
And I can hear the sounds of truth
having felt freedom of the self.
(18th May, 2008; Mumbai)
Blood-stained Sun
Are you awake?
A blood-stained sun
has died today
What is life?
People asked me.
Life is a blood-stained myth
What is freedom?
People asked those young boys,
in olive-colored uniform
Freedom is the sun that
died today
Are you awake?
If you want freedom,
Look for the sun of the future.
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