PANAJI
She's one of the most celebrated writers in Arunachal Pradesh today, yet there are no airs about Mamang Dai who hails from Pasighat, Itanagar.
A former member of the Indian Administrative Service, Mamang Dai chose to pursue a career in writing instead as she 'felt better in journalism”. She worked as a correspondent for the Hindustan Times, The Telegraph and the Sentinel before novel and poetry writing came about just by chance.
“ I happened to get in touch with the North-East Writers Forum, which comprises of a group of writers from all the eight north-east states and did a short piece for the forum journal. The editor of Penguin happened to read it and called me up to ask whether I would like to write something for them and that is how my first book happened,” reveals Dai, who confesses that she is happiest when she is alone and writing. Ever since then Dai has written quite a few books like The Legends of Pensem, Mountain Harvest- The Food of Arunachal Pradesh etc.
Indeed, the need to highlight and preserve the rich heritage and customs of her land was one of the motives for her to take up literary writing seriously. “ In our land we only have the shamans or priests who memorise and narrate these epics orally where they tell of the history of the tribe, the creation of mankind etc. These are narrated in a very archaic literary style. There is not much other documentation of the land apart from a few outside people who have come in and done some record or survey of the place,” she says. And indeed, her impressive attempt to document the culture and customs of her land earned her the Padma Shri in 2011 ( Literature and Education).
“The response I received from my people to this news was overwhelming and made me think about my role as a writer. After all it was their stories that I was telling. It made me think about who you represent and how you represent,” she says.
And although we don't really hear much about the literary works of the North East, Dai states that the scene is very vibrant indeed. “The North East perception is one big mess. People think that the literary works are only about the conflict situation and myths and legends but there is so much more writing happening here all with a distinct voice of their own. However probably because they are at a distance from main India, these voices are not heard so much,” she says. Also, as her mother tongue Adi does not have a literary script, she states that this makes it a little harder for writers to tell their stories and get them out.
“An academic movement is on to try and put in the phonetics to the language but more needs to be done here. We have also started the Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society to give a platform for young writers to meet and create,” she discloses.
