Her homeland Assam remains central to much of writer Rashmi Narzary's writing, including her Sahitya Akademi Prize for Children's Literature (2016) winning 'His Share of Sky'. The same holds for her latest 'The Lost Soul of the Joukhoorei', a book that "sat with me for 10 years", according to the writer, and was launched in Delhi on Monday. Om Books International has published the book.
"In Bodo, 'jou' means rice wine, and 'khoorei' means a bowl made with the shell of a gourd with its insides scooped out. You can also put salt in it," the writer explains at the launch of her book at Om Books Shop in Saket's DLF Avenue.
In 'The Lost Soul of the Joukhoorei', the writer, who hails from Assam's Bodo community, offers a vivid mix of myth and reality, bringing forth legends and myths of her homeland while retaining a universal tone to the story. "You don't have to think which section of people would understand the story, as aspects such as happiness, joy, and sorrow are universal that bind each one of us," the author commented.
The Himalayas, spanning the north of the Indian subcontinent, have offered spiritual tales aplenty, which is also vivid in Narzary's recent work. "Bodos have a deep understanding of the spiritual. We're nature-worshippers," the author says.
On how nature and her surroundings have influenced her writing, Narzary, who is based in Assam, says: "Mountains feature prominently in my story. I feel they have a spirit and carry some ancient songs that only the wind can hear."
"We, the people living in metropolitan cities, are so far removed from nature. And whatever is there in this book can come from someone who lives amid nature," comments writer-translator Rakhshanda Jalil, who was present at the launch. "I cannot write a murder mystery," quips Narzary.
“If there is a Cosmos within Cosmos, a Universe within a Universe, it’s in the storytelling by Rashmi Narzary," writes celebrated author Gulzar in the book's blurb. "She takes you across infinite time. The book ends. The story does not," he adds.
"This isn't the kind of book you gallop through but savour," says Jalil about 'The Lost Soul of the Joukhoorei'.
