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67 views3 pages

Assignment

Uploaded by

rimanshupandey2004
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ASSIGNMENT

Name- Rimanshu Raj


Roll- 6121
Course- English Hons
Semester- 4th
Paper- Indian Writing in English Translation

Depiction of Northeast parts of India in the prescribed poems of


Thangjam Ibopishak Singh-

Thangjam Ibopishak Singh, in his poems, has explicitly presented and


critiqued the dire conditions of Manipur and northeastern states.
Although every state belonging to the Northeast has its own
distinctive culture and lifestyle, the fact that the author has to speak
for the entirety of the Northeast himself speaks volumes about how
gravely the rest of India has ignored them throughout history.

‘The Land of Half-Humans’ symbolically presents the conditions in


Manipur and other Northeastern states and how sectarians of these
states have been trying to demolish the existing peace. Through this
poem, Thangjam Ibopishak Singh illustrates a dystopian image of the
Northeastern states. The “half-humans” are none other than the
extremist groups of those states. For their selfish motives, they don’t
even think of the condition of those who only long for peace and
stability.

It depicts a land where humans live with the head without the body
for six months and for the next 6 months, they live with the body
without the head. The poet specifically clarifies that “It’s not a
folktale”, the poet tries to create credibility in the minds of the
readers.

Then, the poet says they only talk and eat for six months without
having the body to do any work. They eat like a millstone is grinding
something. In the next six months, they suffer like Bhima and
Shakuni, two characters from the Mahabharata. As the head has
eaten too much in the previous months, the body now suffers from
shitting that much.

The poet explains that the half-humans also elect a democratic


government in their land, the election is held every five years like in
any other state of India. Apart from that, the poet says that the
people of this land have no names. The poet ironically says, “So for
the nameless citizens the nameless representatives govern the land
of the half-humans.” And, through this line, the poet refers to the
attitude of men living there. The last line makes it clear that in this
poem, the poet is referring to his native land.

‘Dali, Hussain, or Odour of Dream, Colour of Wind’ by Thangjam


Ibopishak Singh follows the dream sequence way of writing. In this
poem, the representation of the ideas refers to the fact that the poet
was disturbed and delirious while writing the poem. He was clinging
between wakefulness and sleeping.

However, what he saw in the dream, or what he was presenting as a


dream isn’t totally absurd. The representation may seem absurd but
there is a connection between the lines. There is also a significance
behind writing this as a Dream Sequence, it depicts an inner conflict
and a restless mind that confuse consciousness and sleep. After
referring to the political situation of the North East states of India
such as Manipur and Nagaland, it becomes clear the poet might be
disturbed by such an ongoing pandemonium outside.

Stanza four of the poem presents a comparison to the readers and


asks which one is more fragrant, “The report of guns or the scent of
flowers”. The poet says that “the sound of guns” lies on the nose.
Whereas, the fragrance of flowers lies on the tips of flowers. Blind
men visualize colors on the “voices”. In this way, the poet presents
the contrast between war and peace. And at last remarks about the
blindness of those who can’t see the beauty of life. Those cruel
minds only find satisfaction in the redness of blood and the doomed
blast of guns. This can be interpreted as ever lasting war and turmoil
in the author’s native place compared with a somewhat peaceful
condition of the rest of the India.

In conclusion, Thangjam Ibopishak Singh, in both of his poems, has


realistically presented the dire conditions of his native place. Through
his work, he calls for a better time where people can understand
each other and the government can listen to their problems and
needs.

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