I had first met Prof Laltluangliana Khiangte in April 2012,
when he had come to Guwahati to take part in a workshop
for translating folk stories of six
different languages of the Northeast. Over the past seven years, I
have met him again several times,
and have also spent time chatting
in his chamber in Mizoram University, Aizawl. And, every time I
meet him, I get to know yet another aspect of Mizo language and
literature, of which folklore attracts me the most. In February
this year, when I went to see him
in the University, he gave me as a
gift a copy of Folktales of Mizoram
which he had compiled, translated
and edited in 2017. Going through
that book on my flight back from
Aizawl – through Imphal and Kolkata, because the direct daily flight
between Guwahati and the Mizoram capital was suddenly withdrawn in February this year – I was
simply carried away by the 66 folk
stories he had included in that book.
Back in Aizawl for a two-week
teaching assignment at the Northeastern Region campus of Indian
Institute of Mass Communication
(IIMC) earlier this month, I wanted to see him again, and congratulate him particularly for the wonderful book that he had compiled.
“Oh, you should go and see his library,” said my old friend and host
LR Sailo, former Director of Information & Public Relations, Mizoram. Sailo, winner of several national awards for the amazing kind
of public relations that he had done
during the difficult days Mizoram
had passed through, is himself a
wonderful storyteller. A great photographer who had learnt the art
of capturing images through the
camera lens from the inimitable
Ahmed Hussain of Shillong, Sailo was with All India Radio for a couple of years in the late 1960s when
he had had the opportunity to type
the manuscript of eminent broadcaster JD Baveja’s The Land
Where The Bamboo Flowers, a
book on Mizoram whose Foreword
was written by the then Assam
Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha. Having retired as Mizoram
IPR director, Sailo is currently regional director of IIMC, Aizawl.
When I called him up for an appointment at his home, Prof Khiangte said: “You can come any time
before 11 pm.” That left me wondering what he meant, especially
knowing that Mizos have a very
early dinner, almost immediately after sunset,
though most of them
generally do not go to
bed before nine. And,
when I reached his place,
at Mission Veng, a posh
locality in the heart of
Aizawl, one of the first
things he told me was
that while he goes to bed
exactly at 11 pm, he does
not mind guests till that
time. “I do not get disturbed by guests and visitors,” he said, as he took
me down to the ground
floor, where the walls of
every room comprised
only of bookshelves. “I
have a little more than
15,000 books, which includes at least one copy
of every book written in
the Mizo language, apart from
most books about Mizos and Mizoram in the English language,”
he said with pride, as he took me
around his library.
Born in 1961, Prof Khiangte himself has quite a number of books to
his credit. He has authored 38
books in the Mizo language and 23
in English, written more than 30
plays in Mizo, and edited 34 books
in English and Mizo, apart from also
writing 27 booklets on various aspects of Mizo language, literature
and culture in the two languages.
What is more important, Prof Khiangte is also the most-read Mizo
author outside, the reason being
that at least 14 of his Mizo books
have been translated into English,
Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Bodo,
Khasi, Manipuri and Garo. The
senior-most professor in Mizoram
University now, he also has another record of sorts – the Mizo Lehkhabu Zempui (A Compendium of
Mizo Bibliography) brought out by
the Mizo Department of the University in 2005 has placed six of his
books among the top 20 books in a
list of 100 best books written so far
in the Mizo language. No wonder
Prof Khiangte has won a number
of awards and recognitions, which
again makes quite a long list – the
Rashtriya Lok Bhasha Samman in
2003, Bharat Adivasi Samman in
2005, Indian Tribal Drama Award
in 2012, Sangeet Natak Akademi
Award in 2017, the K Zawla Memorial Award in 2007, the
Khuangchera Award for drama in
2008, the Pu Buanga Award in
2010, among others. A PhD from
the North Eastern Hill University,
he was given the Padma Shri for
his contribution to the field of literature and education in 2006, when
he was just 45 years of age.
My typical question: What made
you a writer? “Sometimes I think
I got it in my DNA,” he said, remembering his grandfather Rev
Liangkhaia, a pioneer Mizo author,
who had won the Mizo Academy of
Letters award in 1979, his father
Tlanghmingthanga, a music teacher who had written five books, as
also his father’s elder brother L Biakliana, who is remembered as the
first novelist in the Mizo
language. He also showed
me a copy of Biakliana
Robawm – Treasures of
Biakliana – a collection of
all poems, novels, short
stories and essays written by his uncle, including Hawilopari, the first
Mizo novel. And then my
next question: When do
you write and why? Prof
Khiangte says he does
not have a fixed routine
as many writers do. “I
have to find out time inbetween teaching, guiding research scholars and
attending various administrative meetings in the
University, apart from attending various literary
and social events. I am
somewhat of a multi-tasking person, somehow able to carry
on with my literary pursuits even
when I have guests and visitors.
Yes, I work till late, up to 11 pm,
but then that also includes helping
other people in correcting manuscripts, recording plays for All India Radio and so on,” he told me.
What however struck me most
is the various collections that he has
in his library apart from the books.
In one shelf he has a number of small
bottles, each one having a distinct
label. “This bottle contains water
from the Tiber in Vatican, this one
of the Irrawaddy in Myanmar,” he
said, as I tried to read the labels –
Singapore, Wales, Geneva, Kathmandu, Gangtok, London, and so on.
“I don’t know why, but I am always
fascinated by rivers. Hence wherever I go, I carry a few small bottles
and collect water from the local rivers,” he said. That reminded me of
Durlabh Bora, a former ASEB engineer, whose museum Uttaran, in
front of the Talatal Ghar in Sivasagar, has a collection of water from
all the pukhuris (tanks) built by different Ahom kings. Prof Khiangte
also possesses over 500 various documents pertaining to the emergence
of Mizoram, which includes among
others the original copy of the order appointing the first Mizo as a
pastor. He also has diaries of several
eminent Mizo officers, booklets,
pamphlets, church registers, rare
photographs, and the first edition of
several rare Mizo books. And then,
as he took me to one corner of his
library – nay, museum – he showed
me another interesting collection –
walking sticks of over a dozen Mizo
authors who are no more now, as
also their spectacles, pens, diaries,
watches, notebooks and a few magnifying glasses too.
Any regrets in life? “Yes, and no.
Yes, because I have not been able
to make my three sons writers.
While this has remained my regret
for the past several years, I would
now rather say No, because my
youngest son Fima is beginning to
write. He has already written a few
stories and poems. I hope he will
carry on the family tradition,” Prof
Khiangte said. As I bid “Mangtha”
– goodbye – to him and also tried
to say “Kalawmhlemai”, meaning
‘Thank you very much’, Prof Khiangte gave me a copy of his latest
book, Mizo Natak, a collection of
Hindi translation of 11 of his plays.
By: Samudra Gupta Kashyap
(sgkashyap@gmail.com)
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