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The Story of Felanee is based on real life events. It is a story of courage, of survival, of ethnic conflict and violence that tears people and communities apart in the most brutal, savage way.
Set in Assam, which has seen two major agitations that have crippled the economy, this is a story that will shock the reader by its sheer passion, and its brutal honesty. The callousness and utter disregard for human life, the ugly play for power, for electoral gain, the sham and petty hypocrisies, the bloody horror of ethnic violence all lie exposed in this powerful novel written by one of Assam’s leading fiction writers.
The story revolves around the experiences of one woman: Felanee. Her name means ‘thrown away’—so called because as her mother lay dying in the burning riot-torn village, Felanee was thrown into a swamp and left to die. But against all odds, Felanee—and thousands like her—survived.
Like the reeds that grow in such profusion along the bank of Assam’s rivers, the rootless inhabitants of the refugee camps and makeshift shanties, whose stories form the core of Felanee, are swept along by the wind and thrown onto new hostile terrain but they cling on with tenacity to take root again and again.
Set in Assam, which has seen two major agitations that have crippled the economy, this is a story that will shock the reader by its sheer passion, and its brutal honesty. The callousness and utter disregard for human life, the ugly play for power, for electoral gain, the sham and petty hypocrisies, the bloody horror of ethnic violence all lie exposed in this powerful novel written by one of Assam’s leading fiction writers.
The story revolves around the experiences of one woman: Felanee. Her name means ‘thrown away’—so called because as her mother lay dying in the burning riot-torn village, Felanee was thrown into a swamp and left to die. But against all odds, Felanee—and thousands like her—survived.
Like the reeds that grow in such profusion along the bank of Assam’s rivers, the rootless inhabitants of the refugee camps and makeshift shanties, whose stories form the core of Felanee, are swept along by the wind and thrown onto new hostile terrain but they cling on with tenacity to take root again and again.
- GenresIndia
254 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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331 people want to read
About the author
Arupa Patangia Kalita
14 books14 followersArupa Kalita Patangia (aka Arupa Patangia Kalita, Assamese: অৰূপা কলিতা পতংগীয়া) is an Assamese novelists and short story writer and known for her fiction writing in Assamese. Her literary awards include: the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad award, the Katha Prize and the Prabina Saikia Award. In 2014, she received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for her short stories book named Mariam Austin Othoba Hira Barua.
Arupa completed her Ph.D. from Gauhati University on Pearl S. Buck’s women characters. Arupa Patangia Kalita teaches English at Tangla College, Darrang, Assam.
(from Wikipedia)
Arupa completed her Ph.D. from Gauhati University on Pearl S. Buck’s women characters. Arupa Patangia Kalita teaches English at Tangla College, Darrang, Assam.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 23, 2015
The unrest and insurgency in the Indian state of Assam is not very well known outside the country – or at least it wasn't to me – so this feminist-inflected polemic provided some very welcome background and context. Originally written in Assamese (a rather interesting language with its own script, which looks like a kind of spikier, funkier Devanagari), it is set in the late 70s and early 80s at the height of the so-called Assam Agitation, when separatist groups sought to build an independent Assam, primarily by means of massacring those people not considered to be sufficiently native.
The central character, Felänee, cast adrift with her son after the destruction of her village, finds herself navigating a complex social and political landscape – and so does the uninitiated reader. We know that Felänee wears white shell bangles, that her husband was a Koch, her grandfather a Bodo, and her great-grandfather a mauzadar; but if you aren't sure what any of that means, then it can be a matter of some confusion – or at least some research – to work out exactly why various factions support or revile her. With her mixed ancestry, she is apparently being presented as a kind of Assamese everywoman, to whom questions of tribal identity are impossible to answer.
Female endurance, male oppression, the support networks of women in communities, female rivalry, motherhood and gender relations – these are the key themes of the novel which underlie the political events, and they are very well and very interestingly described. Kalita is not a coy writer and some of the scenes in here are tough to read. One character dies of a prolapsed uterus that slowly decomposes and becomes gangrenous, while another administers an abortion on her daughter in the forest using a tree-root – these things are described in eye-watering detail, but I must say I found them revelatory. One of the most appealing characters, known as Kali Boori, is a tough old woman who has no time for self-pity or wallowing.
The political violence is also pretty extreme, though mercifully concentrated at the beginning of the book. Be prepared for people getting skinned alive, and trees hung with ‘chopped hands and feet, and two babies without heads’ – that kind of thing. Kalita adopts a numbed, factual tone of voice for these sections, while at other times she almost allows herself to skirt close to a kind of black humour, as in this ad-hoc treatment for a woman bitten by a cobra:
When told what I was reading about, Assamese acquaintances tended to frown at me and ask, in genuine confusion, ‘Why?’ I guess it's annoying to have visitors focusing on the negatives of your homeland when it's as rich and beautiful as Assam is. But this stuff is hardly ancient history – just last Christmas another 76 people were killed by insurgents claiming to represent the native Bodo people here. Assam lies out in the far northeast of India, connected to the rest of the country only via a slim strip of land known as the Chicken's Neck; surrounded by other nations, it has always suffered from illegal immigration, primarily from Bangladesh. It's another example, were one really needed, of how violent and disproportionate the reaction to immigration can be.
The translation is decent, and the publisher, an ‘independent feminist publishing house based in New Delhi’, has done well putting it out there – Kalita is one of the state's best-known contemporary writers, and one who's apparently interested in this kind of cultural exchange (she recently translated Toni Morrison into Assamese). This seems a good introduction to her, and to the region's troubled recent history – well worth a go.
The central character, Felänee, cast adrift with her son after the destruction of her village, finds herself navigating a complex social and political landscape – and so does the uninitiated reader. We know that Felänee wears white shell bangles, that her husband was a Koch, her grandfather a Bodo, and her great-grandfather a mauzadar; but if you aren't sure what any of that means, then it can be a matter of some confusion – or at least some research – to work out exactly why various factions support or revile her. With her mixed ancestry, she is apparently being presented as a kind of Assamese everywoman, to whom questions of tribal identity are impossible to answer.
He then asked her, “What are you, anyway?” Stunned at this question, she kept looking at him. The boy stared back at her. Why was she taking so long to answer such a simple question, he thought. She, in turn, muttered the question to herself. “What are you?” Yes, she thought, what am I? “Just a human being, what else?” she said.
Female endurance, male oppression, the support networks of women in communities, female rivalry, motherhood and gender relations – these are the key themes of the novel which underlie the political events, and they are very well and very interestingly described. Kalita is not a coy writer and some of the scenes in here are tough to read. One character dies of a prolapsed uterus that slowly decomposes and becomes gangrenous, while another administers an abortion on her daughter in the forest using a tree-root – these things are described in eye-watering detail, but I must say I found them revelatory. One of the most appealing characters, known as Kali Boori, is a tough old woman who has no time for self-pity or wallowing.
“This is what I dislike in women,” she said. “For whom are you crying? What kind of man do you need to take your sorrows to? Sure enough a man will come to you if you wish. He will pet and fondle away your distress.”
“Women have to be like this chilli,” the old woman declared, putting the chilli in Felänee's hand. “Tiny to look at but real fire once in the mouth.”
The political violence is also pretty extreme, though mercifully concentrated at the beginning of the book. Be prepared for people getting skinned alive, and trees hung with ‘chopped hands and feet, and two babies without heads’ – that kind of thing. Kalita adopts a numbed, factual tone of voice for these sections, while at other times she almost allows herself to skirt close to a kind of black humour, as in this ad-hoc treatment for a woman bitten by a cobra:
A toothless old man came forward. He looked around for a blade and a chicken. Someone produced a blade, while another produced two chickens that he had salvaged. The old man tied the woman's leg in three places up to the thigh. Then he slashed the spot where the snake had bitten her. A stream of black blood oozed out. Then, cutting open the bird's anus he placed it on the open wound. The chick began writhing in pain and soon died. The old man repeated this with the other chicken. In a moment that too died. Then he babbled something that no one understood. His daughter-in-law explained that had there been another 30-35 chickens, the woman could be saved.
When told what I was reading about, Assamese acquaintances tended to frown at me and ask, in genuine confusion, ‘Why?’ I guess it's annoying to have visitors focusing on the negatives of your homeland when it's as rich and beautiful as Assam is. But this stuff is hardly ancient history – just last Christmas another 76 people were killed by insurgents claiming to represent the native Bodo people here. Assam lies out in the far northeast of India, connected to the rest of the country only via a slim strip of land known as the Chicken's Neck; surrounded by other nations, it has always suffered from illegal immigration, primarily from Bangladesh. It's another example, were one really needed, of how violent and disproportionate the reaction to immigration can be.
The translation is decent, and the publisher, an ‘independent feminist publishing house based in New Delhi’, has done well putting it out there – Kalita is one of the state's best-known contemporary writers, and one who's apparently interested in this kind of cultural exchange (she recently translated Toni Morrison into Assamese). This seems a good introduction to her, and to the region's troubled recent history – well worth a go.
October 12, 2021
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ফেলানী : অৰূপা পটঙ্গীয়া কলিতা
Felanee
Author: Arupa Patangia Kalita
Published by Sri Ila Sarmah
LANGUAGE: ASSAMESE
Publication: Jyoti Prakashan
RS: 200
ফেলানী : অৰূপা পটঙ্গীয়া কলিতা
Felanee
Author: Arupa Patangia Kalita
Published by Sri Ila Sarmah
LANGUAGE: ASSAMESE
Publication: Jyoti Prakashan
RS: 200
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews