Dhruba Hazarika
| Dhruba Hazarika | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education |
St. Edmund's College North-Eastern Hill University |
| Notable awards | Katha Award |
Dhruba Hazarika (Assamese: ধ্ৰুৱ হাজৰিকা) (born 1956) is an Indian novelist who writes in English and hails from Assam. He is the author of A Bow String Winter. He lives in Guwahati.[1]
Early life and education
He grew up in Shillong, capital of Meghalaya, in North-East India. After graduating from St. Edmund's College, Shillong, he studied Economics at North-Eastern Hill University. He was the director of Sports and Youth Welfare, Assam during the National Games that were held in Assam. After his tenure as the director of Sports, he was appointed as the Deputy Commissioner of Darrang.He has joined Tourism Department, Government of Assam as Joint Secretary in the month of January, 2012. He is also in the additional charge of Joint Secretary to the Government of Assam, Transport Department and the Director, Inland Water Transport, Assam.
Professional career
Dhruba Hazarika, novelist, short story writer, is undoubtedly a pioneer in the North East of India in Indian writing in English. Previously a member of the Indian Administrative Service he went in for voluntary retirement to devote more time to his abiding passions, reading and writing. Dhruba’s first novel A Bowstring Winter published by Penguin India in 2006 carries a style perhaps unique to itself. Spare, yet unrestricted by his command over the language in describing unforgettable characters and in the unravelling of latent plots climaxing to a sweep that grips the reader’s attention it is a controlled literary exercise, a thriller with a difference, a work that captures the geographical essence of Shillong, a melting ground for students from all over the North East. Woven around the game of teer, or archery, the novel alternates between narration and description, between a brooding sense of violence and that of forbidden romance.
His second novel, Sons of Brahma, also by Penguin, was published in 2014. A non-stop read, the novel depicts the murky world of the underground and a bunch of equally ruthless government officials even as the Assamese, a linguistic race inhabiting the lush Brahmaputra valley find themselves in a quandary over their centuries-old identity. Narrated through the eyes of two students the novel is written, once again as in the author’s previous novel, in the thriller mode with characters perhaps not as artistically depicted as those in A Bowstring Winter. For three decades Dhruba Hazarika’s short stories have featured in several literary magazines. The first collection, Luck published in 2010 by Penguin received very favorable reviews. It has been held that his short fiction is more evocative, more visually powerful than his novels. This can be debated upon but what is certainly true is that his short stories carry a spontaneity that speaks of his focus on ordinary everyday themes as well as his capacity for excelling in the literary understatement, a Hemingway-like style that seems effortless on Dhruba’s part. Luck is a seminal collection that revolves around birds and animals and of the people who are affected one way or the other while coming into close terms with them.
The North East of India is not as widely publicized in India’s literary arena as compared to the rest of the country. One reason for this could be the North-Easterner’s innate shyness for self-publicity. It could also be that the region is presumed to be intellectually deficit for reasons based on mainland India’s cultural arrogance. It could also be true that in an area spuriously known for fomenting rebellions there is hardly any scope for acknowledging literary excellence even if such merit exists in abundance. But for those who can recognize true value there is absolutely no doubt that the North East carries its own share of vigorous thinkers and writers. One such organization which hosts such members is the North East Writers’ Forum, a two-decade old organization of which Dhruba is a founder member. Flung across the eight states including Sikkim there are more writers writing in English in this region than in most other regions in India. Dhruba is a recipient of the Katha Award for fiction in English in 1996 and the DY365 Award for Literature for 2014. His books are in the academic syllabi of several universities both in India as well as abroad. We expect more works from him in the near future.
Bibliography
- Luck, Penguin Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-14-306825-9.
- A Bowstring Winter, Penguin Books, 2006, ISBN 0-14-306180-1.
- " Sons of Brahma", Penguin Books, 2006, ISBN
Awards
- 1996: Katha Award for Creative Writing in English.
- 2014: DY365 # Award for Literature