In the recent past, many writers have acquainted readers with the composite culture of Assam. Moushumi Kandali makes a similar attempt in The Black Magic Women, but with a stark difference. She brings her characters out of Assam and places them in the mainstream, capturing their struggle to retain their inherent 'Assameseness' as they try to assimilate into the larger society.
The stories make one pause, think and debate issues that range from racial discrimination ('The Fireflies Outside of the Frame') to sexual harassment (The Hyenas and Coach Number One', 'Kalindi, Your Black Waters ) to the existential and ideological dilemma induced by the state's complex socio- political scenario (The Final Leap of the Salmon'). The title story is revealing of how mainstream India perceives Assamese women-as powered with the art of seduction and black magic-as a result of which they face social discrimination that can range from racial slurs to physical abuse.
The writer ventures into a surrealistic mode, using a generous sprinkle of fable, myth and metaphors to deliver a powerful punch. With all the shades of emotion these ten stories from the North-east evoke, the reader cannot remain a passive observer.
Moushumi Kandali is a bilingual short story writer, art historian and translator. She has published four collections of short stories in Assamese, and her stories have been published in anthologies such as The Oxford Anthology of Writings from North-East India, A Game of Chess: Classic Assamese Stories and The Greatest Assamese Stories Ever Told. She has received several awards for creative writing, including the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Yuva Puraskar and Eka Ebong Koyekjon Sahitya Sanskriti Samman. She has translated Salvador Dali's autobiography into Assamese, and Miching tribal oral poetry into English. Her forthcoming book is on the modernist discourse in the visual art of Assam. Kandali taught at the School of Culture and Creative Expressions, Ambedkar University, Delhi, for several years before joining as a faculty member in the department of cultural studies in Tezpur Central University.
Parbina Rashid is a senior journalist with the Tribune. She has translated a number of books from the Assamese into English, including Painting of the Sky and Other Stories, Ballad of Kaziranga, If a River and Other Stories and Echoes from the Valley. Rashid has been associated with Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, in the capacity of a translator and editor. She hails from Guwahati and is based in Chandigarh.
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