[Assam] A Bowstring Winter - By Dhruba Hazarika

Tue Aug 22 06:18:27 PDT 2006

Thanks for sharing that with us. Over the years, I have seen a number of
articles and interviews by Dhurba.
I knew him (and his brother) from our university days. Even in those days,
Dhurba was very outgoing and a great pleasure to to around with.

--Ram

On 8/22/06, Rajiv Baruah <rajiv.baruah at usa.net> wrote:
>
>  Hello All,
>
> I heard of "A Bowstring Winter" during my holiday in Shillong last week. I
> mm told captures the Shillong of the 70's very accurately - I have not had
> the chance to read it as yet.
>
> Dhruba and his sibling were our heroes in those days, especially his
> brother who was a black belt in Karate - a sixth dan  I was told by another
> kid from their neighbourhood - so that was huge. I am told he is still as
> fit as ever, which I guess he has to be being the commandant of the India
> Reserve Batallion in Dibrugarh.
>
> A book review is attached.
>
> **
>
> *A Bowstring Winter
> Dhruba Hazarika.
> Penguin. Pages 343. Rs 295.*
>
> *[image: A Bowstring Winter]D*hruba Hazarika's realistic novel is set
> against the lush-green hills and the mist-laden mountains of Shillong. The
> pristine silence of the valley suspended in time and space stands in direct
> contract with violence and bloodshed in the work. The story deals with one
> winter, the book itself being divided under the headings *November*, *
> December* and *January*.
>
> John Dkhan, a teacher of political science at St Edmund's College, enters
> into a dangerous friendship with James Kharlukhi and his gang. These
> gangsters had connections with the bookies and made money out of
> manipulating the number of arrows. These occasions never went unscathed
> without incidents of violence and killing.
>
> Loneliness is inherent in each of the characters. Without family and
> friends, John Dkhan craves nostalgically for a world that now existed only
> in his mind. James Kharlukhi, an orphan and a philanderer, makes dirty money
> and spends his entire life playing with dangers. Dor Kharkonger, who finds
> poetry in the bow, fails to relate to a similar situation in his marriage.
>
> Friendship is what knitted James and his companions together: "It was the
> code of friendship, like a bowstring: tight, like an arrow: straight." The
> blind faith and loyalty to James lands all of them into trouble. John Dkhan
> walked tightrope between friendship and love, guilt and justification. He
> now finds himself a stealthy lover, a hypocrite friend and a coward with no
> guts to face the truth. Was it James' personality that swamped his or was it
> Jemmifer, the woman he fell for?
>
> The mysterious hands of destiny work their way unexpected on human beings.
> One can try to be what one can be and if one is pulled away from it by other
> things, then that is the way it was meant to be. John Dkhan had the least
> premonition when he first met James that instead of holding pen and paper,
> he would pick up a knife.
>
> There is an unending yearning for love. John was looking for love, but
> instead enters a circle of violence over which he had no control. Life at
> the Kaizang was a feast all the way until love came in, but finally when it
> comes, it feasted on all of them. Almost all the characters are swayed by a
> ruling passion. James Kharlukhi has a passion for danger, Charles has it for
> hatred, Dor Kharkonger for friendship and John's for his woman. Passion
> leads all of them into serious consequences. The book is on the whole an
> amalgam of human instincts and emotions. The context of the work makes the
> use of swear words necessary. The narrative is racy and the use of
> vernacular makes it even more charming to read.
>
>
>
> AND ANOTHER
>
>
>      A new novel for Shillong lovers - A Bowstring Winter by Dhruba
> Hazarika <http://dkvblog.sulekha.com/blogs/blogdisplay.aspx?cid=52708>  A
> Bowstring Winter by Dhruba Hazarika. A novel set in Shillong
>
>  by:   Dev Kumar Vasudevan<http://dkvblog.sulekha.com/blogs/blogdisplay.aspx?contributor=Dev+Kumar+Vasudevan> on May 18 2006 11:16AM in
> Books <http://dkvblog.sulekha.com/blogs/blogcategory.aspx?catid=4796>   *comments
> rss:*  <http://dkvblog.sulekha.com/blogs/syndication.aspx?feedtype=blogentrycomments&cid=52708>
>     Memories of Shillong:  Hills, clouds, rain, mist, cold, plums,
> pineapples, oranges, good music, guitars, good clothes, faded jeans, pretty
> girls, the Khasis, Garos, Jaintias, Assamese, Bengalis, Army, Assam Rifles,
> Geological Survey of India, Laitumukhrah, Nongrim Hills, Nongthymmai, Spread
> Eagle Falls, Laitkor peak, Happy Valley, Burra Bazar, Police Bazar, State
> Central Library, Rock concerts in Laban, Dhankheti, St. Edmund's College,
> Brother Pinto and his Alsatian.....
>
> For Shillong lovers and Shillong watchers (and for book lovers too). A new
> novel set in Shillong. Just came to know about it from the *Penguin India
> website* <http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/>*.
>
> **A Bowstring Winter* <http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Books/BookDetail.asp?ID=6280> by
> *Dhruba Hazarika. *<http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/AuthorLounge/AuthorDetail.asp?aid=3614>
>
> Dhruba (b. 1956, Shillong) is a product of St. Edmund's College Shillong
> and of Guwahati University. He has won the Katha award for creative writing
> in English in 1996.
>
> Looking  forward to getting a copy of this book. Will send a
> recommendation to my online bookshop.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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