There are very few writers who create a signature style that endows on them a distinctive identity. Moushumi Kandali is one of those rare breed, who has created for herself a unique space in the domain of modern contemporary Assamese literature. It is a mistake to define her identity only as a writer, which she definitely is, but her typical writing compels one to confer on her the adjective of an artist. The difference between a mere writer and an artist is a matter of seemingly innocent aspect, but Kandali’s linguistic universe reveals a creative artist, painting different landscapes of love, hate, life, death and art itself, with breathtaking expertise and sheer magical prowess.

She has consistently attempted to explore newer horizons in terms of her writing and thereby, has managed to extend the possibilities of Assamese literature itself. Her fictional universe is a realm of wonder, excitement and artistic virtuosity. Her artistic touch elevates her works to higher levels of imaginative excellence and the aura of brilliance sheds new light on the readers’ mental universe. She negotiates with the ‘anxiety of influence’ (Harold Bloom) on her own terms and creates a fictional universe of her own, that captures beautifully the changing shades of life itself. Her works ‘allow the flow of life to find its own form in art’. There are many writers who carve their distinctive places in their respective literatures by virtue of their creative device and they often do it consciously – examples can be found in the works of James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Thomas Pynchon and in the Indian context, Vilas Sarang, Sandipan Chatterjee and Sourav Kumar Chaliha.

Moushumi Kandali seems to be experimenting relentlessly with form and language and her experimentation also seems to be conscious. In this sort of experimentation, there is often an inherent danger, as the writer sometimes becomes a captive of his or her own style in terms of form and narrative technique, but she avoids this risk by virtue of her fresh subject matter in each story and the resplendent narrative stroke that carries each story to its logical conclusion, which sometimes seems to defy logic in its ordinary terms.

There is a freshness in her language that almost throbs with life — each word is meticulously picked up, the images and metaphors are very evocative and the vividness of the narrative jolts the readers into accepting the rich resonance of the writing. She seems to paint a landscape of words so magically and sensuously, that the reader falls in love with the words. For her, writing is almost synonymous with painting and the deft and urbane brushstrokes add a picturesque quality to her writing. She has been writing brilliant short stories from a very early stage in her life, but has always avoided the temptation of cheap popularity because she puts emphasis on quality, not on quantity. She is a voracious reader and the gems of her vast and qualitative reading are scattered throughout her different stories.

Her narrative aspires to the condition of painting and the subtle interplay between light and shade in her works, proves the validity of this sort of interpretation of her writing. She seeks to create newer forms in her writing and accordingly, paces her narrative to strike a rapport with the form. The structure is neat, coherent, tight and she plays with the concept of closure almost like the postmodernists. The various intertextual references are not merely characteristics of her works, rather the intertextual mode turns out to be a device in her fictional realm. She teases the intellectual and imaginative faculty of her readers and the stories make some demand on the part of the readers. But, it (the intertexual device) doesn’t impede the process of free and smooth reading, rather it expands the horizon of the reader’s intellectual and imaginative faculty.

In her story titled Jonakot Dhekiabur, a nostalgic train pervades the narrative and a psyche and physical exploration of existential nausea elevates the narrative to a higher plane. There are a few sexual connotations in the story, but the story ends in a quest, not in a void. Her extraordinary story, Lambada Nachar Sheshot, attempts to trace the root and genealogy of a tribal community, capturing the sense of wonder and excitement of creation in magnificent prose that evokes the sense of poetry. The existence of an indigeneous tribe, their own culture, ritual, lifestyle – all find vivid manifestation in this story. The onslaught of an alien culture, that threatens to impose its forced authority on a native culture, is also poignantly captured by her, and this aspect of the story provides a scope for the postcolonial reading of her work. The beginning reminds an alert and intellectually conscious reader of Marquez’s famous opening of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It seems as if we are transported into a fairy tale like world, but it is actually a realistic tale filtered via a magical narrative. The significance of the Lambada dance lies in the fact that it celebrates the victory of life in all its triumphant glory.

In the story titled Kola Bithikat Eta Phoenix, Kandali explores the dark and unconscious vistas of human existence and she effectively exploits the different artistic modes like painting, music and the result is a superbly poised narrative. The story Anirban captures the life of an ordinary human being, who becomes extraordinary through his perception and vibrant life force and life is juxtaposed here along with death, in a poetical narrative of love, loss, lust, luminosity and lustre.

The story Eshomoyat Ekhon Mahanogorat has a fairy tale like beginning that reminds one of the beginning of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and is one of the most memorable and inventive beginnings in the realm of Assamese literature – the opening jolts the readers, and we are immediately drawn into the narrative because of its imaginative depth, that also depicts painful human reality, the clash between words and silence, boredom and excitement, and in fact, between life and death. In the story Shei Chakuto, she forcefully depicts the conflict between public gaze and private space/life and the various intertextual references help to enhance the irony. The subtext of the Gudia episode provides Kandali with the opportunity of attacking the pernicious role of the media and the voyeuristic mentality of the sensation seeking public, who hasten the early and pathetic demise of an ordinary woman.

Kandali’s works have already been translated into many languages and she definitely deserves accolades because of her depth in writing.

Subhojit Bhadra