Arun Goswami is one of those bold and courageous Assamese writers who has consistently engaged himself in addressing contemporary socio-political issues of his time. Arun Goswami has exhibited his prowess in different literary genres such as the novel, short story and essay with equal aplomb. There is a thin, but subtle difference between social awareness and social responsibility and Goswami has always been able to strike a successful balance between the two. There are many writers who find it very difficult to maintain a healthy relation between quality and quantity, but it is to Arun Goswami’s credit that in spite of being a prolific writer, he has always been able to produce quality writing. Good literature must evoke the qualities of sensitivity and compassion which Goswami excels in doing. He strikes a nice balance between subject matter and style and he does not believe in unnecessary embellishment. His style is lucid, bare and his narrative is free-flowing.

As regards Goswami’s method, he follows the realistic mode perfected by the classical French masters and most of his works are true to the chosen surroundings. He portrays with breathtaking

effect the panic, dread and anxiety in the minds of the ordinary villagers who helplessly find themselves at the receiving end of a brutal and inhuman army operation. Goswami brilliantly depicts how the ordinary villagers were harassed and humiliated by the army, how many youths were lifted to the army camp without showing any proper reason, how the old and helpless were beaten mercilessly and how the women were raped by the army jawans. Goswami provides an authentic picture of that dark phase which characterised the State of Assam at a very critical juncture and his success lies in creating a realistic portrait of a village plagued by dread, horror and death, without reducing it to the level of a documentary. Goswami’s novel becomes significant in the context that not many Assamese writers ventured into the daring territory of exploring the dark and sombre phase of this State. The novel ultimately exhibits how ordinary civilians start rebelling against every oppressive machinery of the State and exemplifies their extreme courage, determination and grit to live in the midst of death and violence that paralyse ordinary lives.

In Aai Bortoman, Arun Goswami deals with his favourite domain– the depiction of a turbulent phase of Assam, that reduced it to the level of an extremely volatile zone. That Assam witnessed a major upheaval during the 1980s and 1990s due to the rise of violent insurgency is known to everybody. That many ideologically inclined youths left the comfort and security of the four walls of the home in order to erase poverty, deprivation and inequality, coupled with corruption deeply rooted in the State machinery is also known to many. That these bright and brilliant dreams came to naught in the subsequent period – once the members associated with this visionary project distanced themselves from their main ideology and converted this massive force into an insurgency group, killing innocent people, is also known to many. That the security forces deployed later on by the Central government to tame the insurgents and the subsequent reign of terror that prevailed in the minds of the ordinary civilians is also known by many. But Arun Goswami’s Aai Bortoman provides a vivid and stunning picture of a remote village of Assam which is torched by the army in search of insurgents. Goswami’s short story Hagunor kho captures through the metaphor of a vulture the harsh and deplorable life of a social underdog who takes care of dead bodies, but the irony of the story lies in the fact that when he dies, there is no one to take care of his dead body and the author’s sympathy is with this socially despised character, who exhibited human feelings whenever the situation so demanded.

In Moraghoria, Arun Goswami poignantly portrays the pathetic life of a family dogged by acute poverty, where the son of a just deceased father is delighted, thinking about the ritual of bringing food items to the home of a dead person as it would relieve his hunger.

Manuhbor Pagolne Pagollee Manooh explores the vulgar and brutal mass psyche through the evocative tale of two mad women who become dependent on each other and the sympathy of the narrator lies with these mad women as is evident in the ironic and sarcastic title of the story.

Nangoth Posak explores through the framework of a madman’s tale the nakedness of the morally bankrupt people who have reduced human society to the level of a whorehouse, where everything can be bought and sold in terms of money, where there is no human warmth and where there is hardly any sign of compassion and fellow feeling.

Putonar Amrit Stan is an extremely evocative tale of the hatred and love that is executed through the framework of an ethnic clash between two different communities of Assam, where a couple first decides to kill the son of their enemy in a brutal manner, but ultimately adopts that very child, realising the futility of violence.

Garioborta Marikhali vividly brings to light the inhuman treatment of the social underdogs in the hands of the so-called upper-class, who suffer from no moral qualms to oppress the downtrodden, taking advantage of their helplessness. The story also deals with the theme of communal harmony and it, in fact, becomes the central crux of the piece when Kamal, the protagonist who happens to be a Hindu, pays tribute to the elderly Muslim man who became a victim to a fabricated communal riot.

Premor Hongya is an extremely poignant tale of a cobbler who preserves the memory of his dead wife long after her death and the existence of the husband becomes meaningful through the genuine love he still feels for his deceased wife. It is precisely this aspect which intrigues the educated narrator, who compares this unconditional love that is pure with the strife-ridden and hypocritical married lives of many sophisticated urban people and the love of the cobbler appears to the narrator to be a redemptive force in today’s selfish world.

In Moi Muk Herualu (I have lost myself), Arun Goswami deals with an individual’s trauma of losing his vital essence as a human being as he compromises with all the prevailing corruption and injustice that plagues the society and immediate surroundings. It is a novel which brings to light how the contemporary society around us has been contaminated to such a degree that it has become an almost impossible task for the honest human individual to retain his/her integrity. The novel also mercilessly exposes the compromising mentality of those people who put individual profit over every other concern.

Subhajit Bhadra