Munin Barkotoki Awards, 2013

GUWAHATI, Dec 31. 2013 – The Munin Barkotoki Memorial Trust has announced the Munin Barkotoki Award for the year 2013. Poet Mridul Haloi gets the award for his collection of poems Akole Aaso Kushale Aaso and story writer Apu Bharadwaj gets the award for his story collection Mostiskar Cinema. The cash amount for the award has been increased to Rs 40,000 said a press release. 


Three other promising writers to be honoured by the trust include Suresh Ranjan Goduka for his poem collection Eta Sadhukothar Arombhani, Chandana Pathak for her story collection Antir Goli and Pankaj Kumar Dutta for his story collection Fugu Maasor Maasuoi. Altogether 35 writers have been awarded the Munin Barkotoki Award since 1995, said a press statement.

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Four...three...two...

Haven't written anything for long. So thought I'd write a few lines, and tell you a little about our whirlwind trip around Germany covering close to 2000 kilometers in 8 days. And if you want to know what the numbers in the title mean then you have to read on till the end...

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Indians at Manchester

My recent experience with some of my fellow countrymen:

Although many Indians could not attend the conference either because they did not get visas to travel to England or because they could not manage to get financial support, nearly a third of the participants at a conference that I recently attended in Manchester were Indians. Which meant that we were very visible (in our elegant colourful sarees and long flowing hair) and audible everywhere. I tried to get introduced to a few at the reception after the inauguration, but they seemed to be not too interested -- they were more interested in catching the eye of the waiters to get themselves some more to eat and drink.

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After England

Just back after a 16 day trip to England; given that the last time I was there was in 2004, there was a lot of nostalgia involved. I met old friends, saw many new places, I also participated in a conference... here is a report:

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Two months down and nothing to show

How can it be that one had not a minute to spare, was always busy with something or the other, got barely any time to rest, and then at the end of two months, have the feeling that one has not done anything! But that is precisely the feeling I have about this last trip to India. The details...

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Our visit to the Fortis E. Heart Institute, New Delhi, in March 2013

After my mother suffered a mild heart attack in the beginning of March 2013, we took her to the Fortis E. Heart Institute in Delhi on the advice of several doctors in Guwahati. We were told that the Chairman of the Institute was the best there was, in his line of expertise, in the country.  While there, we saw a lot -- some good, some not so good -- but we didn't get a chance to see him live up to his reputation. The following is an account of what happened during our visit.

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Latest Munin Barkataki Award Meeting

The meeting to give away the Munin Barkotoki Awards for the years 2011 and 2012 was held on 2nd March, 2013 at the Vivekananda Kendra Hall in Guwahati. The well-attended meeting was presided over by Professor Nagen Saikia, from Dibrugarh University and former President of the Assam Sahitya Sabha, and the invited speaker on the occasion was Professor Dilip Kumar Barua,  formerly from Burdwan University. The four awardees were Rasmirekha Bora and  Arindom Barkataki for the year 2011 and Sanjibpaul Deka and Sharmistha Pritam for the year 2012.

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Our continued obsession with fair skin

A  symposium that I  recently attended in Guwahati was a good illustration of our continued obession with fair skin, which is bad twice over not only because it makes us behave abnormally with fair skinned people, but also because it prevents us from valuing and giving due respect to the great ones among our own brown-skinned locals. Read on to find out more...

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Going to Assam again

Yet another year has begun, time once more to go on another trip to Assam, but this time the errands are somewhat different, and very many, and my programme is very tight -- that is why I am not too sure what I will be able to get done in the time I have... will report back in April when I am back in Germany again. Can only say now that I plan to take a break from Tangsa work on this trip and concentrate on my parents, and things around them. The next prize giving meeting  of the Trust is coming up in March. Then there are various things around Baba's centenary year that need to be done. Sometimes I am tired of all this rushing around, but then there is no way out...

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O mor aponar desh -- English-German-translation

To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Lakshminath Bezboruah a project is underway to translate 'O mor aponar desh' into other languages. Here is our contribution to the project. Comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome. For more details look in the Facebook site 'O mor aponar desh' where many translations are already available. It would be great to have translations in as many languages as possible -- please help if you can.

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