IT IS NOT just the blasts and killings that reign in the state of Assam. There are also the good things, which do not get eclipsed in this distress - like the pen of a young girl, Angshumita Deka. She is cute, energetic and ambitious. Dreaming to become an astronaut, this girl made a name for herself in the tender age of 13, with the release of her first novel ‘Hidden Love’. She is a class VIII student of Holy Child School.

 

“Its wonderful and unbelievable that she managed to do it so early,” says one of her classmates. She is in her teens and decided to write a fiction on ‘witchcraft’, a custom that has been the subject of many stories from the past and has led to the killing of many innocents.

 

Assam, along with its sister states, has always been a kingdom of magicians who came from the Himalayas to worship their gods and demons in this land. The Assam history depicts many a stories on their practices in the Ahom dynasty and the reminiscence of those customs still prevails in this soil in places like Mayong, Nagaon, Dhubri and many other places, where people believe in spiritual powers and the effects of the unseen on mankind. Many females and babies have been buried live in this region after being accused of being witches and devils, with the intention to protect the civilisation from these evils through the spilling of blood. And this young teenager picked up such a controversial subject for her novel.

 

“I have read about the killings of innocents in the remote areas after allegedly being taken to be witches and their worshipers. Many kids disappear in the name of sacrificing to the demons to empower the powers of its deliverer. I firmly believe this should be stopped,” states Angshumita in her firm voice, while adding that she believes the practice of the witchcraft is just superstition rather than a power-gathering source from above. She said that many of her age have been taken, as victims of this evil practice and the civilisation should put a stop to this through proper education and information.

 

It has been the first time that the land of militancy is witnessing the budding talent of Angshumita in the form of a novel in English, at so tender an age. She has made this effort to start a revolution in the writing fraternity - to enlarge the boundary, from regional to the international level. “The educational system is also to be blamed in this region for not producing such instances of good novelists and writers. The society and the system have always prevailed with rigid ideas. But the time of change is here, with Angshumita making the first roar with her cute fingers, to roll on as a novelist in her 13,” says Kanak Sen Deka, the president of Asom Sahitya Sabha, on her novel.

 

The ideas need to change, to encourage people to do their best, expressed Angshumita. While she wishes to fly in the garb of NASA, she desperately wants her land Assam to make a mark on global map with her capability and dreams, and her continuous ventures in writing. “I want to explore myself with everything within my limits, but it needs a great support from your surroundings and it can be done by anybody who has the will and potential. It only needs an environment and courage to fight with odds.”

 

Angshumita is also optimistic in her views about Assam, as she thinks that the militancy will be overcome with only the courage and the will to change for the better.