03 January 2011

Building The Universe of The Poem

By Ashley Tellis

Mizo poet Mona Zote opens up about the process of writing; her north-eastern identity and life in general. ASHLEY TELLIS


Part of my present frustration is rooted in the sense of not being able to piece together the shapes of my environment.


Creating word pictures: Mona Zote.

Mona Zote is a promising young poet from Mizoram. Her poems have appeared in various places — most recently in SPARROW'S Being Carried Far Away: Poems and Stories of Women in Assamese, Bengali, Garo, Manipuri and Mizo — and her enigmatic, assured poems are haunting and resonant. Here she speaks about the process of writing, about being from Mizoram and life in general

What are the influences on your work; the raw materials of your poetry?

Life, I suppose. Writing is partly an effort to make sense of things and partly an attempt to keep from going insane. The absurdity of life, the inherent strangeness of whatever is considered normal. People and their byzantine reasons for doing what they do.

Tell us a little about the process of writing? Do you do drafts? Do you revise?

Drafts and revisions, yes definitely. There are only two ways of writing a poem: either a line comes to you or you reach for that crucial line. It's always the first way for me. I usually don't get up from the chair until it's completed right up to the last word, after which the work of revising begins. The exception is ‘Rez', which turned into a peculiar never-ending process. I keep going back to it, so it's sort of still ongoing despite having been published. It escapes a finalised form. Like a tune that bothers you because you can't get it right.

Your poetry has a very assured tone and a world that the universe of the poem itself builds. Is this something that just comes to you or you work to create it?

Does it? I don't think I ever consciously worked towards building a world so it comes as a surprise to hear this. Although ‘world-building' in a Tolkien-esque sense has always been a favourite pastime since childhood, no doubt an outcome of constantly being on the move. So presumably it is something that just happens; that someone reading my poems might see. I don't particularly see it myself…in fact part of my present frustration is rooted in the sense of not being able to piece together the shapes of my environment. It's like standing too close to a stained glass window; you glimpse colours and suggestions of forms but the picture in its entirety is not discernible.

How important are the identities ‘Mizo' and ‘woman' to you as a poet?

They are inseparable at the moment. I might feel differently in the future.

Does your unpoetic job (Zote works with the Mizo government in the Income Tax Department) and your poetry inform each other at all?

They have very little to do with each other, which is just as well. Though working in a job that requires you to be scrupulously exact and logical all of the time has had an effect on the way I think, perceive and interpret things. Hopefully for the better and more likely for the worse.

Why don't you have a collection published as yet? Do you have one in your head?

I don't think anything I have written so far could comprise a collection, thematically or quantitatively. There are poems I wrote in Shillong and poems written in Aizawl and, somewhere between, during and after the two phases a kind of fatal break occurred that I have not been able to bridge with any degree of success. Right now I am struggling to write at all, so there's no thought of bringing out a collection soon; apart from my suspicion that poetry may not be the best means to deal with whatever one has been through here. Or it should be supplemented, maybe subverted.

What is it like working and writing in Aizawl?

Horrible and weirdly fascinating.

Who do you see as your community as a poet? Do you relate to mainland Indian poetry in English or other languages?

It's difficult to say. One could be glib about it but, to be honest, I think every poet is a community unto herself. By necessity we have to be. I have a deep sense of envy, for lack of a better term, for poets who are readily identifiable with the community they happen to be a part of, who are apparently seamless parts of that community. Or poets who effortlessly incorporate the local rather than talking about them from the perspective of an intrigued and observant outsider.

Well, insofar as there are common themes – of the sheer fact of being human and living out the universal human muck and mess – running through what we write, it's not hard to declare that one can relate to mainland Indian poetry in any language. I suppose the truth of the matter would be that the concerns of a poet writing in the Deccan heartland would be quite different from someone writing from the fringes of the country. Weigh in the factor of cultural separateness and one wonders how we could relate to each other's writings at all. But we do.

Do you write in Mizo as well?

No. A pity because there's so much uncharted territory in the language.

How do you respond to the quietude of post-insurgency Mizoram? How do you respond to the religious, patriarchal and political conservatism of the region?

That word ‘quietude' carries a little eddy behind it. There's a remarkable story – and now I am no longer sure if I merely dreamed I heard it – that right before the declaration of peace a thick cloud of butterflies drifted over the town out of the west. I sometimes think it was indeed a portent, just not the way the person who told me this story thought of it. We lost ourselves in the insurgency – an insurgency that need not have happened, by the way. Something left us. And we have grown a tissue over the wound but the scar is festering untended. People simply shut it out, they don't think about it on an active level yet the trauma filters through in small ways.

And while religion supposedly heals or consoles, it can also inflict a cultural damage that is difficult to diagnose or even acknowledge. The process of inquiry is beginning, though.

Mizo society is so inherently self-contradictory that it took me a while to see it's just the same old patterns of patriarchy and class at work here as elsewhere.

No Newspapers in Manipur Since December 30

journalist Protest in Manipur_thumbImphal, Jan 3 : Newspapers have not hit the stands in Manipur since December 30 due to a collective decision taken by the state's journalists to protest against the arrest of a local editor for allegedly having links with a militant outfit.

Official sources said the editor of a vernacular daily, A Mobi, was arrested on December 29 for alleged links with militant outfit Kangleipak Communist Party-Tabungba group (KCP-T).

A spokesperson of the All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) said Mobi, the vice-president of AMWJU, was entrusted to contact militant outfits to ensure that they did not disturb media houses and allowed them to function smoothly.

He said while a faction of a militant outfit would want their statement to be published, another would hold out threats against its publication.

Representatives of AMWJU have called on Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh demanding unconditional release of the editor, who is in police custody, the spokesperson said.

AMWJU had held several executive meetings in the past few days and requested the state government to provide security to media houses in view of the threats from militant outfits, he said.

He added that it was decided not to publish any newspapers till Mobi was released.

Govt. Excludes Manipur, Mizoram & Nagaland From 'Protected Area' For Foreigners

NERFNew Delhi, Jan 3 : The Central Government has now decided to exclude the entire area of the States of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland from the 'Protected Area' regime notified under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order 1958, initially for a period of one year.

However, all foreigners visiting these States will have to register themselves with the Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) of the district that they visit within 24 hours of their arrival.

Citizens of some specified countries would, however, continue to require prior approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs before their visit to these three States.

Indian Missions/Posts have also been authorized to issue 'Missionary Visa' to foreign Missionaries visiting these three States as per the extant guidelines of the Government.

These changes will ease the difficulties being faced by foreigners to visit these three States. These instructions would come into force with effect from January 1, 2011, said a Home Ministry release.

31 December 2010

Govt Revises Mizoram Tuirial Power Proj Cost

NEEPCONew Delhi, Dec 31 : The government today approved revised cost estimate of Rs 913.63 crore for the 60 MW hydro- electric power project in Mizoram being set up by the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO).

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the revised cost estimate of Tuirial Hydro Electric Project (60 MW) in Mizoram by NEEPCO amounting to Rs 913.63 crore, including interest during construction (IDC) of Rs 36.57 crore, an official statement said.
The project is scheduled to be commissioned in 36 months from the date of investment approval of revised cost estimate.

The Tuirial project was initially taken up as a central sector scheme by NEEPCO and the project investment of around 369 crore was approved in July 1998.

Mizoram has signed an agreement for purchase of power from this project at Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) rates.

The project will help the state in mitigating the power shortage with a clean source of energy.

The financial pattern of the total cost of Rs 913.63 crore comprises equity of Rs 137.04 crore, loan from financial institutions amounting to Rs 184.63 crore, subordinate loan from the government amounting to Rs 291.96 crore and Grant from DoNER (Department of North Eastern Region) amounting to Rs 300 crore.

Assam CM Invites ULFA Chief to Join Politics

CM-AssamGuwahati, Dec 31 : Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday invited United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa to join politics, saying that let him serve people through politics.

"Let Rajkhowa join politics if he wants to serve people," Times Now quoted Gogoi, as saying.

Gogoi's comments follow the verdict of the TADA court here, which granted bail to him in view of the state government's decision not to oppose his bail application as a part of the government's policy to take the peace process forward.

The banned ULFA chairman is likely to be released from jail on Friday, a year since his arrest after being nabbed by Bangladesh security agencies and handed over to Indian authorities.

The special TADA court, which heard his bail plea today, had deferred the hearing thrice earlier, as the court had sought reports from the home and political department in this regard.

Most top ULFA leaders including ULFA ideologue Bhimakanta Buragohain, vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi, publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary, cultural secretary Pranati Deka and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Barua have been already released on bail.

Assault on Mizo Girl Condemned

Mizo girl_thumbGuwahati, Dec 31 : North East Network (NEN) and WIN-G has strongly condemned the cruel and ‘organized’ mob assault on a young Mizo woman on the night of December 27, 2010.

In a statement, the NEN said that this incident reflects the worsening environment of intolerance amongst human beings in a so called civilized society.

“A person is a human being first after which his or her different identities matter. No human being should take the law into one’s own hand. The unjust and serious physical violence of this recent episode is a matter of shame and disgrace to the city and the State administration. It also reflects on our own attitude towards people of different gender and ethnic groups,” the statement mentioned.

The NGOs also said that violence in any form is not to be justified and is not the solution or answer to a concern or problem.

“We demand immediate investigation into the beating of the Mizo woman and her present whereabouts. Social and psychological well being of the woman is important. We also question the role of the police who according to locals of the neighbourhood, where the incident took place, did not take prompt action in this incident, which further aggravated the situation,” the statement mentioned.

The NGOs also urged the government to bring to book the guilty and award appropriate punishment to them.

Facebook Tops Google As Most Visited Website Of The Year

facebookFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has yet another milestone to celebrate.

In addition to being named TIME's Person of the Year and seeing the social network he founded swell to over 550 million members, he can also toast a major triumph over Google: for the first time ever, Facebook topped the list as the most-visited website of the year, ahead of giants like Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and Msn.com.

According to data from Hitwise, which provides online competitive intelligence, Facebook "accounted for 8.93 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010."

Google.com made up 7.19 percent of visits and Yahoo! Mail ranked third with 3.52 percent of visits. Yahoo! claimed 3.30 percent of visits, and YouTube 2.65 percent.

Facebook has soared in the rankings as its share of visits has more than doubled in the past year. In 2009, it was the third most-visited site, behind Google and Yahoo! Mail, with 4.26 percent of visits. In 2008 it ranked ninth on Hitwise's list, trailing Google, MySpace, and eBay.

In an odd twist, Google is actually helping to fuel its competitor's rise by sending search traffic to the social network's site: For the second year in a row, "Facebook" was the top search term of 2010. In second place was "Facebook login," with "Facebook.com" and "www.facebook.com" also cracking the list of top 10 most popular queries.

While visits to Facebook have overtaken hits to Google.com, Google-owned properties--which include web video giant YouTube--actually received a greater share of visits, accounting for 9.85 percent of all U.S. visits. TechCrunch observed that Comscore confirmed Hitwise's findings: "Comscore also shows Facebook.com passing Google.com in visits in November but all Google sites as still having more."

The top websites commanded an ever-greater share of web traffic Hitwise noted in its report. "The top 10 Websites accounted for 33 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010, an increase of 12 percent versus 2009," Hitwise wrote.

30 December 2010

No Newspaper in Manipur After Editor Arrest

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Imphal, Dec 30
: No newspaper was published in Manipur today in protest against the arrest of an editor of a vernacular daily for alleged militant links.

Editor of ''Sanaleibak'' A Mobi was arrested last night for his alleged connection with militant outfit Kangleipak Communist Party-Tabungba group (KCP-T). Two mobile phones and Rs 50,000 in cash seized from him, police said.

Stating that Mobi had no connection with militants, the All Manipur Working Journalists'' Union (AMWJU), condemned his arrest and demanded his immediate release.

Mobi is the vice-president of AMWJU.

Earlier, six editors of local dailies were called by a militant outfit for a ''meeting'' and kept in custody for some days. This does not mean that the editors had connection with the militant outfit, the spokesman said.