Son of a poor farmer, an expert in Assamese literature, my father doesn't get Father's Day. But I am writing in honor of him today bec if he hadn't taken up that job as a bus conductor in the early 70s in Guwahati to finish his MA, I would have never been the writer I am

1 day I wd write about this but I owe everything to my parents & my parents owe everything to their illiterate parents who struggled against poverty & caste & illiteracy in rural Assam & my grandparents owe everything to their parents. In short, I owe my stories to my ancestors

Every time I pub something, even if it is a flash, I think about my paternal grandmother who was married at 8, had her first stillborn child at 13, go on to have many more children, but raise only 8, & even live long enough to see the death of some of them. I owe her my stories

I also think my maternal grandmother; illiterate, widowed young, educated 4 sons & a daughter - my Ma - who would work as a professor in the most prestigious college in Assam, but only because she starved, woke up every morning to punch & soften raw bananas to serve at breakfast

I write because my ancestors have stories to share. I know this to my bones because growing up, I have known the value of community & the importance of looking around, think beyond myself; an ability that highly individualistic societies have perhaps ... lost?

2020 is strange & making me go down this lane ...