BOOK REVIEW
Longrangty Longchar. Seven Stones: Short Stories. Dimapur. Heritage Publishing House. 2017. pp. 158, price 280/-
Bendangsenla
Contempotary Creative Writing in English from Nagaland is undeniably dominated by women writers. Easterine Kire, Temsula Ao, Monalisa Changkija, and Nini Lungalang are the prominent names that introduced Naga writings in English to a wider audience. Following in their footsteps younger female writers like Vishii Rita Krocha, Avinuo Kire have further contributed to the body of Naga literature. Be it poetry, short stories or novels, it has been women writers who have pioneered and nurtured the nascent Naga literature. Male Naga writers have been writing mostly social, historical, political and cultural narratives. However, two male writers, Sentilong Ozukum and Longrangty Longchar, have gallantly ventured to explore the world of imagination in their fictitious works.
Longchar’s collection of short stories Seven Stones is a refreshing read, diverse in subject and length “that depicts the Naga society in a subtle manner”. It has eight stories based on themes that are commonplace, Christian as well as philosophical. This is the author’s second collection of short stories and one can immediately recognize the maturity in them compared to the earlier collection, Timeless Whispers (2011).
The title story The Seven Stones is centred on the childhood game of ‘Seven Stones’ played by dividing players into two groups: builders and destroyers. “The builders would try to stack the seven stones up into a pillar and the destroyers would try to thwart them by attacking [the opponents’] feet with a rubber sandal that was used as a ‘ball’.” The author breathes life into the stones and makes them philosophize about life’s meaning. Through the conversations of the stones and a wise owl, the idea that life is nothing “if you cannot be a source of joy to others”, is related. The stones’ initial complaints of being disturbed by the children from their peaceful existence are replaced by one of thankfulness as they come to realize their essence. Their desire to make known the message of the seven stones is fulfilled by the owl as it transfigures into an old man and whispers the wisdom into the core of the children’s hearts. The author says that this story is a ‘tribute to all my childhood friends, here and gone, for the beautiful days that we had’. Any reader, who had a childhood before the media explosion in the nineteen nineties will remember the carefree days when one could play the game of seven stones anywhere- even on the streets, will surely enjoy this one.
The second story The Hunter’s Kill is about a hunter, the village shikari shambu, Aongchang. The skilful hunter that he is, Aongchang kills a mother bear and captures its two cubs. “Killing a wild adult bear was no child’s play” and as we read the story, we can feel the sense of accomplishment and exhilaration felt by the villagers along with the hunter at his kill. Neighbours and friends sit till late into the night listening and talking of the hunter’s kill. The simple village folks deliberate on what to do with the cubs and the bile, valuable because of its medicinal properties, unaware of the impact of their actions on the future generations. Through this story, the author makes a critical comment on the decimation of nature due to human activities and also awakens the green consciousness of the reader.
A Second Chance is an imaginative retelling of the conversion story of Paul, the apostle as given in the Book of Acts 9:1-19. It is the story of a young captain, who was assigned a covert ‘search and destroy mission’ by a very powerful king. A new religion had started in the kingdom and the king feels threatened by it and hence the mission to snuff out this act of rebellion. The young captain sets out to do as ordered and yet as the mission progresses he has an encounter that is life changing, ‘the second chance in life’.
The story Athasa tells of an unemployed, frustrated twenty-four year old young man. Athasa is a daydreamer and a loner who ‘seemed to be cutting himself off from the world each passing day’. A particular misadventure that sees him slithering down a hole inside a cave in a roundabout way exposes the superstitions of common people and illustrates how legends expand and grow.
The Preacherman and Dr. Hung is the tale of Artheru, who comes from a village in Myanmar close to the international border with India. Noticed by people for his intelligence as a boy, he gets sponsored to study in the Mission School near the border and later in Holy Trinity Bible College. He returns back home as a theological graduate with high hopes and expectations only to become a smuggler. The White Haired Village Transporter narrates the story of a man, Singyang, from a remote village of the state which has no electricity, school, shop, clinic or proper roads. He had learnt to read and write while working as a domestic help in a faraway town. He was back home now and working as the transporter of provisions to the village from the nearest town once a week. Against this backdrop, we are told of the various experiences that he had before he became the village transporter. In the plots of these two stories, the author interweaves certain underlying concerns that need deeper probing: ‘the Naga underground group[s] fighting for the political rights of their people’; conversion and Christianity; secular and theological education system; the porous international border; the plight of the domestic help; the illegal immigrants.
The seventh story There Once Lived a Host of Sparrows in a Neighbourhood is fabular in style. The sparrows live in peace, well fed by a kind old lady until their safe haven is threatened by a litter of kittens. Like in all fables, the moral lesson is given at the end of the story.
The ‘bonus story’ of the collection The Storm in a Bottle is, to borrow words from the story itself, “Interesting, very interesting…By far, the best”. The main character is Samen, a thirty-two year old alcoholic, who works as a desktop publisher in a small publishing house. He acts as the connecting link between the other characters in the story: Tamri, the Editor of the publishing house where Samen works; Ronamo, the writer; Rhobeba, a fellow alcoholic, former English teacher and one time boyfriend of Ronamo; Bokala, a lady officer, Samen’s cousin, Jamatba’s ex-lover; Jamatba, an officer and Ronamo’s fiancé. In the game of seven stones, one needs the eighth item, the rubber sandal, to destroy the pillar of seven stones. One might not be wrong to say that this story destroys the well stacked plots of the other seven. With sixteen sections and an epilogue, this story is longer and better than the other stories in the collection. It not only has more characters but the different strands of storylines are intricately linked to come together as a compact story. In fact, this story had the possibility of being expanded into a novel and maybe we can expect one from Longchar sooner than later.
The collection is an interesting mix of different styles and themes. Longchar has the gift of description and each story is detailed with great imagination. As one reads on, one realizes that there is a critique of life as well as moral lessons tucked between the lines of every story narrated. Written in a simple and lucid language, the book is for all ages. While the younger readers will enjoy the stories as they are, more mature readers will be able to delve deeper into the issues that the writer so subtly hints at.
This review first appeared in the book Studies in Contemporary Naga Writings (2018) co-authored by A. Sentiyula and Bendangsenla. The book is available in Heritage Publishing House; Modern Book Depot, Dimapur; Books & Books, Dimapur and Paradigm, Dimapur. It will also be available online at www.ilandlo.com soon.
