Nalini Prava Deka (11 March 1944 – 15 June 2014) was an author, poet, storyteller, actress and playwright from

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, a state in India encompassing the

Brahmaputra Valley The Brahmaputra Valley is a region situated between hill ranges of the eastern and northeastern Himalayan range in Eastern India. The valley consists of the Western Brahmaputra Valley covering the regions of Goalpara and Kamrup; the Central ...

. She was honoured at a 2012 gathering in Ledo by the

Assam Sahitya Sabha The Asam Sahitya Sabha (; Literary Society of Assam) is a non Government, non profit, literary organisation of Assam. It was founded in December 1917 in Assam, India to promote the culture of Assam and Assamese literature. A branch of the organi ...

(Assam Literary Society). Deka promoted Assamese heritage, traditional customs, weaving and fabric art, cooking and folk music with her husband,

Bhabananda Deka Prof Bhabananda Deka (19 August 1929 – 4 December 2006) was a pioneer Assam economist and author who conducted novel research on the economy of the far eastern part of India. He was also a leading Indian-Assamese litterateur of the famed 'Awah ...

. They researched traditional Assamese lifestyle, art, literature and culture. Deka was the first female editor and publisher of a children's magazine, ''Phul'' (''Flower''), and wrote 30 critically praised books. All India Radio broadcast Deka's radio plays on issues related to women and children. According to ''

the Assam Tribune ''The Assam Tribune'' is an Indian English daily newspaper published from Guwahati and Dibrugarh, Assam. With over 700,000 copies of current circulation and a readership of over 3 million, it is the highest circulated English daily in northeast ...

'', Deka has "been like an institution to our society" and "has contributed immensely to the cultural and economic spheres of our state". ''Dainik Sankarjyoti'', an Assamese daily published in

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

, described how she played a significant part in nurturing the traditional indigenous Assamese lifestyle and social ethos by promoting indigenous Assamese weaving traditions (maintaining ''taat xaal''—hand looms for weaving ''mekhela sadawr'' and ''suriya chapkawn'') and ''dheki'' (traditional Assamese crop grinders for rice and ''pithaguri''. Deka died on 15 June 2014 in Guwahati. ChaiTunes released a music video as a tribute.

Traditional Assamese lifestyle

A poet, Deka inculcated the legacy of Assamese culture and heritage in her children. She set up an indigenous Assamese traditional hand loom (''taat-xaal'' ) at her homes in New Delhi and Guwahati to produce hand-woven fabrics and garments. Deka wore her hand-woven ''mekhela-sadawr'' and wove ''suriya-sapkawns'' for her husband to wear. She set up a crop-grinding tool (''dheki'' ) at home, using it to producing her family's food from organic herbs. Raw paddy, including rice, wheat and lentils, was ground to produce traditional Assamese food and snacks such as ''saul'', ''kumawl saul'', '' bora saul'', ''sira'', ''aakhoi'' and ''xandawh''. Deka demonstrated self-reliance, even in the city.

Author

Deka wrote and edited a total of 30 books, mostly in Assamese. Some of her writing, including short stories, have been translated into English. Deka's books have been reviewed by

Maheswar Neog Professor Maheswar Neog (7 September 1915 – 13 September 1995) was an Indian academic who specialised in the cultural history of the North East India especially Assam, besides being an Assamese-language scholar and poet. He was a top Indologis ...

Bhupen Hazarika Bhupen Hazarika () (8 September 1926 – 5 November 2011) was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, actor, filmmaker and politician from Assam, widely known as ''Sudha Kontho'' (meaning cuckoo, literally "nectar-throated"). His ...

, Pramod Chandra Bhattacharya, Sheelabhadra, Rammal Thakuria,

, Bisweswar Hazarika and Kanak Chandra Deka. She had a cordial relationship with Bhupen Hazarika and

Mamoni Raisom Goswami Indira Goswami (14 November 1942 – 29 November 2011), known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly as Mamoni Baideo, was an Indian writer, poet, professor, scholar and editor. She was the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award (1983 ...

(Indira Goswami), and Hazarika wrote an article about one of her books. A compilation by Deka and her husband entitled ''Sahityik Dampati Adhyaksha Bhabananda Deka–Nalini Prava Deka'' was introduced on 4 December 2014 in Guwahati. Another book (''An Extraordinary Assamese Couple'', about Deka and her husband) was introduced on 28 February 2015 by Dutch scientist and author Constantin Aurel Stere. She wrote three short-story collections, including 2011's ''Elandhu'' (''Smut'', with some English-language stories) and ''Ebigha Mati'' (''A Plot of Land'') (1990). Deka's short stories emphasized brotherhood and religious tolerance. Many of her poems were played and sung by Assamese musicians and singers. Deka began editing a popular children's magazine, ''Phul'' (''Flower''), in 1987 and printed and published the magazine for several years on her own printing press.

Playwright

Deka was a popular Assamese first-generation female radio playwright in Assam since the early 1970s. Her plays centered around issues concerning women and children, and many were broadcast on

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

from Guwahati. Deka acted in some of her radio plays and onstage.

Social activist

Deka was a leading social activist in Assam and played a role in the establishment of national and international organisations, including the Srimanta Sankardev International Foundation, Assam Foundation–India, Delhi Asomiya Sahitya Samaj, Sadou Asam Moina Parijat, Kamrup (undivided) District Sahitya Sabha, Sadou Asam Chemoniya Chora, Pub–Sarania Naamghar, Rajgarh Sahitya Chora, Pohar Proyasi Mohila Samiti, Urvashi Kristi Kendra and Urvashi Sangeet Vidyalay. She was the founding president of Purbanchaliya Mohila Parishad, the female wing of a regional political organisation in

Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

. Through these organisations, Deka promoted Assamese heritage, culture and literature all over the world and began a social renaissance through female empowerment and religious tolerance. Her effort to create a social awakening in Assam inspired the song, "Xare Aso" ("We Are Awake").

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deka, Nalini Prava 1944 births 2014 deaths 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian women writers Assamese-language poets Assamese-language writers Indian storytellers Indian women dramatists and playwrights Indian women poets People from Barpeta district Writers from Guwahati People from Kamrup district Poets from Assam Women writers from Assam Dramatists and playwrights from Assam Writers from Northeast India

Traditional Assamese lifestyle

Author

Playwright

Social activist

See also

References