Maitrayee Patar () is an Indian writer, poet, and musical artist from

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

best known for her work in

Assamese literature Assamese literature is the entire corpus of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, documents and other writings in the Assamese language. It also includes the literary works in the older forms of the language during its evolution to the contempor ...

and

new-age music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather tha ...

. She married IIT-B alumnus Arindam Baruah in 2020.

Early life and education

Patar was born in

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest 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 seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

on 7 April 1990, belongs to

Tiwa Tiwa and Tigua may refer to: * Tiwa Puebloans, an ethnic group of New Mexico, US * Tiwa (Lalung), an ethnic group of north-eastern India * Tiwa language (India), a Sino-Tibetan language of India * Tiwa languages, a group of Tanoan languages of the ...

community (an indigenous Tribal community). She did her post-graduation in Sociology from the

Delhi School of Economics Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as D School, is an institution of higher learning within the Delhi University. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establishe ...

. She also pursued

Master of Philosophy A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...

Women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

from the

Tata Institute of Social Sciences Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is a multi-campus public university in Mumbai, India. It is Asia's oldest institute for professional social work education and was founded in 1936 in the then Bombay Presidency of British India as the S ...

, Mumbai.

Career

Literature

Patar is the author of poetry book ''Mor Kolmou Dinor Xonali Baat'' (2015). She had been selected for ''Poets Translating Poets 2019'' (January) edition, the prestigious cultural exchange workshop of literature of German and Indian languages, hosted by

Goethe Institut The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a nonprofit German cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural ...

. Patar's poetry engages with, describes, or considers the natural world as well as the life of the women. Most of her poems have been translated into other Indian and foreign languages such as Italian,

, Nepali,

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

. She is a regular writer of leading literary magazines Krittibas, Satsori, Prakash, Nebedan and Jatra.

Music

She is known for her

New-age music New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather tha ...

under the banner of ''Baartalaap''.

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

India added Patar's

Alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

song ''Dur Ximonat'' in their ''first playlist of 2020''.

Activism

Patar along with the writers’ community of Assam demanded the release of

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) is a peasant organisation based in Assam. Formed by the RTI activist Akhil Gogoi in 2005, the organisation works on a diverse range of issues from Public Distribution System (PDS) thefts, non-implementation of Nat ...

founder

Akhil Gogoi Akhil Gogoi is an Indian peasant leader, RTI activist, and Member of Assam Legislative Assembly from Sibsagar since 2021. He is also the founder and president of Raijor Dal since 2020. Over the years he has been leading many anti-graft movements ...

, who lodged in jail for his position within the anti-CAA protest.

References

External links

* * 1990 births Writers from Assam Writers from Northeast India Living people Writers from Guwahati Assamese playback singers Assamese-language singers Bollywood playback singers Indian women singers Indian women playback singers Indian women pop singers Performers of Hindu music Singers from Assam Singers from Guwahati Tata Institute of Social Sciences alumni {{india-singer-stub