Deceit Brought Us To Assam And Other Stories from the Barak Valley

Author: Jhumur Panday

Brand: Niyogi Books

Edition: First Edition

Binding: flexibound

Number Of Pages: 144

Release Date: 02-11-2025

Details: Fresh from prison, a woman returns home to grapple with her husband’s betrayal. Accused of witchcraft, an aging midwife becomes the scapegoat for a tragedy. A destitute widow’s life takes a surreal turn when she’s thrust into local politics.
Barak Valley—lush, picturesque, and seemingly tranquil to outsiders— appears in these stories as a land that serves as both tormentor and refuge, a witness to its people’s quiet hunger for connection, belonging, and dignity.
Whether it is a mother confronting her daughter’s pregnancy out of wedlock, an octogenarian rediscovering her forgotten love for the sitar, or a child forming an unlikely friendship with an elderly man, the characters in this anthology reveal the singularity of seemingly ordinary lives.
At once intimate and universal, bleak yet exuberant with hope, these stories swing between oppressive despair and human resilience, revealing the scents, shades, and sounds of daily life on the banks of the Barak.
About the Author: Jhumur Panday was born in Katlichora, a tea estate in Hailakandi, Assam to culturally progressive parents. Encouraged by them she started writing and publishing in various literary magazines while still young and has, till date around 24 books to her credit, some of which have been translated into various languages. A trained sitar player, she is currently involved in the Manob Bitan Trust that works for the upliftment and care of the urban poor as well as the tea garden workers in the Barak Valley region.
About the Editor: Debjani Sengupta is the author of The Partition of Bengal: Fragile Borders and New Identities (2016) and has edited Mapmaking: Partition Stories from Two Bengals (2011).
Her translations include Selected Columns (2004) by Tasleema Nasrin, The Painter’s Pallette: Rabindranath’s Selidah Sojourn (2012) by Selina Hossain and The Roundel Moons (2010) by Tilottama Majumdar. Sengupta teaches at the Department of English, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi.

EAN: 9788199024373

Languages: English