Firaal 2 Kang Special Issue

Firaal July 2014

RK Rishikesh Sinha

I received Firaal 2, the Kang Special Issue, at Sri Sri Bhubneshwar Sadhu Thakur birth celebration in New Delhi. I could say participants were excited to receive the copies. I too was excited to grab a copy of the magazine. I was too elated, having the honour to get the glimpse of the magazine since it is being created by our people, for the people. At the venue, I just gave a glance to the pages, to the content, and to the design etc. I didn't read a word at the venue so that I could read later with my speed and comfort.

So I am here with my thoughts on the Firaal 2. The Firaal 2 is a power-packed product. I have gone through the English section of the magazine. I would be limiting myself to the English part content. 

If I have to limit myself --- what I would be remembering after one year of reading the magazine. Surely I would be remembering Indrajit Sinha's interview for personal reason. Second would be Rajargaon Youth Forum written by Santosh Kr Singha, and another would be The Wedding of Ingellei's Daughter by Late Bimal Singha (translated by Karunamay Sinha). 

Coming to the interview of Indrajit Sinha, I liked it very much, since it is near to my heart and it is experiential. Since childhood I along with my parents had been travelling the same route that he followed from one corner of India (Guwahati) to another corner (Jammu), many times. He definitely would have got awestruck with the vividness of people, culture, landscape getting unfolded in his long tortuous journey. 

He definitely has explored and discovered many latent dimensions of himself and of his surroundings that we all could not go through in our lifetime. He has done a smart work, the most short cut route to understand oneself and the surroundings that we are enveloped into. That too riding it in a bicycle. That is phenomenal. The courage and conviction that he has showed is exemplary. And these wouldn't have come had he not taken the decision. He took the decision that was burning in his heart. Many people fail to take decision, simple decision in their whole life. Ahh!

About the article Rajargaon Youth Forum written by Santosh Kr Singha, the piece is purely journalistic. The article is newsworthy and it has all the flavours that are labelled 'Human Interest Stories' in journalism. Very insightful and relevant at the present time. It brings forth the power of youths, its role in the contemporary period. They can do what their elders failed to do in decades. I was in shock reading "they did not even manage to have a Kaang/Rath for the last 60 years". If a simple Kaang took so many decades, what about other aspects of our life : centuries would be the answer!

I always love reading Karunamay Sinha's stories. This story translated by him took me to the world of Ingellei. I feel fortunate reading the translated story. While reading it I felt as if I am living with the story, I could see every character of the story with my eyes --- Dhanbabu, Ingellei, Rita, I could feel their trauma, their anxiety with the changing time that they had to undergo. It sweepingly took me many decades ago to our village set up in which the characters lived. Honestly speaking, as a layman reader, literary appreciation is a skill that I have not been equipped with. I wish someone endowed with the skill of literary appreciation give their thought and insight. Rest I loved it.

With respect to other stories, I read each and every word written by the contributors. Whether it is Rebati Mohan Sinha's Mor Australia Sofor or it is Omrita Sinha's predicament Aamar Tharhan Na Harpeya, or it is KP's insight on the Internet, Daniel Kaufman revelation about our language, or it is on Anjan Kumar Singha, or it is the funny love story by Kunal Sinha, the length and breadth of the content is exhilarating and rich. And not to mention the Editorial, it really speaks what it is.