1.
Two days.
In between is
then and now and all else.
Love no longer a vision, but
a death.
2.
Rivers
flowing swift here
waft home blood-song and life
between moons, valleys and homes lost
in strife.
3.
For, red
is the colour
of the rousing flowers.
Thus we die in glorious May
each year.
19 May Martyrs Day - Silchar
In Barak Valley and elsewhere too, 19 May is celebrated every year as Language Martyrs Day. It was on this day, in 1961, that eleven people lost their lives while attempting a satyagraha against the infamous Language Bill passed by the Legislative Assembly of Assam during then.
Arjun Choudhuri is a research scholar in the Department of English, School of Languages, Assam University, Silchar. He is presently working on his Ph. D thesis on multiethnic American narratives. Arjun has three volumes of poetry to his credit besides two works of translation. He is also the founding editor of the web journal/print journal DHVANI which is published annually from Silchar.