MANGALDAI, Jan 1 - A quiet literary movement is going on inside the Mangaldai district jail led by a few life-term prisoners and other inmates within the high rise boundary wall amid very tight security.
It was on the Independence Day in 2015 when the seed of this movement was first laid with the release of a hand-written wall magazine titled Karalipi edited, written and decorated by Arupjyoti Deka, a life-term prisoner of the jail under the guidance and with the cooperation of Jon Deb Choudhury, the then Jail Superintendent, Munindra Nath Sarma, the present Jailor and a few well-wishers. That was the beginning and it is now almost two-and-a- half years and every monthly issue of Karalipi has been brought out without a single break. The first issue had contributions from only four inmates, and now this list is nearly 40. Satram Nath, Ilias Purti, Mrigen Deka, Ekramul Hussain all life-term prisoners contribute regularly for the different sections of the wall magazine like story, poem, article, quiz, jokes, collection of quotes from great people among others.
�In the beginning, there were very few inmates who contributed their write-ups. So, the spaces had to be filled up with articles from officials and staff of the jail authority. But now the list of contributing inmates is so long that we cannot accommodate any article from the jail officials� said the editor Arupjyoti Deka. �Every now and then I think that this time I will leave myself out of the process of publishing as I have to spend five days for preparing and writing the magazine. My neck and shoulders have developed pain. However, as the time for publishing gets closer, I get charged up from the core of my heart,� maintained Arupjyoti. Similar views were echoed by Mrigen, Ilias, Satram and Ekramul.
The Karalipi has already earned high appreciation from several prominent personalities of the State including internationally-acclaimed film director and producer Jahnu Barua, veteran litterateur Idris Ali, Dr Rama Bora, retired senior administrative officer Rabendra Das and Deputy Commissioner of Darrang Ashok Kr Barman among others. Bhargab Kr Das, senior journalist recently released the third year�s third edition. The jail authority in a bid to give the magazine a permanent shape has taken up the initiative to release it in a printed form on the Independence Day after each year with voluntary financial contributions by the inmates and well wishers. Two such issues have already been published. �We have been able to preserve it in a printed magazine form with the help voluntary financial contribution from well wishers and by the inmates from their daily wage savings,� opined Munindra Nath Sarma, Jailor.