GUWAHATI, July 20 - The Royal Global University (RGU) here organised a webinar themed �Literature, Life and Society� in which Dr Sumita Misra,�Senior Advisor, Prime Minister�s Economic Advisory Council and�founder chairperson, Chandigarh Literary Society; Dr Kuladhar Saikia, president Asam Sahitya Sabha and former DGP, and RGU Vice Chancellor Prof SP Singh took part, according to a press release.
Dr Misra, a passionate poet and bureaucrat, spoke how she got exposure to the �India� and how it was a catalyst to reflect on her inner thoughts, values and life ahead. She spoke on sacrifices made to be a mother, wife, bureaucrat and poet and never having to repent in any aspect she carried out as her priorities were clear and time was an enabler. Her job enabled her to be the chosen mouthpiece for the downtrodden and underprivileged, especially women who suffered at the hands of a patriarchal society, she said. A feminist with a clear vision of equality for both sexes, she stated that it is up to parents as to how they nurture boys to respect women.
Dr Misra exhorted students to have integrity of character, compassion, pay attention to words and understand their depth before self-gratification on little inconsequential successes. She prodded students to charter their life course with a clear vision and to never give up on their dreams and advocated reading in all genres.
Dr Saikia expressed his innate beliefs on time and writing being interlinked as creativity does not conform to any sphere where it is leashed; thoughts were randomly written on chits of paper which later took the form of 23 books. He said as a police personnel and now as a litterateur, he has experienced life in its manifold, sounds and scenes translated into stories for history to reflect upon for posterity.
He spoke of Assam and its culture of respecting women which had undergone drastic changes two decades ago inculcating vices like dowry, murder, etc. Society at large has lost faith in itself and every aspect of truth and its credibility/genuineness is questioned, he added.
Dr Saikia also related how, as the present president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha, he is reviving puppetry to tell grandma�s stories, extending a cross-sectional intervention and interactive session on literature across Assam. He advised youths to make good use of the internet and collect knowledge from the human library across the world.
Prof Singh said a literary piece is as much a product of imagination and creativity as it is a social document. Each author perceives the world around him/her through the matrices of his/her experiences, perceptions and perspectives, he said.
