By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 24: Former Assam Assistant Commissioner Shehnab Sahin, who resigned at the height of her career to serve in war-torn Syria, told a Shillong audience on Tuesday that her debut book was born from a ‘deep sense of loss’ and the complexities of identity in the Northeast.
The literary discourse with Sahin, held at Taj Vivanta Shillong, was hosted by Prabha Khaitan Foundation, in collaboration with Oil India Limited and Ehsaas Women of Shillong.
A former civil servant with the Assam Government, Shehnab literally threw away her job at what most civil servants would call the aspirational stage of their career—the Assistant Commissioner level—to take on an assignment close to her heart. She went to war-torn Syria as a humanitarian aid worker. For someone with such a dramatic career switchover, a book is hardly what one expects. Yet Shehnab produced a book—Colour My Grave Purple—with poignant accounts of her life and what it means to be a Muslim woman in Assam today. The book leaves readers with a sense of awe but also perplexity, as Shehnab narrates her story and links it to the contours of the book and its chapters, leaving the audience breathless, almost mesmerised.
Shehnab is a natural raconteur with excellent storytelling skills that most authors lack. She transported the audience on a journey of awe and wonder, describing how she dealt with the COVID-19 trauma, having to manage COVID centres in Assam and deal with ultra-sensitive individuals. She recalls with ecstatic nostalgia her father, a police officer in the Assam Police, their many escapades, and how his death left her devastated.
The book discussion, ably anchored by Pooja Goenka with pointed questions, brought out the best in the author. The book is naturally centred on the lived experiences of people in Assam, traversing beyond the militancy era to the real human-animal conflicts that people in Assam face.
The book is a compendium of history, memory, identity, and the socio-cultural landscape of Northeast India. What’s obvious is the deep sense of loss that pushed Shehnab to pen down her racing thoughts—thoughts that did not always make sense but nevertheless poured out from the depths of her being. The audience was enraptured. They said it is rare to have such a sense of connectedness with an author as she takes them into the deep recesses of her journey.
The audience participated spontaneously, each sharing their own thoughts.
This event, like others before it, reflects the Prabha Khaitan Foundation’s commitment to promoting literature and meaningful dialogue across communities, this time with Shehnab Sahin. As always, the event is supported by Oil India Ltd in collaboration with Taj Vivanta Shillong.
Ehsaas Woman Jyoti Agarwal welcomed the guests and guided the event through the question-answer session.
