Indira Goswami’s Short Fiction The Journey: Contextualizing India’s Troubled North-East

The Journey is a short story by Indira Goswami, a literary legend of late 20th century Assam. She was one of the most influential figures in Indian literature who was popularly known as Mamoni Raisom Goswami or Mamoni Baideo in Assam. Through her style of storytelling she reshaped Assamese literature and left it with deep social and intellectual impact. With her remarkable creations she has left indelible impressions in Assamese, English and in other languages through translations. She was the first hand witness of a long period of Assam history with violence, militancy, murder, kidnap and some undesired military terror. Her Parasu Pator’s Well and The Journey are some fictional stories through which she traces the troublesome history of several decades of an insurgent Assam of late 20th century North-East India. The study aims to see how Goswami’s stories reflect a violent and troubled North-East and give us the impression of her deep concern over the contemporary socio-political issues and their resolution.