Hannah Lalhlanpuii in Conversation with Soukarja Ghosal
 

Dr Hannah Lalhlanpuii is a young Mizo writer from Mizoram. Writing predominantly in English, Hannah’s works like When Blackbirds Fly and Postcard from the Lushai Brigade explore the plights of people, especially the children during India’s freedom struggle in general and the Mizo insurgency during the 60s in particular. Hannah completed her Master’s in English from NEHU, Shillong, Meghalaya and her M.Phil. in English from Hyderabad Central University, Hyderabad. She obtained her PhD in English from Mizoram University, Mizoram. At present, she is working as an Assistant Professor of English at Mizoram Christian College, Mizoram. Hannah makes a fine balance between her academic work and her creative writing. She published her short story “A Bird Called Freedom” in the anthology Big Mistakes: An Anthology of Growing Up and Other Tough Stuff (2021). Two of her poems were also published in the anthology Lockdown Literature from Mizoram by Writers’ Workshop, Kolkata. She also published her poems in other journals of repute like the Journal of MIELS and The Little Journal of Northeast India. Here Dr Soukarja Ghosal engages her in a conversation.

Soukarja Ghosal (SG): Would you please tell us about your experience of publishing your first work?
Hannah Lalhlanpuii (HL): Being my first major writing project, When Blackbirds Fly gave me a lot of confidence in writing but it was a humbling experience at the same time. I wasn’t sure if my story would find any readers beyond the Mizo community since it was solely about Mizo history. But with the sales, reviews and feedback, I realized that stories from the margins like ours are greatly appreciated even beyond our community and that really inspired me to write more. I also realized the huge amount of research work it takes to write a historical novel, and that I still have a long way to go to master the art of creative writing.

SG: Whose works influenced you the most when you started writing and publishing your works?
HL: Works of Northeast writers like Easterine Kire, Mamang Dai and Janice Pariat have always been among my favourite reads, and the fact that we got to learn so much about their history, culture and community through their writings inspired me to tell a story about the Mizo community.

SG: How do you manage to make a balance between your academic work and creative writing?
HL: I am fortunate to be a scholar and teacher of literature as it helped me juggle my academic work and creative writing as they sometimes go hand in hand. With creative writing, I try to make time to sit and write during holidays as much as I can.

SG: Why have you chosen English as your primary medium of expression at a time when Mizo authors prefer to write in Mizo?
HL: As I have said before, the desire to tell the story of the Mizo community beyond our borders is what motivated me to write. I want people to know more about us, our history and our culture because while studying outside Mizoram, I have come across many people (even educated ones) who have no idea about the Mizo community.

SG: Do you feel that writing in Mizo would have garnered you more acclaim and popularity among the Mizo readers?
HL: Since my primary target audience is not the Mizo readers, I have never really given a thought about the difference writing in Mizo would have made. But I was also surprised by the reception of my first book among Mizo readers. I realized that for the majority of Mizo readers, the content of a book is what really matters not whether a writer writes in Mizo or English.

SG: In your works like When Blackbirds Fly and Postcard from the Lushai Brigade, you have chosen children as your protagonists. Is there any specific design behind this choice?
HL: One of the main reasons why I write is to tell the story of the voiceless, the neglected, and the suppressed. I believe that children, especially in the context of war and conflict, are always the most affected victims yet they are the ones who never have the medium and opportunity to tell their story. This is why my stories revolve around children's characters.

SG: In the Indian academia, when it comes to Northeast literature, why do you think Mizo writers are not as widely talked about as Assamese writers and other Northeast writers?
HL: Mizo writing in English is still a young genre as compared to writings in English from other North East states, especially in terms of quantity.

SG: Have you translated any Mizo writing into English and vice versa? If you can manage time, which Mizo book would you like to translate and why?
HL: I haven’t worked on a proper translation project. I would love to translate the works of C Lalnunchanga but I know I will not be able to do justice to the book.

SG: I find that there is a connection between Malsawmi Jacob’s1 character Zorami and Bawiha (from Postcard from the Lushai Brigade) or your character from When Blackbirds Fly. Is this just accidental? What is your opinion in this regard?
HL: I don’t know if there is a connection between the two characters since they are both from different settings placed in different contexts.

SG: Do you consider your works as part of Rambuai Literature2 which has been termed a “half-written history” by well-known Mizo author & translator Dr C Lalawmpuia Vanchiau?
HL: When Blackbirds Fly might fit into the Rambuai Literature, but I think that is for the reader and scholar to decide.

SG: You have named your works Postcard from the Lushai Brigade and When Blackbirds Fly as “Songs of Freedom’' and “Not Our War” respectively. What is the significance of such a description?
HL: The title of my first book When Blackbirds Fly was inspired by one of the interviews I conducted with a college professor who was a ten-year-old boy during the bombing of Aizawl. “At first, when we saw the planes, we thought they were black birds circling in the sky.” His first impression is really reflective of the innocence of children and how the innocence and the simplicity of childhood are often complicated by the larger politics of war and conflict. The title of my second book Postcard from the Lushai Brigade is a tribute to the unsung Mizo heroes who were made to fight in the war for the British Crown.

SG: In your poem “My Ancestors”, which was published in the journal The Little Journal of Northeast India, you have maintained, “Our mountains can barely hold the majestic churches/ that weighed down on our soil”. Obviously, you have been hinting here that the British colonization of Mizoram led to the loss of identity & indigenous culture of the people of Mizoram (erstwhile Lushai Hills). To what extent is it a loss and also a gain?
HL: One can make a long list of the cultural damage done by English colonization but on the other hand, the evangelical work of the English missionaries and their mission project in the field of education and health care brought about significant advancements for the Mizo society. The A Aw B script formulated by the English missionaries is the foundation stone for our written literature. 

SG: You published most of your works during & after the Covid pandemic in India. Two of your works have also been anthologized in the book Lockdown Literature from Mizoram. How has the pandemic shaken your sensibility as a writer?
HL: I think the lockdown and the solitude that came along with it gave me ample time to sit and write where I was able to work on a project or a writing piece for a good period without any interruption. But at the same time, I think the pandemic made me more sensitive towards the plight of people less fortunate than us and this affected the way I look and imagine things while working on my writing.

SG: Do you consider your works as part of “Trauma Literature”? If yes, to which bleeding experience of your personal life can it be related?
HL: I have never really considered the kind of genre my works would fit in, while writing or even after it gets published. I think categorization is largely in the hands of readers and critics.

SG: The sufferings & trauma encountered by your protagonists in When Blackbirds Fly and Postcard from the Lushai Brigade bear resemblance to Bhisham Sahani’s story “Pali” about partition. Is the connection just accidental?
HL: I haven’t read that particular story so the resemblance must be accidental.

SG: Do you think that publishing creative works on social media platforms like Facebook is healthy for serious creative writers?
HL: It depends on the personal choice of the writer, the kind of readership the writer is targeting, or the kind of message they want to spread or share.

SG: In your poem “When Blackbirds Fly” which was published in the Journal of MIELS, you have written, “Out of the ashes/Zorami is born”. Is the use of the Phoenix myth consciously prophetic here? Are you envisioning the resurrection of Mother Mizoram here?
HL: The line is both a reference to how the Mizo community gradually rose on its feet again after the insurgency and also how the bombing of Aizawl and tales from the Rambuai period serve as valuable sources for Mizo writers and composers.

SG: In your other poem, “For Peace” which was also published in the Journal of MIELS, you have written, “War feeds the fat man’s belly but not the old man’s mouth”. Wilfred Owen once commented “My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity” & Bertrand Russell said, “War is under all circumstances a crime”. Did you get your inspiration from the writings of the war poets of 20th-century England?
HL: My mother’s experience of growing up during the insurgency, tales of jungle warfare from ex-MNA soldiers and volunteers, tales of struggle and survival from civilians - these are the main inspirations when writing about such issues.

SG: You were invited to the 14th edition of Mumbai Lit Fest on 25th October & 26th October 2022 along with Ambi Parameswaran, Nilanjana Bhowmick & Trishla Patel. Could you share your experience with us?
HL: The Mumbai Lit Fest was my first experience as a delegate at an international literary festival and it was a thrilling experience. For a young writer like me, coming from a small community, it was a memorable experience as I got to interact with writers and intellectuals whom I’ve always greatly admired. I was also immensely grateful for the platform to share stories about Mizoram.

SG: Could you please let us know about your upcoming projects?
HL: I’m currently working on a translation project which will, hopefully, be published next year.

 

Notes

 

1.		Malsawmi Jacob is a Mizo author whose novel Zorami: A Redemption Song (2015) is considered to be the first novel written in English by a Mizo writer. It deals with the trauma and mental agony of a girl who was raped during the Mizo insurgency.
2.		‘Rambuai Literature’ can be termed as what a famous Mizo scholar Margaret Ch. Zama calls it, “literature of the troubled land”. ‘Rambuai Literature’ refers to the writings that were produced by Mizo writers during the Mizo insurgency of the 60s. Based on the suffering, agony and trauma of the Mizo people and political turmoil during the insurgency, ‘Rambuai Literature’ may also be viewed as ‘resistance literature’.