Akashitora

Guwahati, Nov. 26: A tell-all memoir of fashion fraternity’s dark underbelly mingled with the forbidden world of homosexuality — throw in the perspective of an actress and you get Akashitora’s enticing novel Nishiddha.

One of the first professional models of Assam, actress Akashitora stepped into the world of glamour in the early nineties.

Having picked vignettes along the way, Akashitora decided to put her thoughts in prose and came out with Nishiddha — a novel in Assamese, English and Hindi.

Nishiddha, in fact, is the first in the state’s literary world to touch on the subject of homosexuality, which she said “society cannot ignore any more”, adding that she was aware of the volatile nature of the subject.

The novel’s Assamese version will be released on December 6 in Guwahati and the English and Hindi adaptations soon after.

“All the three stories which make up the novel are true and based on confessions of real-life gays and lesbians,” she said.

Daughter of Kamala Saikia, the first journalist in Assam to be killed by Ulfa, Akashitora had earlier penned a best-selling autobiographical novel, Sei Prem (My Love).

Her new novel, she said, was a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding a Delhi High Court verdict which termed Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code — which criminalises homosexuality — as a violation of individual rights.

The novel’s three interwoven stories are titled Jikotha Nokol Huwa (What’s left unsaid), Kot je aasila (Where were you) and Nishiddha (Banned).

“There is a sutradhar who is the link between the three chapters,” Akashitora said.

She claimed that the novel was a “bold and blunt” look at society and its “continued refusal to accept the gay community as an integral part”.

“The world is changing. India is changing. Even the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the gay community. I just want to portray the homosexual community as human beings, whose only difference is their sexual preference,” said Akashitora, the only professional model in the Northeast to hold a PhD.

She had also taught political science at the B. Borooah College for some time.

“Homosexuality, as I see it, is only a search for emotional and mental security. More and more people in Assam are coming out and daring to reveal their preference. Society needs to look at them with understanding,” she added.

She said the world of fashion was not always “what it looked like from outside. There are some aspects which need to be told. The third part of the novel is all about it”.

A successful actress, Akashitora had also lent her voice to a monologue in Jahnu Baruah’s national award-winning film Pokhi. On her birthday on December 29, a compilation of her poems, titled Moi aaru mur prem, will also be released.

“They are just stray thoughts put down on paper over a period of time,” she said. The birthday gift she craves for, however, is readers’ acceptance of Nishiddha.