MAMANG DAI - POET, NOVELIST

Often described as the poet-warrior of Arunachal Pradesh, Mamang Dai’s life and work are marked by quiet courage.

- Preetha Banerjee

Born in Pasighat, she began her career as the state’s first woman officer in the Indian Administrative Service before leaving the bureaucracy to pursue journalism and literature. Honoured with Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi Award, Dai’s writing glorifies nature in its primordial form, breathing life into the region’s landscapes and traditions. In an interview with Preetha Banerjee, Dai reflects on how nature shapes her work and why mindfulness matters in the face of the climate crisis:

Nature and human emotions are intimately intertwined in your work. How do you feel they are connected?

Most of my writing is about Adi society and a landscape and traditions I am familiar with. For example, when a person dies there is a period of taboo when family members cannot leave the house. This is followed by a ritual called kutung kuyar when everyone goes to the river. A fire is lit and everyone can bathe, wash clothes and do other things. It is an act of closure, for one part of the mourning period. At such times, it is visible how nature and human emotions are connected. Being out in the open is a gift to open your eyes again to the beauty of the world. In the end “nature” is the great consoler. It goads you into reflection. Just looking at a river running on is like receiving a secret message about so many things that we face at some point in our lives.

About nature and human emotions in my work—it is a bit more difficult to describe, because here it is to do with my thoughts, recollections and imagination, and really, there is no knowing what connections and intimacies may come up.