Amal diverts all his focus and time on a new project, hoping to give new meaning to his life. Rishi delves deep into the beauty of Kaziranga, his friend, his muse, to get away from a traumatic past. The articles written on the national park feature prominently in Arunabh’s body of work as a reporter. Ballad of Kaziranga is not a love story (although it does seep in) but rather, the story of love three friends share for the beautiful and majestic Kaziranga, in their own unique way. It is through the lives of these three men and their dreams, aspirations and sometimes, even their frustration and anguish that Kaziranga unfolds itself. A riveting story, it also throws light on the current state of affairs in the national park and the problems plaguing it. Translator biography Parbina rashid hails from Guwahati and grew up during the turbulent times of the Assam Agitation of the ‘80s, which was fought against the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh, and later, the rise of terrorism, which still continues to plague the state. After her schooling in Guwahati, Parbina left for Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), from where she completed her graduation. She later joined Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) for her masters. She started her career as a Project Fellow under the Women’s Studies Research Centre at the Gauhati University and contributed two research papers titled ‘Dowry Deaths in Assam: A Few Case Studies from Guwahati Municipal Area’ and ‘Women as Decision Maker’, which were published in a complied volume titled, Status of Women & Social Change by the Gauhati University. At present, she is working with The Tribune and is based in Chandigarh. She writes a column called Beyond Chicken Neck, reviews books, writes opinion pieces and middles for The Tribune. One of her translated short stories, ‘No Man’s Land’, has appeared in The Little Magazine, edited by Antara Dev Sen. Parbina has also translated stories for The Sentinel (Assam) and N, an online magazine. She has translated and compiled a book, Echoes from the Valley, which is an anthology of short stories by 11 Assamese writers. Her second translated book, If a River and Other Stories, is a collection of short stories by Sahitya Akademi-awardee Dr Kula Saikia, DGP, Assam. While Echoes from the Valley was published in 2017, If a River and Other Stories was launched in February 2018 at the Brahmaputra Literary Festival, Assam.
Dileep Chandan is a senior journalist working in Assam for the last 30 years. A student of English Literature (MA from Gauhati University), he started his journalistic career with Ajir Somoy magazine and later moved to The Sunday (now defunct), a publication from the ABP Group, Kolkata. He has been editing Asam Bani, a 61-year-old newspaper published by the Assam Tribune Group, from 1997 onwards. Dileep Chandan has been awarded the Sarojini Naidu Prize for Best Reporting on Women and Panchayati Raj (Delhi), Harivansh Rai Bachchan Award for Journalism (Mumbai), The Sentinel Rural Reporting Award, K.K. Birla Foundation Fellowship (Delhi Hindustan Times), National Foundation for India fellowship (Delhi), among others. He is also a member of several national and regional organisations and a guest lecturer in journalism at several universities. He is also a popular novelist and writer in Assamese language with some 18 books on various facets of society and the North-East to his credit. Among them are biographies, essays and novels. His new novel, Kazirangar Ballad, has been awarded the prestigious Sayed Abdul Malik Literary Award in Assam. His first novel, Majulit Etiya Godhuli, was based on the Majuli river-island., The novel is now in its third edition with several thousand copies sold. This book deals with the problems faced by the biggest river-island in the world, Majuli. His other novels are based on various issues such as insurgency that have been plaguing the region for a long time. He is currently involved in research work for his next novel.
