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Temsula Ao
Temsula Ao at the 40th Foundation Day of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya
Stories live in every heart; some get told, many others remain unheard-
Stories about individual experiences made universal by imagination;
Stories that are jokes, and sometimes prayers; and those that are not Always a figment of the mind but are, at times, confessions.
Because stories live in every heart, some get told, like the ones on these pages…
Those were Temsula Ao's words in her book, Laburnum for My Head, which describes her people's struggles, fears, dreams, and hopes for their home, Nagaland.
The late Temsula Ao was a writer par excellence. Born in Assam and having spent most of her professional life as a Professor of Literature in Meghalaya, her work reflects the issues of tribal identity and history in the Northeast, mainly in Nagaland. Besides being a poet, writer, and ethnographer, she retired as a professor at North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. A prominent literary voice in the Northeast, she was a skilled administrator who worked tirelessly to establish the Northeast Zone Cultural Centre at Dimapur to showcase the rich cultural heritage of her region. Furthermore, she contributed to the construction of a Heritage Museum in Shangyu village in the Mon district of Nagaland. She also served as the Chairperson of the Nagaland Women Commission, Kohima.
Temsula’s first publication was her collection of poems Songs That Tell in 1988. The word ‘Songs’ appears in all of her poetry collections, indicating that her work is deeply rooted in Naga oral traditions and folklore. As a member of the Ao Naga community, her works depict the cultures, traditions, and practices of the Ao people of Nagaland. She spent more than a decade studying and recording the rituals, customs, laws, and belief systems of her community, which were later compiled and published in her ethnographic book Ao-Naga Oral Tradition, in 1999. Her short story collection These Hills Called Home- Stories from a War Zone and Laburnum for my Head has been widely acclaimed. In the preface to her book, These Hills Called Home, she explains that her stories are inspired by the turbulent years of bloodshed and tears that the Naga people had to endure. Her work also highlights the plight of the Naga woman who is subjected to extraordinary conditions every day, yet must survive and emerge despite being silenced.
Temsula Ao endeavoured to give her community a voice and preserve the traditional Naga identity and culture. Her works have been translated into Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, German, and French. She was honoured with the prestigious Padma Shri in 2007, the Nagaland Governor’s Award in 2007, and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013. Temsula Ao passed away in October 2022, after making a monumental contribution to Naga literature and culture.
Anyway, what has age to do with dying
And of what use this irrelevant knowledge
When they are already pledged
On a one way journey
To their destiny?
~Nowhere Boatman, Ao.
The Tombstone In My Garden by Temsula Ao
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