Two books of Prof. Temsula Ao launched for the first time in Nagaland

Prof. Temsula Ao (R) and A Sentiyula (L) at the launch of Prof. Ao’s books, Songs Along The Way Home (Heritage Publishing House) and Aosenla’s Story (Zubaan), at the Dimapur Government College on February 16. (Photo Courtesy: Lima Lemtur)

Prof. Temsula Ao (R) and A Sentiyula (L) at the launch of Prof. Ao’s books, Songs Along The Way Home (Heritage Publishing House) and Aosenla’s Story (Zubaan), at the Dimapur Government College on February 16. (Photo Courtesy: Lima Lemtur)

Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 16 

Prof. Temsula Ao has been producing literary gems—poems, songs, short stories, folklore, literary criticism, a memoir, a novel—for three decades now. She won the Padma Shri (Literature and Education) in 2007, the Nagaland Governor’s Award (for Distinction in Literature) in 2009, the Sahitya Akademi Award (for English) in 2013 and the Kusumagraj National Literature Award (for poetry) in 2015. 

Yet, she attended the first “proper” book launch of her writing career on February 16, 2019, when the Literati Club - English Department of the Dimapur Government College (DGC) - and Heritage Publishing House (HPH) organized the release of two of Prof. Ao’s books at the DGC. The books include Songs Along The Way Home, her sixth book of poems published by the HPH and Aosenla’s Story, published by Zubaan. Both the books were published in 2017 and released today by A Sentiyula, Assistant Professor at DGC’s Department of English. 

For the audience, of students, lecturers and fans, it was an opportunity to listen to how she weaves her words and knots them in place. “Whatever I write comes from this inner urge, to probe, to question and also to acknowledge that I exist in the one-ness with my fellow human beings. Therefore when I tell a story or compose a poem, I try to entwine my life with theirs and for the duration of that creative voyage we have embarked on in a common pursuit of the essential meaning of life,” elucidated Prof. Temsula Ao while speaking at the Book Launch on Saturday. 

This creative voyage is not without bumps. “There is definitely struggle, there is frustration when language is unyielding and fails to match ideas,” she acknowledged. 

“But,” Prof. Ao went on, “there are also times when words are flowing and seem to offer themselves happily to articulate one’s thoughts. Then the mood is one of exhilaration and joy.” When “one is overwhelmed by a sense of completeness as though one is in the company of many equally happy people. It is for such rare moments of experiencing this ‘completeness’ that I write.” 

Today’s Book Launch was chaired by Shuiching Konyak, with a welcome address from DGC Principal, Kavili Jakhalu, a dedicatory prayer by Sedevino Jakhalu, readings of Prof. Ao’s poems by Ayimnaro Jamir (Forgive me) and Mithu Longkumer (Legacy), a short speech by Prof. Ao’s daughter, Prof. J Longkumer (SASRD) and a vote of thanks from Dr. Lanusangla Tzudir, Publisher at HPH. 

Transcriber, chronicler, teller, pioneer 
In her speech while releasing the book, A Sentiyula paid Prof. Temsula Ao a fitting tribute.  “She has explained to us in simple, lucid English many concepts in our folk literature which we did not pay attention to earlier or found difficult to comprehend,” she observed of Prof. Ao, also a “great teacher and scholar.” 

With Prof. Ao providing “new narratives, new perspectives, and new solutions” through her writing—as “Transcriber of a Fading Song, Chronicler of history; Teller of tales; Pioneer of Naga writings in English and Observer and Participant in the Naga way of life and speeches”—Sentiyula remained optimistic that young students may be similarly motivated to “work hard and use your faculties to innovate and initiate new paradigms to respond to the challenges of the times.”

Having lived through three stages of the Naga literary tradition - oral, written and performative – Prof. Temsula Ao’s work “still manages to stay relevant.”

“They remain relevant because they depict human nature expertly, with its foibles and its frailties, and its joys and sorrows. While doing so, she has shown her love for her heritage,” noted Sentiyula, hoping, much like the rest of the audience at the Book Launch, that “these are not her last songs, nor her last story.” That she may continue to allow readers to “relive history and, at the same time, use our faculties, hearts and minds” through her writings, of yore and of the future.