Dimapur, Sep. 11 (EMN): Two PenThrill’s books titled: “Weeping Willow” and “A Weretiger Comes to Town and Other Stories”, written by Kezhakielie Whiso were released by Talimoa Jamir, DGM (Electronics and Communications), on September 10 in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
Jamir, who works with the oil giant ONGC Ltd. and an avid reader, appreciated the rise of writers amongst the younger generation of the Nagas. Releasing the books, he lauded Whiso for capturing the spirit and the golden era of the ‘80s and ‘90s of Nagaland in his collection of short stories and expressed hoped that readers will get a good glimpse of these decades, an update received here on Friday informed.
He also appreciated the poems which Whiso wrote in memory of his late grandmother and further hoped and wished Whiso to write many more books in the future and enrich Naga literature.
In the “Weeping Willow”, a collection of 62 poems, the writer talks about death and mourning, particularly of his grandmother. The first two sections are very personal and mainly circulate the theme of loss and pain of separation; the third section talks about elements of hope and comfort; and fourth section is about the poet ‘back’ in an ordinary, everyday world, it informed.
In “A Weretiger Comes to Town and Other Stories”, an anthology of 14 short stories, Whiso takes the readers back to the ‘80s and ‘90s Kohima, when the place was still a sleepy town, and contact with the outside world was rare and a luxury. While the title story is set in the 1960s, the rest of the stories are from his personal experience.
The stories are placed in the decades that saw both the quiet, relatively peaceful times of the ‘80s and the tumultuous ‘90s when shootings and killings were at its heights in Nagaland. His stories, simple and straightforward, will give the reader more than a little peep into these ‘quickly forgotten’ decades. Written in a very personal ‘tone’, his writing touches and appeals to the human emotions of love, heartbreak, death, hatred, and boyhood innocence, the update stated.
Whiso was born in Kohima and holds a master’s degree in Geology and a Ph.D from Nagaland University, Kohima. He currently works as a geologist in a national oil company and has written two other books, namely, “Hope: Seasons along Life’s Journey” and “Things that can go Wrong on your Wedding”, a lighter look at his own wedding day, which were both published by PenThrill Publication House in Kohima.
“A Weretiger comes to Town” is Whiso’s first book of short stories and is being published contemporaneously with “Weeping Willow”, his second book of poems. He enjoys the company of rocks almost as much as that of people. Besides, he loves to read, write, listen to rock music and go for a trek. Along with his wife Blecy and daughter Aravie (Sasa), he currently lives in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
