Tawhid Laskar, 16, is believed to be the youngest writer in Assam and undoubtedly the youngest Muslim debut writer of the region
By Maruf Alom,
Hojai (Assam): Simple, soft spoken, shy in nature but confident in outlook, thin in shape; this is all about a teenager of Hojai – a tiny town of Assam. During my last visit home in March 2015, I met him for the first time.
Writer Tawhid Laskar, 16, was born to Badaruddin Laskar, working with the Irrigation department, Government of Assam, and Sulma Begum, a housewife. His elder brother Alom Parvis, is a fighter, a fighter in the form of debater.
It was not a difficult task to trace the young writer Laskar – author of the Novel ‘Generation Gap’. He started his schooling from Don Bosco High School, Hojai; passed his matriculation examination in the year 2014 and presently perusing further study in Ajmal College science stream.
Over a cup of tea at his house, a government quarter in the Irrigation Colony of the town, Laskar shared his story and unfolded the whole progression of writing his debut book. “It was just after the matriculation exam, the idea came to my mind to write a book on relationships encompassing friendship and its effect on the relationship among parents-teachers & students. It took almost three months to accomplish the project. After finishing the manuscript, I went to Guwahati and I approached ‘Book Place’ – a leading publisher of Assam, for publishing the same,” this is the gist of what he narrated.
The reading room where we were sitting was overflowed with books, magazines journals. I was shocked to notice the huge collection of books and its variety, these young teenager duo kept books right from civil service preparation to regional souvenirs. I introspected for a moment and came to the conclusion that whatever he wrote in the ‘Generation Gap’ must be the outgrowth of all these bestselling books.
But no, my assumption was literally proved wrong as I got into the novel. The writer says “Human beings are gifted with five senses, but when we try grasping knowledge from books, we only use one organ, the Eyes. … … I have different views on books. One must read books, it’s full of knowledge, but books must not only be taken as the ultimate guide. … …” (Page No 124, Converting a Nerd into a Lead).
Their reading room environment took me to my teenage life – school days and college days, it was also full of suspense, action, romance, revenge and many more, few things happened with us by default and few were intended. I remembered my own reaction on seeing books. I was in fact allergic to books; in spite of my father’s advice, I hardly touched any books when I was Laskar’s age, and other than reading, we had lots of funny things in our itinerary then.
But the question that came to my mind was: where did Laskar get the courage to write 150 pages in English? Is it because of his schooling in a convent school or the books he had read other than text books or is he God gifted? We the ex-teenagers have also gone through these phases but were never able to gather the determination to tell our stories, learnings, exciting experiences and incidents by means of a book. I defended it with Laskar’s words, written at the very beginning of his novel: “Every second, a new generation is born which is much faster, elegant, curious and creative than the past.”
He explained, initially it was very hard to believe for Book Place that a school going teenager of small town has written an English novel and looking for professional publisher; it was unconvincing. They simply asked him to drop his contact number and the manuscript as their panel will examine the quality of writings and will also judge the concept and the theme. After all the scrutiny, he will be informed accordingly. After few days, Laskar got a call from Book Place, the much awaited call was for signing the contract and agreement of his first novel ‘Generation Gap’. They had minutely examined it and gave the final positive nod saying it was selected for publishing.
He deliberately hid the whole development from his parents just to give them surprise. He is believed to be the youngest writer in Assam till date. And undoubtedly the youngest Muslim debut writer of the region, at least that’s what I believe.
“I will follow every rule, but in my own way” … … the first chapter of his novel starts with these catchy words, exactly like Bollywood melodrama’s lead Hero uttered in the climax scene. Though the conversations were his own creation but can be easily fitted in any teenager’s journey.
Utmost care has been taken in sentences construction, usage of words and expression. All these elements made it very lively in reading. The book keeps you engaged in the plot, as if the reader himself is the protagonist. Usage of witty examples, juxtaposing of incidents and citing of quotations in the relevant context are the USPs of the novel.
The writer has tried to showcase teenager’s thinking process, behavior, mental makeup, his understanding of different issues, intelligence, presence of mind in certain situation/s and his reaction on a given environment. It is also an attempted to portray how teenagers behave in other than homogeneous group and in reciprocation, what treatment they get from others. This is what is widely known as the generation gap.
Laskar believes and says, “I don’t want to change the world, I just want the world to accept the changes in me.” Before leaving, he introduced his mother and graciously said: “The book is dedicated to my mom-dad” but I need blessings from all of you. He has set an example that “teenagers can do anything” … (the last sentence from his novel).
Thank you very much Tawhid Laskar for presenting a copy of ‘Generation Gap’. My best wishes are with you.
(Generation Gap, a novel by Tawhid Laskar, Publisher: Book Palace, H N Road, Panbazar, Guwahati 01, Price: Rs 150. Tawhid Laskar’s email: [email protected])
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(Maruf Alom is an Indian Information Service Officer, currently posted in New Delhi.)