When Salge Hansda was bestowed the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2022 for her maiden novel, her parents took a moment to digest the news.
After all, it is not everyday that a marginal farmer and his wife from a small village on the outskirts of Jamshedpur hear that their daughter has been given a national honour. The duo verified the news from television reports before sharing their joy with others.
Hansda has written her award-winning Janam Disom Ujarog Kana (A Motherland Being Deserted) in the Santhali language. The novel was a result of her thoughts on the rural-urban divide and societal upheaval that urbanisation causes.
While travelling for work, Hansda was moved by lives destroyed by displacement because of industrial and other development projects. She saw how youth would sell their lands, and then squandered the compensation amount on gambling, alcoholism and substance abuse. Soon, the sum would be exhausted and they would be left on the streets without support.
“No one can become rich by selling off ancestral lands,” the author opines. “Division of ancestral property also leads to bifurcation of culture and traditional values. Emotional ties with the motherland are crucial for community protection,” she tells theindiantribal.com.
Hansda’s novel was published in 2021 and released by acclaimed Santhali author, Padma Shri Damyanti Besra.
A native of Parsudih Barigora village, Hansda (32) is the youngest of four sisters and a brother. Her father, Galuram, is semi-literate, but mother Sita is a matriculate from a Santhali medium school.
During their childhood, Sita Hansda would regale her children with tales from Raghunath Murmu’s Santhali novel, Bidu Chandan. This is how Hansda first developed an interest in Santhali language and literature.
She did her matriculation from Community High School in Barigora and joined Santhali language classes at an institute in the nearby Chholaghora village. Thereafter, Santhali became one of her main subjects at the intermediate, graduate and postgraduate levels.
Hansda also did her BEd and cleared the UGC–NET exams. She has been Guest Faculty at Kolhan University’s SRKM Degree College, Chakulia.
Meanwhile, travelling by local train for her job over the past five years has not only given Hansda the idea for a novel, but has also made her many friends.
Her fellow travellers from the ladies’ compartment were as delighted as her parents when they heard about the literary award. They danced, distributed sweets and showered petals on Hansda. “For the first time, I felt like a celebrity,” smiles the author shyly. “This was no less than the Sahitya Akademi honour itself.”
