ASSAM: Rashmirekha Bhuyan knew at an early age that eventually the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) would confine her to the wheelchair, but she used it as a launchpad to let her imagination soar to the universe of print and be counted among the authors of substance. Her infectious positivity and clarity of ideas are benefiting the students of Khanaguri Government Senior Basic School, Sootea of northern Assam where she teaches.
The 39-year-old says she got a perfect ambience at home from childhood. Her parents, both retired schoolteachers, would push her to express her thoughts and imaginations through literary works, so what started as writing articles for Assamese dailies, weeklies and magazines, ended up in novels.
“Meghe Dhoka Akaxor Joon”, the first of her four novels, hit the stands in 2013. It was initially published in an Assamese daily as a series. Subsequently, she penned “Jeeban Beenar Sur” (2016), “Gigolo” (2018) and “Mati Ishwar” (2023). In 2017, she came up with a collection of short stories “Ejani Beshyar Aatmakatha”.
“Meghe Dhoka Akaxor Joon,” “Jeeban Beenar Sur” and “Gigolo” were sent for “Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar” but were not selected. She, however, is the winner of “Devsons’ Bixex Sahitya Pratibha Award”, instituted by the Devsons’ Group. Among writers, Kumud Chandra Hazarika alias Ranju Hazarika, Sahitya Akademi Award winners Mamoni Raisom Goswami and Homen Borgohain have been the inspirations of Rashmirekha -- a post-graduate in political science from the Gauhati University.
“I read a lot of books of Ranju Hazarika and I always wanted to write like him. Homen Borgohain, whom I addressed as ‘borta’ (father’s elder brother), had encouraged me to write autobiographical novel. I got a lot of courage from Mamoni baideu,” Rashmirekha says.
She got married in 2020 and has an eight-month-old daughter. She is Assam’s first woman with SMA to become a mother. The state has four persons living with SMA – three of them are women including her sister Chayanika, who too is a writer. The two siblings are leading a “normal” life.
“Neither my sister nor I have any problems. Initially, I could walk by jumping. My parents, neighbours, friends and schoolmates never made me feel I was different, so I have always felt I am normal. I found myself like what I am today when I could understand things. They never showed any sympathy towards me and I have always behaved in a manner similar to that of my classmates. If they were naughty at times, I too was,” Rashmirekha says.
“I feel my disease is genetic. I was told there is a medicine available in the market. It is costly and I just did not feel like going for it,” she adds.
She is invited whenever there is an event in her area concerning people living with disabilities. She shares her own experience and motivates children to make it big in life.
“For the past many years, I have been a part of the celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3. I tell children with disabilities that they must not think too much about what they are but move on in life to make it beautiful by studying and working hard. Every kid is blessed. Every person has some kind of physical challenges. If someone has a problem relating to vision, there maybe somebody who cannot hear properly,” Rashmirekha says.
She definitely has a problem with the term “differently abled”. “I don’t like to be called that. If somebody is disabled, what’s wrong in saying that? That’s not a big issue,” she says.