Interviews in Vietnam
We were in Vietnam from 28th
February - 8th March 2015. My teacher Dr. Ramesh Chandra
Mukhopadhyaya and me were invited by the Writers Association Vietnam to
participate in the Third International Conference To Introduce Vietnamese
Literature And Second Asia Pacific Poetry Conference, courtesy the poet
couple Biplab Majee and Nandita
Bhattacharya. Poet Biplab Majee attended the First Asia Pacific Poetry
Conference , 2012 there and wrote a number of books on Vietnam since then. He
assured us that he had informed his Vietnamese friend renowned poet Tranquang Quy
about us and we don’t have to worry about anything. Tranquang quy is indeed a
very nice person and now he is our friend too.
In the Vietnam conference of 2015, over
one hundred and fifty delegates from forty three countries participated.
The unknown people of far away countries
have became friends in the short time span. This write up is about some of my
new found friends whom I met for the first time in Vietnam and long to meet
them again sometimes somewhere.
We were received by two Vietnamese
girls at NoiBai airport, Ha Noi. They gave us a warm welcome with repeated
hugs. They were students of Public
Relations .Their spontaneous behaviour erased the stress of our overnight journey
. One of them also informed me that her boyfriend is an Indian and she loves
some Indian dishes. Reaching the hotel, we were greeted by Madam Dao , the
deputy director of the Ministry of External Affairs. She gave us a hearty welcome and arranged the hotel rooms for us , gave us the programme
schedule. Ms. Dao, , a short structured
lady is blithe with immense energy . She
was a strict discplinarian and we saw later how meticulously she conducted the whole programme . The programme continued for a week The
President of the Writers Association , Vietnam, Huu Thinh was a very polite person. He personally met every
delegate, gifted them books and other presents, appreciated every participant’s
speech met us in the early morning when we departed
from the hotel for the airport on 8th March . We were on our way back to India’
I got chance to become intimate with
a few people in these eight days.
They were from different
countries, different professions and of
different age groups. But all of them have strong personalities. They left an unforgettable
image in my heart.
Poet Tranquang quy , whose name we heard many times from Poet Biplab Majhi came
to meet us on the first day evening amid the drizzle . He and his friend Poet Huy Mau Le took us to a very nice
cafeteria Thuy Ta Restaurant. It had
lovely ambience. Another newfound friend
from Thailand Poet Pompen Hantrakool accompanied us.
Later I had a long
discussion about his upbringings, his struggle , his poetry and in a nutshell
his views . He was born in 1955. He is from Phu Tho Province in Vietnam. He
spent the first eighteen years of his life there. He told me that the first
king of Vietnam was Hung Vuong ( King Houng). Phu Tho was his capital. It is about hundred
kilometres away from Hanoi. He lived there in a beautiful village beside the
River Da. He had so many memories of his childhood in Phu Tho .,He revealed
that it is the reason he always wants to write about the life in the country,
the people in the country side. And this motivated him to be a poet. He wrote
about the lives of the people in Phu Tho. He writes about the farmers.
He joined the Vietnam War after his
graduation from the high school. He was a soldier posted in the border. He
spent five years of his life in the war. He said that the life in the war was
very hard. They had to stay without food
for long but they had developed
relations with people. Most of the time, they stayed in forests. There were
bombings by the American Plane- the missiles. In 1971-72, so many young men lost their lives in the battle. They were
talented people. Among them were writers, musicians, poets and students from
many majors .
After war, he came back and joined as
cultural official in Phu Tho Province.
Later, he came to Hanoi to study in Hanoi Cultural University. He
studied literature.He started writing his first poem when he was seventeen years
of age.
He has already published seven books
of poems. There are also two books of prose. He is now going to publish a
collection of critical appreciation of Vietnamese poems of twenty six poets.
He is one of the pioneers of a new
genre of Vietnamese poems which began
after 1975 and continues till the present
century. These poems have width of
vision. According to him, there are some poets who write about the traditions.
Some are modern and some are post modern. He opined that the post modern Vietnamese
poems are not so much enjoyable in
comparison to the post modern poetries of the world.He considers himself as a
modern poet. However, he made it clear that the most important concern for him
is that his creations must be unique and good . It is not important to be
listed as a traditional, modern or post
modern . He writes short stories . He
penpictures their many incidents chosen from real life.
He is also a journalist. He has
published over hundred articles. He used to be the editor in chief of a
newspaper named ‘Family and Society’.
He was an organiser of the First Asia
Pacific Poetry Conference. This time, he is a delegate.
He is said to be one of the best
poets of Vietnam after 1975. His books received awards twice from the Vietnam
Literature Association. The first collection of his poems named – ‘ Dream of
boardshape’ was published in 2004 and the second collection Freedom Colour of
the Land was published in 2012 and he received many awards from
newspapers and magazines.
He first met poet Biplab Majhi in
Kolkata poetry festival and the second time in Vietnam. He loves his poems. He
was in Kolkata for a short time period. He regretted that he did not visit many
sites. But he feels a kinship with the city.
He has four members in his family.
His wife is a doctor . His elder son studied in England and now is working in a
company in Vietnam. His younger son is doing major in professional
communication .
An interaction with Poet Tranquang
quy is immensely valuable for me. It helps me to know about a person who is a
fighter poet in the truest sense of the term. Moreover, we get a glimpse of the
environment which helps a young boy to become a poet, the wounds of war memory,
about the post 1975 literature of Vietnam and about the present Vietnam. Finally,
we are also thankful to him for the delicious local sweets he offered us
On the very first day, we met a lady with
an attractive personality during lunch. She is Poet Pornpen Hantrakool from
Thailand. The name of her book is Collection of verses Springs
and Autumns Speeding Through Time. She
has introduced us to a renowned Vietnamese poet Mai Van Phan. She has
translated some Vietnamese poems of Mai Van Phan into English language. She
wished to become a servant in a rich household so that she could feel how the
rich behave with the poor. Pompen was born in 1947 Her parents were from China.
She was born in Thailand. From childhood, she knew three languages- Hynan,
Chinese and Thai and she said – I am trilingual. She studied liberal arts. After graduation, she did a diploma in
History. She taught in universities .
There was a big massacre in Thailand on 6th October 1976 where there
was heinous attack on students and protestors that occurred on university campus
in Bangkok. The army killed many
socialists. Shocked, she resigned her
job in protest. She described herself as a peaceful Marxist, not a
revolutionary one.
Her pursuit for academics was also in
a different way. She wanted to travel. She chose England. England , she said
was democratic and peaceful. She did not want to bother her family financially.
She chose to work in a Czechoslovakian family for eight to nine months. Then,
she took a waitress’s job. She was adventurous. She studied some two pound
courses of social sciences with her earning. They were very enjoyable. After a
year, she moved to a restaurant as a receptionist. It was a better job. She
spent her free time in the afternoon visiting many museums. There were some
hundred museums. Then her friends pursued her to do a Ph.D. Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher had raised the university fee too high at that time. Pen did
not have enough money to pursue . Despite
that, she spent the thousand pounds that she had saved. However, she disliked
her professor. She told it and he failed her. She spent three and half years in
England. Then she returned to Bangkok and joined Silpakorn University. She
worked there for twenty years till her retirement.
Post retirement, she thought that she
had finished her job of a historian as it is time consuming to write an
article. She likes poetry from her childhood and wrote some poems. She started
writing poems. She doesn’t call herself a poet but a poetry writer. She told me
that when you’re old, you don’t write superficial things like romance but
deeper things. She said that her country is splitting into two and political
conflicts are going on. She writes on how one’s life can benefit others. Pen
said – Now I am less emotional , I feel love for everybody. Otherwise there is
no way out, we are as it were caught in a whirlpool. Poetry leads me to some kind of spiritual
rinsing and cleaning. Now I feel my soul is cleaner and elevated. I am happy.
Pompen Hantrakool is a happy person.
And a happy person has the capability to make other people happy. And her poem asserts- Happiness comes free.
you don’t have to buy,
Unhappiness demands so much,
yet people war over it at all costs.
Her gift the collection of verses no
doubt is very precious to me.
I met Dominique de Miscault on 3rd
March . We were going to Halong City . Casually, I sat next to her in our Bus. After that for the
remaining days, I deliberately chose my seat next to her. She was from Paris.
She is a painter and is in publishing business. Painting is what she does from
her childhood and she asserts that no school is necessary for her to learn
painting. She is learning all the time . She paeticipated in many exhibitions
in France. She also shared with me the problem of women. At one period, she had to do multiple
chores and her mother was very ill at that time. She said that she is not
completely in the art market. She has a
relationship of about twenty five years with Vietnam. She comes there every year even two- three
times a year.She was associated with the
famous Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural . First she did a project plan, designed a
section - the seven days of creation The
initiator of the project was a lady journalist from Vietnam Nguyen Thu Thuy. It
is a ceramic mosaic mural on the wall of the dyke system of Hanoi. Its length
is about four kilometres. Dom said that it has been recorded into the Guinness
Book of World Records as the world’s largest ceramic project. Unless she was
with me, I would miss the opportunity to
see the beautiful creation.
Anybody interested can check the link
http://www.
thuthuyosaic.com/type-news/1/39-dominique-de-miscault.html. She did not give me
the link. She is a reserved person who was more interested to show me different
significant sights – the architecture of old and new buildings in the city, the
burial grounds in the country side and many other things. She also told me the
history of Vietnam. In two hours bus journey, she described me the time period
when Vietnam became a colony of France, the Vietnam- America war, the
administration of Ho Chi Minh and General Giap, the lift of US trade embargo
against Vietnam on 24th June 1994
and its impact. She is an intellectual in the real sense of the term.
She is now sixty five. She carries a big camera all the time She is now doing a documentary on the sea
farmers. Her husband and daughter are in Paris. Her elder daughter is no more.
She shared with me her sad thoughts . She was in Vietnam when she suddenly got
the bad news.
Because of her, we got the
opportunity to visit some beautiful Buddhist temples in Hanoi. She practically
persuaded us to take a ride with her.
She hired a cab, entertained us. Moreover, she also took us to the home of her
vietnamese friend who owns an art gallery. With nice green tea, we had our
discussion ranging from politics, economics and society to art. Sir discussed about Picasso, Matisse with them.
I learnt a French sentence from her-
Oh la la. She used it often. The most
outspoken and free minded lady Dom gave me a few precious advice as a lady. Her gifts are also unique- a model of
fish and a comb. Fish in our Bengal is a good symbol. I believe that our friendship is also a
blessed one.
The young girls of Vietnam who were
volunteers in the poetry festival were so lovable. They all are cheerful and remained close to us . Their
co ordinator was Hua Phuong Nhi, an eighteen years old girl. She is a first
year student of journalism in the Academy of Journalism and Communication,
Hanoi. The college is one of the best in Vietnam and students from neighbouring
countries like Laos also take admission here. The classes are held in the
morning and the afternoon shifts. Her class time is now from 1pm to 5 pm.Her
parents own a media and publication house.She has grandmother in her house. She
wakes up at six thirty in the morning to assist her grandma in household
chores. She takes her grandma to daily
market on her motorbike. In Hanoi, scooter is the most popular mode of
transport. Pompen earlier told me that people here are not very much interested
to buy a fourwheeler. Hanoi is short of garages and traffic jam is regular in
the city roads. However, the family of
Phuong Nhi owns a car. Her parents start
as early as at six thirty for the office, six kiolometres away to avoid the traffic jam that starts around
seven in the morning. The office work generally begins around eight in the morning.
There are no domestic servants in her house though many families there employ
domestic servants.
When I enquire about her future plan,
she told me that in order to find a good job, one needs to speak fluent English
. One also needs money and right contact. There are foreign teachers of
English, but the courses are very expensive for the students. It is more than
ten dollars for two hours. The students try to do part time jobs for learning
English if they don’t have the parent’s financial support or if they are not
interested to depend upon them. They can get job in coffee shops and shopping
malls. Phuong Nhi has become a volunteer in this festival for the opportunity
to interact with people from different countries in English.
Like our Bengali girls of the same
age group, she loves outing with friends, dinner in the restaurant and she
loves dogs. She has two dogs- Mi, Tom ( Noodle). She likes to eat a dish which is a kind of
noodle made from crab. She also loves pizza. Her grandma’s chicken preparation
is also her favourite. However, she is unique in many respects. She spends
quality time with her family and serious about her career. She is hard working.
She wants to go to foreign countires especially to France. She opened her heart
to me , told me about her grandfather . She loved him most. He died five years
ago.
This eighteen year old girl took care
of all the problems of the delegates from the fortythree countires and was the
leader of all the fifty volunteers. Vietnam is lucky to have daughters like
her.
Poet Inrasara is a renowned Cham poet
of Vietnam whom I met on the last day of the festival. He is a native of Panduranga
village of Champa . He is a Hindu. The term Champa refers to a collection of independent
Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is today central and
southern Vietnam from seventh century upto. 1832, ,Then the kingdom of Champa
disappeared. It was conquered by Vietnam
There were 1,20,000 Hindus. They became refugees to Cambodia, Malayasia, Hainan
in the north of Myanmar. The Cham people worship Brahma, Vishnu and mainly Lord
Shiva. Their letters originated from Brahmi
script of India.
Inra means thunder of God and Sara is
the arrow of Indra. Their king Gangara went to India in the 4th century.
He revealed that there is also Bani religion worshipped by the Cham people. It
is a mixture of Hinduism and Islam. They worship all . – Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
and Mohammad Allah. There are many Cham Hindus and Bani religion worshippers in
Vietnam though Cham people donot worship Islam in Vietnam but in Cambodia. He
said that Hindus donot face any problem here. Poet Inrasara educated us in
brief about the Cham culture and religion. The Cham poet humbly said this in
his poem Gratitude- there is still a Cham son to take care for the Cham
language… though utterly insignificant, I still must be present.
Poet Dr. Rati Saxena is an Indian
poet whom we met in the festival and gradually we became fond of each other.
She is an international poet . her poems have been translated into Irish and
Italian language. A translation of her poems in Spanish is in the offing. Rati
said that the people of other countries find in her poems altogether a strange
world where they want to be transported. Rati doesnot like statements in
poetry. She is fond of imagism. That is how she is different from the common
run of Hindi poets.Rati feels that she is an Indian and doesnot belong to any
region of India. And it seems that her poetry is stamped with an Indianness
which draws readers from different parts of the world.
Rati poses that she is an iconoclast.
She is as it were out to break idols. But it is a pity that she cannot do the
same because she believes in the love for all things great and small. She was born in Rajasthan.
Her father was a government officer. They were five daughters , Rati the fourth one. Five daughters and no son in
the house means tension there.Her maternal uncle took her to Bhopal. She spent
her best time there. She was a free bird. Afer three years, her father
compelled her to return.He thought that she would be spoiled, she needs
discipline. That’s what Rati writes poem- Bhale ghar ki … Girls from good
families donot fly kites. Kites have colours and colours have desires and
desires sting. The kite is made of paper. The paper is torn off. The body
becomes apabitra. She was in sixth standard at that time. She was intelligent.
She started to lead a double life, bubbly in school and decent in home. She was
good in debate, acting. She never studied too hard but got good marks. Her
father used to have transfer. She actually became the star of her schools. She
received the best student award. She never had friends. She ws a little boyish
and did not know what the girls talk.
In college also she continued doing
naughty things but respected her teachers and was a favourite student with
them. She was a crowd puller. In university too she was a star and she told me
that she thought she was great. Punch in the balloon was her marriage. She tried
to be a good daughter in law. Mother in law told her to massage her foot and
she obeyed. She learnt embroidery, crochet, decorated the house but she felt
empty. She was doing Ph.D. Her husband was a Rocket scientist. They came to
Kerala in her husband’s workplace but there were no jobs for her in South
India. Language was the problem there. Life was full of darkness, she
thought. After Ph.D. she had done her B.Ed to get a job at least in a school. She
joined a childrens school. The authority did not want to take her as she was
overqualified. She was ready to give voluntary service there.Later, she joined
the Hindi Prachar Sabha College as a faculty member. She put her whole energy
into the Hindi Prachar Sabha, She has the habit of writing from young age. But she didn’t know that it was
poetry that she wrote. At first she translated many Malayalam books into Hindi.
She has translated famous poet Dr. Ayyappa Paniker’s poems.
According to her, Ayyappa is the most innovative poet of the world. He was a
versatile genius. In Kerala politics, they use Ayyappa’s lines. He was her
mentor. Her Ph.D thesis was on word and its meanings. One day she left Hindu
Prachar Sabha for groupism, She got the prestigious Indira Gandhi National
Culture and Arts Fellowship and completed her book – A seed of mind- a fresh
approach to Atharvavedic studies. She started publishing Kritya – an
international journal ofpoetry and organised Kritya poetry festival. She taught
in a university for four years and resigned. Rati said that her mentor Ayyappa
used to say that poetry is black magic in
white form. He died in 2006 before the Kritya’s international festival. He said
that everything is poetry- Don’t shrink. Rati is still following him.
I remember my interaction with many
others like the young girl Pe Jun and her friend, poet Le Thi Binh who was from
Ho Chi Minh City. She later sent me Vietnamese songs. Similarly, I have missed
writing about poet Mai Van Phan who is
now our good friend. I enjoy his poems .
Similarly, I enjoy Jami’s poems. Jami Proctor – Xu is an American poet .
Her husband is Chinese. Her poems and translations have appeared in journals
and anthologies in China and US . There were also Indra , Morii, Gauri and
Muesser. Indra Wussow was from
Johannesburg. She was a strict vegan who doesnot eat even butter. Morii Kae was
from Japan. She is a poet and a painter. Gauri hailed from Hong kong and Muesser from Turkey.
The close interactions with the above
personalities immensely enriched me to learn about the different cultures,
societies, the struggle they faced in their own ways.
