Tension of ‘Root’ and ‘Rootlessness’ in North-East Poetry

‘Root’ is an origin or source; it is the most centraland material part of anything. Rootlessness is a feeling of alienation or the state of being uprooted from a particular place that one calls his own. Assertions of ethnic identity and militant nationalism determine objects of love and hatred inNorth East and this is an issue that affects most of the indigenous people of the region. Ethnicity as a concept is derived from the Greek word “ethnos” which means nation, people, caste, tribe and such others most of the people from this region are still paying the price for the inability to correlateIdentity with the nature and process of change . Ao in one of her poems, envisages a sturdy tree with firm roots which can withstand even the stormy weather. Figuratively, the poetessyearns for a lineage nurtured by her tribe’s traditional values, steadfastly rooted in its tenets. Such a lineage can only sustain her in today’s vortex of society. The outcome of the outsiders’influence on the Manipuri culture is so tremendous that the poet Ngangom cannot find any stamp of authenticity. To Nongkynrih, to be perceived and treated as an ‘alien’ in one’s own country indeed contribute towards this whole notion of rootlessness.These poets seem to have lost faith not just in their cultural heritage but even in matters concerning politics and their own government and people who run their states.Therefore, all these factors together contribute to the whole notion of rootlessness in this region which has been deftly dealt with by them. What is lost is too deep and too irrevocable to be catalogued and the stance of the poets from the North East is one of studied nonchalance: tough, wise, smart and bitter, yet shot through with a thin lyrical vein of elegy.