reflection of the riddle called life.
The most striking part of Khataniar's literary genius is his commitment for the most marginalized people. He is perhaps the first literary figure of our time to give so much space to the most unrepresented, neglected and even ignored or unrecongnised sections of society. His short-story collection- Ghariyaldangar Katha (2016) - bears testimony to this fact. In other words, this short-story collection is a microcosm of some of the most marginalized people of not only Assam but the entire Northeast. He passionately tells the story of Sonti Gariya of Sivasagar, Naga Raja Budheswar of Namsang Deomali, the Char Muslims of Bhura-Chapori, Mapu-Yi and Lallianmawaina of Mizoram, Gopal Sapkota of Baghchung, Parth Ghosh of Bholaguri, Haran Kundu of Rotowa, Borgang, Gaonburha Maneswar and Mehengi Aiji of a riverine Mising village. Haji Kurban Ali of Kalachara, Hailakandi, Banikanta the carpenter, and the villagers of Ghariyandanga in Mancacher -- all belong to a world beyond the mainstream. The historical anecdotes, starting from the arrival of Siu-Ka-Pha through the Patkai range to the migration of the East Bengal Muslims, from the pre-Vaishnavite Borbhuyans to the coming of the Hindi-speaking traders to Assam, and all the major events that rocked Assam's public life in modern times are narrated with multiple layers of local beliefs, folklore and oral history through these individuals and their unusual ordeals.
Such diversity of content and setting as well as the rich haul of life extracted from the most ordinary and mundance objects, are very rare in the literature of contemporary Assam. Khataniar is also conscious enough to allude to all the wrongdoings committed in Assam in the recent past the 'secret killings', militancy, religious fundamentalism and sectarianism in his stories. Irregularities in the State Zoo, the poaching of rhinos, the police harassment on the marginalized over the 'Bangladeshi' issue, the jingoism in upper Assam, are some of the contemporary issues that have become subjects in Khataniar's stories. Apart from these, nostalgic references to the village life with all its follies and foibles, like hunting of a tigress with her cubs, the state of
