Mamoni Raisom Goswami is one of the very popular name in the field of Assamese literature who has bagged many prestigious awards like Sahitya Akademi Award and Jnanpith Award including various other recognition during her lifetime. She was not only a noted writer and litterateur but also a teacher, poet, peace adorer and a lively person. She was born to a Brahmin family of Mr Umakanta Goswami in Guwahati, Assam on 14 November 1942 and has led a very eventful life. She had her real name as Indira Goswami but used to write under the pen name 'Mamoni Raisom Goswami'. She is also popularly called as Mamoni Baideu and was highly regarded for her excellence in the field of literary works and her contribution to bring around social change. Chinaki Morom in 1968 was her first published work where she authored a number of short stories when she was only thirteen years of age and a student of 8th standard in the school.

Life story of Mamoni Raisom Goswami - Overview

Dr Indira Goswami studied in a school at Shillong called Pine Mount School and graduated from Cotton College with Major in Assamese literature. Her early life is said to be ruined by depression and had many times attempted suicide. The death of her husband Madhaven Raisom Ayengar in an accident after about eighteen months of their marriage was another incident which left her at a state of shock and depression and as such started taking high dosages of sleeping medicines. She however recovered from her misery and joined the Goalpara Sainik School as Teacher and later on started writing to kill her loneliness and survive. She contributed many masterpiece to Assamese Literature and some of her widely read novels and short stories are Mamore Dhora Tarowal (novel), Hriday Ek Nadir Nam (short story), Adha Lekha Dastabej (autobiography) and countless other compositions which reflects her high standard of writings.

Mamoni Raisom Goswami died on 29 November 2011

Mamoni Baideu passed away on Tuesday morning at around 07:45am in GMCH after she was reported to have multiple organ failure. She was suffering from illness for a prolonged period of time. Suffering from lung infection and various other diseases, she was undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit of a hospital at Gurgaon for many days after which she was shifted to Guwahati Medical College and Hospitals (GMCH). She was 70 years old when she died and only a few weeks ago she had celebrated her birthday in the ICU.

It is almost impossible to summarize the life and works of Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami in a single article. Her creativity and unique style of writing can be well analyzed from her famous novel Datal Hantir Une Khowa Howdah which featured the interesting character of Indranath. Besides all of her achievements and success, she also came to limelight for her role in acting as a mediator on behalf of People’s Consultative Group (PCG) to find a peaceful solution between the Central Government and banned outfit ULFA and even if the talks failed, her efforts were highly appreciated and widely acclaimed in the society.

Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami's death is indeed a great loss to the people and the nation and her absence will be felt deeply. The void created by her demise cannot be filled but her literary works, wisdom and contributions to Indian Literature will remain in hearts of the people and be remembered for ever.