Arunachal: Luminous Lummer Dai Literary Award bestowed upon Thajam Aboh and Wangsam Zongsam

The Luminous Lummer Dai Literary Award-2024 has been jointly bestowed upon Thajam Aboh and Wangsam Zongsam in recognition of their immense contribution to Arunachal literature. 

One of the earliest authors from the Nocte community and Tirap area, Aboh is a former clergyman as well as a poet, composer, and singer. Zongsam started writing in school and is among the first generation of authors in the Tangsa community. 

His works have appeared in a number of well-known Assamese journals in Assam. At the Borduria Towang Lowangdong Auditorium in the Tirap district on Friday, MLA Wanglin Lowangdong, Environment & Forest Minister Wangki Lowang, and President of the Arunachal Pradesh Literary Society (APLS), YD Thongchi, received the prize. 

Starting this year, the award's prize money will be enhanced from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000. 

Aboh, a renowned Nocte artist who was born in 1962, was acknowledged by the state government in 2012. He graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru College, Pasighat, after completing his secondary education at the government higher secondary school in Khonsa. He is a native of Thinsa hamlet in the Tirap district. In 1975, while still a student, he recorded his debut Nocte song. He succeeded in getting his Nocte songs broadcast on All India Radio in 1976. 

In 2002, while serving as a cabinet minister, he recorded his debut audio CD, Nocte Komchang, marking the beginning of his musical career. Numerous Nocte songs, notably the hymn Rang o Rang by Nocte Chalo Loku, were written by him. During the 2018 Golden Jubilee celebration, the Nocte Chalo Loku Committee presented him with a plaque of honour. Aboh enjoys creating songs and poetry since he is a lover of Mother Nature. In 2018, he released his poetry collection Echoes of the Heart in conjunction with the Chalo Loku festival. In addition to writing often on social media and in the APLS literary journal Prayas, he has a large body of unpublished poetry. 

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In 1942, Zongsam was born in Changlang village, which was located in the Tirap Frontier Division of the North East Frontier Tract at the time. He was a member of the Tangsa tribe, and when the NEFA administration opened a primary school in Changlang village in 1948, he was among the first boys from the tribe to attend. He began writing poetry, essays, and short tales in Assamese while he was still in school, encouraged by his Assamese instructor. His writings have appeared in Payobhar, Navayug, Amar Pratinidhi, Deepak, and other Assamese periodicals.

Zongsam wrote the poetry collection Romansar Swapna Lekhi in 2008 as well as the book Patkai Paharar Heojia Toluwa in 2004. In 2009, he also wrote a collection of Assamese short stories called Betupatar Bedana. During the Bangladesh independence fight in 1971, Zongsam, the first Arunachali to write in Hindi, penned the nationalistic poem Ek Akash, Do Desh.
 
Lummer Dai was mentioned by Minister Lowang as an inspiration to the next generation. He praised the APLS for its literary endeavours and underlined the contribution that literary organisations like the APLS make to the advancement of peace and unity amongst the people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. In addition, Lowang gave Wangtum Humcha Lowang, a young writer, credit for creating a digital library that serves as a Nocte digest. 

MLA Borduria-Bogapani Wanglin Lowangdong urged academics, researchers, and social thinkers to back the government's initiatives to promote the Arunachali people's traditional legacy. He thanked the Nocte community's youthful authors Wanggo Lowang and Wangtum Humcha Lowang, as well as retired IPR DD Denhang Bosai, for their passion in literary pursuits. 

Earlier, APLS president Thongchi paid tribute to the late Lummer Dai and provided an overview of the literary journey of the apex literary body of the state.