Commissioner and Secretary of Arts and Culture Frederick Roy Kharkongor today said that works of the renowned Khasi poet, U So So Tham should be digitised and said that the department will try to work on this.
“In the age of digitization we also need to digitise his work and with the active involvement of the entire directorate of the department we will try to digitise his work so that his work will transcend and be accessible to a wider group of readers,” he said at a function organised by the department to observe the 81st death anniversary of the renowned Khasi poet
Kharkongor also said there should be a dedicated award that will be instituted in the name of U Soso Tham for the best work of literature.
“We hope that there would be a literary award instituted in his name to recognize and felicitate the outstanding work of Khasi literature to make his name live on and establish the Santali of the contribution of U Soso Tham in our daily life,” he said.
Stating that great personalities like Bhupen Hazarika had mentioned that nobody touches the boundaries of epic poetry until the arrival of Tham he said, that the language of the Khasi is deemed to be the ripest, and Tham contribution towards this journey in which we remember, salute and pay tribute.
He also informed that the proposal for financial help made by the Khasi Author Society, including the proposal for a Khasi-English dictionary and to commemorate Soso Tham day more grandly has been approved.
Arts and Culture Minister, Sanbor Shullai who attended the function as the chief guest said U Soso Tham is being idolized and regarded as the symbol of the golden age in the literary history of Meghalaya.
Stating that the Khasi Literature would never have reached its recent glory if not for the contribution of Tham, he reminded the most distinguished works of Tham like his poetry Ka Duitara Ksiar (The Golden Harp, 1925), “Ki Sngi Ba Rim U Hynniew Trep” (The Olden Days of U Hynniew Trep) (1936)and his translation of the Aesop’s ‘Fables’,
He said that Tham was also the first person to make use of Khasi idioms and quoted Professor Radhan Singh Lyngdoh of Meghalaya who says, “The name of So So Tham rests on the highest pinnacle among the literary towers.”
Earlier Khasi writer Sumar Sing Sawain urged the younger generation to have a will like U Soso Tham who never waits for others to do the things that he can do.
“I urged the young generation to follow the footsteps of U Soso Tham and work hard and think deeply so that you can uplift the name of the Hynñiewtrep people,” he added.
