Social Realism in “The Collector’s Wife” by Mitra Phukan

The portrayal of the violence and terror which reigns in several pockets of the North-East India has been a common theme in many literary texts of the region. However, numerous contemporary authors, unfit to shoulder the weight of such cliché portrayals, have decided to intentionally break free from such pictures and have brilliantly brought out different under-spoke to aspects of the locale. Regardless, the tensions and psychological warfare present in a few pieces of the North-East India are substances which can barely be overlooked. Mitra Phukan's book, „The Collector's Wife‟, portrays the agitated political circumstance in a community of Assam named Parbatpuri where kidnappings, coercion, and political precariousness are the request of the day. Set in such a miserable background, Phukan's hero, Rukmini's life experiences gigantic strife. This paper is an endeavor to examine the between connection between the individual and the political in Phukan's book and how the breakdown of one influences the other.