Haobam Satyabati Feminist Writer par Excellence

Haobam Satyabati, 54, re-cipient of this year’s Khaidem Pramodini gold medal for literature is a journalist, educationist, social activist, writer, drama artiste, doting mother, a fetching beauty— all rolled into one. Her father, Haobam Ibungoyaima was a renowned writer and drama artiste. Satyabati says that she was inspired by her father to write from a very tender age.

At the high school level she not only wrote a number of dramas but also acted in most of them. “In 1972 a social drama, Langbangi Nungshada, was played by the students of G.P. Women’s college. It was a social play revolving round a man, his sister and a friend. I played the lead male role and was adjudged the best actor”, said Satyabati. Later she became the editor of the women’s journal, Macha Leima from 1978 to 1983. All the while she was writing a number of radio dramas. She has written four books, Mallaba diary, Shakkangdabi, Poknapham and Eigi Nupagi Macha. It is for her last book, a collection of short stories, published in 2005 that the Naharol Sahitya Premi Samiti, a literary organization, had selected her for the prestigious and coveted gold medal.

A keen observer of goings on around her, Satyabati has admirably succeeded in depicting a number of characters for her short stories and novels. Being a noted feminist writer, the characters in her books play the dominant role. She says that the women should not play second fiddle to the male chauvinists.

Being the head mistress of a girls’ school in Imphal she remains busy everyday. While at home she has to be the caring mother of three children and wife to a busy professional. After the household chores and official work she is dog tired and can hardly sit to write—the passion of her life. But she continues to write and she is bound to go up the notches in the coming days.

Michael Laithangbam