Avner Pariat

Ko Mei Mynnor, phi la iohthiah jlang
Phi la jah nangne bad phi poi syngkhor halor ki lum
Phi la tap nep ïa la ka met da ki khlaw rben
Kiba bun kim thud shuh ïa phi
Ki leit kdup ïa kiwei pat ki kmie
Mei Mynnor, nga kwah ban iohsngew biang ïa ki khana jong phi
Ngan ai um lada phi jnang ne sohkdiah

Iathuh, mei, ïa nga kiei ba phi la dep leh ha ki por hyndai
Ngan sngap, mei, ngam khih nangne

Ki don kiwei kiba wan sngap ïa ki khana jong phi ban tan sha lade
Ki wad ban pyntreikam biang ïa phi
Kim wad ban pynim biang ïa phi
Kim wad ba ki ieid ïa phi
Ki wan ba ki donkam.

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-William Page

William Page, nicknamed Bill, was born in 1938 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Raised as a Congregationalist, in his early teens he became interested in Buddhism and Hinduism. In 1958 he met Swami Akhilananda, the founder of the Vedanta societies in Boston and in Providence, Rhode Island. This experience solidified his commitment to Sri Ramakrishna Bill became one of the members of Ramakrishna Vedanta Association of Thailand (RVAT) in 2004. He was posted to Taipei, Taiwan, where he served as a Chinese Mandarin translator. Subsequently he got into teaching in overseas American and international schools in Taipei, Singapore, Iran, and Luxembourg. He is the author of a collection of short stories on religious themes, like ‘The Nirvana Experiments’ and ‘Other Tales of Asia’, and has contributed articles to Prabuddha Bharata, The Vedanta Kesari, American Vedantist, and Global Vedanta. Recently he has done editing work for Advaita Ashrama and The Vedanta Kesari. E-mail: wpage108@gmail.com.

Kolkata, 15 July 2096

It was when a little Finnish girl began speaking her first words that the world first got a hint that Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the great nineteenthcentury Indian saint, had been reborn.
The little girl’s name was Anni Makinen. She lived in the town of Kittila, in northwestern Finland, not far from the Swedish border, with her parents, Jussi and Leena. Jussi was a computer engineer working for Nokia; Leena was a housewife. In 2090, Anni was two years old, an adorable, blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl with nothing unusual about her. Except for one thing. When she spoke her first words, they were in Bengali.

Her parents were mystified. They didn’t know that the words were Bengali. To them they sounded like gibberish. The neighbors thought they sounded vaguely Indian. After some searching, Jussi managed to contact Asit Banerjee, a Bengali businessman who lived in a nearby town. When he met the Makinens, Mr. Banerjee was amazed. Anni was a little chatterbox, and once she started talking, she went on and on in a stream of fluent Bengali.
“Well, ”Mr. Banerjee reported, “she’s speaking Bengali. But it’s not Kolkata Bengali. It’s a rural sort of Bengali, the kind a country bumpkin would speak, and somewhat old-fashioned.”
“What is she saying?”her parents inquired.

“Oh! Don’t ask me, ”Mr. Banerjee replied, throwing up his hands. “It’s all about religion, and I’m an atheist. You need to telephone the Vedanta society in Helsinki. The swami there is a Bengali, and he can tell you everything you need to know.”
The Makinens did that, but they couldn’t reach the swami. His name was Swami Bhavishyananda, and he was visiting India. So they left a message on his answering machine. By the time he got back to Finland, a month had passed.
But when he learned that they had tried to contact him, and why, Swami Bhavishyananda’s curiosity
was piqued. He knew about the prophecy that Sri Ramakrishna had made, that he would have to be reborn in two hundred years, somewhere northwest of Kolkata. (See Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play, p. 360.) Sri Ramakrishna had made the prophecy in 1885, so two hundred years meant sometime around 2085. Anni had been born in 2088. Sri Ramakrishna’s contemporaries had assumed that he might be reborn in the Bengali city of Burdwan. But northwest of Kolkata covers a very large territory indeed, and if you go far enough you might end up in Finland.
So Swami Bhavishyananda went to Kittila to investigate.

The Makinens welcomed him warmly. By then Anni had stopped speaking Bengali and was starting to speak Finnish. But when she saw the swami, her face lit up. “Sadhu, ”she said. “Nomoskar.”And she got down on her little knees and prostrated.
The subsequent conversation, as later recounted by Swami Bhavishyananda, went like this. It was conducted in Bengali:

Swami: Hello, Anni, do you know who I am?
Anni: You are sadhu.
Swami: Do you know who Sri Ramakrishna is?
Anni (squirming uncomfortably): I know. But that was then. Now is now.
Swami (gently): Can you tell me who Sri Ramakrishna is?
Anni (after a long pause): That was my old name.
Swami (still gently): Are you Sri Ramakrishna, Anni?
Anni: I was once. Now I am Anni.
Swami (suddenly prostrating himself before her, bursting into tears): O Lord! We have been waiting for two hundred years! What is your mission this time?
Anni (changing her tone; severely): Don’t do that. I’m just a little girl. Give me time to grow up. You’ll know everything when the time comes.
After that, she refused to speak further. But Swami Bhavishyananda couldn’t let it end there. He prostrated himself before her and begged her to bless him. Anni looked exasperated, but when he wouldn’t get up off the floor, she relented. “All right, ”she said in Bengali, and now her tone was tender. “I bless you, Dhruba Maharaj. You will attain the goal.”She raised her little hand in blessing.
Swami Bhavishyananda’s face lit up with joy, and when he left the house he was fairly floating on air. When he arrived back in Helsinki, they say his face was shining like the sun. His premonastic name had been Dhruba.

And that was the last time Anni spoke Bengali. From then on she settled into life as a normal little Finnish girl.
Her parents were relieved. “It was crazy, that Bengali stuff, ”her mother said later. “But she finally stopped, and from then on, all she’s spoken is Finnish. It’s a big relief. We were afraid those Indians might want to take her to New Delhi or somewhere, and we want to keep her here with us.”
Swami Bhavishyananda reported his interview to the trustees at Belur Math, the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission north of Kolkata. Those wise old men deliberated, but in the end they decided to leave things alone. “Let her grow up, ”declared the President of the Order. “Thakur has his own plan and purpose. We mustn’t meddle, lest we upset the applecart. If she really is Thakur, he will reveal himself at the proper time and place.”
Now it is 2096, and Anni is eight years old. So far as anybody can see, she’s just a normal Finnish girl. She goes to the local Evangelical Lutheran Sunday school and is devoted to Jesus. But her parents have noticed that on their rare visits to Helsinki, Anni likes to go to Little India, the neighborhood where most of the Indians live. At one Indian shop she purchased a small image of Kali, and when she saw a sweets shop she went straight for the jalebis.

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Bah Sumar Sing Sawian

Kane ka Ri Hynñiew trep, ka la don naduh ka hyndai ka kulong, shapoh ka duriaw bah. Hynrei suki suki, ka duriaw ka la nang kynriah noh, sha thain shathei jong ka Bay of Bengal. Kunta ka trai duriaw ka la nang kiew, ban pynlong ia ka khyndew. Ki lum ki wah, ki them, ki madan jyrngam kiba iar. Ki them kiba jylliew bha ha ki thain Sohra bad Mawsynram, ki la pynlong ia ka Ri Hynñiewtrep, kaba jur tam u slap hapoh pyrthei baroh kawei. Ki don ki mawsiang, ki mawlong ki mawteh, kiba ka rta ka jong ki, ka long kumba 700 million snem. Dei ba ha kine ki ri, ba don ki ekjokor, ki mrad kiba heh kiba iaid lyngba ki Ri shadud ki bynta shathei jong ka dew bah Asia. Hynrei kine ki mrad ekjokor, suki suki, ki la duh la dam. Hynrei ki lum ki wah, ki riat ki ram ki la sah hi kumjuh, kumta ki juh long naduh ki por hyndai hynthai. Ka Ri Hynñiewtrep ka long kaba bun bah ki jingthung ki jingtep, kata ki dieng ki siej, ki phlang ki kynbat, kiba don hapdeng jong kine, kiba niar ban ioh sha kiwei kiwei pat ki bynta jong ka pyrthei.
Kiba bun ki riew stad ki la wan kiew sha kane ka Ri, ban lap ia ki jingphylla bad lum ia ki jingntip jong ka Mei Mariang Ka Mei Ramew. U Lum uba jrong tam ha kane ka Ri Hynñiewtrep u dei u Lum Shyllong, uba ka kynjang ka jong u, ka long 1965 meter. Ha kajuh ka por u dei u lum ba khein kyntang, uba don ki khana pateng, kiba ia dei bad ka niam ka rukom tynrai, bad ruh ka shynshar khadar jong ki it ki hima, ki raij, ki muluk ki elaka jong kane ka Ri.
Dang Shen, ka tnad ka sorkar Kmie kaba peit ia ka Jing longn jong ki lum ki wah, ki mar poh khyndew bad Ki mawsiang ki mawtah, ki mawteh, kata ka Geological survey of India, ba une u lum Shyllong uba jrong tam hapoh ka Ri, u la don naduh ka 500 million bad 2.6 Killon snem. Kine ki riewstad, ki la lap ruh ia ki mawsiang kiba la rim tam, kiba la tip kum ki Genesis, ki don ha ki thaiñ Ri Bhoi, ha ki rud surok jong ka Guwahati-Shillong. La Kdew ba ka dei ban long ka jingkitkhlieh khamtam ki Dorbar jong ki shnong ki thaw, ki raij ki muluk, ki hima sima, ban nym pynjot pathar ia ka mariang, hynrei ban ialeh katba lah ban pynneh pynsah ia kane ka spah bah jong ka mariang. Ka sorkar jylla ruh ka dei ban ling kaba kitkhlieh kitkhia ban pynneh pynsah ia kane ka spah bah jong ka mariang. Ka donkam ruh ba baroh kine ki bor synshar jong ki dorbar kiba pher bap her, ha ryngkat bad dewiong, u mawshun bad kiwei kiwei.
Kane ka jingling kyrpang jong ka Ri Hynñiewtrep, hapoh ka jylla Meghalaya, ka la pynkhih jingmut shibun ia ki riewstad riewnang ha kane ka phang ban wan shim bynta ha ka Dorbar Bah jong ka jinlong ka khyndew ka shyiap, ki mar poh khyndew, ha ka International Geological Congress, ka ban long ha India, ha ka snem 2020, kaban wan. Kane ka Dorbar ba shi tyllup ka pyrthei, kan nang pynshai shuh shuh, ia kiei kiei kiba don hapoh kane ka jylla, khamtam hapoh ka Ri Hynñiewtrep Hynñiewskum.
Haba phai biang sha u Lum Shyllong, uba la kot sha ka 500 millian snem, ka da don ka jinglehniam lehrukom haduh mynta kine ki sngi, uba ieng na ka bynta U Blei Nongbuh Nongthaw, ha ka kyrteng kum U Blei Shyllong, jong ka Hima Shyllong. Haba la sengi a ka Hima Shyllong ha ka snem 1496 A.D., ka la long hapoh ka syrngiew, ka rngiew jong u Lum Shyllong ha ka nam bad ka kyrteng ka jong u. Ba ka dei hapoh ka syntai jong une u Lum, ki khana pateng, ba la mih bad shylluit halor ka longsyiem mansyiem. Kumno ba napoh ka Krem Marai jong une u Lum, ba la wanmih ka Pah Syntiew, ha kaba U Bakhraw Mylliemngap, U la khroh la pah ia kane ka Pah Syntiew, da u ‘tiew Jalyngkteng, – ‘Tiew Stem Pathaw’.
Ka Pah Syntiew ka la long namar kata ka Syiem Sad ba nyngkong eh jong ka Hima Shyllong. Ka la ioh ia ki khun ki kti, ia kiba la pynkup ha ki ia ka synshar ka khadar jong ka Hima. Ka Pah Syntiew, kam shym la sah ne shong duh hapoh ka Hima, hynrei ka la leit phai kylla na ka jaka kaba ka la wan. Kane ka long ka thymmei jong ka Long-kur ka Long-kha u khun Khasi Hynñiewtrep, kumba ka la long ruh ia ka Hima Sutnga, ba la tip hadien kum kia Hima Jaintia, ba ka Iawbei Li Dohkha, ka la leit phai pat sha Thwei Khyrwi, hadien ba ki khun jong ka, ki la shimti ia ka shynshar khadar.
Ia ka Pah Syntiew bad Li Dohkha, ym lah satia ban pdiang ba ki long ki khasi. Hynrei la pdiang ia ki khun jong ki, kat kum ka tang jait tang rukom, kaba la neh haduh mynta jong u khun Khasi Khara. Kumta uno uno uba ioh ia ka kurim bym dei Khasi ne Pnar, la tang jait tang kur ia ki khun jong ki kti, ym ia ka kmie. Dein ha kane ka liang bad bynta ba sa nang roi ki kur ki jait jong u khun Hynñiewtrep Hynñiewskum, ba kum ka jaitbynriew ruh ka la nang roi nang par, ba la nang kha shuh shuh ia ki long jait ki longkur parum pareh, na kine ki Jait Dkhar.
Kine namar kata ki long ki khanatang, ki thied ki phniang jong ka tynrai, tyllong, thymmei jong ka jait bynriew.
Bah Sumar Sing Sawian: Veteran journalist and well-known Khasi writer. Recipient of U Tirot Sing Award for Art and Literature. Author of several books including Golden vine of Ri Hynñiewtrep : the Khasi heritage, etc.

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