Mamoni Raisom Goswami at a meet

Guwahati, Feb. 8: A Pakistani with an Assam connection will be the main protagonist of celebrated writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami’s next novel.

Goswami met Anwar Minallir, the person whose love story she will transform into fiction, at a social gathering in Islamabad recently. The novelist, who visited Pakistan as part of a delegation to the first Saarc Pen and Peace Conference, was pleasantly surprised when Anwar told her that he was based at Balijan tea estate, near Chabua in Assam’s Dibrugarh district, in 1942.

The Pakistani, who was one of the assistant managers at the tea estate, disclosed that he met a woman there and fell in love with her. “The man was so excited on hearing that I was from Assam that he would not leave my side. He became nostalgic and confided in me, even narrating his hitherto untold love story,” Goswami recalled.

Anwar’s love story fascinated the writer, for she did not take long in deciding to weave her next novel around it. “His story set me thinking about life in the tea gardens. His experience made me keen to explore the treasure-trove of untold stories from these gardens,” she said.

One of the stories Goswami collected is of Hollywood actress Julie Christie, who was born in a tea garden hospital at Chabua in 1941.

Goswami said Christie’s story would be a part of her novel. Addressing the 20th biennial session of the Sadou Asom Lekhika Samaroh Samiti at Chabua recently, the writer said: “I met Julie Christie in Paris and was intrigued on hearing that she was born and spent her early years here.”

Former tea planter Arun Barua said Christie’s father and uncle were executives of different tea companies in Chabua. “Julie was educated in Darjeeling. She used to come to Chabua for holidays and play tennis, golf and billiards at the club. She also visited the Jorhat Polo Club to watch rugby and polo.”

Barua recalled that Christie, whose work in the James Ivory-directed Heat and Dust made her popular in India, was often the centre of attraction. “She used to drive down to the club, making people sit up and take notice. In those days, a lady driving a car was a fascinating sight.”