Char refers to the shifting river islands in the Brahmaputra river, and chapori refers to the constantly eroding riverbank as the Brahmaputra and its tributaries change their course owing to annual flooding.

Natural calamities aren’t the only threat facing the people of the char-chapori areas, they also live in dread of finding their names excluded from the National Register of Citizens that is being finalized since 2016.

In our conversation Poet and Phd Scholar Shalim Hussain we explore what it means to be a Miya Poet who is deeply invested in preserving and reviving the status of the Bengal-origin Assamese Muslims—a people referred to as Miyas in Assam. He takes us through his childhood experiences of living along the river, what inspired him to write his first poem and the philosophical vestiges of the same. We discuss the movement behind Miya poetry and its importance and impact in the current times and end the conversation with what his memories of the river are. The conversation is sprinkled with interesting anecdotes from his life, and his poetry which allows us to take a peak at the workings of his mind more closely.