Lullaby of Waves

This film is a part of the filmmakers’ journey towards understanding and accepting the sense of belonging respective of space and time. The search for identity through the mother's voice and the relation to the river, which guides the events that have followed and will continue to create in the future.

53 years old, 26 years of marriage, 25 years being a mother. This is about my mother who came to the place where I was born, in search of a job. She had to cross the river Brahmaputra. Her life took a dramatic turn when she was unknown in this remote land named Sadiya. Unlike other parts of Assam, this area is divided and detached from the rest wholly. There isn’t any other way to reach but to cross this river. This side is the beginning of Assam and it’s the tip that was never connected to the mainland.
This detachment had grown to create a difference in the mind of the people living on this side. Everyone from the other side was an outsider to them, even if you are an Assamese.
Coming from the other side which is labeled here as “Hiporiya”, my mother had to face a lot of obstacles. Her personal journey of trying to find a job, her home being threatened, her land being snatched, and several other obstacles. Despite that, she had a different plan of fate.
The river has a lot of influence on her life and yet after the bitter-sweet experiences, there is always a sense of
gratitude towards it. My life has been affected by it a lot. My connection with her as a son but also as a person who had to leave her when she wanted me to stay, is also connected to the river and this side of the town.
I am documenting her relationship with this town and trying to find ways that had affected both of us, as an individual and as a mother & son. The constant search for validation to feel like home somewhere is my inner struggle to justify what was wrong and right when someone walks up to me and says that, we don’t belong here.
Labeling us as “Hiporiya”. Yet I ask my mother isn’t this the place where I was born?