Nalini Prava Deka

Nalini Prava Deka (11 March 1944 – 15 June 2014) was an author, poet, storyteller, actress and playwright from Assam, a state in India encompassing the Brahmaputra Valley. She was honoured at a 2012 gathering in Ledo by the Assam Sahitya Sabha (Assam Literary Society). Deka promoted Assamese heritage, traditional customs, weaving and fabric art, cooking and folk music with her husband, Bhabananda Deka. They researched traditional Assamese lifestyle, art, literature and culture. Deka was the first female editor and publisher of a children's magazine, Phul (Flower), and wrote 30 critically praised books. All India Radio broadcast Deka's radio plays on issues related to women and children. According to the Assam Tribune, Deka has "been like an institution to our society" and "has contributed immensely to the cultural and economic spheres of our state". Dainik Sankarjyoti, an Assamese daily published in Guwahati, described how she played a significant part in nurturing the traditional indigenous Assamese lifestyle and social ethos by promoting indigenous Assamese weaving traditions (maintaining taat xaal—hand looms for weaving mekhela sadawr and suriya chapkawn) and dheki (traditional Assamese crop grinders for rice and pithaguri. Deka died on 15 June 2014 in Guwahati. ChaiTunes released a music video as a tribute.