2. A Short Biographical Note

Ki Sngi Barim U Hynñiew Trep still stands as the final flowering of Soso Tham’s literary genius, but his facility in the use of English and his intense pride in the wealth of his mother tongue resulted in his other works in Khasi, as well as translations from English to Khasi. These include Ki Phawer u Aesop (Aesop’s Fables) first published in 1920, Ka Duitara Ksiar ne ki Poetry Khasi (The Golden Duitara, or Khasi Poems) in 1931 and Ka Jingim U Trai Jong Ngi (a translation of Charles Dickens’s The Life of our Lord), which appeared in 1936 after Ki Sngi Barim. When he died in 1940, he left behind a body of work that speaks volumes about a man who, against all odds, could draw blood from the proverbial stone.