- By Deva Borah

Bhupenda made me and rest of the Assamese proud to be Assamese. We were born with Bhupenda’s music, grew up with Bhupenda’s music, and will probably die with Bhupenda’s music. The first song I remember I heard was either “Sagar sangamat…” or “Kohua ban mor asanta mon….”. I thought then that songs have to come from only Bhupen Hazarika. Just like our grandson once thought all cats were Gillies because our cat was called Gilly. Same goes with films: The first film I saw was “Moniram dewan” and the second was colorful “Sakuntala”. I saw “Ara batar sur” at a Sunday morning show. To me he was far reachable. No way, a boy like me will get close to a superstar like him. During college years, I had the privilege to watch him on the stage, first at an annual festival of the Cotton College Second Mess and several times at our Assam Engineering College with his helper and superstar brother Jayanta Hazarika. Bhupenda visited the US many times. During his visits in early 1980’s and 1993, Anu, I, and our two sons were living in New Jersey. We had the great fortune of finding him near us, taking him around, fixing tea and dinner for him, even enjoying his cooking. As many know, he enjoyed cooking.
Bhupenda entertained us all the time, not only from the stage, also at home, public places, and on the road. He was a great company with great sense of humor. One loved to be there when Bhupenda is around. During his function in Delaware, he wanted to bring me to the stage. I was too shy and did not go. I still repent it. Anu went and he made her dance with his songs.
My final tribute to Bhupenda: Thank you Bhupenda! Thank you for giving us strengths and making us so proud to be Assamese! Please rest in peace and bless us to carry on and serve our mother Assam to your expectations.