- By Tej Hazarika

 Honored guests, friends and the organizers, the heros and heroines of Assam Convention 2012--your presence and offerings will enrich our lives. It is a tremendous honor for me and my aunt Stuti Patel to be invited to pay tribute to my late father Dr. Bhupen Hazarika. We are happy to be here. Between his birth and death, there were two main aspects to my father’s life: One public, the other, private. There is much curiosity and speculation about his private life. Much will be written about both those aspects which, like the facets of a crystal, will reflect different colors of light in the times to come. I was his son and amazed by his accomplishments, but before his death, except for periodic meetings with him in India or the US, we had parallel lives. For me he was an enigma that I was very proud of, loved and respected. I followed his path by making my life the arts instead of the sciences, with no regrets.  His achievement always induces me to strive past the fake ceiling of mediocrity, to do something he would approve, be proud of. After his death and cremation, his world flooded my world and utterly changed it. I have come to believe that like public parks, rivers and mountains, roads and forests, his majestic work is a wealth that can only be owned and enjoyed by all the people of Assam.

While his songs are a joy and inspiration for all who love music and nature, his social message will be most appreciated by people all over the world who love freedom and justice. Every day we hear the relentless beat of the stock exchange, bottom lines, productivity and brutal energy wars marching into an uncertain future of water wars. Our personal information and habits hang out like drying underwear in full view of powerful international corporations and national security analysts. Greed and ignorance force hazardous decisions on people, their ancestral lands and livelihoods. How can we forget that sooner or later, we must reap what we sow? Innocent people suffer because of bad decisions. Isn’t it better to know the facts before travelling down a dangerous path to the point of no return? Why such blind bravado? Bhupen Hazarika’s words, I believe, can sensitize us to the humanitarian truths that can empower and enlighten our people, inspiring us to take our destinies into our own hands.

Today more young people are attracted to the expanding world of information technology and science than to the arts and humanities. Before long we realize that our net asset value may not include the quality of life. There is more to life than material comfort at any cost. Once invested in a job with benefits, it is very difficult to disengage. It begs the question: exactly who or what are we investing our energy and time in?  Are we always being mindful of the inner life of spirit, creativity, connectivity and a better future for our youth? Do we really care to understand that everyone and everything in the universe is connected ? I believe my father’s legacy may have answers to such deep questions about values, identity and relevance.
Tirelessly, time and again, he pointed to the intelligence and beauty inherent in the sympathetic attitude towards fellow man. He was great company and at his best he believed in sensible and human solutions to problems. He was not just about music or show biz or lazy sectarianism. Though he was a paragon of good Assamese language, never once did he say to me, “Tej, why don’t you learn Assamese?” Instead, when we were together, he was always hungry for information about what was going on in New York and America. He loved Assam and India but he was interested in people all over the world. His universal spirit and ‘voice’ was understood on many levels by whoever was exposed to him. If we pay close attention to the breadth and depth of his words, they can serve as a lighthouse warning us away from the rocks of insensitivity.

Much has been written about his work and he has been compared to artists like Paul Robeson, Bob Dylan, Peter Seeger and others, all great as they employed traditional and folk medium to address contemporary issues. I think of the griots – a West African term for wandering musician-performers. Their songs deliver spiritual truths, insights and common sense to empower their audiences. They exude a powerful presence. With charisma as an attractor, they sensitize us to our plight. I believe, our Xudakontho was such a griot and a shramana whose church was made of the sky, the sun, the moon, the earth, rain, thunder, lightening and countless rainbows. In his songs are hidden echoes of ancient Dohas of the great Sahajiyas of the North East long before the Ahoms and Sankardev came to the Brahmaputra valley. With great clarity, energy and perfection of form, he adored and adopted the simplicity and honesty of traditional melodies and rhythms. With his legendary ‘golden voice’, offbeat timing and sense of drama, he gave flight to sophisticated ideas on the wings of his exquisite poetry. His output even before the mid 70’s was so prodigious that he had became a culture hero for millions all over Assam and Bengal and Bangladesh.  He was raised on fish from mountain streams and food grown in the rich silt of the Eastern Himalayas to become a ‘jewel of India’. He was political but not a politician and he was never personally driven by tha acquisition of material wealth.

Nurtured lovingly by his mother Shrimati Shantipriya, adored by his musical aunties and mentored by cultural giants, a humble reverence for life was injected into him by his father Shri Nilakant Hazarika. From the pain of facing great difficulties he extracted pearls that he inlaid into his songs. They grant us respect and dignity. They show us why we are all in the same boat. So many generations have been inspired by his words to succeed in their chosen fields. Has he not made us proud to be from Assam?  We can only repay his kindness if each and every one of us comes together to do our bit to keep his dream alive. It can be done, I believe, with his vision, a good plan and your involvement with his cause. Thank you, Jajabor, for what you have left us.

Bio:

 Independent publisher, writer and teacher, Tej Hazarika is the only son of  Dr. Bhupen Hazarika. He lives in New York with his wife and son. Since his father’s expiration, he has been working to establish a foundation to materialize Dr. Hazarika’s vision for Assam. The foundation will also seek to internationalize his works and promote harmony and development in the North East. Director of Siddhartha Kendra Vidyalaya, an independent school in North Lakhimpur, Assam, he is also a member of Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters, North America.