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- By Shakuntala (Moonmoon) Choudhury
Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA. November 9, 2011
The legendary hero, the most admired Assamese of the 20th-21st century Dr. Bhupen Hazarika is no more. His mesmerizing voice, the wonderful words in his songs, his distinct linguistics characteristics will become nostalgic memories for all of us in Assam, India and the World. His mortal remains will be gone on November 9th, 2011, but he will remain an inspiration to the Assamese people for years to come. He passed away on a very auspicious day in the Hindu calendar – Kartik Ekadesi (November 5th).
Dr. Hazarika, who was a genius for weaving a magical tapestry out of traditional Assamese music and lyrics, is regarded as one of the greatest living cultural communicators of South Asia. He has been a poet, journalist, singer, lyricist, musician, filmmaker and writer.
He was “pitritulya” to me, being the class-mate of my father Dr. Jyotiprasad Medhi. My father and Dr. Hazarika entered Cotton College for their Intermediate studies the same year. When my father sailed to Sorbonne in Paris for his Doctoral studies in “Probability & Statistics”, Dr. Hazarika sailed to America (“Markin Jukta Rastra” as he related to me in 1992) for his Doctoral studies at Columbia University, New York. His dissertation was titled, “Proposals for Preparing India's Basic Education to Use Audio-Visual Techniques in Adult Education”. Indeed, he proved that music and education goes hand in hand.
Tribute to dear Bhupenda from younger brother Prabin Hazarika
- by Rini Kakati
As a younger brother of Bhupenda, I have been listening and watching from UK the whole event from various media sources on his sudden departure from this world. I have been planning to visit him ever since I heard that he was not keeping well. Unfortunately, due to ill health I could not visit him. But I have been keeping in touch with him over the phone regularly. During this time we had interesting conversations on various aspects of life and listened to his comments on the ever changing cultural scene in India. We spoke about my book of Assamese and Bengali poems which I had dedicated to him. He congratulated me on these two books. The last time I spoke to him was on his 85th Birthday on 8th September when I wished him a Happy Birthday. He responded with a faint reply saying, "thank you". Out of all the happy memories I have of him, this last one will be the most cherished one for me which I will always remember. To a grief-stricken mind only fond memories remain. We count our blessings that as his brothers and sisters we had the opportunity to play with him in our childhood, were inspired by his exuberance of creativity in his youth, touched by his love, affection and guidance in our formative years as did our late father Nilakanta and Ma Shantipriya. In 1978 he visited us in Cambridge and stayed with us for a few days. He visited us again in Leicester when he came in 1999 and 2000. During this time he met some of our friends and we all have fond memories of our time with him.
(This letter was sent to my dad after I saw him in Mumbai at the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital. Unfortunately, it never got to him before he left our dimension.)
Dear father,
Our lives have been parallel and we only know each other at a great distance but ultimately, you are my father and I am deeply proud of that fact. I am very happy to hear that you are getting stronger. I have been resting easier havingseen your face both smile and shed tears at the same time as I spoke to you. Complex emotions surfaced and they were real enough for me. I was moved to see how people close to you at the hospital kept vigil over you withaffection and tender care and I am grateful that your staff was kind to me, making my visit with you meaningful. Please let me indulge in these clunky words to share some realizations that I never got a chance to relay to you. You are amazing! You are such a loved one. It is a great honor and pleasure to be your son. You are a great poet at heart and a lover, and you have celebrated your humanity fully. At long last, now that I have access to your translated works, it is truly remarkable how high-minded, exquisite and consistent your writing has been from the 1950s to the later decades. And that is not even talking about the enchanting quality of your music and voice.
