BhupenDa – as I knew him

It was early seventies, and a Hindi was being played at the radio, "naino mein darpan hain…" from the film Aarop. Although I could not follow the complete lyric of the song, the tune was very familiar. And why not, it is the same tune in which Dr Bhupen Hazarika has sung "Tomar uxah kohua komal…" I was in school at that time, and my Dad was posted at the far-flung area called Tirap – some kilometers farther from Margherita. At Tirap we have not had any auditorium, the place was mainly inhabited by people of Nepali community, a sizeable numbers of Buddhist people and the Army base there. And we could not see Aarop then. I saw the song much later on TV.

The other day a colleague of mine asked, "Is there any romantic song by Dr Hazarika?" to which I replied that Dr Dilip Dutta has long time ago written a book on Dr Bhupen Hazarika where he categorized songs of Bhupen Hazarika and there one can find songs of all genres composed and sung by Bhupen Hazarika. (I am feeling at odd to mention his name as Bhupen Hazarika hence hereafter I will address him the way million others address him irrespective of their ages - 'BhupenDa'.)

I had the good fortune to meet BhupenDa a couple of times – although all were chance meetings. The first time I met him was at a wedding in Guwahati. He too was there, but he decided to sit with my ex-editor whom I accompanied to the wedding. I met him a couple of times during the Children's Film Festival held in Guwahati. Jaya Bachchan, lyricist-poet Gulzar too was there. Rudali was being premiered at Guwahati. I received a handwritten invitation from BhupenDa. Not that he knew me personally, but because at that time I used to write a regular column in an Assamese daily on film & theatre and all the invitations were issued by BhupenDa himself. We were there at little early, more to meet who's and who. BhupenDa greeted us as "My daughter is being married today. Thanks that you people had come."

A couple of years later he was performing at India Habitat Centre, Delhi. A classical signer was also to perform after BhupenDa. I was in the last row. Former Prime Minister Mr I.K. Gujral was also there in the audience. I still do remember, while singing his famous song "Ganga behti ho kyon…" at one point of time he got very agitated. He is like that only. Be it the Burha Luit (Brahmaputra) or Ganga – he always gets agitated asking again and again the same question, "Why are so silent?" The next day The Sentinel of Guwahati carried my article with the headline "Bhupen mesmerizes Delhi". When I phoned BhupenDa at the India Habitat Centre, he thanked me for the write-up and asked, "The other day most the people left just after I finished, huh?" I said, "Yes BhupenDa. They were there mainly for you." "But that is not right. The other singer is also equally talented, and people should respect that."

BhupenDa has sung songs of all kinds. If agnijugor finingoti moi… is a revolutionary song, tuamr henu naam patralekha… is a romantic song, and manuhe manuhor babe… is a song for mankind. He is a balladeer. Yesterday only while reading an article of my journalist friend Kishalay Bhattacharjee I learnt that BhupenDa was also a war correspondent. And today, another friend Gayatri, told me that it is during his days as war correspondent that he saw some 57-dead bodies of Indian soldiers at Tawang, and after coming down to Guwahati he sang that song that still sends goosebumps to me, koto jowanor mrityu hol, kar jeewon jaubon gol, hei mrityu oporajeyo, tene mritok noholu moi kiyo… at All India Radio without any rehearsal.

BhupenDa was a humanist. He was (I don't know if the word 'was' is appropriate since musically he will always be there!) a poet, a lyricist, a composer, what not! He had a special capacity to captivate the audience. He always used to talk to the audience.

Every individual, not only in Assam but in Bengal too, has something or the other to say about BhupenDa. Each of them does not need to know BhupenDa personally, but they are all influenced by him by one way or the other. I do remember, when I was in Class Four and we were staying at Lahowal Block, Mama used to say, "If BhupenDa makes a round of our block, by the time he finishes his round – he will be ready with a song." He had that capacity. The koto jowanor mirtyu hol… is an example to that.

As Gulzar Saheb has said, "To understand Bhupen Hazarika's music one has to listen to his original Assamese songs." I can never get tires of listening to his songs. Almost everyday, during lunch time, I play his music at my workstation. Sometime I listen the same song in Assamese, Bengali and in Hindi too.

BhupenDa fought for humanism. His songs, Dola he dola…, Manuhe manuhor babe, aamai ekjon saada manush dao jar rokto saada… are all for humanism. And who can forget his famous Bengali rendition Sarat babu, khula chithi dilam tumar kaase…With BhupenDa gone, I don't think a great musician, a great composer has gone. Because I don't know who will now sing a song like 'we are in the same boat brother'! He left us orphaned.

I am lucky

I am lucky. I got reconnected with an old and dear friend of mine.

My friend was upset with me for reasons beyond our control and situations created by our common friends, friends for whom there can be only relationship between two people of the opposite sex.

Although I was not in regular touch with my old friend, I always used to remember this friend of mine who was more a sibling then a friend to me, who was always helpful to me. This is one friend, I can vouch for, who really used to care for me.

But yesterday when I sent a friendship request through Face Book, my friend responded immediately, and that makes me a lucky person today.

Thank you Maani, for being there for me, always. The way you care for me, you know, I too care for you.

ShonitDa, RanelDa, Abir and Kamna bou

I have not met any of them but I do know them, and I think I know them well. Shonit Das is a common friend of Mitra Baideo (Phukan) and that’s how we came across and became friend through Facebook. Through Shonit Das I became a friend of Ranel Kumar Das. Abir is ShonitDa’s son and Kamna bou is Abir’s mother who recently passed away.

I have seen all of their photos on the Facebook. All of them (except Kamna Bou) lives in the US of A. Shonit Da and Ranel Da are great buddies. Very fun loving. Whenever I talk to them, they make me forget the loss of my elder brother.

Kamna bou passed away on 15 December 2010. She was suffering from cancer for five years. January 4 was her birth day. I have seen loving tributes by Shonit Da, Abir and Ranel Da. In fact Ranel Da immediately after the passing away of Kamna Bou changed his profile picture and put one of his along with Kamna Bou and said that this will his profile picture till he is there. I wish he is there as along as along as I am. They are all very fond of Kamna Bou. Shonit Da has said to someone that Mr George called him, but he could not take the call as precisely at that very particular minute he was counting Kamna Bou’s last few seconds.

Shonit Da was lucky to be beside the person he loves so much. Whenever I think of the ‘last few seconds’, I think about losing my brothers Twis and Twin. The first one elder and the other are younger. Kaka was a dear to Abba and Twin was Ma’s fav. I am the middle one. Unfortunately I have not been able to any damn thing for them. Twin passed away on the night of 25^th April 1983. A student of class Ten, he was running away from the cops since he was also the General Secretary of the local students union and the Assam movement was at its peak at that time. I was in Diphu (Karbi Anglong) and Kaka was also studying in Diphu. Around February 1983 Twin was arrested for setting the house of local Congress candidate’s house on fire. When he came out of the jail after a fortnight, Kaka asked me to take care of Twin but I did not listen to him. And Twin too decided to carry on his fight against the administration as well as against illegal immigrants.

Because of the police Twin rarely used to spend the night at home. He was also to stay that fateful night on someone’s house. He was waiting for the dinner, and then someone called him. Ma was ready with the dinner. But Twin did not return. It was the next morning when Ma saw his body hanging in the kitchen of another staff’s house. At that time our family used to live in Kamargaon near Numaligarh although Abba was posted at an interior place called Bonkowal. Our family was waiting for the Twin’s class Ten exam to be over. And very surprisingly, on that very particular day, all three staff of the Kamargaon Veterinary Hospital was on leave, and Twin’s body was found hanging in the kitchen of one of the staff. Kaka, on hearing the news told me, “I told you before to take care of Twin and you did not. Otherwise this would not have happen”. When I reached home, Twin’s body was lying there, after the post-mortem, outside, for the last bath before the burial.

28 years has gone, and I am still hearing those words of Kaka that I am only responsible for Twin’s death. And I will never be able to forget this. I will never be able to forgive me for Twin’s death.

Kaka passed away ten years later. I was in The Sentinel at that time in Guwahati. Kaka was in Sibsagar with his family. He had two sons – Pinku and Rinku. His posting was somewhere in Karbi Anglong. Fifteen days of work and fifteen days rest. Next day he was supposed to go for duty. On that particular day he decided to drop Pinku and Rinku at school, and while coming back from the school he was hit by a scooterist, and died the same evening at Dibrugarh Medical College due to brain hemorrhage. That was 25 August 1993.

Next day around lunch-time Pabitra, our peon told me that there was phone call for me and the message was that Kaka had an accident and is in Dibrugarh. Pabitra have not had all the details. I was a little confused. We live in Dergaon, Kaka in Sibsagar, his workplace is Karbi Anglong, and how the hell he could have an accident in Dibrugarh! But I was ready to take the opportunity to take a couple of days leave on this pretext.

Everyone in The Sentinel, including my editor Dhiren Bezboruah, director Bhaitida (Sandeep Rajkhewa), general manager P.L. Senapati any my colleagues were all eager to send me home immediately. The stupid mind of mine who normally woks overtime, on that day never thought – even for once – why are they so eager to send me home! Bezboruah Sir’s son-in-law was there at Dibrugarh Medical College and a good surgeon. I took telephone numbers of all the doctors and persons who could help me in Dibrugarh, and in the evening went to Sibsagar. I thought Sibsagar is the best place for me to get all the information.

And the moment I got down from the rickshaw in the morning of 27 August, I was told, “What are you doing here? He died day before yesterday”.

Again, when I reached home, Kaka’s body was there, after the post-mortem, for the last bath before burial.

I thought 2003 was my time. But that did not happen.

Abba, Ma is still in Dergaon, counting their last days. I am not being able to go home for the last four years. Every time whenever the telephone rings, my heartbeat increases, expecting the unexpected.

That’s why I said that Shonit Da was lucky to be beside Kamna Bou in her last few seconds. And for me, as Kaka said if I would have listened to him, perhaps Twin would not have gone on that day. Perhaps he would have still been around us. And for Kaka, in spite of having too many contacts, a little influence because of the newspaper tag, I was just a helpless guy! And now, although being the only son, after Kaka and Twin took shortcuts, I am not there with my parents!

No, I cannot forgive myself. I am too lucky to have brothers like Shonit Da and Ranel Da. They are also very fond of me since they don’t know what I am, what I am to my family. I cannot even cry. The tears stopped rolling down from my eyes long ago. They too are not with me any more. Except at times when I listen to some sentimental songs, memories come back to, they haunts me. My pain and sorrow are my earnings, and they will always be there with me.