Preparing for 100 years of BhupenHazarika

 

I was driving to my office in Patna city and played  FM rainbow on the radio. I found the commercials FM station a little bit noisy hence the choice. The RJ was talking to some listener on the phone
'Bhupen Hazarika was borne in Assam', said one voice
That's the correct answer.' then replied.

I felt good like all PRE millennial Assamese dinosaurs do. I was delighted to hear Bhupenda discussed in the national forum and listen to his name outside Assam.
After some time, a song from Rudali was played. I asked myself, 'hey, what's happening?
Then the RJ informed that it was his birthday.

That's an even more incredible feeling!

It was his 95th birthday.
I saw @indranils post suggesting celebrating his birth centenary with some idea. And these thoughts came to my mind. I can see that Assam will be celebrating his birth centenary in 2026 with great energy.
But I also fear that most of it would be last-minute haste and outflow of emotions, so its impact would be only one year. But technically, we need much more than that.

So what can we do...? I thought we should plan from now onward to arrive at the best outcome.
What should be systematic planning and an able dedicated leader leading from the front with the help of all machinery?

I decided to type out an ideal way to commemorate 100 years of the bard of Brahmaputra.

I started segregating and typing them accordingly, and here is the masterplan 

1. Cinema:  His films need urgent restoration and digitalizing. With rapid deuteriation of rolls, it is a now or never phenomenon. It requires skill, money, team, effort, and help from Family, friends, authorized copyright holders, and the Government. I hope everyone will take it seriously. 

The list is vast. If all are not available for restoration, priority should go to masterpieces like  Era Bator Xur (My personal favourite), Pratidwani 

 

Filmography : (Source Wiki)

 

·      Era Bator Xur 

·      Mahut Bandhu RE

·      Shakuntala

·      Pratidwani

·      Ka Swariti

·      Lati Ghati 

·      Chik Mik Bujuli 

·      Roop Konwar Jyoti Parsad Aru Joymoti

·      Mera Dharam Meri Maa

·      Through Melody and Rhythm

·      Mon-Prajapati

·      Swikarokti

·      Siraj (1988)

 

2. music for the world :

 Just remixing his songs would take him to the so-called Biswar Darbar. He is already there. Some Dedicated, authentic sound needs to do with proper selection, maybe with good international collaboration  

 

 Song like  

 

জীৱন ঘড়ীৰ প্ৰতিতো পল  was a song on artwork -Melting Watch by Dali, it has an international Value ---so why not collaborate with the western symphony for re-appreciation of the song 

 

জয় জয় নৱজাত বাংলাদেশ – it is still fresh among people of Bangladesh, why not collaborate with a group of talented Bangladeshi musicians to recreate the energy 

 

জিন্দবাদ মেণ্ডেলা: With South African ethnic musician 

 

মই এক জাজাবৰ: It has a world vision!

মানুহে মানুহৰ বাবে: it occurred amongst ten best songs of last century in a BBC survey, as far as my memory goes, 

3. music for masses (North East and Bengal): 

মানুহে মানুহৰ বাবে is already being sang in various languages of North East lets not forget a single language (Bodo, Karbi, Rabha, Khasi, Missing, Adi, Nagamese, Dimasa, Garo, Mizo……….) a positive effort is being seen initiated by 

@Jiban Narah with  Laxinath Bezbaruah's O mur Apunar Dekh 

I could foresee similar activity to be done all over the northeast 

 

Shilong Choire already has done a lot of musical work. I have high hope they would also come up with some beautiful composition 

Similar initiatives are needed from Bengal Also. I fondly remember one of the Bengali Folk songs Where a youth narrates his problem each month hence differs his marriage, citing some concern to the girlfriend. At last, he confesses that he lacks money as all he earns go to Mahajan; similarly, there are many Bengali Song also which are still in the heart of West and East Bengal  (Ganga Amar Ma, Padda Amar  ma), that needs propagation and exploration 

 

4. Music For the Masses (Rest of India):

Gulzar sahib has done magic with the translation of his song, constructive effort like that should be mentored, propagated with thought with the thing in mind that Bhupen Hazarika does not become a Bollywood commodity.

There are many songs where Bhupen Hazarika addressed the 'Assamese' community which has settled in Assam and 

Hamara Bihu Bihu Lagise …for example, is for the Assamese people who settled from Bihar.

 

4.literature /journalism: If you are a public figure, people stereotype you. That has happened to Bhupen Hazarika also. People forget his works in literature and journalism. May be University /Research project can revisit them and bring them to be academic and public forums.

 

5. Lyrics: After ten years sans Him, around twenty or thirty songs are still fresh and reverberating in peoples minds. What about the rest? In this context, Professor Dilip Baruah sir did an exemplary job. A gem-like 'Sangram Logne Aj (fro Maniram Dewan) and many more need to evolve out of oblivion 

6. Legacy  (fiction, non-fiction ): 

 

Many stories are there in a public forum (fiction, non-fiction) concerning Bhupen Hazarika that needs to be collected together 

7. Museum: It needs a dedicated full-time curator with a vision, Government investment and much more

 

The list is endless, but I sincerely believe we should make a neutral body to take the lead. The past organization dealing with similar issues and making a mess of a social task should not lead.

  Govt and other responsible organizations should help the big project without trying to walk away with political milestones.

Ray

I stumbled upon works of  Ray very late , may be in around 2008 , I had already touched my thirties and had my own likes , dislikes and interest when it comes to creative thing ,specially cinema. I took special interest creative things like plays, literature etc since childhood since I was in schools but somehow avoided Satyajit Ray from my domain.

In child hood we followed Bhanendra Nath Saikia, Jahnu Baruah and whatsoever were available from  Assam. Thanks to Sunday noon award-winning movies in noon shows we had the luck to watch some of the best cinema from south. We liked south Indian cinema for their diverse plot and technical brilliance .

Our groups icons were Shyam Bengal, Mani Ratnam , little bit of Gobind Nihlani. 

  
I kept asking myself - Why I missed Satyajit Ray in childhood? There may be many reasons ..the scenes from Pather Panchali frequented in TV . They looked very depressing . May be I thought his cinema would be dealing with poverty and sadness Or May be  regionalism in Assam  is to blame but still then I liked few of the Aparna Sens movie so it was not really hundred percent regionalism to blame for it.

In my twenties I thought I upgraded my creative taste .. got hooked by French/ Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski . I also ventured into the Iranian movie , classic new wave French cinema and all ..my affinity to deeper subject made me watch many good but depressing cinema specially from Eastern Europe. I was sad seeing all those nihilism filled vibes.

Seeing my complex taste, One of my friend who was also a movie/crime novel buff and Arthur Conan Doyle fan recommend me Feluda. I never explored that genre till I was around 30. I liked it very much . I liked it a lot and helped my to go out of the nihilistic genre.  Then read his other stuff like short stories , memoirs (chelebela) all was full with life wit and humour and depth.

Then my friend had shown me one short documentary he made on Sukumar Ray and I loved it. So I decided to watch Apus tribology. I was thirty two or three then. It was around 2010 , Satyajit Ray dead for about 18 years.
And found how brilliant. My earlier vibes that he tells sad stories about poor people was completely wrong.  May be then only I matured as a movie buff (just before my retirement as a hardcore world cinema lover. Off course story vs plot or Ghatak vs Ray or other academic discourse like that will continue, that is a healthy sign it seems.

He was both movie maker, a writer , illustrator , writer for children (but adults liked them too). I decided to explore more and found his illustration, book cover design , music interest , writing for children and found them highly inspiring and then only acknowledged  what a genius he was.
.
Well it was too late ..he left much earlier then that and after that with inclusion of modern life , professional pressure could not persuade my interest of looking into great world cinematic happening all around the world.

Not only me the world changed drastically after that (from my thirties till date until pandemic struct the structure of everything.)

I had no time for cinema or OTT platform since last nine years . But when I saw advertisement of Ray in Netflix  to commemorate 100 years of the master I  thought yes! let’s try this new stuff called OTT which many people talks about but I never got any time for all those luxury.

Watched few world cinema in it but my primary objective was -Ray.

Watched all the episodes that have been played now and here is my feeling

Netflix has made it keeping their target audience in mind. Their cast , location, language used, light and all process of storytelling reflects that.
In contrast most of the Rays works looked real. Most of them looked through middle class Bengali characters who are plotted in unique condition which was made into a unique story for all.
Over the years the taste, language and body language of people has changes. As told by friends from film fraternity language of cinema has also changed drastically.
May be keeping the target audience bin mind Netflix intentionally did it like this.

Because uniqueness of the stories , fast paced story telling new generation will like it. I to enjoyed few episodes and moment s of many episodes and of course the plot woven by the master. Still the difference is the character seemed to be about 'someone' in the OTT sphere. Whereas in most of the Rays movie and in writing the characters looked all the real person somewhere existing in person.

Till now most interesting episode is Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa ... Manoj Bajpai and most of the other characters and the dialogue were fluid the best episode so far.

In Bahurupiya Kay Kay was in his usual best , but I think maker tried to overdo many thing but still Kay Kay and the story manged to keep everything intact 

Spotlight was average ….and the first show -Forget me not was not good at all .

Let’s hope in forthcoming episodes if any they try to make it more real and interesting .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibartan

Full Cover

Front Cover

Back Cover

 

The Book Trailer of Bibartan (You tube)

A new Book of Fiction after a long time . A collection of short stories in Assamese. 

Bibartan or the Evolution 

The Short stories written between 2009 to 2019.  Thel stories set from the genesis of creation to an unknown dystopian future are set in varied places and people like 

The situation when the first murder of the planet took place on this planet 

Or 

An child labour in illegal coal mines of Congo to a Mahut who lost his Elephant in Corbett national Park 

To mind of a scientist entrapped in his own dream machines in Silicon Valley 

and 

Of courses many stories dissects the diaspora Assamese diaspora through layers of historical and sociopolitical prospects 

From evolution of Men-kind and the entity called Assamese identity. All the stories were published in leading Assamese vernaculars widely discussed in literary sphere of Assam. 

Pages : 282 

Publisher & Distributor : Papyrus Books and Beyond, PanBazar 

Also avaiable in Amazon (Clichttps://www.amazon.in/Bibartan-Bhaskar-Thakuria/dp/8194338131/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bibartan&qid=1627831873&sr=8-1k here)

 

Maze of time

 In this difficult time , perusing your hobby is becoming a luxury.  You don’t have time , when you have some there is no temperament to peruse what you love to. Yes pandemic has taken a toll on all of us .  We wish the virus to vanquish , we all wish to revenge the devastation it has caused  . We are seeing innumerable accounts of hatred created out of it also.   

 

When you are away from what you enjoy things get suffocating. So I needed to reconcile with reading . But it is tough to have the royal combination of time and mindset amidst . I resorted to graphic novel once again and read two cult book Maus (Art Spiegelman

) and  ‘Palestine (Joe Sacco ) in last year. 

Maus – is about empathic narration of a son who revisits his father’s life through his neutral eye and tells the story of Fathers fate from an elite businessman in Reich to a Nazi prisoner to an immigrant in US holding to his charm and believe .

 Whereas  Palestine is a travelogue kind of graphic book  where author look into the misery of Palestine through emphatic ,satirical and at time gripping account of life in Palestine. 

 

Both are true events

The backgrounds are interconnected  

 

Both have successfully connected to the readers with the message that how things go beyond control once it slips away from your hand. The accounts told in the story goes beyond the narration time if we go to search roots of the problem. For more than thousand years one conflict has chronicled into layers of conflict across the globe. The entangled identity of religion ,race , language and pride and revenge have plagued and mankind again and again. 

We have attained knowledge but we have not learnt from it.    

Repeated efforts to change the course of history has always been mercilessly boomeranged. And to seek a revenge of Historical misfortune would lead to more holocaust.

 

We all know all that but still we fall in this trap again and again … 

The time , misfortune and misery of recent time is ripe for similar situation.

 Let’s reconcile to our past and walk the middle path in the time to come  

 

IKIGAI

I am not a big fan of self help book. In fact I hate most of the celebrated author in this category. The main reason may be might be my ego. I find it very ridiculous and funny if someone asks me what to eat, how to face life and of the foremost –how to think.

‘Think’ this the only thing that ‘I think I do best’

Then I lost my flow, forget writing I lost my art of thinking, reading and my philosophy.

My philosophy was –nothing

A subject matter that kept me engorged for about twenty years. It culminated in my last novel –Singhdwar. In the book the protagonist find sancta, six philosophies that artist Nicholas Rourich found answer the last stop of sancta was –And we open the door and the protagonist came out of nothingness and find a new meaning to life.

Many time writers are engorged in their plot and I was inside –Nothingness and my routine called life.

In order to reinvent myself I came back to my basics –to start finding time to read. I randomly ordered Viktor Frankele- Mens Search for Meaning. I was not a typical self help book but it worked as a self help to me. My ego was not affected as

1.      his suffering were much more than any human can imagine of (still he overcame it and emerged as a Hero) so I cannot accuse him of just another adviser

2.      and the book didn’t suggested anything like do this and do that but his philosophy of LOGOTHERAPY was based on finding individualised path to search for meaning of life

 

After some time I started hearing about this book: ‘IKIGAI -The Japanese Secret to Long and Happy life, and started seeing the book in roadside as well as leading book stores .Was little reluctant to buy it as I already have a long waiting list of must read books and yes paucity of time in this routine called life and off course it seems to be a Self Help Book with lot of advice that readers will never follow after few 

But I could not resist the temptation when a pile of book was purchased for college students by our college authority in order to promote reading habit.  I unabashedly asked my head of the institute –“May I have a copy of this book “?

To my relive Madam allowed very happily gave it to me in a public ceremony. So again in a bout of reading thrust I opened –IKIGAI and found it to be a continuation of my thought sequel –Singhadwar, Men’s Search for Meaning.

Author Hector Gracia and Fraces Miralles started with Victor Frankel and continued with how to search your own meaning of life. Simple steps to solve the modern life’s problem (with elaboration and emphasis on cell phone abdication) it also advices on

Eating habits (Eat 80% of your estimate to fill your stomach), returning to nature (a common modern day problem), getting rid of bad vibes, keeping the good vibes etc.

Most of the things we know we should do but never follow.... but this book is definitely an inspiration to follow a good habit in life.

And I liked it because it doesn’t enforce and rule but ask you to find your own IKIGAI that is reason for being.    

Growing with Recent History

History until than seemed liked tells of Raja, War, and British and at the best Freedom movement. History went out of fashioned after that in our age of formation.  Thanks to curriculum changes it went out of syllabus too, but my passion for reading and real stories kept my knowledge updated and lurked through the history book of my elder brothers’ .But those book finished with India’s freedom and few chapter on wars after independence.

Modern History didn’t existed then as India was a young country...did liked the fictional account of Salim Siani in Midnights Children or in Assamese Classic like Mrityunajay or Yairungum .

Than arrived William Dalrymple who popularized the methodical literature on History and History came to literary style once again and with recent hullabaloo in the atmosphere with History brought back all the curiosity in History. But sadly by this time our generations also become a part of History without knowing.

Now If I remember my Childhood we have lived through chilling time and saw History being made, sadly we have been part of dark time that constantly loomed over Assam after partition.

It was 1983 , I was about six I was in a little village in Bhutan Border  –school, college, university  were closed for about a year , the roads and traffic were mostly closed ,and electricity was never there ..Young Students never ventured out of Home in fear, and every night there were cries and we use to be awake ---some attack is imminent.Sometime there were News of Immigrant attacking Ethnic people sometime there were clashes between Ethnic Assamese speaking and the Bodo communities. Sometime t is the news of Paramilitary picking up young students and….Thankfully we felt relatively safe as we lived in a Hospital premise as my father happened to be the only doctor serving a huge area and giving service to all community. We were assured that the ‘they’ will not attack us...

Moved to Guwahati after that   and saw a new era …Saw How people en mass hated the ministry borne out of 83 election boycotted by Assamese people. Do remember faintly listening to lecture of Prafulla Mahanta than leader of All Assam’s Student Union. Then saw the sea of people welcoming Assam Accord signatories … I think I was in class II ,the 85 Election and everyone of us trying to draw Elephant the election symbol of AGP , the political party borne out of Assam Agitation. (1979-85, where800 + died protesting and an uncountable death and deception till today). Than the fall of   AGP – I think it was in class six or seven .Our textbook contained a poem called The Patriot by Robert Browning …AGP felled just like him.

We used to listen to new kind of story...at fist news of young man entering the house of businessman, to official and tea planters and asking for money...after few months news of death sometime of the young boys who wanted to bring justice ..Or of some businessman who made some more bucks …

Every news use to make sensation, debate and we grew with all that

Than few arrived few powerful dreaded men. We attained youth hood by then. Often confronted few dreaded man who looked like some DON out of underworld movie...We use to see them in Pan Shop, in front of bars ..And there were an unsaid law –avoid them, don’t overtake their car –They have Gun which can fire anytime. Those were the boy who vowed to liberate the ‘broader Assamese’ pride till a few years back becomes ‘promising’ business man by then.

The restlessness continued and people started vanishing...More dead bodies, part of human bodies started recovering. This time they were not of any rebel or businessman. Man of all sphere –government official , writer , pan shop owner ,doctor who lived simple and humble life were killed by still ‘unknown’ miscreant .

I was a medical student then. Restless with all the news but with a hope that things will be better soon as ‘we have the power to change the world’ for good.

The ghost of the past keep me hunting ….and often feel bad when that strength of my optimist hope is getting alienated as times passes ..

Then the doubt of amnesia.

Am I forgetting my past …

BY then documentation of     recent History has become a trend and thankfully I got my reading rhythm back. And brought the copies of following books

Assam: The Accord, The Discord by Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty and Gupta_Hatya (Secret Killing) - A collection of report on secret killing that took place in Assam.

The first book- is written from all prospects keeping in view of the Indian Subcontinent and international reader who are interested in Assam’s problem. Written with a balanced view the book can be read with a neutral set of mind. And the second book give chilling accounts of death which have no answer even today.