The story of Sujata

There was not much difference between man and animal till humanity discovered language. Language gave birth to fiction, and they were preserved as folklore 

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gst generations. Much after that, humanity invented paper and inscriptions, which led to attempts for immortalisation by writing them down so that the sacred things could be persevered. With time languages changes shapes, interests change, and many of such stories go into oblivion.

The story of Buddha was alive in folklore, but minute details were missing. There was some tale of Kal-Ashoka the King amongst people, but only in some scratchy stories. Indian middle age was in the dark era.

A British soldier named Alexander Cunningham noticed some odd structures all over middle India. They had inscriptions in some bizarre language. Inscriptions resembled notes present in Tibet, Sri Lanka, and other Southeast Asia. Investigations, excavations, and scholars' dedication lead to deciphering the Pali language, the Rediscovery of The Great King Ashoka legacy, and many other things about Buddha.

Ashoka lived about two thousand and three hundred years ago, perhaps three hundred years after Buddha. His effort of immortalising Buddha was successful with the actions of the group of scholars in the last century. People started retelling that good old story which had many missing links.

The story of Sujata is one of such. When young Siddhartha was searching for exactitude, he took a prolonged fast, which was nearly fatal till Sujata came into the story. A village girl named Sujata took pity on the dying bright ascetic and convinced him to eat the bowel of Kheer she made for him.

An excavation led to discovering a forte (Garh) named after Sujata. The folklore is reconnected with scriptures found in that stupa (the curious looking stone with inscriptions that bothered Alexander Cunningham), and Fa-Hien, FHsienen travelogue connected the dots.

The rest is history.

Now we find her name, her story in many layers, many books amongst the guides present in the place …Did she become Buddha's disciple? , there were rumours of an affair? Did Buddha save her life once just after he was enlightened?

The Sujata Garh present near Bodh Gaya just near Phalgu river is proof that a girl named Sujata saved her life. People say that King Ashoka made a Garh in her use 300 years after she was gone. Then many renovations took place until all went to oblivion in the middle ages.

The place gave me a goosebump when I assimilated the journey of her story almost two thousand five hundred years after the incident took place.

Nicholas Roerich’s -Sancta and its link to Singhadwar

#NicholasRoerich (1874-1947) was born in Russia and was already famous worldwide when choosing Kullu, Himachal Pradesh as his home. He lived there for about forty years, and local still remembers him as #Maharshi.

Among his follower, he is known for the vibrant colour of his painting and theological belief. All of his family members are world-famous in their own right (a planet is named after the family as 4426 Roerich, His son Svetoslav (1904-1993) was Padma awarded and has a Bollywood collection)

The philosophy of Nicholas Roerich has shaped many of my thought processes, and his famous Painting series Sancta has a particular link to my Assamese book Singhadwar-সিংহদ্বাৰ - a chronicle of parallel stories, was published in 2015. It also received the prestigious Munin Barkotoki literary award in 2016, but soon the book went out of print. After a gap of six years, the 2nd edition of the book is about to release and on this occasion, here is a video regarding Roerich’s #Sancta (a series of six paintings he exhibited in Chicago in 1923 ) and its link to #Singhadwar for my English Only readers. P.S :Assamese version would follow soon

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