My mind towards Assamese Literature was literally like an Axanto Electron. (The electron is a subatomic particle carrying a negative electric charge. It has no known components or substructure. Therefore, the electron is generally thought to be an elementary particle.) Coming from an English medium school I hadn’t read anything Assamese apart from my course work all my life. SKC is responsible for turning it around. Quite late in life, I asked my friend Aporaj to suggest me an Assamese book to read. Prompt came the answer. Suran Medhi’s work. I was like... Who? And why would you suggest reading his books.
Now Aporaj being a calm and composed poet friend as well as an avid reader not to mention, a huge fan of SKC gave me a “prolonged summary” of his work and narrated some of SKC’s book scenes to me. I decided to give it a go. The first story I read was Gulam. My mum, my biggest critique and rock in life after Deuta, saw me reading SKC’s book. A sarcastic smile followed by her saying... Make sure you finish the book. Reading a signboard and completing a book are two different things. Yes it was hard in the beginning and it took me twice the time to read a page in Assamese but then... language is practice. The more you speak and read, the easier it becomes. Maa is also an avid reader of Assamese Literature and I often felt left out when she discussed about her books with her friends. I am still learning and enjoying the richness Assamese Literature has to offer.
I was hooked on SKC. I smuggled Aporaj to Panbazar and instructed him to get me the best SKC’s books and I dutifully carried them back home to London. Manoj Goswami once told me that he requested SKC to write a New Year peice for his then Axomia newspaper. SKC was reluctant and later Eta Bhaal Khobor was on the papers on one new year’s day. Altaf Da made a short film out of it , When I watched it, I was gobsmacked to see the impact, the subtleness and the beauty of narrating a story. A very well made film . I liked the angel Altafda chose for the film. I also liked the fact that SKC was subtle and was thrilled that he used a pseudo name. I write my blogs as Rukmini Boigari. Why? Well why not? It isn’t necessary for people to know you as long as they read what you wrote. A journalist once asked my=e why I chose the name. Rukmini gave from North East and I came from the same part of the world and Boiragi is a surname is secretly loved to have. It sounds like a song. Beautiful. In real life I cannot us it for that became my pseudo name. The fact that SKC writes under different name gave me a kick. Not that I am comparing him with me for that will be preposterous.
Every Time I visit Guwhaati, I am tempted to ask Altaf Da to introduce me to SKC but I shy off the idea and tell myself- Bublee Toi Jugyo Nohoi. You are not worth enough to meet such a persona. But deep in my mind I connected with him and had immense respect for his work. His passing away news came hit me like a bolt out of the blue through his Facebook SKC Fan Group. I was not prepared as I was not aware that he was ailing.
25th June is a very special and private day for me for its that day when my idol and The biggest inspiration in my life, Deuta passed away... four years ago. It is spooky that SKC passed away on the very day day. I felt as though somewhere in ether he connected with me and gave me his blessings which I couldn’t get in flesh and blood. People like him should not be mourned for he will live forever. Eti Londonor Duporiyat,bagisat rod loi moi Apunak shrodhanjali jonalu. Ehaat dobar khelor dore, hothaht apunar dehatu hera kintu apuniye hol Asomor Baputi Sahun.
6 Feb 2014 - 4:32pm | AT News
All Assam Students Union took out huge processions across the state on Thursday in protest against the fielding of Dr Sanjay Sinh in the Rajya Sabha polls slated for Friday.AASU activists in the...
5 Sep 2007 - 3:53am | pbaruah
JORHAT: Addressing a public meeting on Tuesday at Sumoimari Ghat during a brief trip to the world’s largest river island, Mr Gogoi says he will urge the Centre to dole out a Rs 100 crore fund...
6 Aug 2018 - 10:21pm | Nikhil Mundra
Hojai:- Properties worth more than 10 lakh were reduced to ashes when a devastating fire engulfed 13 houses at Pachali in Hojai. As Per information, the incident took place at around 10:...
19 Jan 2015 - 8:48pm | AT News
Finally, all ministers have resigned en masse on Monday to pave the way for a huge cabinet reshuffle.After attending the crucial cabinet meeting in the evening, the ministers put in their papers...
The 28th Assam Convention was held at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1 amidst much fun fare. For the first time ever in the history of Assam Association of North America (AANA) conventions, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam addressed the gathering on June 30 in an attractive ‘Town Hall’ format meeting, where everyone got a chance to ask the Chief Minister, Mr.Tarun Gogoi about their home state Assam. The Chief Minister was accompanied by A.K.Sachan, IAS and Hemanga Sarma, IAS and answered questions on a variety of topics ranging from flood situation in Guwahati to NRI investment in Assam, education, AIDS/HIV etc....
Agartala: Gandhism is catching and fast. This time it is the turn of surrendered militants of National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT-BM) to follow the Gandhism path alleging that the State Government has still not fulfilled their demands. Mantu Koloi alongwith 72 armed cadres had surrendered before security forces in May, 2004 following an agreement with the State Government. But Koloi says that till date the State Government has not taken any steps towards the fulfilment of promises which were made at the time of their surrender.The former rebel leader said that as such they have been compelled to organize a semi-nude march towards the Governor House on July 25 to apprise Governor DN...
Indian companies are rapidly expanding their global footprint, often through acquisitions funded by canny investors who have recognised the competence of Indian managers and the skills they bring to the table. But there is a flipside to this. An estimated one-fifth of India’s current workforce from shop-floor workers to top managers which has played a crucial part in the transformation of Indian business will be out of the workforce by the year 2010. And the reason is that they would have passed India’s absurdly low retirement age of 58 in most corporate organizations and 60 in a few. It is a well know fact that it is felt that India’s much-touted ‘demographic...
GUWAHATI : Indian Bank opened its first all woman manned branch of in the GNB Road in the city. According to the Bank sources, this is the first all woman branch of Indian Bank in the country.The bank was inaugurated by Ms Sundara Rajan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Indian Bank. Ms Rajan speaking on the occasion had high expectations from the Branch and said that if the is model is successful, Indian Bank would look at opening many such branches in the Country. The Reserve Bank of India, Regional Director, Ms Sewali Choudhury was also present on the occasion.
Guwahati : Assam’s flood situation has taken a grim turn on Tuesday as the Brahmaputra and its tributaries are flowing at an alarming level. The situation has gone from bad to worse following incessant rainfall during the last 24 hours.Officials here say all surface communications in the worst-hit Dhemaji district are still remaining disrupted which has left lakhs of people displaced. With fresh rainfall in some places in the morning more areas in the district have come under the surging waters. The water levels had showed a receding trend on Monday. According to officials engaged in the relief works, the district administration is providing shelter to the marooned people in four...
As what is seen as a precedence for many such moves in the future, a proposal to raise the retirement age from 58 to 60 years for employees of profit-making central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) has been approved by the Union Cabinet. The ministries which are responsible for the administration of the respective companies would be empowered to approve the proposals of CPSEs to enhance the age of retirement of its employees from 58 to 60 years, provided that these companies have made net profits for the last three years continuously and should have positive net worth on a sustained basis, government officials said. “This benefit will be available to only those PSUs that have not...
There are floods in Balipara now. Reports have come in that there are twelve villages which are under water. Water is receding but the situation is still grim. Emergency services have been pressed into operation
GUWAHATI: Caught in a Catch-22 situation, Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, is willing to hand over the probe into the killing of Phul Chand Ram to the CBI but has said that this will not stop the flow of investments into the state.Talking to the reporters on Monday, Mr Gogoi says his government will soon order a CBI inquiry into the crossfire which left the FCI executive director Dr Ram killed.“We are always against allowing rebel groups to hold people for ransom by kidnapping officials and setting conditions for their safe release. I rejected the plea of the Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to release ULFA top guns Mrinal Hazarika and Pallab Chetia for release of Dr Ram as...
Guwahati: In connection with the abduction and recovery of the dead bodies of the CCI Manager Kailash Jha and PWD junior Engineer Ajay Kumar Deka, the City Police has arrested five persons, inlcuding an Army officer, for kidnap and murder of Deka. They have been identified as Lance Naik Akon Kumar Das, Jitu Choudhury, Rinku Choudhury, Subhas Das and Amar Thapa. While Jitu and Rinku, both brothers, were arrested from Baksa district last night, Subhas Das and Amar Thapa, both surrendered ULFA rebels, were arersted from Pathsala, Barpeta today. Sources said that the late Deka took Rs. 7 lakh assuring to provide them jobs.Meanwhile the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has condemned the incident...
Mumbai : Sunita Bhuyan, daughter of famed violinist, Minoti Khaund has been carving her own niche in India’s cultural and corporate world. Bhuyan has been performing in various functions and meets in India alongwith her mother as well as independently. With corporates, she has been presenting workshops on music as a tool for holistic development of corporate executives across various international forums. Recently she had given a performance at NCPA in Mumbai about the influence of classical ragas on some of the Assamese folk music styles. “Bihu is a popular form of folk song as well as dance,” said Bhuyan, who explored the folk, devotional and contemporary music of...
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