My state, my experiences, my perceptions….!
While I was posted at Nazira
in 2010-11, I used to drive down to Tezpur in the weekends to spend time with
the players of Rangoni Youth Sports Foundation, (a NGO working toward
channelizing the energy of youth towards sports). The boys were very energetic,
spirited and highly motivated. I refresh myself, spending some quality time
with them. What I like most about the boys is their strong will to perform and
their empathy towards each other.
After joining sports the boys
showed improvement in academics too. That year none of the boys failed in their
annual exams. Gutkas, pan masalas and other types of intoxicants were
completely prohibited for these boys ……
We the seniors of the organization were happy because we knew these boys
would one day grow up as health youth and contribute towards creating a
sporting environment in our state.
On a particular Monday
morning, I left home early to reach office on time. I used to enjoy the early
morning drive through the Kolia-Bhumura bridge ( The 3 km long bridge over river
Brahmaputra), lush green tea gardens and Kaziranga National Park. Crossing the
Kolia-bhumura Bridge brought back memories of my childhood. I remembered, on
the day of Bogah Bihu around 23 years back, I walked with my uncle and hundreds
of others along the bank of Brahmaputra to witness the grand inauguration of
the Bridge. We were excited to see then PM late Rajiv Gandhi coming out from a
Helicopter. Only a handful of policemen were engaged to control the large crowd
gathered to get a glimpse of the charismatic PM. No Assam bandh was called on that day and
the event went off peacefully.
That day before reaching
Koliabor Tini Ali, I spotted a welcome gate, but as it was slightly foggy I
could not read what was written on the banner. In between Koliabor Tini Ali and
Jakhalabondha there were two more welcome gates. Being a theater season, initially
I thought the gates are for some publicity of mobile theater group. Mobile theater
reminded me of an article in a national magazine, where Ratan Lakhar, owner of Koninoor Theater was compared to James Cameroon the director
of Titanic movie for showcasing the multi-million dollar block buster in a
makeshift stage. Ratan Lakhar was declared a winner ….. an Assamese bringing pride to our Nation…I felt good.
Driving through Kaziranga I
stopped, spotting a Rihno and tried to capture it through my new digital camera
lance. Being a 6 footer I could hardly fit in my Maruti 800 and took the time
to loosen my legs. My height drew attention of a Slovakian tourist. He happened
to be a travel writer. After initial pleasantries, it transpired that he belongs
to a small town named Presov and incidentally I happened to visit his home
town, during my sports days. His name was Martine. He started to bombard me
with question related to my state. Taking some time, I answered all his doubts,
except for one to which I stammered. “Why
in spite of Assam being the most welcoming
host, having all natural resources, where women are respected and men are cultured , Assam is still considered as sensitive state ?”
As I was about to leave,
Martin complimented me saying “Kaziranga is amazing, your fish tenga anja taste
awesome and I really enjoyed the tune of dhol, pepa and gogona”. As I continue
my journey towards Bokaghat I could see more such welcome gates. A stop at
Gopal Krishna Mistan Bhandar was a must while crossing Bokaghat. Of late my
friends used to say that the quality of the famous puri-sabzi are diminishing
but my soul says, still don’t miss it. Irrespective of the condition of the washrooms
and the quality of the puris we can’t give Bokaghat puri-sabzi a miss. . We
are emotionally attached to almost everything we come in touch with.
At Jorhat I
stopped at my Sister In-law’s house to deliver some pickle sent by my mother.
Her father In-law Dr. Dinanath Barua was sitting in the portico, reading a
newspaper. The car from Toklai Research Center was parked outside to take him
to the office. At 93 years he was attending office to check research paper on
Tea. He welcomed me with a smile. I like his company so I decided to spend some
time with him. During our conversation I asked him in which year he passed his
matriculation exam and what grade he scored. He replied in a slow polite voice
“I got 1st rank in All Assam Board Exam” and when enquired about his
grade in class 12, he again replied in the same polite tune “even in 12th
I stood 1st in Assam”. For
the next few minutes I listened to his story of how the English Sahab gave him
a job at Toklai after completing his BSc degree, how they used to move along
with the troops during World War II in Mekoksung (Manipur) to purify drinking
water by using electrified silver plate and many more interesting stories. From cloning tea plants to writing
books on Tea he has done it all. He is the unsung father of Tea revolution
in India. After the war he was sent to Cambridge University for higher studies.
On the day of Queens Elizebeth II coronation in the year 1953 he submitted his
PhD thesis on tea research. Dr. Dinanath Baruah born in Jorhat , an
Assamese was among the few scholars to be conferred
Doctorate Degree from Cambridge without completing MSc. ( Sadly he expired in 2012)
After such an interesting
conversation and factual delights, I proceeded towards my destination, Nazira.
By then, the welcome gates had increased 10 folds. I crossed Joysagar, home to
Bhugeswar Baruah the first Arjun Awardee
from Assam and a role model for
thousands of aspiring sportsmen of our state. At a time when sports was never
considered a profession Bhugeswar Baruah dared to take the route less travelled
and succeeded in bringing pride to our
Nation overcoming all odds. He had a big role to play in inspiring sportsmen
like me. I felt good to have personally known a person of his stature.
Approaching Sibsagar, I had a
glimpse of the famous Talatal Ghar from a distance. Towards my left was the magnificent
Rong Ghar, where people used to say that an organization was born around 30-32
years back with a mission to take Assam to great heights. The members
of the organization were young, highly motivated, and had a strong will to
achieve the impossible same like the budding players of our coaching center back
home. I instantly recalled the days from my childhood when corrupt
officers were punished in public by this organization, and how we
were inspired by the new wave of honesty sweeping across our state, but sadly
the good days did not remained for long.
There were more welcome gates
than curves on the road from Sivasagar to Nazira. For a second I thought that
someone from Simaluguri or beyond must have broken a Gunnies world record or
won a medal in some international sports event, who was given a heroic welcome.
Never in my life had I witnessed such a grand welcome bestowed on a person.
This grand welcome was for a senior leader of an organization, who was recently
released from the prison.......I wondered how much prosperity the leader must
have brought to our state in the last thirty years that he was accorded such a
grand welcome.
I somehow felt low. Had there
been someone (a wise man/visionary leader/guru/teacher) thirty years back
to guide those youth behind the Rong
Ghar to channelize their energy towards sports or any other constructive
activities, our state would have been in a more advantageous position. Their dynamic leadership would have created
numerous job opportunities for the younger generation. The energy used in the
jungles would otherwise have won several laurels for our
nation .........and I would not have stammered to any of Martin’s question!!!
Probably, it’s high time we learn to choose our leaders.
Abhijit Bhattacharya
From Assam
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