Several months after he passed away, we are still in
mourning for Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia, a giant of
Assamese literature and culture. His death was
untimely and premature. It created a shock in the
literary circles in Assam. The renowned literary
Assamese magazine "Gorioxi' has dedicated the November
2003 issue in memory of Dr Saikia. Many people have
written at length about Dr Saikia's contribution to
Assamese society. As a personal tribute to this him, I
would like to reproduce an updated version of an
appeal for contribution to his projects through Assam
Foundation of North America (AFNA).
Dr Saikia stands as an eternal light of hope for the
Assamese. Dr Saikia happened to be a family friend of
ours. We are also greatly in awe of his amazing
creative abilities and his stellar contribution to
Assamese literature, filmmaking and his bold
editorship of the "Prantik" magazine. With two very
successful projects in Assam just before his death:
the 'Kalakshetra' and the 'Aarohan', he had very ably
demonstrated to the people of Assam how to preserve
our rich culture and what we can do for our children
in need.
A major complaint of the Assamese overseas had been
that they cannot trust anybody in Assam to contribute
to the right cause. I think Dr Saikia removed that
mistrust. One can feel safe that any donations to the
projects he initiated will not be wasted in
corruption. I think AFNA can take the leadership in
collecting and channeling donations to these projects
from the overseas Assamese. Making a Web page for the
purpose is a right step in getting the word out.
His children's project "AAROHON" is being built with
his personal donation of land and his hard earned
award monies. I am glad to see that now donations are
pouring in to this much needed project from many
quarters. Before he passed away, I had a short
discussion with him during the Magh Bihu celebration a
year ago regarding these projects. You are right. He
had very big plans for Aarohan. I think AFNA should
take up one item of Aarohan (such as the Conference
Room, Libray, or Auditorium, for example) so that
AFNA's name will be permanently engraved there as the
donor.
'Srimanta Snakaradeva Kalakshetra' is another project,
which was his brainchild and where he displayed great
leadership in trying to present and preserve Assamese
culture. Regarding the Kalakshetra, I had discussed
with him a particular idea: creating an Assamese 'Hall
of Fame' so to say. I was very pleasantly surprised to
know that such a project was already under way under
his leadership. A separate Hall is being developed
where pictures and information regarding about 400
selected Assamese cultural leaders will be highlighted
for everybody to see. Assamese painters have been
selected to paint about 400 paintings in the same size
picture frames. As you can imagine, this itself is a
very expensive project. As a rough estimate, one
pictures will cost about Rs 5000 (say) including the
painters' remuneration, paints, canvas, photo frame
(part of the material was bought from Delhi). Thus 400
x Rs.5000 = Rs.20,00,000 = $40,000. I was excited to
hear about the project because I was also thinking (am
still thinking) of a similar project. I told Dr Saikia
that I would donate to this project.
I conclude with the thought like Ms Nirupoma
Buragohain did in her article in 'Gorioxi'. Quoting
Wordsworth who said to Milton, I also say: "Dr Bhaben
Saikia! Thou shouldst be living at this hour in Assam.
Assam needs you."
- By Rajen Barua, Houston, Texas
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