The recent announcement by the Government of Assam to celebrate the centenary of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika across the country with a year-long-celebration beginning September 8 this year is a welcome step. Not only does Bhupen Da, as he is fondly called, deserves this but even the values he stood by need to be re-impressed upon society in a changing milieu.
The legendary Bhupen Da was way ahead of his time in all his pursuits: academic, social, cultural and artistic. His compositions talking of universal values, and humanism were always rooted in pluralism. He lived life just as he wrote about it. He was a true son of the soil representing the vastness of the Assamese heart and its ever-willing hospitality. Like the Brahmaputra that has nurtured society and life in Assam, Bhupen Da, too, had been the lifeblood of the State in his life and after his death. In fact, if ever there was an example of a global citizen, it has to be the Sudakantha (another moniker for him).
What the Government must need to do in this centenary year of Bhupen Da is to ensure that all his creations are digitized, and made available. His Samadhi Kshetra in Guwahati also needs much more attention than ever.
