Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters deeply mourn the death of popular Assamese
writer Saurav Kumar Chaliha. It was in the sixtees when his first short story
'Oxanto Ilektron' started quite a revolution in modern Assamese short story
writing. Since then many of us were hooked to each and every short story
written by him. Some of us were also very close to him since he was our
professor of Physics in Assam Engineering College. He was the most unassuming
person I have ever met. We knew he was suffering from illness for quite
sometime and prayed for his recovery. However, it seems Death has other design.
The last I met was about 10 years ago when I remember I told him how he had
inspired thousands with his writing and requested him to keep on writing which
mean so much to so many. Some of his short stories which I personally liked
very much were 'Oxanto Ilektron', 'Duporia', 'Bina Kutir' and many others.
There was also one written in Kamrupia language which I liked. In a later
writing he also wrote the background of the story 'Bina Kutir' and how he came
to write about it. That made the story even more interesting. A deep sense of
realty of life and a focus on details were some of the high lighting quality of
writing.
We hope that the people of Assam will take proper measure to preserve his
memory in appropriate manner for generations to come
Rajen Barua
Houston
On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 10:17 AM, Buljit Buragohain <buluas...@yahoo.co.in>
wrote:
Popular Assamese writer Saurav Kumar Chaliha passes away:
Popular writer of Assam Saurav Kumar Chaliha passes away Saturday (June 25)
morning at International Hospital, Guwahati after a protracted illness. He was
hospitalised for several days due to serious illness. Saurav Kumar Chaliha was
born in the year 1930. Saurav Kumar Chaliha was a publicity-shy person and his
real name was Surendra nath Medhi. However he was popular among the book lovers
only as Saurav Kumar Chaliha.
Considered by many to be the most innovative writer of the Assamese short
story, Saurav Kumar Chaliha is credited with having ushered the genre into
modernity with his “Ashanta Electron” written around 1950. His stories are
tempered by a cosmopolitanism that blends the complexities of the social order
with a characteristic fascination for formalistic experimentation.
He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1974 for his short story collection,
Golam. In the year 1995, he was also honored with the ‘Assam Valley Literary
Award’. But, the reclusive Chaliha has never cared for any formal recognition.
In one of his award acceptance speeches, he went even further went he said, ‘I
feel like an interloper.’ Writing under a pseudonym, he has never directly come
into public limelight and continues to remain an enigma for his countless
admirers to this day.
The bulk of his stories are contained in a few anthologies –
Ashanta Electron (1962)
Duporiya (1963)
Ehat Daba (1972)
Golam (1974)
Golpo Nohoi (1988)
Aji Sukrobar (1992)
Abarudha Sahar (1994)
Bhal Khobor (1998)
Kabi (1999)
Ekoish Sotika Dhemali Nohoi (2004)
Janmadin (2005)
Jonbiri (2006)
Dron aru Goethe (2007)
Nabajanma (2008)
Marudyan (2009)
and a few other recompilations like,
Swa-Nirbasito Xonkolon (1994)
Rachana Samagra (1999)
Soi Dasakar Golpo (2001)
Saurav Kumar Chaliha Rasanawali (2008)
Many of these stories first appeared in Assamese magazines and literary
journals like Banhi, Ramdhenu, Awahan, Sadin, Dainik Asom, Asom Bani etc....
and many have been translated into English, Bengali, Hindi, Telegu and
Malayalam etc. and published in various Indian magazines and collections.
The news of Saurav Kumar Chaliha's death spread like wildfire and a pall of
gloom grips the entire state. Several organizations, political parties and the
leading citizens mourned the death of their beloved author. Assam Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi also mourned the death of Saurav Kumar Chaliha. In his
condolance message Gogoi described his death as an irepairable damage to the
litarery world of Assam.
(News Live )
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