I have come across many of them in the airport if not
personally- famous musicians, cine stars particularly Bollywood heroines, cricketers,
writers, politicians or big corporate honchos. I have seen many chasing them
for an autograph or a rare photograph to make others envious. Somehow, I never
felt the hunger for such treasure
moments. But this man was quite
different. He was sitting in the same row with me in a flight from Dibrugarh to
Guwahati and I felt the irresistible urge to wish him .
He is none other than
Homen Borgohain. About, 18 years back, I met him at his chamber for an
interview for our College Magazine “AECIAN” with Ismail Hossein and my friend
Sanjib. That afternoon indeed turned out to be a special one with Borgohain Sir
after we received a good verbal dose for
being late by 15 minutes from the appointed time. Borgohain talked for about
three odd hours on various issues raised by us.
Sri Borgohain has been a poet, novelist, essayist, editor of many
leading Assamese newspapers. There are far more accomplished writers, novelists
and editors than him in Assam. At times, his name did get entangled in
controversies too. Yet, to me, Sri Borgohain remains one of the few revered
personalities in my life, who has left an indelible mark on me.
For many people like me, who grew up in the countryside in a
pre-Google era, Borgohain Sir’s books exposed us to the Literary Greats,
Thinkers and Philosophers. It was Sri Borgohain, who introduced me to Samuel
Smiles as a teenager and I remain indebted to him. Those who witnessed the great social turmoil
in the form of Assam Agitation as a child, teenager or youth, his books made us
fall in love with life. While passing through some traumatic time of my life, I
remembered of Reynold Price I knew as a teenager through his writing in Asam
Bani to draw inspiration to say for myself “In the last but worst few months,
mine has been a happy life”
As we were waiting to collect our baggage from the belt, I
gathered enough courage to make an honest confession to him that I was one of
those innumerable persons who got benefited from his books. With all humility,
he said “ there can’t be anything more satisfying for a reader than hearing
such words”.
May his health continue to support to inspire many young
generations in future like he did to me as a teenager and youth.
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