Abdul
Gani
Guwahati:
So it was his last piece of ‘art’ as the poet himself once wrote “Mrityuto eta
shilpo, jibonor kothin shilot kota nirlobh bhaskarjya” (Death too is an art, an
unimpassioned sculpture on life’s granite). Hiren Bhattacharyya, who was also
popularly known as Hiruda among his innumerable fans and admirers, breathed his
last at Dispur Hospitals around 11.30 am on Wednesday leaving thousands in
tears.
The 80-year-old poet had been undergoing treatment
at the hospital since June 14 for his lung and kidneyrelated illness and since
then his health continued to deteriorate in spite of the efforts of the doctors
and the prayers of his admirers.
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| photo: Seven Sisters Post (UB Photos) |
Even, two Kolkata-based experts came for the
treatment of the poet, besides the doctors of the Dispur Hospitals and a
special team of the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).
But all their efforts failed and the poet had to be
put on ventilation support as his health continued to deteriorate.
His brains stopped working to some extent besides
infections in the lung and the kidneys.
Finally, on July 2 with due approval from his family
members after his condition did not improve the ventilation support was removed
and doctors gave up all hopes.
The ailing artiste was being treated under the
supervision of Dr Brajendra Lahkar, consultant, internal medicines.
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| photo: Subhamoy Bhattacharjee |
The end came quietly at 11.30 am on Wednesday even
as he was surrounded by his family members — his wife Parul Bhattacharyya, his
daughter Shanta and his younger brother Dwijen Bhattacharyya.
According to the attending doctors, Hiruda was
suffering from complicated urinary tract infection (UTI), shock with acute
kidney injury, and aspiration pneumonia with acute respiratory distress
syndrome, large left Middle Cerebral Artery infarction and embolic COAD with
AE.
According to the doctors, H iruda also had Ischemic
S trokes (clots) as a result of a n obstruction within a blood vessel supplying
blood to the b rain. He was also suffering from Urosepsis — a systemic blood
infection that develops when a urinary tract infection pathogen enters the
bloodstream and causes severe Hyponatremia, characterised by a metabolic
condition in which there is not enough sodium (salt) in the body fluids outside
the cells.
The poet, who was born on J uly 8 in 1932 at Jorhat,
before roaming at various places in the state influenced the whole generation
by his magical yet simple words. As soon as the news of his demise spread,
people from all sections of the society rushed to his residence ‘Sneha-Tirtha’
to pay their last respect to the man who always led a simple life and always
voiced the pain and agony of t he downtrodden of the society through his
poetry.
“He is definitely one of the best poets I have ever
read. I have read most of his works since very early days and I liked a lot and
it influenced me. It’s a huge loss to our society,” Nilamoni Sen Deka told
Seven Sisters Post as he rushed to the poet’s residence after he got to know
about the poet’s death.
Hiruda, who was the second of the 11 siblings of
Tirthanath and Snehlata Bhattacharyya, shifted to Guwahati in 1958 along with
his family. But his experience as a child, when he travelled to places like
Tezpur, Mangaldai, Golaghat, Nagaon and others drew him towards nature and
people. And that continued to inspire him to write poetry.
The poet, who did his graduation from B Borooah
College, was also known and respected widely for his patriotic poems like ‘Desh
Bulile Aadesh Naalage. Mur tumruli tejot togbogai uthe esho eta ranuwa ghora’
(We do not need orders to serve the country. 101 horses are running in my
blood) “We are sad at his death. His poems taught us the lesson of patriotism
and we hope that the messages he conveyed through his words would be carried
forward by all of us,” said All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) advisor Samujjal
Bhattacharyya at his residence.
His first poem ‘Nimantran’ was published in 1954 at
Probah magazine and his first compilation of poems was Roudra Kamona (1964).
Some of his published anthologies of poetry include Mor Desh Mor Premor Kabita
(1972), Bibhinna Dinar Kabita (1974), Kabitar Rode ( 1976), Tomar Gaan (1976),
Sugandhi Pokhila (selected poems, 1981), Saichar Pathar Manuh (collected poems
1991). He also contributed to the children literature — ‘Lara Dhemali’ (1991),
‘Akau Dhemali’ (1991) and ‘Roi Roi Dhemali’ (2008).
His works were also translated into Bangla and
English. Jonaki Mono Onanya (1991) and Sosher Math Manux aar Onanya were
translated in Bangla while Ancient Gongs in English. He also edited three magazines
— Chitraban, Monon, Antarik in between.
His funeral would take place at the Nabagraha
cremation ground on Thursday in the presence of his fans and admirers. “We
wanted to do the last rites today itself but due to the demand of his fans from
various parts of the state and elsewhere we are doing it on Thursday. Zubeen
Garg, who was like his friend and disciple, also requested us as he will be
coming from Mumbai on Thursday,” said his brother Dwijen.
The state government
expressed its deep condolences at the demise of the literary icon and declared
a half holiday on Wednesday. “He was one of the brightest stars of our society.
His delicately worked and kept on winning hearts of thousands. His magical
words created a new chapter in Assamese literature. It’s a great loss,” chief
minister Tarun Gogoi said in his message.
Assam governor Janaki Ballav Patnaik also expressed
his deep condolence at the demise of Hiren Bhattacharyya. In a condolence
message, the Governor expressed that late Bhattacharyya was a man of letters
and lucidly reflected the problems and sentiments of the people, which touched
the hearts of all concerned. (Seven Sisters Post)
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