NE archers hopeful of hitting the bull’s eye

Abdul Gani

Guwahati: Two women and a man from the Northeast, who comprise half of the six-member London-bound Indian archery squad, have judicious confidence to hit the bull’s eye.

Their London mission will start on July 28. They will leave for London from New Delhi on July 15. Their medal prospects are high as they are in good touch, and morally high.

Jayanta Talukdar

“We are in good shape, and confident that medals will come. We are sure of doing well in the team event, and if everything goes well, the individual performance will get also get a boost,” Assam archer Jayanta Talukdar told Seven Sisters Post from Kolkata.

Talukdar also said that the prayers and good wishes of the people of the region and his home state motivated him right, and that would reflect in the shooting range. Meanwhile, a confident Assam Archery Association (AAA) president Jayanta Boro said that the Indian archery squad would definitely bring Olympic medals.

“I’m sure that the team as a whole and individual archers will bring more than one medal from the Games. They are in a very good touch, and very high on confidence level,” Boro said after his arrival in Guwahati from Kolkata. He met Jayanta at his camp. Boro also said that the players need support and blessings of the people. “Archery is a mind game, and it’s very important to remain cool, calm and composed before going to play,” he added.

Chekrovolu Swuro

Jayanta Talukdar’s parents — Ranjan Talukdar and Satyawati Talukdar — also visited the star archer at his camp in Kolkata. “We are just praying for his success. We hope he, along with the team, will bring laurels to the country,” the senior Talukdar said. The ranking will be decided on July 27, and the mission will start the next day. Besides Jayanta Talukdar, Laishram Bombayla Devi of Manipur and Chekrovolu Swuro of Nagaland are also in the team. Bombayala, who had represented the country in the Beijing Olympics, said that the camp atmosphere is very conducive.

Laishram Bombayla Devi 

“We are confident, and waiting for the moment to put our best foot forward. It has been a dream since childhood, and I feel proud that I’m going to represent my country for the second consecutive Olympic Games. It will be great if I can bring at least one medal,” she said. Bombayala also said that archers from the Asian countries would be a bigger threat in the Games. “Chinese and Korean archers will put up a tough challenge. Though there are good players in Europe, the Asians will be comparatively tougher fighters,” she added.

Chekrovolu Swuro is another talent who can make a notch at the Games. In the process, she is the second Olympian of her state after 64 years. The first being legendry T Ao, who captained the Indian football team in 1948. Hardworking Swuro is an assistant sub-inspector in the Nagaland Police. “I believe in hard work, and I know it pays off,” she said. Besides them, Dipika Kumari is the other member of the women team, while the men’s team consists of Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai, besides Jayanta. (Seven Sisters Post)

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Death is an art: Hiru da no more

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.

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.

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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