<p>One had to&nbsp;travel&nbsp;through rural Assam&rsquo;s greenery and at that very instant listened to Bhupen Hazarika singing somewhere around to appreciate what Gulzar meant when he said Assam&rsquo;s nature oozes through Bhupenda&rsquo;s voice. A particular combination of opulent tenderness, seductive nasality and inexhaustible vocal melody, not uncommon among Assamese folk singers, assumed a different proportion in Bhupen Hazarika through his specific style of singing. What factors contributed to acquiring that style will require a different space for fuller discussion, but certainly, his years of training as an activist/singer/composer in the IPTA was one of the most important ones among them.</p>

<p>Sudakshina Sharma - Queen as she is lovingly called - Bhupen&rsquo;s sister and a veteran singer gave me an interview in which she reminisced about his initial years as an IPTA activist: &quot;When Bhupenda returned from America &ndash; that was way back in 1953 - Hemango-da (Hemango Biswas) brought him into the fold of the IPTA. Hemango--da was by then one of the chief organisers of Assam IPTA and he was quite close to our family which has always been a family of singers and musicians.</p>

<p>We used to live in Kharghuli - up in the hills - where Hemango-da was a regular visitor. Bhupenda and Hemango-da travelled together to distant places in Assam for organisational work. I remember once while returning from such a place halfway through they realised they had not a single anna left.&nbsp;The evening was descending, at a corner of a street they started singing impromptu, you can understand the effect of these two voices singing together. After they finished, people from the crowd started giving money to them thinking they were a group of itinerant street musicians. Whatever they gave was sufficient for the team to get back to Guwahati.&quot;</p>

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<p>It was much before that that Bhupen came into contact with Jyotiprasad Agarwal and Bishnuprasad Rava, doyens of Assamese culture and the two most important names of the Assam IPTA. Jyotiprasad made him sing in his film Indramalati (1939) when he was just 12 years of age.&nbsp;When Bhupen Hazarika returned from America, upon finishing his Ph.D., Jyotiprasad had passed away. But IPTA by that time went from strength to strength in Assam, after its first and second conference in Silchar (1947) and Dibrugarh (1949) respectively.</p>

<p>IPTA was the first organisation that spoke about the need of highlighting the syncretic nature of its culture in a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual state like Assam. In the first conference in Silchar, the two hundred odd representatives who participated consisted of artists from Tripura hill tracts, Jayantiya, Bodo, Manipuri, Dimasa - Kachhari, Miri and other ethnic communities along with Bengalis, Assamese and tea- plantation labourers.</p>

<p>IPTA in Assam held on to this tradition and to the spirit of the draft proposal that declared that it is meant to be a platform where every ethnicity is part of a larger collective in which it contributes voluntarily, knowing that its own cultural distinctiveness will not be compromised or co-opted in the process.</p>

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<h5>Many people have discussed at length how Bhupen Hazarika was influenced by Paul Robeson whose acquaintance he made during his stay in the USA as well as by Pete Seeger&rsquo;s protest songs.</h5>
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<p>Many people have discussed at length how Bhupen Hazarika was influenced by Paul Robeson whose acquaintance he made during his stay in the USA as well as by Pete Seeger&rsquo;s protest songs. The initial years when Bhupen started composing songs for the IPTA, certain signs of their influence were undoubtedly pronounced. And yet, the&nbsp;way he used Assamese traditional music (Bihu, bangeet, borgeet or jhumur) at that point and throughout his later life was something extremely unique.</p>

<p>He could pull off a melodic structure with major notes and a strong rhythmic pattern like &lsquo;Nami Axa&rsquo; and another with predominantly minor notes and zero or soft rhythm like &lsquo;Haradhon Rongmon katha&rsquo; (co-composed with Hemango Biswas) with equal ease and elegance. Even when one keeps in mind the rich oeuvre of Jyotiprasad, Bishnu Rava, Parbatiprasad Barua or Anandiram Das whose pioneering creations influenced IPTA artists in composing their own, it is not difficult to see why Bhupen Hazarika&rsquo;s place in Assamese modern music is still singular on many counts.</p>

<p>As Hemango Biswas writes, &lsquo; In the musical milieu of Assam, IPTA ushered in a new legion of songs about life and revolution.&nbsp;In this work, the musical tradition of the revered Jyotiprasad was our chief inspiration. Works of our folk composer Anandiram Das, the late Hemen Thakur and later those of Abdul Malik helped us. But the true architect of this genre was Dr&nbsp;Bhupen Hazrika. The ordinary lives of Assam like that of the lumberjacks, the stone breakers, the train drivers, tea-plantation worker Jagnu, farmer Rongmon, weaver girl Rodoi and palanquin bearer Dolabhari - these characters succeeded in sweeping aside the impersonal genre of music devoid of social consciousness that had been prevalent thus far.</p>

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<p>Newer expressions and styles made their presence felt in the creation of the tunes. The local musical form remained intact, but its narrow structures were broken down in a fresh attempt to showcase a new reality. Numerous songs of the IPTA spread to various cities and villages. This metamorphosis in Assamese music is a widely acknowledged fact today&rsquo;.</p>

<p>Nothing perhaps better describes how in Bhupen Hazarika such diverse musical styles had found their easeful co-existence beyond the usual divides of traditional, modern, eastern or western forms. As a singer, his internalisation of this was so complete that anything that he performed: From kamrupi folk to bangeet, from &lsquo;sa banuar geet&rsquo; (tea- plantation songs) to Bihu, from lullabies to protest songs &ndash; he seemed to be a natural denizen of all the territories he travelled.</p>

<p>It is true that Bhupen Hazarika&rsquo;s political views took a significant turn in his later life and in many ways he became the cynosure of conservative politicians of different hues. We should add to it our collective misfortune that there is no dearth of politicians in this country who can appropriate a cultural capital towards a political end and turn it to material/ military/ electoral gain- a very recent example would be the inauguration by the political who&rsquo;s who of the Bhupen Hazarika Bridge in Assam which is supposed to be the longest bridge in India (not undisputedly, though).</p>

<p>But because of this very reason, it seems all the more necessary to document Bhupen&rsquo;s immense contribution to the leftist cultural movement in India &ndash; his long and hard creative years in Assam, Bengal and outside of those before he finally moved to Bombay. Perhaps we got to remind ourselves now that that period also coincided with the genesis of many of his greatest creations the history of which needs to be written urgently.</p>


Through his musical composition, Bhupen Hazarika played a key role in sweeping aside the impersonal genre of music devoid of social consciousness that had been prevalent before the formation of IPTA.

One had to travel through rural Assam’s greenery and at that very instant listened to Bhupen Hazarika singing somewhere around to appreciate what Gulzar meant when he said Assam’s nature oozes through Bhupenda’s voice. A particular combination of opulent tenderness, seductive nasality and inexhaustible vocal melody, not uncommon among Assamese folk singers, assumed a different proportion in Bhupen Hazarika through his specific style of singing. What factors contributed to acquiring that style will require a different space for fuller discussion, but certainly, his years of training as an activist/singer/composer in the IPTA was one of the most important ones among them. Sudakshina Sharma - Queen as she is lovingly called - Bhupen’s sister and a veteran singer gave me an interview in which she reminisced about his initial years as an IPTA activist: "When Bhupenda returned from America – that was way back in 1953 - Hemango-da (Hemango Biswas) brought him into the fold of the IPTA. Hemango--da was by then one of the chief organisers of Assam IPTA and he was quite close to our family which has always been a family of singers and musicians. We used to live in Kharghuli - up in the hills - where Hemango-da was a regular visitor. Bhupenda and Hemango-da travelled together to distant places in Assam for organisational work. I remember once while returning from such a place halfway through they realised they had not a single anna left. The evening was descending, at a corner of a street they started singing impromptu, you can understand the effect of these two voices singing together. After they finished, people from the crowd started giving money to them thinking they were a group of itinerant street musicians. Whatever they gave was sufficient for the team to get back to Guwahati." IPTA was the first organisation that spoke about the need of highlighting the syncretic nature of its culture in a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual state like Assam. × It was much before that that Bhupen came into contact with Jyotiprasad Agarwal and Bishnuprasad Rava, doyens of Assamese culture and the two most important names of the Assam IPTA. Jyotiprasad made him sing in his film Indramalati (1939) when he was just 12 years of age. When Bhupen Hazarika returned from America, upon finishing his Ph.D., Jyotiprasad had passed away. But IPTA by that time went from strength to strength in Assam, after its first and second conference in Silchar (1947) and Dibrugarh (1949) respectively. IPTA was the first organisation that spoke about the need of highlighting the syncretic nature of its culture in a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual state like Assam. In the first conference in Silchar, the two hundred odd representatives who participated consisted of artists from Tripura hill tracts, Jayantiya, Bodo, Manipuri, Dimasa - Kachhari, Miri and other ethnic communities along with Bengalis, Assamese and tea- plantation labourers. IPTA in Assam held on to this tradition and to the spirit of the draft proposal that declared that it is meant to be a platform where every ethnicity is part of a larger collective in which it contributes voluntarily, knowing that its own cultural distinctiveness will not be compromised or co-opted in the process. Many people have discussed at length how Bhupen Hazarika was influenced by Paul Robeson whose acquaintance he made during his stay in the USA as well as by Pete Seeger’s protest songs. × Many people have discussed at length how Bhupen Hazarika was influenced by Paul Robeson whose acquaintance he made during his stay in the USA as well as by Pete Seeger’s protest songs. The initial years when Bhupen started composing songs for the IPTA, certain signs of their influence were undoubtedly pronounced. And yet, the way he used Assamese traditional music (Bihu, bangeet, borgeet or jhumur) at that point and throughout his later life was something extremely unique. He could pull off a melodic structure with major notes and a strong rhythmic pattern like ‘Nami Axa’ and another with predominantly minor notes and zero or soft rhythm like ‘Haradhon Rongmon katha’ (co-composed with Hemango Biswas) with equal ease and elegance. Even when one keeps in mind the rich oeuvre of Jyotiprasad, Bishnu Rava, Parbatiprasad Barua or Anandiram Das whose pioneering creations influenced IPTA artists in composing their own, it is not difficult to see why Bhupen Hazarika’s place in Assamese modern music is still singular on many counts. As Hemango Biswas writes, ‘ In the musical milieu of Assam, IPTA ushered in a new legion of songs about life and revolution. In this work, the musical tradition of the revered Jyotiprasad was our chief inspiration. Works of our folk composer Anandiram Das, the late Hemen Thakur and later those of Abdul Malik helped us. But the true architect of this genre was Dr Bhupen Hazrika. The ordinary lives of Assam like that of the lumberjacks, the stone breakers, the train drivers, tea-plantation worker Jagnu, farmer Rongmon, weaver girl Rodoi and palanquin bearer Dolabhari - these characters succeeded in sweeping aside the impersonal genre of music devoid of social consciousness that had been prevalent thus far. Nothing perhaps better describes how in Bhupen Hazarika such diverse musical styles had found their easeful co-existence beyond the usual divides of traditional, modern, eastern or western forms. × Newer expressions and styles made their presence felt in the creation of the tunes. The local musical form remained intact, but its narrow structures were broken down in a fresh attempt to showcase a new reality. Numerous songs of the IPTA spread to various cities and villages. This metamorphosis in Assamese music is a widely acknowledged fact today’. Nothing perhaps better describes how in Bhupen Hazarika such diverse musical styles had found their easeful co-existence beyond the usual divides of traditional, modern, eastern or western forms. As a singer, his internalisation of this was so complete that anything that he performed: From kamrupi folk to bangeet, from ‘sa banuar geet’ (tea- plantation songs) to Bihu, from lullabies to protest songs – he seemed to be a natural denizen of all the territories he travelled. It is true that Bhupen Hazarika’s political views took a significant turn in his later life and in many ways he became the cynosure of conservative politicians of different hues. We should add to it our collective misfortune that there is no dearth of politicians in this country who can appropriate a cultural capital towards a political end and turn it to material/ military/ electoral gain- a very recent example would be the inauguration by the political who’s who of the Bhupen Hazarika Bridge in Assam which is supposed to be the longest bridge in India (not undisputedly, though). But because of this very reason, it seems all the more necessary to document Bhupen’s immense contribution to the leftist cultural movement in India – his long and hard creative years in Assam, Bengal and outside of those before he finally moved to Bombay. Perhaps we got to remind ourselves now that that period also coincided with the genesis of many of his greatest creations the history of which needs to be written urgently.

Bhupen Hazarika's political melody

<p>How do you remember a person who passed away when you were nine-year-old? How do you evaluate a person of contemporary importance when all the relevant material has not been declassified? Lastly, how do you evaluate a former prime minister when you have never been friends with the friends of friends of Indira Gandhi?</p>

<p>The tool I will adopt will be that of an impression. The impressions which have stayed with me for the past 32 years or so. 30th October 1984 was my 9th birthday; the very next day Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed. My childhood memory is marred by the grotesque images of deadly riots that followed her death. For one whole year, post her assassination, Delhi turned into a volatile city.</p>

<p>Impression, for the sake of clarity, is a collective body of knowledge formed out of whatever has been read, heard and compared. A good majority of Indians would recall Indira by comparing the present with what they think Indira did. Even people who never met her or read her, however, have an impression of her. I have read her and met people who worked with her but I would restrict myself to the impression which you get by talking to a large number of people who have neither read her nor met anybody who worked with Indira Gandhi.</p>

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<h5>Indira was powerful, enigmatic, secretive, strong decision maker, nationalist, dictatorial, patriarchal and also a mother blinded by her love for sons.</h5>
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<p>This article is neither an appraisal or evaluation of her tenure. It is about keywords used for remembering Indira Gandhi.</p>

<p>The crux of my impression, borne out of multiple conversations on Indira Gandhi as a child, student, journalist and as a reader, is that she was unapologetic about her politics. She was decisive and couldn&#39;t care less if a decision had to be taken.</p>

<p>Indira was powerful, enigmatic, secretive, strong decision-maker, nationalist, dictatorial, patriarchal and also a mother blinded by her love for sons. All these words never escaped any conversation on Indira.</p>

<p>&nbsp;A leader who dismembered Pakistan but blundered by sending tanks to the Golden temple. A person who robbed Indians of democracy but, despite pressure from her party, still went on to rescind the decision of Emergency. She decided to fight the election to be wiped out by the anti-Congress wave.</p>

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<h5>Indira&rsquo;s legacy, on one hand, is burdened by Operation Bluestar, dynastic politics and imposition of the Emergency.</h5>
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</div>

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<p>If Indira&rsquo;s legacy, on one hand, is burdened by Operation Bluestar, dynastic politics and imposition of the Emergency, it is also counterbalanced by wiping away of the privy purses of the maharajas who were colonial remnants in modern India.</p>

<p>Though abolishment of the privy purse of India&#39;s royal families is not remembered as much as India&rsquo;s victory over Pakistan, the act helped to alter the political map of India. A plethora of former rulers turned against her.</p>

<p>If Indira&#39;s Opposition was tough then she was tougher. If the political enemy was vindictive then she was wicked. If her adversary was wicked and viscerally hated her, Indira responded by being dictatorial with them. We have to remember, Indira was a woman who survived entrenched patriarchy. She was the man in the Cabinet of men.</p>

<p>She didn&rsquo;t care for the consequence. Indira only cared for the result of her action. She did neither desire nor wanted to recreate altruistic element of her father&rsquo;s politics. Probably, she had seen him being cheated and then publically humiliated in Parliament. She wanted to make sure that she is never cheated and if cheated, consequences must follow.</p>

<p>Indira enjoyed real politics. She wrote letters and confided to her friends but never wrote for the public. She was not Jawaharlal Nehru. She turned her loneliness into her weapon. She was feared for her remoteness and she was appreciated for the same quality. She was appreciated for her strength and decisiveness but loathed when it became dictatorial. She was appreciated for her sartorial sense but rebuked when looked frigid in a beautiful saree. Indira&rsquo;s appraisal or evaluation is an exercise of involving minute details.</p>

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<h5>She bullied people and in turn also got paranoid and harassed by Opponents. She often crossed the line of political and personal.</h5>
</blockquote>
</div>

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<p>The importance lies in the memories she evokes today and here lies a lesson for future leaders and parties. It is not without reason that her residence is still one of the most visited memorials in India. It is not without reason that battered Congress remembers her fondly for subsuming Hindu symbols rendering RSS politics facile. Indira unified and divided India at the same time. India loved and hated her at the same time. She was considered Durga and a demon at the same time. She was a woman who was used to doing her own things. She didn&rsquo;t give a damn. That&rsquo;s how people remembered her today. She was effective both when she was right or wrong.</p>

<p>I think all these exist today because she must have been unapologetic about her politics. It is for this reason India remembers Indira Gandhi. Great leaders are remembered for the decision they take. Indira Gandhi for good or bad took decisions. She forced decisions. She bullied people and in turn also got paranoid and harassed by opponents. She often crossed the line of political and personal.</p>

<p>I didn&rsquo;t know Indira personally nor can claim to have read every word written by her or on her. I know her decisions and impact it made on the Indian politics and economy. I know the impressions. I share her memories, true or false. This is how I remember. This how rest of unconnected India remember Indira. Unapologetic and gutsy.</p>


Indira Gandhi will be remembered for her decisions and impact of her decisions on the Indian politics and economy

How do you remember a person who passed away when you were nine-year-old? How do you evaluate a person of contemporary importance when all the relevant material has not been declassified? Lastly, how do you evaluate a former prime minister when you have never been friends with the friends of friends of Indira Gandhi? The tool I will adopt will be that of an impression. The impressions which have stayed with me for the past 32 years or so. 30th October 1984 was my 9th birthday; the very next day Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed. My childhood memory is marred by the grotesque images of deadly riots that followed her death. For one whole year, post her assassination, Delhi turned into a volatile city. Impression, for the sake of clarity, is a collective body of knowledge formed out of whatever has been read, heard and compared. A good majority of Indians would recall Indira by comparing the present with what they think Indira did. Even people who never met her or read her, however, have an impression of her. I have read her and met people who worked with her but I would restrict myself to the impression which you get by talking to a large number of people who have neither read her nor met anybody who worked with Indira Gandhi. Indira was powerful, enigmatic, secretive, strong decision maker, nationalist, dictatorial, patriarchal and also a mother blinded by her love for sons. × This article is neither an appraisal or evaluation of her tenure. It is about keywords used for remembering Indira Gandhi. The crux of my impression, borne out of multiple conversations on Indira Gandhi as a child, student, journalist and as a reader, is that she was unapologetic about her politics. She was decisive and couldn't care less if a decision had to be taken. Indira was powerful, enigmatic, secretive, strong decision-maker, nationalist, dictatorial, patriarchal and also a mother blinded by her love for sons. All these words never escaped any conversation on Indira. A leader who dismembered Pakistan but blundered by sending tanks to the Golden temple. A person who robbed Indians of democracy but, despite pressure from her party, still went on to rescind the decision of Emergency. She decided to fight the election to be wiped out by the anti-Congress wave. Indira’s legacy, on one hand, is burdened by Operation Bluestar, dynastic politics and imposition of the Emergency. × If Indira’s legacy, on one hand, is burdened by Operation Bluestar, dynastic politics and imposition of the Emergency, it is also counterbalanced by wiping away of the privy purses of the maharajas who were colonial remnants in modern India. Though abolishment of the privy purse of India's royal families is not remembered as much as India’s victory over Pakistan, the act helped to alter the political map of India. A plethora of former rulers turned against her. If Indira's Opposition was tough then she was tougher. If the political enemy was vindictive then she was wicked. If her adversary was wicked and viscerally hated her, Indira responded by being dictatorial with them. We have to remember, Indira was a woman who survived entrenched patriarchy. She was the man in the Cabinet of men. She didn’t care for the consequence. Indira only cared for the result of her action. She did neither desire nor wanted to recreate altruistic element of her father’s politics. Probably, she had seen him being cheated and then publically humiliated in Parliament. She wanted to make sure that she is never cheated and if cheated, consequences must follow. Indira enjoyed real politics. She wrote letters and confided to her friends but never wrote for the public. She was not Jawaharlal Nehru. She turned her loneliness into her weapon. She was feared for her remoteness and she was appreciated for the same quality. She was appreciated for her strength and decisiveness but loathed when it became dictatorial. She was appreciated for her sartorial sense but rebuked when looked frigid in a beautiful saree. Indira’s appraisal or evaluation is an exercise of involving minute details. She bullied people and in turn also got paranoid and harassed by Opponents. She often crossed the line of political and personal. × The importance lies in the memories she evokes today and here lies a lesson for future leaders and parties. It is not without reason that her residence is still one of the most visited memorials in India. It is not without reason that battered Congress remembers her fondly for subsuming Hindu symbols rendering RSS politics facile. Indira unified and divided India at the same time. India loved and hated her at the same time. She was considered Durga and a demon at the same time. She was a woman who was used to doing her own things. She didn’t give a damn. That’s how people remembered her today. She was effective both when she was right or wrong. I think all these exist today because she must have been unapologetic about her politics. It is for this reason India remembers Indira Gandhi. Great leaders are remembered for the decision they take. Indira Gandhi for good or bad took decisions. She forced decisions. She bullied people and in turn also got paranoid and harassed by opponents. She often crossed the line of political and personal. I didn’t know Indira personally nor can claim to have read every word written by her or on her. I know her decisions and impact it made on the Indian politics and economy. I know the impressions. I share her memories, true or false. This is how I remember. This how rest of unconnected India remember Indira. Unapologetic and gutsy.

Remembering Indira: Unapologetic and gutsy

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Bhupen Hazarika's political melody

Remembering Indira: Unapologetic and gutsy