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Dear Mukul,
I thank you very cordially for the
information.
I was
imagining an underwater Kaplan turbine for illuminating the statue of
Swargadeo Chakradhwaja Sinha and for illuminating the geometry of the ATAN
BURAGOHAIN SAKO. I am glad that someone thought about the same thing --- but it
must not be turned into a huge electric generator station that will ruin the
view.
An electric generator station, unless designed
properly, will completely ruin the view and the environment --- something
pointed out by Chandan. However, if designed properly, an underwater Kaplan
Turbine (which sounds similar to the "Run-of -the -river Axial Bulb Type Hydro Turbine" that you mentioned) can
be kept out of sight which will not ruin the view.
Thanks for the
information. This is a positive approach. It appears Chandan has more
information based on what he said to me "You are unaware of the geography, the
lay of the river and what impact it may have on navigation,or at its foot for
access ramps etc. But you can educate yourself if you download the Google Earth
free-software and go look up Guwahati from the air, quite easily."
As for
downloading "Google Earth free-software and go look up Guwahati from the air", I
leave it to the younger generation. They should find out all these information
and enlighten the public. I urge the artists and architects
and bridge engineers of Assam to imagine
a graceful bridge with poetry in its geometry as a permanent and constant
reminder of what we achieved in the past. "Atan Buragohain Sako is not for
crossing a river. It will take us across three centuries of Time to fill our
heart with hope, glory, self-confidence, self-sacrifice and a strong
determination.
Please share any other information you have about
the geography, the lay of the river and what
impact it may have on navigation,or at its foot for access ramps etc. I have
requested Indrajit to get a survey of the site.You must be in the Selection
Committee to select the final design made by younger generation. I hope to see
the Brigde from the other bank of Baitarani.
I request you to give up the anti-India anger. Uncontrolled Anger is dangerous.
It hurts everybody. Verse 21 Chapter 16 Bhagavadgita.
With love to
everybody,
Himendra
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 9:27
PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] RATNAKANA BARKAKOTI
SAKO
<<<<
you and Chandan Mahanta
should be members in the Selection Committee.>>> -ABX(!!!)
ABX site proposed by Himen is already reserved forthe first(in
Oxom) Run-of -the -river Axial Bulb Type Hydro Turbine Electric
generating station.
mm
From: Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
"Himendra Thakur" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "mc mahant"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
CC:
J Kalita <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, MANOJ
KUMAR DAS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [email protected]
Subject:
Re: [Assam] RATNAKANA BARKAKOTI SAKO
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006
11:51:58 -0600
Hello Himen-da:
I know it was not meant for me, even though I do feature in it and I
don't mean to speak for my brother either. But I thought a response is
called for.
>I have come to know that people of
Nagaon has recently named a bridge over the Kolong River after their beloved
>poet and named it RATNAKANA BARKAKOTI SAKO
*** No harm done. Names are not as problematic as building a pedestrian
bridge to Umananda, but for what?
Did Santiago Caltrava's bridge over the Sacramento river at Redding,
California (http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/Redding04.asp )
inspire you to propose the Atan B Xako ( ABX). If it did, you can 'fess up
to it. It would demonstrate good taste.
But it would be a bad case of 'me-too-ism'.
I gave you my reasons. If they seemed without substance, you would have
surely responded. And if not you, at least all my other net-opponent
friends would have gotten on my case as could be seen daily. You had no care
about costs/ benefits ( unexpected, considering your decades of engineering
at Boston), appropriateness of building a monument where scores of homeless
families don't have the dignity of living like humans. You are unaware of
the geography, the lay of the river and what impact it may have on
navigation,or at its foot for access ramps etc. But you can educate yourself
if you download the Google Earth free-software and go look up Guwahati from
the air, quite easily.
But all that on the practicality point, provided a conceptual
justification could be made. That is where the abject failure of the idea
lies.
Your idea is rooted in the same kind of silly notion like the monument
of Lasit at the military academy in Chennai, as if Assam's discontent is
rooted on its not being noticed by India.
Suspicion? Heck no Himen-da. It is a well-known fact that the efforts
at Hinduization of Assam as a means for perpetuating Indian occupation is
what that other light( weight) general and the current one at the guvnor's
mansion are dedicated to, with a little help from Assam's own of
course.
>Chandan Mahanta came up with Statute
of Limitation in the USA about which he accused that I did not
know.
*** I don't know you much Himen da. But from what I did know from our
couple of encounters, I thought you are just as clever and informed a person
as the rest of us. And on that basis, your claim of being clueless about my
referring to the 'statute of limitations' is not persuasive. First it was
NOT about the ABX, it was about your thinly disguised, fascist,
Muslim-baiting, holding them to be invaders and tyrants six hundred plus
years after the fact and casting aspersions on if not questioning directly
their rights to citizenship in the land where they have lived for millenia,
just because a few centuries back they changed their religious affiliation
either under coercion or under free will.
And coming from someone like yourself, who probably claimed US
citizenship with a mere five or so years in the country, enjoying the
benefits and protections of a secular society with a rule of law,it is that
much more unbecoming, hypocritical.
>About eighty years ago, my uncle, the
late Indreswar Barthakur, drew paintings of Sati Jaimati and Lachit. Those
>paintings were very inspiring.
>I do agree that the statue of Lachit
at National Defence Academy and the portrait of Shankardeva in Kharghuli may
>not bring forth the life-force of those departed souls. These art-works
have been done by commercial artists who >may not have felt the
spirit of the departed souls.
*** Good for you. I have not seen Barthakur's paintings, and thus will
refrain from attempting to judge them on their artistic merit. But on the
intellectual aspect of requiring an icon ( or idol ) of either to draw
inspiration from is a baggage you too carry from orthodox-Hindu traditions,
something Xonkordeu tried so hard to wean the people of Assam from, but
obviously not very successfully.
>I never asked anyone to build an ugly
bridge, or to build a sore-thumb for a statue.
*** One does not have to Himen-da. We can draw inferences from the
examples of all that have been erected thus far.
>
you and Chandan Mahanta should be
members in the Selection Committee.
*** You are kind. But if I were to be anywhere near there, I would wear
a placard on my neck and demonstrate against the idea as a ludicrous
one.
>I appeal to the artists and architects and bridge engineers of
Assam not to copy from
anybody.
*** Personally, I believe a good copy of something creative in the
realm of public structures is a whole lot better than a bad or insipid
original.
Finally, on the protestations about your innocence on the Hinduttwabadi
appearance and the proof you cite to back it up--that Hinduttwawallas attack
you on your dowry abolition crusade, you forget that we do know about the
many shades that Hinduttwa exponents come in: From the know-nothing,lumpen
variety's crude and coercive methods to the suave knowledge-brigades'
slick attempts at revising history and manufacturing pseudo-intellectual
arguments like you have been indulging in.
I don't enjoy having to resort to such strident language again here.
Even though I am very un-traditional and irreverent a kharkhowa, I do treat
my seniors with a degree of respect and deference. But you leave me with
little choice with your very poorly disguised but audacious Muslim-baiting
agenda, something you will find very few takers in Assam Net.
Regards,
Chandan
At 8:55 AM -0500 1/29/06, Himendra Thakur wrote:
Dear Mukul,
In response to Sauravs
question <<<how much does the statue of lachit at
saraighat inspire people?>>> you have
replied Not at all ! And we should have no Busts, Statues, Xetus,
Tombs, -all alien to our passing times. Everybody does his best
in his time--and Go.
I have come to know that people
of Nagaon has recently named a bridge over the Kolong River after their
beloved poet and named it RATNAKANA BARKAKOTI SAKO --- a fitting tribute
to a dear, adorable poet of Assamese language. In my life, I cannot forget
a bus ride I had from Nagaon to Guwahati (it took 4 hours in those days)
when I was suddenly lucky to find that I was sitting next to poet
Ratnakanta Barkakoti --- that has remained a lifetime memory for me --- I
was a young student at that time. I dont want to write about that memory
because Chandan may again accuse me for citing anecdotes which he suspects
as an effort for drumbeating personal importance. I still think it is
important (maybe even better) to talk from personal experience where we
see the things directly instead of reading in a book. But, restrained by
Chandan, I better refrain.
There are too much of suspicion,
implication, blame, accusation, insinuation, etc. in assam-net. The worst
is stereotyping, like Christan Khasi Hindu Guvnor Scythian subgroup
thukarian, etc.
While I proposed ATAN BURAGOHAIN
SAKO and a Statue of Swargadeo Chakradhwaja Sinha, Chandan Mahanta came up
with Statute of Limitation in the USA about which he accused that I
did not know. He vehemently opposed everything that I proposed by saying
that the bridge would be ugly, the statue would stand up like a
sore-thumb, people would dump garbage on (or, from) the bridge, etc.,
etc.
I never asked anyone to build an
ugly bridge, or to build a sore-thumb for a statue. Mine was an appeal to
the artists, architects and bridge-engineers
I urge the artists and architects and bridge engineers of Assam to
imagine a graceful bridge with poetry in its geometry
.
About eighty years ago, my uncle,
the late Indreswar Barthakur, drew paintings of Sati Jaimati and Lachit.
Those paintings were very inspiring. I think those are now
lost.
I do agree that the statue of
Lachit at National Defence Academy and the portrait of Shankardeva in
Kharghuli may not bring forth the life-force of those departed souls.
These art-works have been done by commercial artists who may not have felt
the spirit of the departed souls.
The problem can be solved by
holding a competition of prototypes by the artists and architects and bridge engineers of Assam
and selecting the best art-work
you and Chandan Mahanta should be members in the Selection
Committee.
I appeal to the artists and architects and bridge engineers of
Assam not to copy from
anybody.
As for the practice of copying by
young people, at a get-together at Shankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati in
2004, I was asked if I had any advise for the your dramatists of Assam. My
immediate response was: Dont copy anybody. Write right from your own
heart, with your own observations. It may be difficult at the beginning.
But, very soon the mind will open up.
The prototype art-work submitted
in the competition (but not selected as the final winner) maybe saved at a
proposed riverside Museum where people will see the noble efforts of all
the artists and architects and bridge
engineers of Assam
people
will be inspired, like they were when they named RATNAKANA BARKAKOTI
SAKO across our lovely Kolong River.
Santanu Roy has objected about
simple yearning for a mythical golden past or some attempt to turn back
the clock of history and social "progress"
. I did not propose
ATAN BURGAHAIN SAKO to turn back the clock of history and social
progress"
it is very clearly stated as a graceful bridge with poetry in its geometry as a permanent and
constant reminder of what we achieved in the past. "Atan
Buragohain Sako is not for crossing a river. It will take us across
three centuries of Time to fill our heart with hope, glory,
self-confidence, self-sacrifice and a strong
determination.
As for your comment Kudos to Saurav-he is indeed Mr.-or Dr
Logic , Dr analysis. I am proud for him
I must say that I found a number
of errors in his analyses and logic, which Ill reply later. Right
now, this letter is already too long.
With memories of good old days,
and appealing to you to give up the anti-India attitude,
Himendra
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