I am deeply grieved to hear of the passing away of my old friend Suren Medhi. He was born the same year as I and we were contemporaries in Cotton College. Though he was in the science stream and I was a humanities student, a couple of mutual friends linked us together. I still remember the two of us taking a long walk one evening from Panbazar to Ulubari and back, and our conversation on a range of subjects. I knew then that Suren was endowed with extraordinary talent. His interest in literature was known to some of us quite early, even before his stories got into print. Though I lost contact with him after I moved out of Guwahati in 1961 one of our common friends updated me from time to time about his creative as well as occasionally curious activities. On one occasion Suren was said to have chased away a visitor who had found out that Saurav Chaliha was indeed his nom de plume and came to his residence to congratulate him for his literary contributions. Refusing to accept the accolade, Suren rebuked the gentleman for identifying him with a writer like Saurav Chaliha and said he knew no such man -- a bit prankish perhaps but what an example of humility. His death is a great loss to Assamese lietrature. -- Nitish Chakravarty --- On Sat, 25/6/11, Buljit Buragohain <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Buljit Buragohain <[email protected]> Subject: [Assam] Popular Assamese writer Saurav Kumar Chaliha passes away (News Live ) To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Date: Saturday, 25 June, 2011, 20:47 Popular Assamese writer Saurav Kumar Chaliha passes away: Popular writer of Assam Saurav Kumar Chaliha passes away Saturday (June 25) morning at International Hospital, Guwahati after a protracted illness. He was hospitalised for several days due to serious illness. Saurav Kumar Chaliha was born in the year 1930. Saurav Kumar Chaliha was a publicity-shy person and his real name was Surendra nath Medhi. However he was popular among the book lovers only as Saurav Kumar Chaliha. Considered by many to be the most innovative writer of the Assamese short story, Saurav Kumar Chaliha is credited with having ushered the genre into modernity with his “Ashanta Electron” written around 1950. His stories are tempered by a cosmopolitanism that blends the complexities of the social order with a characteristic fascination for formalistic experimentation. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1974 for his short story collection, Golam. In the year 1995, he was also honored with the ‘Assam Valley Literary Award’. But, the reclusive Chaliha has never cared for any formal recognition. In one of his award acceptance speeches, he went even further went he said, ‘I feel like an interloper.’ Writing under a pseudonym, he has never directly come into public limelight and continues to remain an enigma for his countless admirers to this day. The bulk of his stories are contained in a few anthologies – Ashanta Electron (1962) Duporiya (1963) Ehat Daba (1972) Golam (1974) Golpo Nohoi (1988) Aji Sukrobar (1992) Abarudha Sahar (1994) Bhal Khobor (1998) Kabi (1999) Ekoish Sotika Dhemali Nohoi (2004) Janmadin (2005) Jonbiri (2006) Dron aru Goethe (2007) Nabajanma (2008) Marudyan (2009) and a few other recompilations like, Swa-Nirbasito Xonkolon (1994) Rachana Samagra (1999) Soi Dasakar Golpo (2001) Saurav Kumar Chaliha Rasanawali (2008) Many of these stories first appeared in Assamese magazines and literary journals like Banhi, Ramdhenu, Awahan, Sadin, Dainik Asom, Asom Bani etc.... and many have been translated into English, Bengali, Hindi, Telegu and Malayalam etc. and published in various Indian magazines and collections. The news of Saurav Kumar Chaliha's death spread like wildfire and a pall of gloom grips the entire state. Several organizations, political parties and the leading citizens mourned the death of their beloved author. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi also mourned the death of Saurav Kumar Chaliha. In his condolance message Gogoi described his death as an irepairable damage to the litarery world of Assam. (News Live ) _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
