Dear Manoj, Bikash and Rabin, I am very glad that the discussion has turned towards knowing our past. Like Manoj said, "history repeats..so want to see what all are going to get repeated".
My interest in history was triggered by the 1962 movie on Lachit Borphukan. With all respect to Director Sarbeswar Chakrabarty, and with all the admiration that they really came forward to make a movie on Lachit in those financially difficult days, it must be admitted that certain things shown in that movie could not be correct --- but I could not say a word, because I knew nothing about the history of Assam. History was a subject in my high-school education, but that was history of Delhi and England, not much about Assam. My father was well versed in history of Assam, and we heard some stories from him at home, not as a subject at school. Later, I went to study engineering at IIT Kharagpur and I got completely disconnected with our past. After watching the 1962 movie on Lachit Borphukan, I grabbed a copy of History of Assam by Edward Gait (the original 1905 version, not the one edited/distorted by Birinchi Barua later) and was amazed to see the past of our land. I found my father's collection of a few books gifted to him by his friend --- the famous Dr. Surya Kumar Bhuyan. My next job was to go to Lawyer's Book Stall in Panbazar where the salesman, Mr. Patangia took me to the backroom where a huge pile of history books recorded by Dr. Bhuyan were collecting dust for want of purchasers. In my study of the Assam history books, I was very lucky to have a partner, the late Debendra Nath Acharya. We read the books together --- imagining how the country looked like in the past, how people talked, dressed, walked, joked, worked in the paddy fields, boat factories (nao-shal), iron factories (kamar-shal), saltpeter extraction plants (kharghar), fought battles ---- When I left India in 1973, I gave my collection of history books to Acharya and requested him to write a book. He did. In 1976, he published the first version of his immortal creation "Kal Purush." In 1981, he came to the USA for medical treatment and gifted me a copy of his book. I read it in one sitting, and asked him: "Like Thomas Paine's book "Common Sense" that precipitated America's 1776 War of Independence from Britain, did your "Kal Purush" trigger "Asom Andolan" in 1979?" Acharya remained silent for several minutes. So did I. We broke our silence by sharing how we felt about the forces of history. When Mukul Mahanta in 2005 quoted Henry Ford "History is bunk" they obviously missed some deep feelings. History repeats. We must analyze and try to avoid making the same mistakes. ULFA has made terrible mistakes. Those mistakes should be corrected. At the same time, we can verily draw our strength from our achievements in the past. That's why I wrote that article "ATAN BURAGOHAIN SAKO" --- 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. I request everybody to give me their comments/questions about this article. I'll write again once I have the questions. I already have one question from Rabin which I'll reply later. With love to everybody, Himendra PS: What is the email address of Bikash? ============ moderator appended ============ From: "Manoj Das" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:53 am Subject: Re: [asom] General Knowledge on History of Ahom Kingdom Hi Himendrada History is the end result of collective actions-reactions of humankind over periods of time. Although thousands of dynasties/kings ruled the earth, only a few stand out. Gaits have mentioned about the 'sleepy hollow' of the Brahmaputra valley. Thats a living example of history getting repeated. I have no idea about what "Ford' said. Kumar Bhaskara Barman was probably the greatest king Assam had. He was a bridge between 'Kamrupa' and Harsha's North Indian Empire. In India there is no chapter on Assam's history, which is fairly authentic. Thats another way of not recognizing Assam. We have written many times to NCERT to make it a part of history syllabus, nothing is being done so far. Also I was disgusted to see that Google doesn't recognize Assamese as a language; whereas there are odd entries like 'Bihari' and 'Naga' languages. I wrote once to them citing wikipedia statistics that its the 52nd largest language in the world with 13 million speakers. They have not moved an inch. Govt. of Assam has given consultancy assignment to RITES (Rail India Technical & Engg Services) to do the DPR for the 5th Bridge over Brahmaputra near Uzan Bazar. I think this bridge can become "Atan Buragohain Setu". Warm regards, -manoj ----------------------------------------- NOTE: assamonline prefers contributors to write messages using a journal-like style so contributions do not look like personal-style
